Sustainable and vegetarian cuisine is on show in Sin City

[Guest guest]

i still don't like vegas

 

http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/07/14/huyghe/index.html?source=daily

Viva Las Vegan

Sustainable and vegetarian cuisine is on show in Sin City

By Cathy Huyghe

14 Jul 2006

Quick: Where can you eat vegan doughnuts for breakfast, vegetarian Chinese for

lunch, and 13-bean soup for an afternoon snack? Hint: In the same city, you can

feast on sustainable fish for dinner, prepared by one of the country's celebrity

chefs, and Kind Apple Cobbler for dessert -- the " raw " version.

 

New York? Maybe. Seattle? Probably. Las Vegas? Definitely.

 

Surprised? The locals aren't.

 

 

Green? You bet your life.All-night buffets and free cocktails are Vegas' usual

claim to culinary fame, but their notoriety has overshadowed long-established,

healthier outposts: a pick-your-own orchard, a natural-foods store, a vegan

doughnut shop. Now a quietly growing movement is offering residents and visitors

even more health- and earth-friendly options.

 

From vegan desserts to sustainable seafood, Sin City is polishing its palate.

And with more than 1.8 million residents living in Clark County and 38.5 million

tourists descending each year, there are plenty of mouths to feed. But like

everything in Vegas, all this goodness comes with a price.

 

Last New Year's Eve, Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant in Caesar's Palace --

smack-dab in the middle of the legendary Strip, where the neon is unrelenting

and energy consumption ceaseless -- unveiled an all-organic holiday menu. Its 10

appetizers and 10 entrees featured offerings like grilled salmon with lobster

risotto and sautéed spinach, crisp free-range chicken with creamy garlic

potatoes and baby squash, and roasted quail with green lentils and braised

rainbow chard. Plans are in motion to make Spago's organic tryst permanent later

this year, but the restaurant is encountering roadblocks along the way.

 

Spago normally buys 15 dozen eggs for $40, but when chefs asked their supplier

for an organic alternative, they were quoted a price of $200 -- for eggs flown

in from New Zealand. And there's the rub, at least for those who are trying to

eat healthy and be environmentally sensitive. At what point does organic produce

or sustainable seafood become unsustainable? In other words, how green can you

be in the middle of the desert?

 

 

Mirage Sale

 

In Vegas today, nearly all food needs to be shipped in, traveling hundreds or

sometimes thousands of miles. But it wasn't always so. Prehistorically, southern

Nevada was a marsh of abundant water and vegetation. Las Vegas is Spanish for

" the meadows, " and the area supported edible fruits and vegetables including

Indian rye grass, once a staple for local indigenous people. In the 19th

century, food and supplies were commonly brought in by boats that powered along

the Colorado River.

 

Those were the days.

 

Today, cargo holds of trucks and planes are loaded with meat, seafood, and

produce from all parts of the world to accommodate Vegas' seemingly insatiable

appetite for the newest new thing and the finest fine dining. It's difficult to

nail down exactly how many pounds of produce are flown into Vegas daily;

McCarran Airport requires airlines to report only the total weight of their

freight, not itemized cargo. But the numbers are decidedly hefty: sources

estimate, for instance, that 60,000 pounds of shrimp are consumed in Las Vegas

every single day.

 

 

Desert cherries require no irrigation and thrive on secondhand smoke.

Photo: iStockphoto.So, like anyone who thinks about where their food comes from,

chefs in Vegas face a tangle of choices. Rick Moonen of rm seafood at Mandalay

Bay -- who became active years ago in efforts to support environmentally safe

seafood for his restaurant in New York City -- knows the conundrum well. " We

believe in the importance of buying and serving seafood which comes from

abundant wild populations and are under sound management, " his menu boasts. " All

fish on our menu are caught or farmed in a way that is not harmful to the ocean

environment or to other ocean creatures. We are strong supporters of local

fishing communities, and take responsibility for our role in preserving a

lasting and diverse supply of seafood. "

 

But local fishing communities don't exactly pepper Las Vegas. So Moonen casts a

wider net, performing both taste tests and eco-research before allowing a fish

on his menu. One fish that's made it through his hoops is barramundi. The

hatcheries are in Australia ( " I know, I know! Australia, " he says); the

fingerlings are flown ( " I know, I know! Flown ... " ) to Massachusetts, where

they grow to maturity. What's appealing to Moonen about this particular species

is that it's part of a closed loop, with effluent recycled back into the

ecosystem as fertilizer.

 

Moonen doesn't pretend that he's created the perfect eco-menu -- he pleads the

Fifth when asked why foie gras is still an offering -- but feels it's important

to at least take steps in the right direction. " You can water down

[environmental] efforts until nothing gets felt, " he says, " until nothing gets

done. "

 

 

Luck a l'Orange

 

So can this town have an impact on the market for sustainably produced food,

even with its geographical handicap? With tourists spending about $250 on meals

during a typical three- to four-day stay, odds are a hundred to one it can.

 

In April, Whole Foods -- which has recently committed to upping its support of

local farmers -- opened a second store in a residential neighborhood across town

from the first. Having two Whole Foods stores puts Vegas on par, in that

category, with cities like San Francisco, Austin, Boston, Philadelphia, and

Baltimore. Add to that an already existing network of natural-food and

vegetarian restaurants, and things are looking up.

 

Spend Your $.02

Discuss this story in our blog, Gristmill.Most of the city's green-dining

establishments are " off-Strip, " springing up in neighborhoods that, given Vegas'

unprecedented growth in the past few years, are increasingly diverse and

ethnically vibrant. Paul Hartgen, president of the Nevada Restaurant

Association, says chefs and owners at these smaller locations focus on creating

food that's as authentic as possible -- and in the case of many Asian cultures,

" authentic " means " vegetarian. " Last year, for example, Iris Lee opened Veggie

Delight in Vegas' Chinatown, with a menu that features both vegan and vegetarian

options from the traditional cuisine of Vietnam, where she was born, and Taiwan,

where she was raised. Lee says she wanted to offer something " convenient for

vegetarians, because most of the time they couldn't find a place to sit down and

eat. "

 

Unless they were in the mood for doughnuts, that is. Since Ronald's Donuts

opened nearly 14 years ago, it's been quietly offering vegan varieties of its

treats. No sign advertises the option, but even without the hype, word's gotten

around: owner Henry Kang says he and his family enjoy a loyal customer base of

vegan-oriented locals, as well as tourists from cities like Los Angeles, San

Diego, and Salt Lake. As for the doughnuts, they look and taste like the regular

variety -- only better. The glazed concoctions are two very airy inches high,

with a crispy, sweet crust that starts melting as soon as it hits your fingers.

 

Kang isn't the only natural-food veteran in this town. A few miles away sits

Rainbow's End Natural Foods & Café, which opened its doors more than 30 years

ago. The café has changed hands over the years -- Sam Freedman took ownership

just six months ago -- but it has always been the place to go for whole foods,

vitamins, and supplements, including a homeopathic allergy mix made for the Las

Vegas climate. Rainbow's End shares a history -- and some of its business --

with Gilcrease Orchard, which began as a ranch 86 years ago in the northwestern

part of the city. It's the only orchard within 200 miles, and still opens its

fields for pick-your-own apples, peaches, melons, tomatoes, zucchini, and other

produce throughout the seasons. Rainbow's End stocks its shelves with gallons of

Gilcrease's apple cider, and Gilcrease's sends interested consumers to Rainbow's

End during the off-season.

 

It's that kind of community that inspires the owners of a " living cuisine "

restaurant and juice bar, Go Raw Café, whose two locations in the Vegas valley

opened three years ago. Whether or not the sustainable-food movement catches on

in a big way in the city of high rollers, they'll keep turning out meals sure to

please discerning diners. " You don't open a restaurant like this because of your

strong motivation for success, " says co-owner Lu Vuckovich. " You open this type

of restaurant to help your fellow brothers and sisters. Success is a bonus side

effect. "

 

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Cathy Huyghe is a food writer and environmentalist who recently moved from Las

Vegas to the seafood-rich shores of Massachusetts.

 

 

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