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THE VEGGIE TABLE; Meat-Free Holiday Meals Just a Click Away

Posted on: Sunday, 5 December 2004, 18:00 CST

Ask Concord, N.H., resident Jayme Simoes what he thinks about festive holiday meals and he doesn't hold back: "Nasty, salty meats." In fact, his dread of meat-centered occasions is such that this year, Simoes, his wife and their 3-year-old son - all vegetarians - took to the skies; they spent the day of thanks in the Azores.

As delightful as fleeing to an island off the coast of Portugal might seem, what if there were a less drastic solution to the annual holiday mismatch between vegetarians and their meat-eating families? PETA, the animal-rights group, thinks that an answer could be just a click away. The pro-vegetarian organization recently launched a Web site called vegcooking.com aimed squarely at carnivores seeking to understand the lifestyle, tastes and dietary needs of their vegetarian loved ones.

"This holiday season, millions of vegetarians across North America will join friends and family to celebrate and give thanks," states the Web site, acknowledging that holiday meals aren't just a challenge for vegetarians, but for the meat-eaters who cook for them. The solution: 10 simple tips guaranteed to make even the strictest vegan feel welcome. PETA has compiled brand names of meat- free ingredients, along with hundreds of easy-to-follow recipes.

No such resource was available when Sarah Stroker, 23, a PR associate in Boston, sat through her first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian at the age of 12. Instead, says Stroker, her mother has experimented a little each year, trying to find something that her daughter can eat and enjoy. "She made a lot more mashed potatoes at first, and she tried to make vegetable recipes that everyone would like," says Stroker. "One year we even had an Italian dinner, but that didn't go over very well."

As for whether a Web site might make the holiday go more smoothly, Stroker said that although a database of recipes could help, she isn't sure how much her mother would use them. "She only discovered the Internet recently. Sometimes she Googles for recipes, but I'm not sure how helpful a Web site would be," she says.

Concord resident Mimi Doe isn't completely sold on the online resource either. She's been cooking vegetarian meals for her 17- year-old vegetarian daughter Whitney for the past nine years, ever since she spurned the offer of a chicken breast for dinner at the age of 8 with the words, "I will never eat meat again. . . . What did this chicken ever do to me?" But with nearly a decade's worth of holiday meals under their belts, the Doe family has settled on a menu that seems to work for them: a Tofurkey, a mock turkey made from tofu for Whitney, and traditional fare for everyone else. "It doesn't taste like anything to me, but she likes it and she feels included," says Mimi Doe.

Doe said she found PETA's online recipes unappealing, but did like one feature of the site: a guide to vegetarian restaurants all over the country. "We travel a lot and I'd love to check out more veggie spots."

Of course, even the most ambitious Web site can't alter the fact that holiday meals in general are devoted to the consumption of meat. Asked if he'd consider referring his relatives to vegcooking.com, Jayme Simoes said he'd be happy to. "But," he added, "it won't cure them of their cured ham."

Caption: VEGAN: Go online for savory pot pie and other recipes. Photo courtesy Steve Lee

Source: Boston Herald

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