Introduction

If three years ago someone would have told me that I will one day be the author of a vegan cookbook, I would have declared that person insane. I have always loved meat dishes in all kinds and forms, and my mouth still waters as I imagine a juicy piece of roast lamb or a decent steak. Streaky bacon. Wiener Schnitzel. Spare ribs. Vegetarianism felt completely wrong to me, practiced by fanatics, with no lust for food, who never liked meat in the first place. I had heard of veganism, but vegans seemed to be members of some strange sect and I couldn’t understand how they managed to survive at all.

When I met my Love Patrizia, she was vegan and her fridge was always mostly empty besides a bar of margarine and a glass of jam. Outside the fridge was half a package of toast – the contents of her kitchen supported my preconception about vegans that they just didn’t enjoy eating anyway and so could easily live without most of the decent food that was available. But I had fallen in love with her, and for me a fundamental part of a loving relationship was to cook and eat together, enjoying the sensual qualities food has to offer. I took it as may challenge to awaken her lust in eating, and since she had decided to be vegan I had to come up with ways of vegan cooking that would please her and my taste.

I have always been strangely fascinated by veganism, as I am always fascinated with deep ethical beliefs that are consequently executed. Vegetarianism always felt lame and bigot to me - I never got the point why killing a healthy and happy animal should be damned, but lifelong torture of animals to produce eggs and milk should be tolerated (not to mention that these animals will be killed in the end anyway). I have much more respect for vegans who give in every now and then to the temptation of a decent steak than I have for vegetarians eating eggs and milk everyday. I do not want to go into the scientific discussion if animals do suffer like humans when killed or tortured here, but if you have ever looked at one you will have seen the answer in their eyes. I never even liked animals particularly, I think they should be left alone as they should leave us alone. I am well aware that our civilization, especially in cities, is only possible because of the historic and ongoing mass-slaughter of animals and the destruction of their habitats, but we have to accept to a certain point that the very concept of civilization is to rise above nature and impose our culture on it. It is just also a fundamental part of civilization to avoid slaughter and cruelty and to find new ways of solving problems, or even provide hedonistic experiences, with less ecological and ethical footprint!

One important aspect of my fascination for veganism is that is simply a field for innovation. Humans have been cooking with meat for thousands of years, and most combinations of ingredients and cooking methods have been tried out and the successful ones written down. Removing ingredients (and adding other ones) actually increases the possibilities to try out new stuff. When have you been able to truely innovate in a field that is immediately and fundamentally connected to your life?

I am still not always fully vegan now. I do not cook meat myself anymore, and I try to avoid non-vegan ingredients. Until a short while ago I always had butter, cheese and eggs in my fridge, and ate them regularly, but I recently quit that after seeing a documentary on how millions of baby chickens are gassed every year in the production of free-range eggs. I still love cheese, and I love meat if of decent quality and cooked properly. For a person like me, I think there is no point in going vegan from one day to the other – I would just get unsatisfied, and one day I would probably snap back to my old eating habits – but I have to say I am quite surprised how much progress I make year by year, without any reduction in the quality or enjoyability of my food.

When invited, I usually do not reject meat when no alternative is available and the origin seems resonable. My respect for the other person’s efforts and hospitality is higher than my urge to act pseudo-ethically by rejecting a piece of meat that will be eaten by someone else or thrown away anyway. However, I should more often discuss veganism with meat-cooking people, to convince them that there are alternatives. Maybe this booklet will be of help.

One warning: this book is not about healthy cooking! While I am told that a balanced vegan diet is better for your body than eating lots of meat, I did never care myself about healthy food. I never put on weight, and generally have the impression that vitamins and their presence or absence in food are overrated and can easily be substituted by suitable products. However, I am getting increasingly suspicious and worried when I read about traces of chemicals, hormones and medication in meat and animal products, but also in vegetables. For this reason, I tend to buy organic products where available and affordable.