Photo by Rissa Miller

By Rissa Miller, Vegan Journal Senior Editor

(Serves 6)

1 Tablespoon vegan margarine/butter

1 small onion, sliced

3-4 radishes, sliced

1-2 cloves garlic

2 sheets vegan puff pastry, thawed to room temperature

Flour, to roll dough

One 16-ounce silken tofu, drained

1/4 cup chickpea flour

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 Tablespoon miso

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon arrowroot powder

Pinch black salt (optional, see note below)

Pinch ground white pepper (optional)

1 bundle of asparagus, ends trimmed

Salad Topping with Smoked Paprika Vinaigrette:

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Salt/pepper, to taste

4 cups fresh arugula, baby spinach, baby kale, or spring mix greens

2 Tablespoons sunflower seeds (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

     In a medium side skillet, melt the vegan margarine and toss in onion, radishes, and garlic. Sauté vegetables until lightly browned and fragrant. Set aside.

     Flour a flat surface and individually roll puff pastry sheets using a rolling pin or flat jar until each sheet is roughly about 12×14 or so. Move one puffed pastry sheet to each baking sheet and set aside.

     In a blender or food processor, combine silken tofu, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, miso, turmeric, garlic powder, arrowroot powder, black salt, and white pepper. Purée until smooth and creamy with no chunks of tofu remaining. Pour half of the mixture onto one puff pastry sheet and spread it evenly up to one inch from the sides. Fold sides over to make the crusty edge of the tart. Repeat with remaining tofu mixture on second puff pastry sheet. Use half of the asparagus and place it across the middle of the tart in a row in any way that looks appealing. Repeat with the second tart. Divide the sautéed onions, radishes and garlic, and sprinkle half on each tart.

     Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes until the tart center is set up firmly and the crust is crispy and golden brown. Allow to cool on the pan for at least 10 minutes before topping with salad.

     While tarts bake, prepare the Salad Topping with Smoked Paprika Vinaigrette. In a ball jar with a lid or a bowl combine olive oil, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, smoked paprika and salt/pepper. If using a jar, shake to mix or in a bowl, whisk until blended. Toss arugula/greens, sunflower seeds and vinaigrette until well combined. When tarts are cooled, spread salad over each one. Slice each tart into six portions and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Vegan Chopped Liver

https://www.vrg.org/blog/2011/04/18/vegan-chopped-liver-spread-for-passover/

Sweet Potato Kugel

https://www.vrg.org/blog/2014/04/09/vegan-passover-recipes-2/

Matzo Meal Pancakes

https://www.vrg.org/blog/2014/03/12/celebrate-passover-with-vegan-dishes/

Vegan Carrot Cream Soup

https://www.vrg.org/blog/2020/04/08/serve-vegan-carrot-cream-soup-for-passover/

Russian Potato and Mushroom Croquettes; Indian-Style Potato Dish; Fresh Tomato Soup; A.M. Crunchies; Pear and Apple Slaw

https://www.vrg.org/blog/2012/03/27/vegan-recipes-for-passover/

French Onion Soup

https://www.vrg.org/blog/2015/03/12/vegan-passover-recipes-3/

Eggless Passover Desserts

https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2010issue1/2010_issue1_matzo.php

For more recipes, see:

https://www.vrg.org/journal/index.php

https://www.vrg.org/journal/CookingAndRecipes.htm

Amp up Tacos in your household with these vegan recipes for Tacos al Pastor and Tofu con Rajas Poblanos. Both offer up layers of flavor with pepper-based marinades and hearty vegan ingredients. Chef Carlos does it again with more Mexican meals!

See this VRG video at: https://youtu.be/cQBoamigfTI

More videos at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvSyCToa_i9fA4D5CLCAFWw https://www.vrg.org/veg_videos.php

If you live in Israel or travel there for work or pleasure, be sure to dine at Green Roll in Tel Aviv. This vegan sushi restaurant offers a huge variety of creative sushi, as well as soups, appetizers, sandwiches, desserts, and more.

They are located here: Ahad Ha’Am St 15, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6514101, Israel

For more information, visit their website (in Hebrew) https://thegreenroll.co.il/

When you go to the restaurant you can request an English menu.

Kusaki seared tofu

The Vegetarian Resource Group maintains an online Guide to Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants in the USA and Canada. Here are some recent vegan restaurant additions. The entire guide can be found here: http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

To support the updating of this online restaurant guide, please donate at: www.vrg.org/donate

Here are some new additions to VRG’s guide:

Beach’n SF, 4300 Judah St., San Francisco, CA 94122

Beach’n SF is a vegan coffee bar and brunch and lunch restaurant. Breakfast is served all day and includes breakfast burritos with guacamole and hash cake bites as well as French toast topped with seasonal fruit. Lunch items include buffalo mac’n cheeze made with house-made sauce; a beach’n crunch wrap with refried beans, guacamole, house-made cheese sauce, and pickled jalapenos; and tofu sunset banh mi made with tofu marinated in a ginger-lime vinaigrette and topped with pickled carrots and jalapenos. Salads and sides are also available including Caesar salad, fries, and deep-fried Brussel sprouts.

Kusaki, 2535 S. Barrington Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064

Minimalist, modern, and sophisticated omakase bar and sushi restaurant featuring elaborate, innovative plant-based sushi, sashimi, appetizers, and shareable non-sushi dishes. À la carte options include a variety of sushi rolls, hand rolls, sashimi, and nigiri. The fillings range from vegetables like trumpet mushroom and butternut squash to vegan “seafood” like salmon, tuna, and calamari. Crowd favorites include the king sushi roll, rainbow sushi roll, seared tuna nigiri, salmon nigiri, shishito burger, and avocado crispy rice. Taste and texture-wise, Kusaki’s offerings aren’t necessarily identical to their non-vegan counterparts. That being said, they are exquisitely layered, complex, and beautifully presented adaptations of the real thing. Can’t decide what to order? Reserve a spot at the eight-seat chef’s counter where diners can pick from five-course or seven-course omakase options. This gives the chef freedom to curate a meticulously crafted dinner featuring seasonal produce, elegant plating, and a delicately flavorful journey. Most menu items can be made gluten-free, and the building is wheelchair accessible. Additionally, valet parking and street parking are available.

Revelstoke, 195 Carlton St., Toronto, ON M5A 2K7, Canada and 641 George St. N., Peterborough, ON K9H 3S7 Canada

Revelstoke Café and Kitchen offers starters, brunch dishes, burgers, wraps, salad bowls, and coffee beverages. The all-day brunch includes the Classic Benny that tops a toasted English muffin with black salt tofu egg, seitan peameal, and house-made cashew hollandaise. Breakfast burritos are made with tofu scramble, hashbrowns, and seitan bacon and can be served wrapped in a flour tortilla or as a bowl. Handheld menu items include the Stoked Lentil Burger with a lentil, walnut, and apple patty. The beet and feta salad is made with greens, beets, and vegan feta topped with maple Dijon dressing.

The Happy Vegan Bakery and Café, 293 Bayshore Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94124

Hole-in-the-wall kitchen that offers a colorful variety of breakfast and lunch options. All items are gluten-free and vegan, and many are also soy-free. Try an Original Açaí Bowl with Almond Butter, an Ultimate Açaí / Dragonfruit Bowl, or a Breakfast Platter with hash browns and an additional side. The venue also carries waffles, smoothies, an array of loaded sandwiches, a medley of desserts, coffee, and tea. You can either order for pickup or delivery. Limited street parking is available; just pull up and parallel park into The Happy Vegan’s dedicated spot in front and then grab your order from the window. The Happy Vegan is LGBTQ-owned, and plastic-free/compostable containers are an option.

Tru Vegan Creamery, 1499 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa, FL 33602

Tru Vegan Creamery offers a wide assortment of nondairy desserts such as Tru Scoops, served in cones or cups, “responsibly sourced,” coconut milk based and made “in house” are their answer to vegan-minded “ice cream.” Besides classic Vanilla, So So Berry (AKA Strawberry), there’s Chocolate Drip (AKA Double Chocolate). But wait, there’s more! Does your tongue crave some tang? How about Key Lime? If it’s your birthday, or you just want that special birthday feeling, you might try Birthday Behavior—Birthday Cake and Vanilla. And let’s not forget Chocolate Iced Cookies and Vanilla. There are seasonal flavors too such as Sinful Strawberry Cheesecake Tru Scoop: a mix of Plain Cheesecake, Coconut Milk Vanilla and Fresh Strawberries. Kid sized versions are also available. We could talk all day about Add ons. Besides the familiar favorites, there’s Whipped Coconut Cream, Maple Pecan Pralines, Caramel and Chocolate sauces, Dark Chocolate, Hemp and Chia Seeds, various fruits, Vegan Marshmellows and much more. If it’s a shake you’re seeking, their V Shakes offer some of the above flavors blended with signature additions like PB Me (Peanut butter and Chocolate) or AvoCoco (Avocado and Coconut). They serve at least four varieties of Lux Slushes. Watermelon Mint Please is a combo of Watermelon, Lime, So So Berry and Mint Leaves. In a hurry? They have a huge selection of Grab and Go including: Brownies, Yogurts, Cinnamon Buns, Cookies, Oatmeal Vegan Bites, Muffins, Cheesecake, Bottled Water, Pressed Juices and Protein Bars to name a few. Tru Vegan Creamery is located in fun and historic Ybor City, off 7th Ave. Parking is available.

Passover begins the evening of April 5, 2023 this year and The Vegetarian Resource Group is the publisher of several books that feature vegan Passover recipes. Below we share three recipes with you. In the USA, you can purchase these vegan cookbooks from the VRG Book Catalog here: http://www.vrg.org/catalog

Fresh Tomato Soup (from No Cholesterol Passover Recipes, by Debra Wasserman)

(Serves 4)

1 large onion, chopped

5 small ripe tomatoes, chopped

1-1/2 cups water

½ teaspoon fresh parsley, minced

Pepper and salt to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes and then cool. Place mixture in a blender cup and blend until creamy. Reheat and serve hot.

Minted Carrots with Chilies (from Vegan Passover Recipes, by Nancy Berkoff)

(Serves 4-5)

1-1/2 cups sliced onions

Vegetable oil spray

1 garlic clove, minced

2 Tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger

2 Tablespoons seeded and minced fresh chilies or green pepper

1-1/4 pounds carrots (about 3-1/2 cups), peeled and sliced lengthwise 1-inch thick

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Place onions in a large frying pan, spray liberally with vegetable oil, and sauté over medium heat until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and chilies and stir. Allow to cook for 1 minute.

Add carrots and add enough water to just cover. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes, or until carrots are tender. Add mint, cook for 2 more minutes. Serve hot.

Russian Potato and Mushroom Croquettes (from The Lowfat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook, by Debra Wasserman)

(Serves 5)

1-1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and chopped

5 cups water

1 onion, peeled and chopped

¼ pound mushrooms

1 teaspoon oil

1 Tablespoon water

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup matzo meal

1 Tablespoon oil

Boil potatoes in 5 cups water until tender. Drain and mash potatoes.

In a separate pan, sauté onion and mushrooms in 1 teaspoon oil and 1 Tablespoon water over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Mix the mashed potatoes, sautéed onion and mushrooms, seasonings, and matzo meal together in a large bowl. Form 10 burgers (croquettes).

Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry croquettes for 8 minutes, flip over and continue frying for another 8 minutes. Serve two croquettes per person.

Don’t forget, you can purchase these vegan cookbooks from the VRG Book Catalog here: http://www.vrg.org/catalog

If you enjoy vegan Mexican food, you might want to swing by one of Papi’s Tacos four locations including Hampden and Fells Point in Baltimore, Towson, and Ocean City, Maryland. They have an extensive separate vegan menu with a wide variety of dishes including street tacos, tableside guacamole, nachos, tostadas, burritos, quesadillas, fried plantains made with agave syrup, several salsas, and more. They also offer some monthly specials.

For further information, visit https://papistacojoint.com/

For a complete list of veggie restaurants throughout the USA and Canada, go to: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

The recently released dietary recommendations for the Spanish people consider health, sustainability, and the environmental impact of food. These recommendations were developed by the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN). Although the recommendations do not eliminate animal foods, they call for a limited use of meat and greater use of plant foods. The recommendations call for consuming at least 3 servings daily of vegetables, 2-3 servings of fruits, and 3-6 servings of grains. Legumes should be eaten 4-7 times a week and nuts 3-7 times a week. Meat should be eaten no more than 3 times a week with minimal consumption of processed meat. Eggs are limited to 4 per week. Fish can be eaten 3 or more times per week with emphasis on fish with lower environmental impact. The recommendations call for eating 3 servings per day of dairy products but, due to the environmental impact of dairy products, “it is suggested to reduce the number of daily servings of dairy products if other foods of animal origin are consumed.”

The members of the 2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee have been selected. Their task is to review the body of nutrition research and to develop a scientific report that includes the Committee’s advice for HHS and USDA to consider. This advice, along with public comments, will help HHS and USDA as they develop the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030.

Perhaps the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, HHS, and USDA can learn from Spain’s dietary recommendations and revise the U.S. Dietary Guidelines to include less meat and more legumes.

Reference:

Comité Cientifico AESAN. Informe del Comité Cientifico de la Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimientaria y Nutrición (AESAN) sobre recomendaciones dietéticas sostenibles y recomendaciones de actividad fisica para la población Española.

https://www.aesan.gob.es/AECOSAN/docs/documentos/seguridad_alimentaria/evaluacion_riesgos/informes_comite/INFORME_RECOMENDACIONES_DIETETICAS.pdf 2022

To read more about dietary guidelines see:

Do International Dietary Guidelines Promote Vegan/Vegetarian Diets?

The Dietary Pattern in Dietary Guidelines for Americans Could Easily be Made Vegan and Nutritionally Adequate

2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Released

The Vegetarian Resource Group Testimony on the Dietary Guidelines

The Vegetarian Resource Group Sends in Testimony Regarding the 2020 Dietary Guidelines

East Carolina University is recruiting pregnant vegan and vegetarian women to participate in a research study that examines urine and breast milk iodine concentration. We need your help in this process.

The following are the basic eligibility criteria:

• Following one of the following diet patterns: vegan or vegetarian,
• Currently pregnant,
• Willing to provide 1 sample of urine while pregnant and one sample of breast milk approximately one month after delivery,
• Willing to complete a web-based screening survey and a diet questionnaire.

Women selected for the study will receive a gift card to reimburse them for their time.

More information about the study can be found at: https://www.vegstudy.com/

To complete eligibility screening visit (please use Firefox as your browser): https://go.ecu.edu/veg-study

We sincerely appreciate your help.
Roman Pawlak, Ph,D, RD
Principal Investigator
East Carolina University

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

I wouldn’t blame you if you looked at the title of a recently published study “Plant-based Diets and the Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: A Large Prospective Multi-Center Study” and concluded that this was a study of vegans (1). It was not, however, a study of vegans or of any sort of vegetarians, despite the mention of “plant-based diets” in the article’s title. “Plant-based,” as we’ve discussed on our website and in Vegan Journal (previously Vegetarian Journal), can mean anything from eating lots of plants (but also using animal products), to avoiding red meat, to being vegan. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have a legal definition of “plant-based.”

Let’s look at this study’s methods to see who the study subjects were and what led the researchers to indicate that their study was of plant-based diets. First, a bit of history. In 2016, researchers from Harvard University’s School of Public Health published a paper which used information collected from three large studies to examine the association between diet and type 2 diabetes (2). They created three indexes (tools) for evaluating the subjects’ diets.

The first index was an overall plant-based diet index in which plant foods received a positive score and animal products received a negative score. A higher score on this index meant that one was eating more plant foods but did not indicate whether or not they were vegan.

The second index was called a healthful plant-based diet index in which “healthy plant foods” (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, vegetable oils, tea/coffee) received positive scores and “less healthy plant foods” (fruit juices, sweetened beverages, refined grains, potatoes, sweets/desserts) and animal foods received negative scores. A higher score on this index meant that one was eating more healthy plant foods but did not indicate whether or not they were vegan.

The third index was called an unhealthful plant-based diet index in which positive scores were assigned to “less healthy plant foods” (fruit juices, sweetened beverages, refined grains, potatoes, sweets/desserts) and negative scores were assigned to “healthy plant foods” (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, vegetable oils, tea/coffee) and animal foods. A higher score on this index meant that one was eating more unhealthy plant foods. Again, despite use of “plant-based” the diets being evaluated included animal products.

These tools were used to examine the association between risk of type 2 diabetes and diets with higher scores on the plant-based diet index, the healthful plant-based diet index, and the unhealthful plant-based diet index (1). Since the original study was published, many other studies have used these indices to evaluate the relation between so-called plant-based diets and disease.

The previously mentioned study of “plant-based diets” and pancreatic cancer used these three plant-based indices to evaluate the association between diet and pancreatic cancer (2). More than 100,000 U.S. adults answered questions about which foods they ate and how often they ate them. Subjects were not vegans. They were then followed for an average of almost 9 years to see who would be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Those with higher scores on the healthful plant-based diet index had a lower risk of developing pancreatic cancer; those with higher scores on the unhealthful plant-based diet index had a higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

These results support the importance of choosing healthful plant foods and limiting use of unhealthful plant foods. They do not allow any conclusions to be made about vegan diets.

References

1. Satija A, Bhupathiraju SN, Rimm EB, et al. Plant-based dietary patterns and incidence of type 2 diabetes in US men and women: Results from three prospective cohort studies. PLoS Med. 2016;13(6):e1002039.
2. Zhong GC, Li Z, You AJ, Zhu Q, Wang CR, Yang PF. Plant-based diets and the risk of pancreatic cancer: a large prospective multicenter study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2023;117(2):235-242.

To read more about what a plant-based diet means see:

What Does Plant-Based Mean To the Public?

Definition of Plant-based

What Does Plant-based Actually Mean?