Just a bit of background information. I am one of many chefs at large university in the deep south. Butter, bacon, and/or cheese are in almost every regional dish. I am not a vegan, though my diet is around 95% plant based. For anyone interested, I consume eggs and fish sparingly. True free range eggs from my uncle, and fish when I go fishing. Anyway, my girlfriend was more of a meat eater for the better part of our relationship and she gradually started going more plant based because of me. I'm lactose intolerant and have kept an assortment of nut milks in my refrigerator for longer than we have dated. I also stay stocked up on fresh produce and since I showed how awesome food can be without meat. Anyway last October I got home from work and started to prepare our dinner, trout poke bowls, and she told me that she woke up that morning and knew she wanted to be vegan and asked if I would hold the fish and eggs in the bowl. I was shocked and a bit confused, but I'm the chef and she gets what she wants. Her transition was seamless and as far as I know she hasn't slipped once. So I upped my vegan cuisine knowledge, with lots of help from Thug Kitchen, and started producing meals that made me cut back by animal product intake. In that process everyone at our local Trader Joes labeled us the surprise vegans because we don't fit the small and skinny stereotype of a vegan who "doesn't get enough protein." I'm 6'4" 250 lbs and she is 6'2" 190 lbs.
Fast forward two months, my company Christmas party was coming up and the menu didn't have a single vegan option. I brought up that my girlfriend was vegan and asked if they would accommodate her diet. Of course, the two chefs in charge of the menu scoffed and were pissy, but our VPO insisted that it be done. The vegan option offered was piss poor to say the least and I again complained and then offered to make something. So I got to prepare a vegan version of a very popular french dish. I did a Cassoulet slow cooked, loaded with tons of herbs and a banging vegetable stock, cherry wood smoked tempeh, and shiitake bacon. The dish was such a big hit. The VPO spent most of the party talking to my girlfriend about veganism and how he could implement it into our program at the university.
So starting in January this year, every cookie dough, salad dressing, and mayo we ordered was vegan. Thank you Hampton Creek! Our menus, including catering menus had several vegan options, thanks to my girlfriend and I trying things at home and then plugging them in.
Since my summers are usually slow, I will try my hardest to post pictures and recipes of my favorite things to cook. If there happens to be a vegan in this sub that attends the university I work for, just know that this is just the beginning and I will be pushing for even more options. Rock on!
Submitted May 27, 2017 at 02:43AM by LeChefRouge http://ift.tt/2rZsYmV vegan
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