Chew on this | 182 comments (182 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Welcome, and thanks for the book recommendations.

Non-Vegetarians underestimate how delicious it can be. I remember, at the beginning after turning vegetarian 20 years ago, one of the most common comments to me was: "You are vegetarian?...... .....mmmhhhh..... that is interesting..... ....mmmhhh... that would be nothing for.... I like delicious food!!!!" Well, this has changed a little.

When I still did cook more, I used to invite my friends for fancy 7 course vegetarian meals, most of them were suprised at the variety and taste of the food. For most people a vegetarian diet is just leaving out the meat. Yes, thats boring - however, since I turned vegetarian I am eating with a greater variety of foods and tasts. Today my goal is to it simple and healthy.

by Fran on Thu Jan 26th, 2006 at 04:17:48 AM EST
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And Lankan/Indian food is just ... ahhhhhh. I've had various types of sojas and pea flour balls, and fried jackfruit etc that tasted frankly almost like chicken. Jackfruit is particularly impressive in that domain. Depending on how ripe the fruit is, it can be used to create a main dish or a dessert. The main dish tastes like chicken, the dessert tastes like bananas. The seeds can be roasted and taste like chestnuts, and the fruit's bulbs can be fermented to produce a heavy-duty liquor.

by Alex in Toulouse on Thu Jan 26th, 2006 at 06:26:10 AM EST
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Do you know Reef, a novel by Romesh Gunesekera? It's set in Sri Lanka, and it talks a lot about food and cooking. Here's an excerpt to tempt you:

Lucy-amma was cutting onions, Bombay onions. The beards sliced off each onion were heaped on one side. She worked the knife like a stern goddess -- a devatara -- slicing translucid, perfect semicircles. She was always cutting onions. I learned something from that: the omnipresence of the onion, constantly appearing like the heart's throb of our kitchen life. For breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, for every meal it turned up: sliced or chopped.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Jan 26th, 2006 at 08:18:45 AM EST
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Reef is one of the first novels I read when I landed in Sri Lanka, employees at my former office had bought me the book as a parting gift.

by Alex in Toulouse on Thu Jan 26th, 2006 at 08:25:24 AM EST
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Don't like it?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Jan 26th, 2006 at 08:38:25 AM EST
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No no, I remember it was a nice read, that settled me nicely into the place. But I hardly remember it.

by Alex in Toulouse on Thu Jan 26th, 2006 at 09:10:34 AM EST
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Ahh, jackfruit is lovely, unfortunately I only had it once in Kerala.