Sink your teeth into Vegfest ( Seattle?)

March 9, 2006

Celebrate the meatless bounty at flourishing event By KRISTIN DIZONP-I REPORTER It's a good time to be a vegetarian, or just veg-curious. Andrew Saeger / Seattle P-I This weekend brings to Seattle the fifth Vegfest, billed as the largest vegetarian festival in the United States. Last year, more than 9,900 people attended

this celebration of meat-free eating, a big increase from the 2,000 who came in 2002, its first year. The festival venue at Seattle Center is doubling in size this year. Food makers and restaurants plan to give out more than 400,000 samples of 650 different foods. The number of local vegetarian and vegan restaurants also is growing, giving plant-eaters more dining options. Grocery stores and restaurants have become a lot more vegetarian-friendly in recent years, a contrast to the days when vegheads had few options other than natural food stores or co-ops. Many fast-food outlets, including McDonald's and Burger King, now offer veggie burgers or other meatless options. And there's a bounty of meat-replacement products, including Fakin' Bacon, Foney Baloney and Tofurky. Meat alternatives are made from wheat gluten, soy, compressed mushrooms, lotus root, sesame and more. Also, plenty of serious carnivores are incorporating veggie food into their

diets. There are no precise estimates of how many Americans are vegetarian, but in a 2003 national survey by Harris Interactive, 2.8 percent of adults (more women than men) said they never eat meat, poultry, fish or seafood. A larger group -- 6 percent -- said they never eat beef or pork. Part of Vegfest's success lies in its open-arms attitude, focusing on the pleasure of food rather than anti-meat polemics. "For a lot of people, tasting is believing," said Stewart Rose, president of Vegetarians of Washington, the group behind Vegfest. "I hear guys, who are dragged there by their wives, turn around and say, 'You know, this tastes pretty good. I think I could do this.' Food is a very fundamental pleasure in life." Besides the usual food tastings, cooking demonstrations, book selling, speaker appearances and health screenings, this year's Vegfest is introducing a kids section. Children can fill out report cards (with smiley and

frowning faces for the very young) after tasting products such as Earth's Best baby food or the Sesame Street line of organic snacks and cereals. Vegetarians of Washington has more than 1,500 members. They come to the group for diverse reasons. There are Jains, Buddhists, Seventh-day Adventists and others whose religions encourage a vegetarian diet. Others are attracted largely by health or medical reasons, environmental or animal-welfare concerns. Some simply may not enjoy the taste of meat. "I don't eat any flesh of an animal," said Caryn Pierce, a group member and Vegfest volunteer coordinator. "And I was raised that way. I've never had the meat of any animal." Well, there was a close call when she got a bite of chicken hidden under a lettuce leaf in a

salad. "It was just the most gross feeling ever," said Pierce, of Redmond. "It was like I had bitten my own finger." Pierce, 33, a fourth-generation vegetarian on one side of her family, is a Seventh-day Adventist, a denomination that encourages vegetarianism as well as living without alcohol and tobacco. Pierce said Adventists are health focused and they look to the first chapter of the Bible for guidelines on how to eat. They cite a passage in Genesis in which God says to Adam and Eve: "Behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree-yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Sure, Jesus and other biblical figures ate meat, but Adventists look to plant sources as the ideal, and they report lower rates of illness and increased levels of energy from a vegetarian diet. "Our texts say that your body is the temple of God, and taking

care of your body, whatever you eat or drink, is for the glory of God," Pierce said. The local growth of other ethnic and religious communities -- particularly in the suburbs -- also is fueling the opening of more vegetarian restaurants. "We get people who come regularly from Seattle, and they're begging us to open a restaurant in Seattle so they don't have to cross (Route) 520," said Manpreet Dha, who runs Preet's in Redmond, which makes vegetarian Punjabi food. "There's definitely a market out here." Lyle Wong, who runs Teapot Vegetarian House on Capitol Hill, said the vegan restaurant and its new Redmond sibling attract a lot of Buddhists and young people choosing a vegetarian lifestyle. "Vegetarian food is so well done these days, that you need not even say, 'Oh, it's not meat,' " Wong said. "The texture can be uncannily like meat and it's just as full flavored." Teapot also is one of a growing number of

vegetarian/vegan restaurants that also are kosher, requiring that a rabbi inspect and certify the kitchen daily. Wong said there's room for all of the newcomers. "Everybody has something different to offer," he said. "(But) there's still not a lot of vegan restaurants." The Northwest also is home to innovative vegetarian food manufacturers. In Oregon, there's Tofurky, Turtle Mountain dairy-free frozen desserts and, until recently, Gardenburger, one of the largest makers of frozen veggie burgers, patties and prepared foods. (Gardenburger moved to Utah a few years ago.) Washington state is known more for small to medium-size producers focused on handcrafted, artisanal foods. David Lee, president of The Field Roast Grain Meat Co., sells his hand-formed vegetarian meats, including roasts, sausages, meatloaf and deli-style slices, across the country in urban centers. But Lee, a veteran of Essential Foods Co. who

also started Fare Start, a restaurant and food service training program for homeless people, said Field Roast isn't an attempt to imitate meat. The wheat base is seasoned with flavors including lentil sage, smoked mushroom and sun-dried tomato. Field Roast, started in 1997 in Georgetown, retails for a little over $5 a pound. It's also a popular option at many local restaurants, including the Elysian Brewing Co. on Capitol Hill and Smarty Pants in Georgetown. "This dualistic idea of you're a ravenous flesh eater or a total vegetarian is getting outdated," said Lee. "One night you might eat steak and the next night, tofu." The company employs 10 people and makes about 40,000 pounds of Field Roast each month. "We are experiencing a growth spurt right now, especially with the sausages," Lee said. "We're getting them into mass-market stores like Safeway." Phil Spiegel, an electrical engineer by training, started making tofu for

his family before opening Small Planet Tofu as a business in 1992 in Newport, about 40 miles north of Spokane. What started as a few hundred pounds a week has grown to nine employees putting out nearly 5,000 pounds of medium-firm tofu every week. Spiegel, known as "Tofu Phil," said he's still educating people about tofu. "Ten years ago, people hadn't heard about it," said Spiegel, whose tofu comes in five flavors and a baked variety. "Now, everybody's heard about it, but they don't know what to do with it." Rose of Vegetarians of Washington hopes Vegfest will help answer those kinds of questions. "Sometimes people struggle between doing what feels good and what's healthy," he said. "We show them that you can have healthy food that's delicious." IF YOU GO Vegfest is Saturday and Sunday at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, 225 Mercer St., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission is $5, free for

ages 12 and under. For more information, see www.vegofwa.org/vegfest/. NEW VEGGIE SPOTS Vegetarian and vegan restaurants have been sprouting up all over the region recently. Here's a list of the ones we know of that have opened within the past two years. Chan Ho Vegetarian Restaurant, 18124 E. Valley Highway, Kent; 425-251-8818. Serving vegetarian and vegan Hong Kong style cuisine. Open daily, 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Dosa Palace, 730 N.W. Gilman Blvd., Suite C-107, Issaquah; 425-369-2343. Southern Indian vegetarian food. Open daily except Monday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5:30-10 p.m. Lakeshore Veggie House, 15 Lake St., No. 103, Kirkland; 425-889-2850. (Recently changed from the former Lakeshore Cafe). Chinese vegetarian cuisine. Open daily, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Namasthe Cuisine of India, 16650 Redmond Way, Redmond; 425-558-7858.

North Indian vegetarian cuisine and kosher. Pabla Veggie Cuisine, 1420 N.W. Gilman Blvd., Suite N3, Issaquah; 425-392-4725. Punjabi and kosher cuisine. Open daily, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Preet's, 8440 160th Ave. N.E., Redmond; 425-867-9400. Open daily, noon-3 p.m. and 5:30-9:30 p.m. North Indian food. Teapot Vegetarian House, 15230 N.E. 24th St. # H, Redmond; 425-373-1888 or 425-747-8881. www.teapotvegetarianhouse.com Vegan and kosher menu includes cuisine of Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and China. Open daily, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Teapot Vegetarian House, new Seattle location: 345 15th Ave. E.; 206-325-1010. Same Web site. Open daily, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Vegetarian Bistro, 668 King St.; 206-624-8899. Serves dim sum and Chinese cuisine. Open Monday-Thursday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., and

Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. DIFFERENT KINDS OF GREEN EATERS The lexicon of vegetarianism can be a little confusing, so here's a basic guide: Vegetarian: No meat, poultry or fish Vegan: No eating or consumption of animal flesh or products, including eggs and dairy; often excludes honey too (dietary vegan: only follows the food rules) Ovo-lacto vegetarian: A vegan who also eats milk and eggs Lacto vegetarian: A vegan who does dairy Ovo vegetarian: You guessed it -- a vegan who eats eggs Pescetarian: A vegetarian who eats fish Flexitarian: Someone who eats a largely vegetarian diet, but gives in to the occasional desire for say, bacon or a hamburger Pseudo-vegetarian: A person who claims to be vegetarian, but isn't Raw foodist: Vegans or vegetarians who consume only or mostly raw and living foods that are uncooked (never heated above 116 degrees), unprocessed and usually organic. (Within the raw food movement, there are those who focus on one type of food, including fruitarians, sproutarians and juicearians.) P-I reporter Kristin Dizon can be reached at 206-448-8118 or kristindizon. Peter H

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