Cheftimony Snack: The Vegans Are Coming
Since meeting with Jenna and Jacob at the Lone Wolf Bakery in Sechelt for Episode 012 of the show, I’ve had some more really fun discussions. Today’s episode is a snack-sized portion of Cheftimony, just so I can let you know what to expect in the coming weeks. In short: vegans!
Not long ago, B and I hosted some friends for the weekend, vegan friends. It was a great time and an interesting experiment for me as an omnivore cook. I enjoyed the challenge of cooking purely vegan food for 48 hours, but I found it limiting at the same time. So I decided to speak to some people who really know what they’re doing in this realm. Conveniently, I’d read an article in the Globe and Mail that led me to some very interesting people and some very interesting discussions.
The Globe article is about what I’ve taken to calling “Cheesegate”, a saga that involves a food producer in Vancouver, a food lawyer in Toronto, and a complaint to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency about mis-use of the word “cheese” to describe a vegan product. The controversy seems almost too good to be true! And perfect for Cheftimony. The whole of the story is coming up in future episodes of the podcast, but in brief, it appears to be risky to use the word “cheese” to describe anything that isn’t made from the lacteal secretions of the mammary glands of certain ruminants. Yup.
I reached out to Karen McAthy, the chef/owner of Blue Heron Creamery in Vancouver (the subject of the complaint to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency), and we met for a great talk at her restaurant Soil, located next door to Blue Heron. Karen and I discussed the issues in the Globe article, her interactions with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and a whole lot more. I also connected with Glenford Jameson, the Toronto food lawyer in the Globe article, to get his take.
Through Karen, I met another great person in the vegan world – Anna Pippus who has a background as an animal rights activist, a food lawyer and, most recently, a successful food blogger. She is another perfect guest for the show, and my talk with Anna will be coming up soon as well.
And I’m happy to report that I recently returned to a restaurant kitchen for a busy Sunday dinner service and that I reconnected with a chef friend from years ago who welcomed me into his restaurant in my early, early cooking days in Vancouver. Interviews with all those folks are coming up soon.
For now, though, take five minutes and join me for this week’s Cheftimony snack!