More Vegetarian Pet Peeves

The more so-called vegetarian and vegan cook books I read, the more I wonder if the chef behind each of these works actually follows a diet which parallels the subject of his or her writing. I’m going to pick on a couple of different authors for this, and would be interested in hearing any opinions regarding the subject (am I missing something?).

The first is Bruce Enloe and his Wine at Millenium introduction in the elaborate and gorgeous “The Artful Vegan” cookbook. The title suggests that it’s a vegan cookbook and, for the most part, it is. My issue with the wine intro is attributed to the fact that it begins with “my first glass of wine was a Guinness.” Guinness? Hello? I know there are vegetarians out there who argue that it’s too strict to include veggie-friendly alcohol in the list of okay-to-eat items, but come on… Guinness?? GUINNESS?!?

Unless their recipe has changed, Guinness famously uses isinglass (a gelatin made from fish bladders) in its fining process. There are other companies, such as Sam Adams, who do however produce vegetarian stouts.

Next under fire is Denis Couter, author of “Paradiso Seasons,” another book which is full of absolutely beautiful dishes (which match in taste, I can attest) but some of which contain non-veg ingredients. What I’m picking on in particular are cheeses, specifically an Irish cheese called “Coolea.” Coolea is made by Dick and Helene Willems in County Cork and definitely uses animal rennet in its coagulation process, period. I looked and looked for a vegetarian version of this cheese, only to come to the final conclusion that it’s only made by the Wellems, who do use rennet in the recipe.

To me it seems irresponsible for people who are not just authors of vegetarian or vegan cookbooks, but who also own veg restaurants, to be so careless in their use of these terms. It truly seems that “vegetarian” and “vegan” simply mean “eh, whatever. We just sort of don’t like most meat.”

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