The Raven’s Restaurant is located on the grounds of the Stanford Inn in Mendocino, California - a hilly, rolling landscape dotted with tall, natural wood buildings set amongst pretty coastal gardens.

On past visits to Mendocino, my husband and I had been given The Ravens’ dinner menu by various hotel proprietors, and we were not impressed by the choice of entrees. As long-time vegans, we feel dubious about vegan cuisine being presented as something that requires fancy and exotic ingredients, and The Ravens’ dinner menu would lead one to think vegans live on pricey mushrooms and complicated sauces. Such dishes may be imaginative, but they aren’t the kind of plain, good cooking skilled vegan cooks develop as the basis of a whole foods diet.

However, our most recent visit to Mendocino wasn’t planned in advance. My husband and I made the trip on the spur of the moment and weren’t armed with our arsenal of coolers and grocery bags. We did a little bit of shopping at Corners of the Mouth on Ukiah Street ( a super place!), so we would have something to eat, but when we got up the next day, we found ourselves longing for a hot, hearty breakfast. We had a big day of hiking ahead of us and didn’t think almond butter sandwiches would give us the fuel this would require!

That’s how we ended up at The Ravens, despite our previous concerns that the food would be too fancy to be taken seriously.

I’m so glad we took a chance.

To begin with, the restaurant is beautiful. What a fine thing to sit at a clean, lovely little table at one of the many high casement windows overlooking Mendocino’s blue, blue sea. The Arts-and-Crafts architecture gives a warm, golden glow to the eating area, augmented by the comfort of a massive, crackling fire where guests are welcome to take a seat on commodious sofas. Classical music added a further touch of ease and pleasure to the setting. There was a charming, small bouquet of tea tree blossoms and other fresh cuttings on our table and my husband and I found ourselves looking at one another in pleased wonder over finding ourselves sitting in such an elegant environment.

Compared to our past dining experiences, and our normal mode of nourishing ourselves on vacation which tends to revolve around eating out of our cooler, this was quite a surprise!

The staff was friendly and polite, and our meal was served with admirable promptness.

The Ravens’ breakfast menu was far more pleasing to us than what we had seen of their dinner offerings. It is divided into two parts - one side for vegans and the other for ovo-lacto vegetarians. Many of the vegan items looked hearty and tempting and there were even such simple selections as hot cereal and homemade English muffins.

My husband chose their tofu scramble and potatoes. The tofu was fluffy and light, seasoned with something reminiscent of nutritional yeast and mild, appealing spices. It came on bed of mixed braised vegetables including zucchini, broccoli and mushrooms. The grilled potatoes were both russets and sweet potatoes, and though we are normally fans of fried potatoes for breakfast, these were extremely tasty and, again, delicately flavored.

I chose the waffle which was crisp and delicious and came with a warm pitcher of maple syrup and a small ramekin of apple compote. I savored every bite.

Our meal, including tip, came to about $35. This was certainly a great deal more than we would spend on breakfast cooked at home, but we viewed it as a very rare treat for ourselves. We would absolutely recommend The Ravens to any vegan or vegetarian friend, and will doubtless eat there again in future.

Suggestions for The Raven’s staff:
Imagination is a good thing in cooking, but a menu composed mainly of unusual ingredients may be off-putting to vegans who live by the simple, whole foods philosophy. We would suggest that The Ravens take a closer look at the more honest fare of Italian and Mexican cuisine in their dinner menu, rather than leaning so far toward the pate and caviar cuisine that marks out America’s most pretentious and least planet-friendly traditional restaurants. Few vegans I know find appeal in imitating the types of European and American cuisine that revolve around animal cruelty and wasteful eating habits. We prefer plainer, heartier foods.

Vegans feel nervous dining out. Just as Jewish individuals feel concern that restaurant meals may not be prepared kosher, Vegans worry that their fried potatoes may be cooked in a pan that was just used to fry eggs. We would suggest that The Ravens’ make their vegan guests feel truly at ease by including in the menu some specifics about your kitchen practices. For example, if you would see fit to stock a separate set of pans for vegan cooking, we are positive that you would have the undying gratitude and a loyalty of compassionate diners.

Praise for The Ravens:
For the majority of vegan converts in this part of the world, elegant dining out is a distant memory of the past. I have a warm memory of being taken to a beautiful Mendocino restaurant by my parents when I was a little girl. There were gorgeous windows, a fireplace on a drizzly morning, there was symphonic music lilting through the air. It was seen as a rare and luxurious treat. As a grown-up vegan, I have come to expect that nearly all restaurants attempting to serve vegan meals will have some peculiar additional policy of using no oil or salt, or the meals will be served by people with tattoos on their foreheads, or the dining room will be dirty or industrial-looking.

The Ravens made me think I’d gone back to being a little girl, thrilled by the luxury of being treated like a valued guest by an establishment that was making special efforts to see that I had a really happy breakfast. As veganism increasingly becomes the diet of choice for the Green movement, I hope that more restaurant owners will start catering to vegan diners with respect and care. We’re not there yet, but The Raven’s Restaurant deserves praise for being among the first to give Vegan diners a place at the table.

Greetings Readers!

On the vegan forums and blogs I visit, I see three things that concern me.

1) Parents who are scared about their kids going vegan. Understandably, they are concerned about proper nutrition. I applaud that and certainly share their worries of a child being malnourished by adopting an animal-product-free diet that consists mainly of meat substitutes and potato chips.

2) New adult vegans who get into eating habits that rely mainly on packaged, processed foods because they are still craving meat and dairy products. While this is understandable for brand new vegans, in the long term, adopting a diet that focuses on substitutes instead of whole foods is not the best choice for human health or planet health.

3) Well-funded advertising campaigns trying to grab the vegan dollar in exchange for foods with little nutritional value. A box of white rice with a packet of seasoning may not contain animal products, but it also doesn’t contain real food. Marketing executives have realized that it can be profitable to cater to vegans, but they are often unscrupulous as to what they are advertising under the dubious umbrella label of ‘natural’.

Isn’t it enough if I’ve stopped eating animal products?

So you’ve gone vegan, and instead of the hot dogs and macaroni & cheese of yesteryear, your fridge is stocked with soy dogs and imitation cheese macaroni. Let me be the first to thank you for adopting this compassionate lifestyle. Vegan kitchens have a kind and wholesome atmosphere you will not find elsewhere. I hope you are feeling really positive and joyful about the new choices you are making at the market.

But, this is the Hard Truths category of Vegan Reader, so I’m going to take a closer look at what’s going into your shopping cart.

Over the past decade, the meat and cheese substitute offerings have truly skyrocketed. When I went vegan some 17 years ago, there simply was not the array of commercial products available that there are today. Now, we have a choice of brands, just like real Americans. We have Gimme Lean, Smart Dogs, Yves, Fantastic Foods, Boca…the list goes on and on.

On the one hand, it’s nice to have options. It’s nice to know that corporations realize there are vegans sitting at the table.

On the other hand, these pre-prepared, heavily processed foods have the power to turn vegans away from the simple, whole foods diet that is actually best for them and for the world. I see Americans as being particularly in danger of getting sucked in by clever marketing. Remember, we were raised by our society to be obedient consumers, freely giving our time and attention to the demands of corporations who served up the ads and TV commercials that told us what to eat, wear, and buy. Manufacturers of vegan products want your money, too, and that is why vegans need to keep exercising the discernment that helped them to see beyond the typical American lifestyle in the first place.

Which of the following sounds best for you and your planet?

Meal One:

• Brown rice and red beans bought in bulk and cooked at home
• Tomatoes and lettuce from the farmer’s market
• Homemade hummus as a nice sauce
• Homemade spice cookies for dessert

Meal Two:

• Road’s End Packaged Penne and Chreese
• Gimme Lean Textured Vegetable Protein Sausage
• Cascadian Farm Frozen Hash Browns
• Tofutti Cuties for dessert

No animals were harmed or killed in the making of either meal, thank goodness, but the similarities end there. Meal #1 is accomplished with a minimum of factory processing, and the purchase of local vegetables, where possible, further cuts down on fuel emissions.

Meal #2, by contrast, is an extravaganza of factory processing and not one of the items on the menu are whole or fresh. Optimum nutrition for this planet’s animals (including we humans) comes from eating foods that are as close to their natural form as possible. If the contents of your shopping cart are predominantly processed foods, the amount of energy being consumed to put dinner on your table is as wasteful as if you were eating a Hungry Man dinner. And, because so many vegan products are so heavily processed, the resultant nutrition is quite dubious, despite vitamin or mineral additives.

The Big Lie

One of the American food industry’s most clever and successful pitches to the public is that modern people don’t have time to cook. Since the 1930’s, so-called convenience foods have been billed as saviors for the overworked homemaker. Inventions from Bisquick to Jiffy Pop have promised to save us hours of time in the kitchen.

The truth is, this is a big lie.

I urge you to stop listening to any marketing firm that tells you you are benefiting from the swap of their prepared 10 minute white rice for your 20 minute bulk brown rice. You are winding up with poor nutrition and a house cluttered with fancy recycling materials. During the extra 10 minutes it takes for your brown rice to cook, make a salad, talk to your dear ones, step outside for a last look at the setting sun. Don’t listen to Uncle Ben.

When I met my husband, he was subsisting on microwave vegetarian foods in plastic trays. No one had taught him how to cook, and he didn’t think he would have time to prepare a home cooked meal. My feeling was that he simply didn’t love himself enough to take proper care of his need to eat. Fast forward years into the future and you will find my husband concocting fabulous from-scratch soups, burritos, salads, pies, pizzas and casseroles. He loves cooking for us. I consider it one of the most loving things he does for me. And we love spending time together in our kitchen.

Our pantry is stocked with basic staple whole foods, and from these things, we can make an almost endless number of healthy, tasty meals. We work long days and lead a busy life together, but we are not willing to do a deal with any society that tells us there is no time for us to feed ourselves. That is a mindset that speaks of unfeeling neglect.

Finding The Middle Ground

Going vegan is easier for some people than others. The last thing I want to do is discourage you from making this important change in your life. If that means you need to begin with packaged foods that mimic typical American products, go for it. I would ask only that you make these crossover eating habits temporary.

The core of the vegan heart is love and compassion for one’s self, one’s fellow earthlings, and the environment. In becoming vegan, strive to develop habits that improve the way you care for yourself while at the same time cutting down on the energy and pollution involved in others providing for you. Processed foods are not optimal for your body or the Earth.

Does this mean you can never buy anything that comes in a box, can, or container? Wouldn’t I love to be able to say ‘yes’ to that, but the fact is, few of us have the luxury of living on self-sufficient farms where we can grow everything we need. Because of that, we’re going to have to buy our rice, our flour, our rice milk, our maple syrup from someone else. And, once in a while, we may simply feel like trying out a package of vegan raviolis or vegan Polish sausages, just to see how they taste. If you are eating a diet that is predominantly made up of whole foods, don’t worry about buying a couple of containers of vegan ice cream in the summertime. Variety is important.

My hope is that in reading Vegan Reader, you will discover new ways in which you can cook most of what you eat from scratch. I know that the fake meat/dairy appeal is huge, but if I show you how to make convincing ‘ham’, ‘hot dogs’, ‘chicken’, and ’steak’ out of simple tofu, will you give it a try? My goal is to see you feeling skilled and powerful when it comes to nourishing yourself in a way that is truly loving.

Greetings Readers!

My complaint with most of the store-bought vegan cookies I’ve tried is that they are chewy and many have a weird aftertaste from unusual sweeteners being used. For me, maple sugar and maple syrup are the way to go with all sweet vegan baking. I like my cookies crisp, crumbly, rich and not too sweet. I like to use natural, whole foods ingredients that contribute to the subtle, good taste of my baked goods. This recipe bakes up a big batch of exquisitely flavored, lightly spiced cookies. You could make them spicier if you like your cookies fiery, and you can certainly try your own variations, but here is the basic recipe for these fabulous cookies.

Crumbly Vegan Spice Cookies

Ingredients:
1 C Organic Whole Almonds
2 C Organic Unbleached White Flour or Pastry Flour
1 Organic Orange (mandarins are ideal for this, but you can use another kind if necessary)
1/2 C Granulated Maple Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
2 Tbs. Organic Anise Seeds
1/2 tsp. Organic Powdered Ginger
1/4 tsp. Organic Ground Cloves
1/4 C Organic Olive Oil
1/8 C Organic Safflower or Sunflower Oil
1/8 C Rice or Soy Milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Grade rind from the orange and juice it, too.

Blend almonds in an electric blender to the consistency of a coarse flour-like powder. If you do not have a blender, use a mortar and pestle to accomplish this.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your almond flour with white flour, salt, maple sugar, spices. Wash your hands and use them to gently blend all the dry ingredients uniformly.

Add orange juice and grated rind, oils and milk.
Pull all ingredients together with a spoon, but don’t overmix. Use your hands to gather everything together into a big ball. If the ball is really sticky, sprinkle a little more flour over it and work it in with your hands. If the ball is too dry to gather up all the flour in the bowl, wet your hands with cool water under the faucet to help you stick everything together.

The dough will be slightly rough and just a little bit sticky. Put the bowl of dough in the freezer for 5 minutes and get out your baking sheets.

Form the dough into one inch balls. Set them on the baking sheet and smash flat with a fork, as you would peanut butter cookies. Put in the oven.

Every oven bakes at a different temperature. These cookies are baked when they have turned just a little brown around the edges and are golden in the middle. Remove and set to cool.

Special Notes on these Special Vegan Cookies

You will note that this recipe contains no baking powder or baking soda. I personally find these two leavening agents to be disruptive to the digestion, so I have invented vegan baking recipes that don’t require these products.

Something else to think about when making cookies is whether they have nutritional value. Both the almonds and olive oil in this recipe are very nutritious sources of protein and vitamins. These cookies are a better between meal snack for your family than the expensive and heavily processed energy bars that are everywhere on the market today. They are handmade, fresh and a simple, good snacking food.

As you will discover, the flavor of these cookies reaches its apex at about 2-3 days after baking. The different tastes have a chance to combine, mellow and ripen. Store them in a paper bag, a can or on a plate in the cupboard. They will stay good for at least a week

I truly advocate using mandarin oranges at the peak of winter ripeness for these cookies. The difference in the end result is huge. Combined with the anise seeds, the orange flavor is incredibly elegant, distinctive and memorable. This is not your average cookie!