Last weekend, I ventured to Walker and attended the kickoff meal for the Grand Rapids Roller Girls teams' monthly pub-crawl. Not only did I have a lot of fun at their event mingling with patrons including the Grand Rapids Rugby team (woof!), but also I got the chance to interact with many of the new faces of women who really work their butts off each week. Their training schedule is very intense and proves to me our girls have the stuff to be world champions.
As the server went around the table asking each of us what we wanted to order, the woman seated next to me asked, "What do you have for vegetarians?"
Of course, those who forgo meat for a variety of reasons from health to humane know too well what the standard reply will be. The waitress, not missing a beat, said, "Umm, you can order a salad."
(Yawn)
As I looked feverishly over the menu for an alternative, a habit of mine trying to make people feel included, I spotted a few menu items that the cook could reverse engineer the meat product out of them and said, "Well, at least you are not vegan, or I would say order a bus ticket back to the city."
We had a good laugh, but truth is, as our national diets shift, our community should be able to enjoy a true variety of menu selections at most restaurants going forward.
Change has been slow in some areas, but in many localities there are plenty of options with more appearing on menus in urban establishments and even suburban ones too. It is beginning to happen.
And while most food trends still do emerge from cities where experimentation rules supreme, these shifts in meal options do make their way eventually to the suburbs and beyond to the plains.
In an almost prophetic evolution of this phenomenon, the underground supper club is a part of the change that has been happening elsewhere and has finally arrived here.
Fire and Knife is a pop-up supper club event where guests purchase a ticket to be privately wined and dined in a secret location for one night. Fire and Knife was recently awarded a 5x5 grant to begin it here in Grand Rapids.
The concept has been covered here in
Rapid Growth but on Wednesday, May 25 about three-dozen guests will have the chance to dine on a meal that is created just for them in a never-to-be-duplicated moment.
Brian Gerrity, Fire and Knife's instigator, spoke with me about the launch of his event where he hinted at a few secret items like a Mexican inspired cuisine that "you go to, instead of it coming to you" and a pairing of wines for each of these crafted-right-before-your-eyes courses.
As he spoke about his choice for their first chef, Tommy Fitzgerald -- a familiar and friendly foodie on the local culinary scene -- I was reminded of the Woody Allen film "Hannah and Her Sisters," where one of the characters proclaims that dining out is the new theatre. With Chef Tommy Fitzgerald at the knife, anything is possible!
But as I listened to his menu, I had to ask, "Would there be an event that focuses on those with other diet requirements?" The short answer is yes, and with excitement, I can share that what he is cooking up, pardon my pun, is going to be really interesting. So, please keep his events on your radar.
And speaking of changes in how we look at food and how it is served locally, "
Vegan Diner: Classic Comfort Food for the Body and Soul" by Julie Hasson has been sitting on my shelf of books sent to me to review. It is a cookbook that has captured not only my imagination, but also my appetite.
This book's premise is simple. Rather than be told that to be vegan you must be willing to live your life on an endless diet of peanut butter sandwiches and microwave bean burritos, this Portland author and producer of the online cooking program "Everyday Dish" has created the definitive guide to recreating those dishes you thought you could never indulge in again.
In our home, we have started to cook more vegetarian dishes with glee, but I will be honest, cooking vegan always seemed too extreme and just out of reach. Even one comic at LaughFest joked there is nothing sadder than a book appropriately titled "Vegan Cooking For One." But the jokes may be finally over with Hasson's definitive book that showcases her love of diner food.
"Vegan Diner" breaks down those walls with not only easy-to-follow recipes of ingredients found in most cooks' kitchens, but creates those menu items with visually stunning results.
As I ventured into the book, I found many of the items that were missing from my cupboards were readily available in places like our local grocer Harvest Health in Grand Rapids, Cascade and Hudsonville.
It will take some time for me to cook though all these nearly 100 menu items with unlimited combination options, but we will do it. And so should you. This is probably the first vegan cookbook to come out that not only speaks to many who are asking for options, but "Vegan Diner" is sure to satisfy the hunger in those seeking an alternative to the 'we have a salad' reply.
With this book hitting the local booksellers' shelves, it is only a matter of time before restaurants can easily begin to extend a welcoming food option to our friends who have chosen this class of cooking.
And isn't that what our Founding Fathers fought so hard for when they said they wanted to form a more perfect union? Why should it just be about people and states when food is a part of our lives at least three times daily?
I can go without C-Span for days, but food….well.
The Future Needs All of Us ("Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.*")
Tommy Allen
Lifestyle Editor
[email protected]Click here to continue to this week's G-Sync events. Lifestyle Editor's Note: *Michael Pollan is quoted above because his way of thinking not only has changed the way I eat, but the way our nation is moving. And while food columnist is not my moniker, it is clear I did not get this size hating food. As I begin my journey into summer, look for more food-related columns from Rapid Growth's G-Sync. A big shout out to my mom this week, who taught me how much power there is in making people feel welcome at the dinner table. See you at the Farmer's Market!