“Aprils have never meant much to me, autumns seem that season of beginning….”
                                                                                          ~Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Indeed, the autumn of 2015 was a season of beginning like nothing I could have imagined. Both in the loss that precipitated it and in the astonishing expansiveness to which it gave rise.

On July 30, my adored husband, Joe, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from cardiac arrest, followed within the next two months by my similarly adored dog, my constant companion, and my mother, my kitchen accomplice since childhood.

Almost immediately, food took on the symbolism of a quasi-secular sacrament: an outward sign of inward grace. With my appetite, among other things, dealt a mortal blow, thoughtfully prepared and diminutive dabs of this and tiny tastes of that, matched to various occasions, came to represent deepening dimensions of relationships with people, things, and ideas that flowed around and through me. My scaled back approach to nourishing my body proved to be immensely satisfying and perfectly proportioned as I focused more on nourishing my soul.

While my relationship with food, like just about everything else in my life, underwent a shift, I remain as full of curiosity and wonder in the kitchen ever before. I just find that I tend to cook more for others than I do for myself, and that food is less often my raison d’etre than it is an anointment of various aspects of a rich and full life for which I am unceasingly grateful.

But spring is an undeniably hopeful season. So, forced to rethink many aspects of my life, I decided in early 2016 that a Blooming Platter redesign was in order and launched it on this what would have been my mother’s 83rd birthday.

I hope you enjoy this new beginning in the form of a lighter, brighter, hipper, and slightly more feminine look and feel.

Yours, gratefully,

~betsy

I receive lots of vegan–and other–news via email every week and ararely, if ever, share it here.  But this press release was of particular interest to me and I thought, perhaps, you…

Formation of the Vegan Trade Council Announced

Group to Represent the Interests of the Vegan Product Industry

 Washington, DC, January 5, 2015 – The formation of the Vegan Trade Council, an industry association to represent the interests of vegan product manufacturers, was announced today.  Alan Nemeth, a professor of animal law at the American University Washington College of Law and the University School of Law is leading the formation of the trade group.

Nemeth said that the vegan industry is at the point in its maturity where it can join together in a trade association to provide assistance to members of the industry and to promote its products broadly, and that the establishment of a trade association for the vegan industry will provide further support to the growth and mainstream acceptance of vegan products, through both advocacy and public relations.

He stated, “The dairy, beef, pork, poultry, and seafood industries all have trade associations and high-powered lobbyists to represent their interests legally, legislatively, in the development of regulations, and in the promotion of their products in the press and in the marketplace. These trade associations are effective, because they represent the views and dollars of their entire respective industries. The vegan food industry currently has no such trade association and subsequently has no coordinated representation to help build public relations and promote plant-based interests nationwide. As such, the animal-based product industry has no vegan trade contemporary to argue the vegan industry’s positions with regard to issues such as public health, the environment, the Farm Bill, agricultural livestock, school lunches, dietary alternatives, and so on. It is time that the vegan industry gets a seat at the table.”

The recent legal issues faced by Field Roast and Hampton Creek further highlighted the need for an industry-wide organization to speak on behalf of an industry that is rapidly gaining traction.  When Pinnacle Foods purchased Gardein, a maker of plant-based meat, poultry, and fish alternatives earlier this year, its CEO Bob Gamgort said, ” [w]e believe that plant-based protein is at the tipping point of becoming mainstream.”  And as the industry grows, the importance of a trade association grows in tandem.

Outreach to the vegan community has begun as the Vegan Trade Council begins to build its membership and support base. The organization will be based in the Washington, DC area. The Council can be contacted through www.vegantradecouncil.com.

Recently, the folks at Vegan Mainstream asked me to submit an article/blog post on the topic of my choice.

If there is one thing I hear more frequently than anything else about my approach to cooking, it is that it is “creative.”  I am humbled by such a generous assessment.  So, lest the well ever run dry, I decided not too long ago to try to become more conscious and deliberate about what, until then, had been just a natural inclination.

The result of my self-reflection was four simple strategies that I had been inadvertently returning to again and again.  And I am delighted to share them with readers in “Four Simple Strategies for Keeping the Creative Culinary Juices Flowing,” published just today:

1. Color Substitution
2. Crossing Cultures
3. Switching Courses
4. Trading Textures

Click on over to the article to find out how you too can adopt these same strategies for a near endless flow of kitchen inspiration!

This season, when thankfulness is at the forefront of our minds, seemed the perfect time to post a mini-review of Bless This Food: Ancient and Contemporary Graces from Around the World (New World Library, August 15, 2013) by Adrian Butash.

This globe-, religion-, culture-, and century-spanning book brings together some 160 mealtime blessings for many reasons, including building a sense of community and connection among those who bow their heads and break bread together and to that for which they give thanks.

Poets, thinkers, and activists join religious figures in articulating our gratitude for daily sustenance, food for the body and soul.

A beautiful book–lovely enough for a special gift–it is also educational, in that background information on the cultural traditions represented is included as context.  As with anything, not all of the prayers “spoke” to me, nor embodied my own feelings of gratefulness.  But the three that follow did in a profound way.

May we all live with gratitude toward whatever or whomever squares with our beliefs and may we accept and extend the amazing grace bestowed by same.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I begin with the shortest which is, perhaps, the most expansive and my favorite:

Prayer 148
Bless our hearts
to hear in the
breaking of bread
the song of the universe.
— Father John Giuliani (b. 1932)

Prayer 132
For the order and constancy of nature;
For the beauty and bounty of the world;
For day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and
harvest;
For the varied gifts of loveliness and use which every
season brings:
We praise thee.
— John Hunter (1848-1917)

Prayer 96
Eternal Spirit of Justice and Love,
At this time of Thanksgiving we would be aware
of our dependence on the earth and on the
sustaining presence of other human beings
both living and gone before us.
As we partake of bread and wine, may we
remember that there are many for whom
sufficient bread is a luxury, or for whom
wine, when attainable, is only an escape.
Let our thanksgiving for Life’s bounty include a
commitment to changing the world, that
those who are now hungry may be filled and
those without hope may be given courage.
Amen.
— Prayer by the Congregation of Abraxas (1985)

And feast it was!  I asked Bryanna if their company had to spend the night after this incredible meal, but she assured me that all of the portions were small, except for her Chinotto Cake(!), and that their guests only required a brief rest on the sofa before heading home.

Bryanna is Bryanna Clark Grogan, author of a number of beloved vegan cookbooks–most recently World Vegan Feast–and I became friends via our connection with Vegan Heritage Press.  She provides me with endless inspiration and encouragement.  And as it turns out, we share the same birthday of May 26!

However, her most recent celebration was not a birthday but her 22nd wedding anniversary, shared with close friends all the way across the continent in British Columbia where she lives.  I was so surprised and humbled to learn that she had created a whole menu inspired by The Blooming Platter for this special dinner.

I  invite you to read about in on her blog, Vegan Feast Kitchen.  You will love her warm and informative style.  A library branch manager, she is passionate about research and sharing helpful resources and information.  Her posts are always loaded with photos and links, including, in this case, to the recipes here on The Blooming Platter and to my cookbook.

You will also love her sinful Chinotto Cake that she graciously says is inspired by my Coca-Cola Cake.  But she puts her own spin on it, and you are also sure to enjoy the story of its creation.  In case you aren’t familiar, Chinotto is a grown-up, gourmet  and organic version of cola with it’s own special flavor profile.   It is now on my list.

Happy Anniversary, Bry!

Recently I had the opportunity to conduct an e-interview with Bellatrix Martinez, co-creator of MealsApp.  And I wanted to share this new nutrition tool with all of you:

TBP: Will you share a little something about your background?

BM: My background is in design and my co-founder’s background is in software development and mathematics. We have always been highly intrigued by nutrition. We follow the quantify self movement and we enjoy measuring what we put into our bodies. This year we embraced the challenge of creating MealsApp. 

TBP: What exactly is MealsApp and why do Blooming Platter readers need to know about it?

BM: MealsApp is good nutrition in your pocket. We help people improve their nutrition habits. Blooming Platter readers will love MealsApp because it is all about nutrition. We guide, educate and give advice to those who are interested in improving their diet.

TBP: What prompted you to take off on this adventure?

BM: I have personally always been linked to nutrition or nutrition problems. My father suffered from a stroke a couple of years ago due to following a diet that was not right for his condition. Being a vegetarian I have always been intrigued by the kinds of food I select to be part of my menu. “Am I eating what I need since I am a Vegetarian?” was something I asked myself constantly. “Will I run into some nutrition problems because of being a vegetarian?” These were some of the questions I always had. When traveling it was very hard for me to keep track of the food choices I was making, and I ended up always feeling very weak and sick. I knew technology could help me and other people that might be having the same problems.

TBP: What is your ultimate goal or “dream vision” for this project?BM: Help people. We want users to learn and follow a balanced and healthy menu. We want people to benefit from their nutrition, not get sick because of it. We have had users who suffer from a dietary disease find benefit in MealsApp; I have to say there is nothing more rewarding than that.

TBP: What else do Blooming Platter readers need to know about MealsApp that I haven’t asked?

MealsApp is available in the AppStore and it is free to download. We now have more than 15,000 users that have trusted us tracking more than 43,000 meals in our system. Since we started building MealsApp we have been working with a team of Registered Dietitians who have taken us deep in their process, sharing their knowledge with the purpose of reaching thousands of people who might need their help. We would love to include a couple of links to our site and to the app download page: Website  and Download  

TBP:  Thanks, Bellatrix and best wishes!