What are you eating today?

This is a question I think about several times a day. Certainly, not only what I eat, but what others eat -- my kids, people standing in line at the grocery store, the hard-core paleo diet athletes at my gym, people who call themselves foodies, mainstream chefs whose only interest in vegan meals is lower food costs, other vegans. For most of history, people simply ate what was locally available in their country or region. Rarely, did they question the advantages or disadvantages of one food over another, and hardly would they have imagined the possibility of adopting a diet that was entirely different from their cultural peers. Though there have been individuals and spiritual followers over the centuries who advocated certain foods as more healthful or humane, to most people, food was simply food, a necessity to serve as nourishment for both the body and soul.

Today, however, despite the current recession, we are in a historic era of riches, and dietary choices abound: you can be a raw-foodist, junk food addict, gourmand, Zoner, no or low-carber, macrobiotic, vegan, vegetarian, fishatarian, locavore, slow foodist, or a combination of the above. You can switch loyalties as well, leaving those in the group you left behind to judge you. And that is the other thing we have come to do: judge those who eat differently from us. We observe others and judge who they are by what they eat. If we eat mainly for health reasons, then we judge those whose food choices don't fall into our particular food groups. If our main interest in victuals is for the excitement they offer our tastebuds, then we pity those who just don't know a really good barbecue or foie gras or cheesecake. Or perhaps we choose our foods based on their global footprint and balk at the sight of processed, packaged foods. I am guilty on almost all fronts -- unwittingly, I shake my head when I see a mother buying soda, pop tarts and frozen meals, or an athlete on a protein-based diet unaware of the environmental impact, or a foodie who can't imagine how expansive a vegan diet can be. And then I realize how silly it all is when I think about people who don't have the luxury to ruminate over food choices at all but simply need to be fed - anything. The philosophy of food is indeed complicated, with moral, social, environmental, health, economic and other implications, the excessive pondering of which can frighten us to stop eating - period. So, while I debate these issues in my mind frequently, most of the time I simply think about what I'm really in the mood to eat, what's going to taste really good for lunch or dinner. And that is mainly what this manifesto will be about -- an exploration of the culinary possibilities of a vegan diet with a few ideas and opinions thrown in. I have long learned that the vegan police don't do a very good job of welcoming newcomers to the fold, that being judgmental does not win converts. No, I'd rather cook for you and convince you through your tastebuds. Let's sit down over some wine and savor what's on our plate. The talk can come later.

So, what are you eating today?