LCBO Food & Drink Early Summer 2018

TREND SPOTT ING

For every animal-based flavour booster, there is a vegan equivalent. VEGAN UMAMI

sowing your OATS

Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast with a nutty, cheesy flavour that makes it a good substitute for Parmesan. While it’s hard to replace the funk of fish sauce, light Japanese soy Instead of anchovy paste, miso will give soups, stews and sauces a similar depth of flavour. It’s the secret ingredient of the vegan kitchen. sauce (usukushi) is a good plant-based alternative to the salty seasoning. Vegan Worcestershire sauce— The Wizard’s is a good brand—gives you the tangy, savoury, spiced flavour of the original but without the anchovies.

Far from a one-hit wonder, oats have burst out of the breakfast bowl into a wide variety of vegan and gluten-free foods. They are soaked, blended and strained to make oat milk or cream—the latter is used in Oat + Mill’s (oatandmill.com) divine non-dairy ice creams. Oats are also ground into flour, lending it more fat, fibre, protein and calcium than standard white wheat flour. Due to cross contamination, if you’re a celiac, oat flour must be certified to be 100-percent gluten-free, but otherwise any oat flour will do. Try it in pancakes, quick breads or our Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe on page 126).

makin’ bacon There are many vegan-friendly bacon substitutes on the market made with everything from tempeh to seitan to coconut. Some of the tastiest “fake-on” can be made right at home with nothing more than an eggplant and a few pantry items. Sliced thin on a mandoline, brushed with a simple marinade, and baked in a low oven, the humble vegetable is transformed into crisp, chewy, sweet and smoky rashers to serve with eggs or atop salads and sandwiches. You certainly don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy our Eggplant “Bacon” (recipe on page 125).

22  FOOD & DRI NK EARLY SUMMER 2018