Although I am a huge fan of vegetables, I am not a vegetarian.  Like most idealistic college students I toyed with vegetarianism on and off for years.  Unlike most, I prepared casseroles and frittatas rather than subsisting off fruity pebbles and macaroni and cheese.  Even with these delectable options my longest period without meat lasted less than a year and came to an abrupt halt early in the morning May 2005. 

 

I was living in a house with five others and all of us were on an anti-meat kick, which is why I was surprised to smell the irresistible scent of bacon drifting upstairs from the kitchen that morning.  I was in my best friend’s room (my room was a tiny, un-insulated loft with, so I spent a lot of time in other people’s rooms) and I looked at him to see if he smelled it too.  It was clear from the look of longing on his face that he did.

 We bolted down our rickety stairs and were amazed to find another of our roommates, the most staunch vegetarian in our house, standing in before a sizzling pan with a mountain of bacon stacked on a plate beside him.  It turned out that he was using the oil for a bio-diesel experiment and didn’t want the bacon at all.  I ate enough delicious, salty, crispy bacon that day to more than make up for my previous abstinence and I’ve never regretted giving up a life without bacon.

Despite my love affair with meat, vegetarian food—the good stuff, not the fruity pebbles—still rings my bell.  Vegetarians are a creative lot.  My friend Tim, for example, makes a mean dish out of shiitake mushrooms and nutritional yeast.  Sure, it might not sound like much, but I could eat it everyday of the week (or mix it into my stir fry as a meat substitute).  It’s that good.  

 Vegetarian food also tends to be more healthful than food based around meat (once again, I’m talking about the good stuff, nothing from a box).  Vegetarian diets tend to be high in phytochemicals, antioxidants, and fiber; they also tend to be low in saturated fats.  With the exception of Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B₁₂, it’s very simple to have a vegetarian diet that includes all the vitamins and minerals your body needs.  As for those two tough guys, just stock up on walnuts and take a supplement if you’re hard core enough to go vegan (B₁₂ is found in animal products such as milk, cheese, eggs, and butter).

 

In honor of my vegetarian friends, today I give you some delicious recipes for winter vegetables. I would also like to point out that any of these recipes would make a fine addition to a Thanksgiving feast.

 

 

·        Oven roasted root vegetables

·        Sautéed Brussels sprouts with pecans

·        Wild mushroom ragout