mystery date

Monday night, Nic took me out on a mystery date. He revealed little information (I could wear whatever I wanted and should bring a notebook), and told me to be ready to walk out the door at 5:20.



I was dressed in my favorite Lole dress, sporting a new favorite necklace that I picked up at Spirals, a fair trade, eco store that we stumbled upon in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, and ready for my surprise when he walked in the door.

The destination:: Iowa City
The surprise:: "Theories of Vegan Cuisine" - a continuing education class offered by Kirkwood Community College.

My husband knows the quickest way to my heart, don't you think?

The instructor for the class was David Burt, owner and co-founder of The Red Avocado, a delicious vegan restaurant that we have dined at a few times in Iowa City. (We've also taken a vegetarian sushi class taught by David at New Pioneer Coop).

There were five of us in the class which made for great conversation and discussion and David was able to share the information we were looking for. Nothing was too earth shattering for Nic and I, but we did come away with a few good reminders and tips.

Take-A-Ways::

• Eating lower on the food chain allows your body to work less (use less energy) to digest and absorb nutrients, as well as reduces your ecological impact. Here is a great article highlighting the impact on the Earth if Americans gave up meat for 1-7 days.
• the less energy we use, the longer we live
  
• Eating a plant based diet does amazing things for your health. (Have you read The China Study or watched Fork Over Knives?) There was a lady in class whom reversed all of her poor medical conditions within a year of becoming vegan. After just a week she no longer needed to take her diabetes medication.
  
• The importance of seasonal eating - nature provides what we need, when we need it.
  
• The importance of eating organically (when able) - keeping in mind "the dirty dozen" and "clean 15"
• The Dirty Dozen:
• Peach, Apple, Bell Pepper, Celery, Nectarine, Strawberry, Cherry, Kale, Lettuce, Grapes (imported), Carrot, Pea
• The Clean 15:
• Onion, Avocado, Sweet Corn, Pineapple, Mango, Asparagus, Sweet Peas, Kiwi, Cabbage, Eggplant, Papaya, Watermelon, Broccoli, Tomato, Sweet Potato
  
• For the last time, YES! I eat enough protein! There have been studies that have shown that we eat too much protein anyway (over eating protein is cause of calcium loss). Protein can be found in all vegetables, all grains, beans and sea vegetables. It is much more bio-available than animal protein.
• The following are complete proteins (containing all of the amino acids that we can't make):
• Amaranth, Quinoa, Soy Beans, Black Beans, Hemp Seeds, Buckwheat, Nutritional Yeast, Spirulina
• Grains and nuts often are deficient in one ore two of the amino acids, yet nature has provided a solution - combining certain foods allow you to eat complete protein. All cultures have some example of this:
• Hummus and pita
• Black beans and corn tortilla
• Azuki beans and rice
• Beans on toast (Hey! I ate this in England a few times!)
  
• Micro-nutrients are important and sea vegetables are a great source, especially for iodine, which can be low in a vegan diet.
• Kelp, kombu, spirulina, arame, wakame, and nore are examples of where to get micro-nutrients
• 1/4 teaspoon of kelp powder each day
• soaking beans with kombu is a great way to get micro-nutrients, also aid in digestion
  
• Layering flavors/flavor enhancement
• The following are great ways to add/enhance flavors of vegan foods
• lemon, lime, vinegars, shoyu, tamari, miso, salts, sugars, olive oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, sesame seed, fresh herbs, spices
• Useful flavor combinations
• Tamari + olive oil
• Tarka of whole cumin seeds quickly sauteed in a hot neutral oil (1T oil to 103T seeds)
• 3:1 combo of ground fresh coriander to ground fresh cumin (especially good with beans)
  
• Resources/Authors to check out
• Paul's Grains - Organic Iowa grain producer
• Gold Mine Natural Foods
• Madhur Jaffery - cookbook author
• John Robbins
• Joel Fuhrman
• Dr. Michael Greggor - bringing nutrition related research in the form of easy to understand, short, videos
• Vegetarian Summer Fest - (vacation 2012??!)
• Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine

David has a vegan cooking series at Kirkwood in the coming months that I would love to attend. As much as I already know about cooking, I can always learn something new!

The Red Avocado is having a five-course beer dinner on December 21st! You can bet your bottom dollar that Nic and I will be there!

Best surprise date ever! Thanks Nic!