Southern is one of only a few colleges or universities in the country providing this kind of training. This is a natural fit since the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s health message, which strongly recommends a meat-free diet, is on display each day as the university uses exclusively vegetarian ingredients in providing meals for its 3,300 students.

The bulk of the new curriculum will consist of professional cooking instruction. Some of the other courses being taught include Food Safety and Sanitation; Introduction to Food Purchasing, Preparation, and Presentation; International Ethnic Cuisines; and Introduction to Marketing for Culinary Professionals.

A new, full-time faculty member has been hired as the director and lead professor. There will also be several adjunct professors teaching classes, as well as guest speakers for class demonstrations.

To view a complete list of courses and requirements, visit: https://www.southern.edu/pe/academics/Pages/vegetarianculinaryarts.aspx.

A: There are many ways to replace cheese and meat in foods like tamales and enchiladas. Various combinations can be made containing tofu, vegetables, and guacamole instead of dairy and meat products. An example of this is guacamole enchiladas. Corn tortillas are used which are rolled up with guacamole and jalapeños. A sauce is then put over it that can be described as a ranchero sauce, made out of tomatoes, cilantro, onions, bell peppers, and spices. Another recipe for enchiladas uses tofu, corn tortillas, sautéed vegetables, and any kind of sauce. As for tamales, a good way to substitute cheese and meat in them is to use zucchini, bell pepper, tomatoes, lettuce, and guacamole instead. Beans can also be put inside these. Another way to replace these ingredients is to use black beans, vegetables, and spices. Overall, there are many ways to substitute cheese and meat in meals such as these. Experiment with a variety of vegetables and some of the ingredients listed in this paragraph! You will find a favorite recipe in no time!

Written by Brittany Estes-Garcia while volunteering with VRG.

If you would like to volunteer for The Vegetarian Resource group, please email vrg@vrg.org.

The Vegetarian Resource Group received a note from a food bank coordinator in Oklahoma. He teaches limited resource kids in after school programs how to cook and eat healthy foods and has used Nancy Berkoff’s and VRG materials in doing this. He was going to try the Broccoburgers from Nancy Berkoff’s Vegan in Volume, but wanted to clarify what we meant by Kasha in the recipes.

Chef Nancy said:

We are speaking about a medium grind of buckwheat (or kasha)…. not the really fine (as in “cream of”) and not the whole buckwheat (that looks like small pellets). In many areas, in retail stores, this is sold as “medium kasha.”

If kasha is not convenient, you can use short grained white or brown rice (also called “sushi rice”)… or even medium-grind corn meal. If you are going to use one of these substitutes, I would suggest doing perhaps a 1/4 batch. For texture, it’s helpful to let the burger mixture “rest” in the refrigerator for several hours… or even overnight.

If you have some TVP and are familiar working with it, you can substitute some of the kasha for this. Actually, a hospital cook told me she used Hamburger Helper, without the hamburger, for this recipe (since the Hamburger Helper is seasoned TVP) and that came out fine!

To order Vegan in Volume, see http://www.vrg.org/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=10

For Nancy’s article on Working With Food Banks, see
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2007issue1/vj2007issue1.pdf