T.O.F.U: living and breathing vegan in a world that smells fishy is a new quarterly magazine from Canada.

T.O.F.U. is a mixed-bag of vegan articles. Issue two (buckle my shoe) features extended interviews with vegans as diverse as rocker Zach Blair from Rise Against and Marnie Feelus from Winnipeg, the founder of Fresh Option Organic Delivery (FOOD). Also in the mix were discussions on feminism, animal supremacy and new welfarism, stencil art, news and reviews. The ‘Gallivanting’ section appeals to the travelling vegan, with an account of cycling in Middle America, info on eating in Italy, and a helpful food guide to the Pacific Northwest.

Not surprisingly for a vegan magazine, food is always but a page or two away. There are quite a few quick and healthy recipes with a focus on few ingredients and simple preparation - except the banana creamtastic pie, which is pure indulgence. The ‘Fuck You McDonald’s Breakfast’ Breakfast of tofu and vegetables also looks particularly appealing.

T.O.F.U. is a thoughtful publication with a DIY aesthetic and a strong Canadian bent. It is available in book-like print format or as a digital download for just a couple of bucks.

T.O.F.U. Magazine
First published aduki mag, May 08

I’ve been loving the chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon that have been storming the vegan interweb. Theresa does hers fried and makes interesting variations, Cindy and Michael like them fried then baked and it seems that most people make them thicker than me. I like them made into small patties, pounded thin and straight-baked the best, though I’ll take them any way. I make them pretty much to the original recipe, except I usually use Weetbix instead of breadcrumbs and I leave out the sage.

They taste great hot, or served cold with lettuce on toasted grain bread slathered with chutney (my preferred hangover cure). I also like to make cheesy pumpkin cutlets, where I use leftover mashed pumpkin and nooch instead of chickpeas.

To go with them last night, I made a roast double potato bake based on this Nigella recipe. Well, it’s less of a recipe than it is a suggestion for how to do roast veggies. I left off the haloumi bake at the end and considered making a nooch sauce replacement, but I didn’t want to stuff around with the healthy and tasty qualities of the roast veggies too much. I added sesame seeds about halfway through the baking for a little extra zing and dressed them with a bit of salt from the roast onion (below).

To cap off the meal I made a recipe adapted from one published in the Donna Hay liftout in yesterday’s Herald Sun. Her recipe called for four brown onions and five cups of rock salt (!) but I used one onion and half a cup of salt. Basically you just wash the onion and throw it into a baking dish, cover it in salt and roast it for about an hour and a half. It comes out very soft and sweet, almost caramelised-tasting. I ate the whole thing by myself, it was too good to share!

The result: a tasty long weekend dinner.

Kristy has already written about the amazing soups from A Soup For All Seasons. Previously my soup repertoire was limited to pumpkin soup, mixed veggie mashup soup and dahl so it was a timely book for me to get coming into winter. I gravitated instantly towards the Suzy Q’s Sweet Potato and Lentil, those two ingredients being among my favourite things to cook with. I didn’t have any sweet potato handy though, so I subbed pumpkin. Like Kristy, I wondered if the soup would be a little bland because it doesn’t have much in the way of spices but the naturally sweet flavour of the ingredients was totally delicious.

The colour of the soup was kind of boring until the end, when I mashed the pumpkin and a glorious orange seeped out into the soup.

The next soup I made was Dutch Pea which totally blew me away. Again, simple ingredients of green split peas, celery and carrots created a hearty and moreish taste sensation. It was so good that mum cooked up a second batch the next day, doubling the recipe. I threw in some Sanitarium hot dogs (smoked vegan sausages are recommended in the recipe) but to be honest, I prefer it without. The dutch pea flavour is good enough by itself!

What I love about both of these recipes is that there’s no special ingredients required, and there’s no blending, just mashing. It’s really quick and low-fuss, and I love a chunky soup. Next up I might get a bit adventurous and try something more ambitious, like the Udon Miso.

There’s an aduki group on flickr if you’d like to post your own ASFAS soup pics!

I was in Melbourne over the weekend and really appreciated having so many excellent food choices! And by food choices, I mean junk food. Bendigo has great produce but it’s a bit light on the ground for mock meats and greasy vegan goods.

Thursday night was aduki’s A Soup For All Seasons book launch in Collingwood. It was a fantastic night as usual and the book is gorgeous, I can’t wait to get into the recipes. I was working the book table:

(Missing from picture: a pile of La Panella party-sized sausage rolls, which went down a bomb with the vegos and omnis alike.)

On Friday I was moseying towards FAD Gallery, thinking I should probably eat before I started drinking, when I passed Ten Ren Tea Time, a Taiwanese cafe selling tea and meals. I remembered from where’s the beef? that this place has vego options so popped in for a quick meal. The vego menu was small and cheap and I was assured there was no dairy or egg in the curry rendang so I went with that.

It comes as a little set! Yes, I’m easily pleased. The ‘meat’ was the usual tender glutenous fare and pretty tasty. The sauce was a little fiery for me and unfortunately somewhat oily. I ended up picking out the meat and eating that with rice. The accompanying salads were kind of bland in a good way and included green beans, tofu and cabbage, and corn and mushroom - but they all tasted sameish. It was a pretty decent meal for under $9.

On Saturday morning I went to hang out with the hipsters at Mag Nation for a coffee and wifi fix.

I do love that place. And they do amazing soy coffee - bonus points. It’s astounding how many baristas don’t know how to pour a simple soy latte, but that’s a rant for another time (and don’t even get me started on charging more for soy…). Plus they’re still stocking The Sex Mook on their counter and have sold over 60 copies in a mere six months. Did I mention that I love them?

Later in the day I ducked out of the Emerging Writers’ Festival to lunch with a poet at The Organic Food and Wine Deli. It was another first for me but it took me but a minute to decide what to eat - a beetroot and hommus sandwich on spelt bread. I love how everything is clearly marked vegan or gluten-free and whatever. The sandwich was really tasty but the coffee was kind of ordinary. It was good but it cost over $12; for that price a little salad with the sandwich would have been nice.

That night I went to an event called Scrabble at Fed Square’s BMW Edge. It was a spoken word/performance gig inspired by the lyrics of classic Paul Kelly songs. Interesting premise, but really, was I ever not going to a show that advertised that a ‘Scrabble Bar will be open until the conclusion of the show’? I think not.

Stand-outs for me were drag king Beau Heartbreaker and comedian librarian Nick Earls. (Although the next day there was a fiery discussion about how Earls’ exploits geek culture by hamming up his geek/librarian/indie credentials; too funny.) I got to imagine the sound that a full stop would be and nearly wet my pants laughing at a play featuring an ashtray and a door. Plus lots of other funny stuff but my memory is a little hazy towards the end… though I did stop at Lord Of The Fries on the way home to try their new nuggets:

They are juicy on the inside and crispy fried on the outside, but they are tiny! Bite-sized would be pushing it descriptively, even. Supposedly it’s 8 nuggets for $3.95 but when I ordered them I got about 12 little pieces.

On Sunday morning I picked up breakky/lunch for the zine fair at Flinder’s Organics. The Fuji’s were fresh and crunchy, and the date and almond slice super-sweet and nutty. The Cob’s popcorn I couldn’t resist. Yes, it’s ridiculously expensive but I love the sweet/salty flavour and have been unable to replicate it at home! Usually I just drown my popcorn in nooch.

My food-filled weekend ended back at Lord Of The Fries when I introduced a Sydney vego to the magic of their burgers. I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I think I’m junk-fooded out. Roll on the soup.

Ten Ren Tea TimeTen Ren Tea Time, 146 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Mag Nation, 88 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
The Organic Food and Wine Deli, 28 Degraves Street, Melbourne
Lord of the Frieds, Cnr Flinders & Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
Flinder’s Organics, 260 Flinders Street, Melbourne