Class Five Fennel Chompers

I once worked in a restaurant where vegan customers were referred to as Class Five Fennel Chompers. (Of course, nobody ever said that to their faces – that would just be rude. It was more of a joke among the restaurant's service staff.) But all the joking aside, I often wondered why vegans are often looked down upon by culinarians. You would think that a kitchen-full of people passionate about food would take the vegan diet as a great and interesting challenge. How many things can I do with this head of lettuce? What new recipe can I develop using only radishes? How do I substitute green grapes for roast beef? Maybe it is just me, but those are quite interesting questions.

So I am still left with the question – why do chefs avoid vegans? Where does this phobia come from? And I think the answer lies in how a chef is trained. I do not recall being formally trained in cooking à la vegan. (Note that I said – I do not recall. It might have happened, and I just missed it along with that lecture on rice cakes and the somewhat tipsy endings of pretty much every wine-tasting class.) But in the end, chefs are not genuine vegan-bashers. We (in many cases) simple do not possess the necessary information to accommodate the needs of our vegan clientele.

And so having learned this about myself and the industry, I do believe I will now set out to learn what I can about the vegan diet. I'm not going to say I will necessarily try it (let's face it, I love meat way too much for that). But I do believe I have the time to read a cookbook or two on the topic. And with a little luck, the next time a vegan sits down at my dinner table, I'll have something better to serve him/her than steamed cabbage.