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September 1997 Editorial: Beyond Tofu By Martin Rowe

The news that Paul Obis, founder of Vegetarian Times, had decided (to paraphrase) that after 25 years of eating tofu he had had enough and was returning to meat-eating left me boggled. I had images of this man mournfully sitting down to the plain white stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and muttering to himself: "Where have all the good times gone?" I could understand it if life was the same as in the mid 1970s, when Mr. Obis threw down his steak-knife and followed the meatless way of life. Apart from Mollie Katzen's recipes from the Moosewood Restaurant, there were precious few cookbooks out there with which refugees from the Standard American Diet (aptly-named SAD) could brighten their p(a)late.

But -- fashion aside -- it isn't the mid 1970s. For every Obis-clone tearing up his or her copy of the Soy of Cooking or Tofu! Tofu! Tofu!: Chinese Style and purchasing The Recovering Vegetarian Cook Book: 12 Easy Steps to Eating Meat Again, there are numerous folks heading in the other direction. As the titles Almost Vegetarian, Virtually Vegetarian, The Going Vegetarian Cookbook, The Gradual Vegetarian, and The New Not-Strictly Vegetarian Cookbook suggest, there are lots of people who'd like to be vegetarian but are afraid to forswear the whole hog. And it must be fear, because as is clear from the 667 titles listed in Books in Print with the word "vegetarian" in the title, there is a world of vibrant, tasty dishes waiting for their delight, catering for all the whims of cooks of all persuasions.

Those who think they can't be a vegetarian because it takes too much time to cook should think again. There's Fast Vegetarian Feasts: Delicious, Healthy Meals You Can Make in 45 Minutes or Less, 30 Low-Fat Vegetarian Meals in 30 Minutes, 20 Minutes to Dinner: Quick, Low-Fat, Low-Calorie Vegetarian Meals, The Fifteen-Minute Vegetarian, the 10-Minute Vegetarian Cookbook, and the supersonic-sounding Fat-Free & Easy: Great Meals in Minutes. Those who think they have to eat meat because there isn't enough choice with vegetarian food will also have to eat their hats. Let's consider the numbers: Fifty Quick and Healthy Vegetarian Dishes, 101 Vegetarian Recipes, The Best 125 Meatless Main Dishes, 365 Ways to Cook Vegetarian, 366 Healthful Ways to Cook Tofu and Other Meat Alternatives, 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes, and the big one, 1,001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes.

And let's not even start on types of food. While, not surprisingly given the Buddhist and Hindu restrictions on eating meat, there are plenty of books on Indian, Chinese and Japanese vegetarian cuisine, other countries and cultures are well represented. And it's not just pasta. You can eat The Best 125 Meatless Mexican Dishes and The Best 125 Meatless Mediterranean Dishes. There's Delicious Jamaica: Vegetarian Cuisine and French Vegetarian Cooking. You can enjoy The Greek Vegetarian and Jewish Vegetarian Cooking, Sicilian Vegetarian Cooking and The Vegetarian Taste of Thailand. There's The Australian Family Vegetarian Cookbook and Classic Armenian Recipes: Cooking Without Meat. You can take your food From the Tables of Lebanon: Traditional Vegetarian Cuisine or from the numerous compilations of international cuisine.

If you don't want to leave home, you can sample The Flavor of California: Fresh Vegetarian Cuisine from the Golden State or Good Time Eatin' in Cajun Country: Cajun Vegetarian Cooking. You can eat raw food from Delights of the Garden, or eat just Lean Bean Cuisine: Over 100 Tasty Meatless Recipes from Around the World. You can enjoy The Rasta Cookbook: Vegetarian Cuisine Eaten With the Salt of the Earth or use the Follow Your Heart's Vegetarian Soup Cookbook. You can specialize with herbs, mushrooms, chillies, oats, peas, beans, barley, and...well, you get the idea.

Now this is just a selection -- and it doesn't include all those recipes in all those veggie magazines (including this one) and the forests of vegan cookbooks sprouting up. And it's not just cookbooks. As this issue of Satya shows, books on vegetarianism, environmentalism, and animal advocacy seem to be growing in number and they deserve our attention. Vegetarianism, in spite of what Paul Obis thinks, is not just about how much tofu you consume and how often. It's about living a life aware of one's own contribution to animal suffering, environmental degradation, and unhealthy living, and trying to lessen it. And you don't even need to eat tofu to do it -- especially with the No-Tofu Vegetarian Cookbook in hand!

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