Vegan à Montréal

Every year’s Vegan MoFo alerts me to a number of new/established blogs I immediately become obsessed with, but I think this year’s was extra-special. You might know that one half (if you don’t count Buhbah) of us VOTMers is Canadian, and I am particularly fond of French Canada since I spent thirteen years in French Immersion. Tragically, my French isn’t anywhere near it should be, but after visiting my little sister, who is a resident of Montréal, and applying for a couple of jobs in the city that gave rise to Leonard Cohen, I’m pretty stoked on Montréal, and French.

The author of Vegan à Montréal, Babette, is a native Quebecer whose French language blog is full of vegan recipe reviews, vegan food, guides to the vegan goodness to be found in Montréal, and much more. Luckily for us, Babette is also fluent in English, and graciously answered some questions about her blog and vegan life in French Canada.

Veganomicon's Penne Vodka, made by Babette.

VOTM: When and why did you start your blog?

Babette: I started my blog two years ago, in October of 2009. I had been reading vegan blogs for a couple of years, and these blogs were mostly written by Americans and other English-speaking people. There were very few vegan blogs from Montreal and elsewhere in Québec, and most of them were in English. I thought I could create a French blog that could be used as a reference for aspiring vegans who speak French. It sometimes can be a hassle, when it is at all possible, to look up information in English, and I feel this might discourage people who want to embrace veganism. I didn’t want to publish a blog without pictures, so as soon as I got a digital camera, I started Vegan à Montréal. At first, it was really mostly to help people know veganism, but as time passed, I came to enjoy writing my blog more and more. Sometimes I even feel like I am a little obsessed with it.

VOTM: What is it like being a vegan in Montreal? How has the vegan scene evolved?

Montreal is great for vegans. Since 1997, we have an all-vegan restaurant called Aux Vivres, and a couple of other vegan restaurants have opened since then. Unfortunately, most of them are located downtown or in the Plateau (Montreal’s trendy neighbourhood)… I wish they were spread all over the city, or just around the corner of my house, but hey, I am not going to complain! We also have a lot of vegetarian places, and they all offer vegan options. Other than that, there are standard restaurants that offer decent vegan options, but there are also places where you have to settle for a green salad or pasta with tomato sauce. Nothing’s perfect.

And I have to mention the opening of Viva Vegan a couple of years ago. This online store carries all sorts of vegan goodies (pizzas, cheeses, candies, beauty products, marshmallows, etc.), and last winter, they opened a physical store in the city. How cool is that! They even have a selection of baked goods like vegan croissants, vegan cupcakes, vegan baklavas, etc. The vegan scene has been evolving in the right direction, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Montrealers.

Greek Tofu Benedict from Vegan Brunch, made by Babette

VOTM: Since your blog is written in French, where do the majority of your readers come from? Have you made any connections through the French-speaking blogging world?

Most of my readers come from Quebec. But there are also French readers in other parts of the country, as well as readers from France. A few people also told me they read my blog to practice their French. Many people have started their own vegan or vegetarian blog since I started mine, and I hope it sets a trend. I wish there were so many vegan blogs in French that it’d be hard to keep track of them.

VOTM: Why are you vegan? Are you involved in any vegan outreach activities (other than the blog, of course)?

I’m vegan for the ethical reasons—the environment, the animals, etc. I remember when I was 17, I thought being vegan could absolutely not be healthy, even though I had been vegetarian for a couple of years and was open to new information. That’s when I got a computer and Internet access—well, that was more than 10 years ago! I started posting in a vegetarian forum, and there was some guy there who had just turned vegan and he pointed to websites where people could learn the reasons behind veganism. I read about factory farming and learned, among other things, that the hens and cows who produced the eggs and milk I was consuming were not ethically treated, and were eventually killed and transformed into meat. Most importantly, I saw how veganism was totally healthy, and this just confirmed that I had to be vegan, that there was nothing crazy about it. Less than one or two weeks later, I was vegan, and I never turned back. Veganism defines who I am and it really became an integral part of my identity.

As for activism, I go to protests a couple of times a year and I also do outreach activities with animal rights organizations.

VOTM: What is your favourite vegan restaurant option in Montreal?

I would have to say Aux Vivres—they make killer sandwiches like the BLT. Their brunches are wonderful. So are their desserts. I love it! I’m also a big fan of La Panthère verte, an all vegan sandwich joint. I really like their tempeh sandwich and they also sell homemade vegan kefir. And Viva Vegan sells great sandwiches, grilled-cheeze sandwiches, pizza rolls and wonderful pastries. I can’t go there without sampling something.

The amazing chapatis au végépâté from Montreal's Aux Vivres

Thank you so much, Babette!

And with that, happy holidays and thank you for reading our wee blog. We look forward to bring you some exciting content in 2012. 2011 was an amazing year for veganism, and it can only get better. We want to remind you guys that we are dying to hear about your small- or large-scale vegan advocacy/projects where you live! Please email us at vegansonthemove@gmail.com so we can feature you and inspire vegans everywhere.

Halloween Oatmeal Cream Pies

Happy Halloween! I made the oatmeal cream pies from the Sunny Days Cookzine and dyed the filling orange and black. They are delicious. I haven’t had an oatmeal cream pie in many years and now I have a recipe to make them as often as my little heart desires. This is also Happy End of Mofo! Please keep checking our blog and keep sending us ideas of Vegans on the Move to write about. We love hearing from you.

Spooky Buhbah Friday

True story: One day my boyfriend (pictured, the one who is not a cat) and I sat down to see what this True Blood kerfuffle is all about, and Buhbah nestled in between us, as he does. I am not shitting you—the next day, he had grown a fang. He hasn’t yet grown the second, but you can bet that when Bill and Eric and the gang of terrible actors on an okay TV-show come around again, Buhbah will make his full transformation. By the way, Buhbah loves being held like this. He’s a “scrapper from way back”.

You know, it’s been years since I’ve lived somewhere where cute, dressed-up children come around trick or treating, but if they did, I’d be sure to give them Chick-O-Sticks (rarely available here in Canada, but amazing and unrivaled), homemade vegan toffee (that their parents will sadly and promptly throw out), and maybe even some Pez. What do you offer your likely non-existent trick or treaters?

Panda Bakes Pumpkin Cheddar Biscuits

I spent part of my downtime at Vida Vegan Con reading the Sept/Oct issue of VegNews and was excited to see a plethora of pumpkin recipes, one of which is from a favorite blogger of mine. Bianca from Vegan Crunk had a recipe featured for pumpkin cheddar biscuits and being a fan of all things pumpkin and all things biscuit-y, I knew these were going in my oven come October.

This picture isn’t nearly as pleasant as the one she had in the magazine, but pick up a copy of the latest issue on the news stand or at your local public library and give these a whirl. Pair with a hearty cup of tea in the morning and start the day off right. And then send me a few because I really like them.

Recipe Testing 101: Featuring Pie

My fave curried macaroon pie. Can you spot Buhbah in the background?

Hi guys! Well, I survived the technapocalypse yesterday. I was without internet for 20 hours. What a ridiculous diva I must be to even let that get to me, but try explaining to your ISP that you need to be around for something called Vegan MoFo and see how far you get. But you know, I read an amazing book, cuddled Skittles, worked on boring work stuff, and even bought ingredients for recipe testing, so it was a very nice internet stimulus-free day.

Vegan recipe testing! It’s awesome. Here’s why:

1. You are supporting vegan cookbook authors!
2. You (usually) get a free vegan cookbook! And your name in print. Don’t even pretend that doesn’t excite you.
3. You will inevitably learn how to be a better cook, and even improve your palate. Because instead of telling the author “that was fucking tasty,” they want to hear “the acidity was slightly overwhelming, but the creamy mashed potatoes quelled it in the final dish. However, when do I add the brown rice flour? It was not included in the directions.”
4. You get warm fuzzies from being a part of a community of excited vegans planning a culinary takeover of an omnivorous world.
5. You can post stuff on your blog and make people batshit jealous of this secret society you’re involved with.
6. As much as I might think my marmite gravy is the most amazing recipe of all time, let’s face it—we’re not all genius recipe inventors. Testing gives avid cooks the experience of understanding what it takes to create a recipe, and the ability to interact with the recipe’s author to make them feel like they had a valuable part in its creation.

I haven’t been testing for years like many of my vegan friends, but I have been a proud tester for my friends Melisser Elliott, Julie Hasson, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, Kittee Berns, and currently, for Terry Hope Romero’s new project. Even though I already have way too many cookbooks, there is something extremely motivating about seeing recipes from your favourite authors long before the general public, and having the opportunity to give valuable feedback.

People often seem to be curious about what it takes to become a recipe-tester, so this is my experience. Follow your favourite cookbook authors in whatever capacity they make available online. My connections have all stemmed from being a part of the PPK forums, but that’s not necessary, as not all people writing vegan cookbooks are on the PPK. Authors will often put the call out on their blogs, twitter/facebook accounts, email newsletters, etc. It’s not hard to “get in” as a newb—most authors wisely like to choose testers from a wide variety of backgrounds, geographical locales, and experiences. Jump on the call when it arrives, and chances are, they’ll be grateful. If they can’t accept you due to an overwhelming response, don’t take it personally, and just wait for the next time. There will be a next time, because rampant vegan cookbook growth is a very real phenomenon.

I’ll stop babbling in order to share a couple of photos of pies (oops! I was going to share tons of photos, but I forgot that my Macbook crashed pretty much the day after pie-testing ended) I tested for the hot-off-the-press Vegan Pie In The Sky. Like I need to sell you on pie. For beautiful photos, buy the book yourselves. I make pie to eat, not to gaze at. These were all made for the bake sale for Japan earthquake relief my boyfriend and I held back in April.

Vancouver Canucks-themed Grasshopper Pie

Appleberry Pie

Cappuccino Mousse Pie

VPITS!

Vegan Blogs from Back in the Day

For my Tuesday posts for Vegan Mofo I wanted to take a look at a couple of blogs that I have read for a number of years and that made a big difference in my becoming interested in veganism. Although many blogs had an influence on me, most of the ones I started reading 6 or so years ago are no longer around.

Today’s feature is Get Sconed!, which may be the first vegan blog I stumbled upon, lo so many years ago.  Straight outta Portland, OR, Jess has blogged for years about vegan food trends and the Portland vegan scene. Although she wouldn’t brag about it she is quite the activist in the area, working on such projects as Vegan Iron Chef and Vida Vegan Con. I have also been lucky enough to meet her in person and she exemplifies what I had in mind when I started Vegans on the Move. She works at promoting veganism in a fun and accessible way and works to promote community.

Follow her blog and twitter account to keep up with what’s what in the vegan world and maybe an occasional cat picture in there too.  You can’t go wrong.

 

The Dancing Vegans

The Dancing Vegans are two vegans in my frequent home(ish)town of Victoria, BC. One day several of weeks ago, I was perusing the grocery store Market On Yates (it’s a rad store that sells vegan cookbooks at the tills—you’ll often have a Sarah Kramer sighting (I’m so creepy!), and I used to live around the corner from the store in a horrible silverfish-infested apartment with my little sister, and I designed the organic produce department for MOY’s sister store the Market on Millstream and….oh, this isn’t about me. Sorry! Anyway, I came across some spicy sauces in cute little mason jars labelled The Dancing Vegans and duh, I knew I had to track down these (dancing) vegans on the move. Here they are. Thanks so much Bronwynne and Yogev for this extra special vegan MoFo interview! Be inspired! I know I am. And I still have to track down some Dancing Vegans mayo.

VOTM: Who are you, how long have you been vegan, and why did you decide to start the Dancing Vegans?

The Dancing Vegans: We are Bronwynne and Yogev. We met in Thailand at a home for refugee children on the border of Burma and Thailand. The home (Baan Dada Children’s Home) is vegan. I (Bronwynne) have been vegetarian almost my whole life, and vegan on and off over the years. Yogev became vegetarian after staying at Baan Dada Children’s Home. We moved to Canada together (I am from Canada and he is from Israel), got married in March and became vegan together last April.

We started the Dancing Vegans because we want to offer delicious, cheap options to people looking to refrain from consuming any animal products. We noticed that there are not a lot of options for vegans looking for sauces here in Victoria, so we decided to try to make a few different things.

VOTM: What products does your business offer?

TDV: We offer vegan mayo, dips, sauces, pasta, and baked goods. We are always trying new recipes and creating new dishes. People in the Victoria area can email or call us to place an order, which will be delivered (by bicycle) to them.

VOTM: What has the response been? What are your plans for the future of the business?

TDV: The response has been good so far. The first time we sold any thing was in Fernfest, a celebration of the Fernwood community here in Victoria. The response there was amazing, everyone asked where they could get our products. Now we have our chili sauces at the Market on Yates. Our ultimate goal is to sell our products to people directly, that way we can offer an affordable price as well as recipes so that the people can make it for themselves in the future. Eventually (after traveling for a little while) we want to open a vegan café, maybe here in Victoria or somewhere else on the west coast of BC.

VOTM: What advice do you have for other “vegans on the move” hoping to launch their own startup and offer great vegan products?

TDV: Don’t try to fill your food with imitation meat products. Nature offers us everything we need to stay healthy and create amazing food! Use natural ingredients and people will always love your products.

VOTM: Finally (a random), what’s your favourite vegan meal?

TDV: Something that we love making is a dish we also loved eating in Thailand. It’s called Som Tam (green papaya salad). It’s spicy, fresh and makes a great side or main dish.

Buhbah Friday Guest Post: Skittles

I’m house-sitting right now, in a place far too large for my default levels of laziness and messiness. Anyway, my companion is Skittles. Though I miss Buhbah dearly, we had a little phone conversation the other day, and it was reported by the taller one that the cat’s end consisted mostly of Buhbah bashing his wee head up against the receiver. Using my best google translate cat-reading, I have concluded that this action meant that in response to my request about whether skittles—the 60-pound companion sheepdog who is glued to my side—could be featured on Buhbah Friday, Buhbah replied “just make that little jerk do, at the very least, a tap dance. Meow.” Sigh. Fine, Buhbah, FINE.

Meet Skittles.

Panda Bakes Brownies

Brownies!  I am not a huge chocolate fan but I love me a good brownie.  Toss in a bunch of chocolate chips so it stays kind of gooey and dense and top off with a whole bunch of Dandies.  Then wrap a bunch up to share with friends because baked goods taste best when eaten with a spot of tea in good company.

Produce Nerding with Gabrielle

High-five if you have a degree/certificate/interest/career/whatever in the fine arts! We here at VOTM are of the artsy persuasion: Panda and I even have (somewhat) matching MFAs. Anyway, pursuing my degrees in the arts was really fun, but it also means that I’m not exactly highly employable in my field other than freelancing (which I do and love), so on more than a few occasions I’ve had to find work elsewhere. No big deal. I like to do lots of different things.

After I finished theatre school, having worked part-time at a health food store during school, I jumped at the chance to manage an organic produce department at that same store. I biked to work at the crack of dawn, unveiled and said hello to my beautiful veggies hours before the store opened and customers started pissing me off, created a stench in the back room soaking cilantro back to its crisp, fresh self, and honestly, fell in love with veggies. It was definitely that job that ignited my passion for cooking with beautiful ingredients, letting the produce shine through, and it turned me from a slightly food-fearing vegan to a celebrator of kitchen alchemy. If that sounds cheesy, don’t even get me started on how I met my current boyfriend at that job, and how I’d get chills when he’d ask me to accompany him to the cooler to pick out some choice kale for his inter-store delivery. Veggies brought us together, you guys.

Anyway, gone are the days of that line of work, and I sincerely miss opening boxes of gorgeous freshly harvested local chard, garlic, tomatoes, watercress, and so on. But I’m still a vegetable enthusiast, and while I was wracking my brain thinking about what to write about yesterday, I went out to a great store near where I’m housesitting for a little inspiration. I picked up some of my favourite produce items which only set me back about $20 (mostly due to the mushrooms and local garlic), and now I’m going to nerd out and tell you about it.

To begin with, the stars. Mushrooms. I am obsessed. Put some button mushrooms in my tofu scramble and I’ll eat it, but I won’t be impressed. Sauté over high heat some oyster mushrooms and garlic in coconut oil with a sprinkling of thyme, some lemon juice, salt, pepper, wine, and red pepper flakes, and I will marry you. I picked up my favourite mushroom of all time (chanterelles), and also some maitakes and white beech mushrooms.

Favourite preparation: I almost always do a variation on Isa’s chanterelle recipe when I’m cooking fancy mushrooms. Essential: wine. I have forever been meaning to make the Oyster Mushroom Rockefeller from the second Horizons cookbook, so I might sub in the maitakes for that. I’ll report back if it’s good.

Brussels sprouts! Roasted, they are amazing. I hate prepping them, but I love eating them enough to keep me laboriously cutting off those stupid brown parts. I made an ugly soup out of them, and that was great, but truth be told they are best halved (or quartered if they’re huge, but the smaller they are, the tastier!) and roasted with garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and maybe some maple syrup and lemon juice. Has anyone been to Brussels? I like to imagine that you hop off the plane only to have roasted Brussels sprouts presented to you on a toothpick for taste-testing. I’ve also had expertly prepared sprouts served in a bath of cashew cheese topped with breadcrumbs at Gracias Madre, and deep-fried sprout “chips” at Social Kitchen and Brewery, both in San Francisco.

Tomatoes and hot peppers. Tomatoes! They are so nasty at Subway, or from Safeway imported from far, far away in the dead of winter, but local heirloom tomatoes are the shit. Hot peppers—I’ll buy imported ones because I NEED peppers all year (sriracha doesn’t always cut it). I put chilis in everything. Sometimes my boyfriend challenges me to make something without chilis, but since we both have a pretty high spice tolerance, I can usually sneak a jalapeno in with no ill effect or accusations of cheating. I love tomatoes in all forms (though commercial ketchup is mostly gross), but slow-roasted tomatoes are my favourite. Since my weirdo boyfriend hates cooked tomatoes, we usually just enjoy them raw, which is great if they’re not the winter/imported ones. I recently bought a stove top smoker, and though I’m pretty lazy about actually using it, smoked cherry tomatoes are wonderful. The Rebar cookbook (recommended!) has a wtf-pinch me-this can’t be real recipe for caramelized red onion soup with port, slow-roast tomatoes, and fresh herbs that is probably one of the best soups I’ve ever made. Someone posted the recipe here but you should get that book. Oh, and add some chilies!

Nugget potatoes. Fingerlings are my favourite, but I love colourful nuggets. We think we love purple potatoes the most, but we’re probably just making that up because they are pretty. Anyway, potatoes, in my opinion, are best roasted with plenty of oil, my holy trinity of salt, pepper, and garlic, and whatever else. However, it is fun to mash potatoes. Just make sure not to buy that stupid unsweetened almond milk that has vanilla extract in it. Gross. Oh, and don’t peel them! Peeling potatoes is something I avoid at all costs. Peels are tasty and nutritious. Potatoes are usually pretty affordable to buy organic, so there is no need to peel.

Did I recommend anything that doesn’t include these cute little bulbs of magic? Not likely. I don’t know what local garlic is like for you, but for me, it is huge, purple (this stuff is the red Russian variety grown on Gabriola Island), has cloves that are pungent, effortless to peel, and oh-so-perfect for roasted whole bulbs. Messing around with tiny cloves and sticky peels makes me angry.

Galangal! What kind of fancy-ass awesome shit is this? Truth be told, I love ginger, but I adore galangal. I can never find it where I normally live, so when I’m at fun stores that keep it in stock, I always buy a knob (best word ever). Galangal is a key component in Thai cuisine and a frequent ingredient in Thai curry pastes, but to be honest, I’ll use it in any application where I’d usually use that other rhizome. I’ll even chop a bit off and make galangal tea. Who drinks galangal tea?! Weird vegans, that’s who. It seems a little bit more intense than ginger, and slightly prettier. I have actually told customers that.

Okay, this one is totally gratuitous, because I live in Canada and shouldn’t have access to papaya, but (very rarely) I cave and buy one. What can I say? The way the sweet fruit melts in my mouth is addictive, and I love squirting some lime juice and cayenne (try it!) on it, or even chaat masala if I’m feeling crazy. At the height of my trying-to-eat-local-and-organic crusade, I went to Hawaii (yes, I recognize the absurdity of that statement), and I was perplexed as to why I could only readily find papaya in plastic clam shells at grocery stores and gas stations. Granted, I was in Honolulu, but still! Anyway, I treat myself to a papaya every few months. Last night I ate this guy with a spoon, and my craving has been satiated for now.

Winter squash is the lazy person’s saviour. First of all, it looks cute on your kitchen counter, and second, it stays good for ages so you can put off cooking it for weeks at a time. When you finally do roast this beauty into something like this Kittee recipe, you’ll wonder why you don’t have 20 more ready to pop into the oven.