Vegetarian Journal's Foodservice Update
Healthy Tips and Recipes for Institutions
Volume VII, Number 1 Winter 1999
FOODSERVICE HOTLINE
We’ve received many questions similar to the following one. Here are
our ideas. Of course, we would love to hear from you about what you do.
Question: We’re a full-menu restaurant (serving breakfast, lunch,
and dinner) and we also run a small employee cafeteria (serving lunch and
dinner to about 200 people per day) for a local industrial plant. We’ve
gotten requests for some veggie options. We would prefer to work with the
ingredients we have on hand (we don’t have a good supplier for soy products
and don’t really have the time to do any training) and don’t have
the budget to purchase any new equipment. Please help!
Answer: Piece of cake! First, establish if your veggie-requesters
are vegetarian and/or vegan. Of course, if you offer all vegan items, then
everyone can indulge! Let’s go with all vegan suggestions, keeping in
mind that you can modify these as your customers like.
BREAKFAST:
Offer a toast assortment (different breads, English muffins, bagels, etc.).
Be sure to check labels or ask purveyors about egg, dairy, or honey content
for your vegan clients. Have an assortment of condiments, such as margarine
(look for non-dairy varieties), peanut butter, apple butter, and fruit preserves
(no refined sugar, please).
Next, cook up hot cereals (oatmeal, Cream of Wheat or Rice, etc.) or offer
single serving packets. Have a variety of cold cereals (no sugar please)
and offer condiments, such as chopped nuts, chopped dried fruit, applesauce,
fruit salad, shredded coconut, and wheat germ as toppings.
Baking buddies: if the spirit moves the cook, bake some apples or prepare
a cobbler with seasonal fresh fruit (peaches, apricots, pears, and apples
come to mind). Use maple syrup or apple juice concentrate instead of sugar.
If you prefer not to purchase rice or soymilk, have some nondairy creamer
on hand for coffee, tea, and cereal.
LUNCH AND SUPPER:
Cold Stuff: if you have a salad bar, add cooked, cold beans (garbanzo
beans, kidney beans, and black beans are good cold), cooked pasta, cooked
diced potatoes, and cold steamed veggies. Pasta and potatoes can be tossed
with fresh or dried herbs or with a veggie salad dressing (often commercial
vinaigrette is veggie, but just be sure to read the label). You want to avoid
using mayonnaise, as it usually contains eggs. Vegan mayonnaise is available.
Depending on your audience, you may want to have wheat germ, chopped nuts,
and toasted seeds (like sesame or sunflower) to be used as condiments. Oil,
vinegar, chopped onions, chopped fresh herbs, chopped bell peppers, and chopped
tomatoes can be left unblended and people can make their own veggie salad
dressing. Salsas and guacamole (no bacon bits, please) can be used to top
veggie salads.
Hot Stuff: Offer lots of side dishes so customers can mix and match
their own meals. A cooked bean (think navy, pinto, lentil, white, black-eyed
peas, etc.) could be offered every day, as well as steamed rice (try brown,
basmati, or jasmine) or other types of grains. Again, this depends on your
audience. Offer several cooked vegetables every day. They can be steamed
in vegetable stock, roasted with herbs, grilled on a skewer, etc. Baked potatoes
can be topped with chopped vegetables (we like a blend of finely diced carrots,
onions, celery, radishes, and bell peppers), salsa, chutney, and grilled
peppers and onions. Be sure to leave the butter and cheese on the side when
cooking vegetables and grains or topping potatoes. Corn on the cob can be
steamed or grilled for another veggie side dish.
Stuffing is often a neglected menu item. Prepare it with vegetable stock
and chopped vegetables and/or nuts. Stuffing is not just for the holidays
and complements a number of menu items. Offer it as a side dish or make a
veggie entrée by filling bell peppers, tomatoes, or zucchini with
stuffing and bake it (top with a vegetable-tomato sauce or with sautéed
mushrooms- or both).
As far as equipment is concerned, we’re not really
aware of the need for special equipment to prepare veggie foods. As with
any cuisine, you see what you have in your kitchen and work with it! For
example, you can purchase a rice cooker to prepare rice, steam it on top
of the stove, bake it in the oven, cook it in a crock pot or even prepare
it in the microwave (for small portions). Fresh veggies can be steamed in
a commercial steamer or on the top of the stove. They can also be grilled,
roasted, poached (in water, vegetable stock, wine, or vegetable juices),
and baked. The same for grains. You get the picture.
Veggie options should be easy to include on your menus. See which items are
popular (this varies according to your region, the season, etc.) and capitalize
on them! If you find you’d like to do some veggie cooking, you can send
for the VRG’s "Quantity Recipe Packet," which includes vegan recipes.
To order send $15 to VRG, PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.
You noted that you preferred not to purchase any new
ingredients. We’re going to mention a few products, anyway, because
you may find that they are very easy to use, easy to find, and may increase
sales. Several companies sell veggie burgers and tofu dogs, which are prepared
just like their traditional counterparts. The burgers can be found in different
flavors, usually sold frozen (so you can keep them fresh until you need to
prepare them). Ask your purveyor about frozen veggie entrees, soups, and
side dishes. There are a lot of them nowadays!
If you really start getting into this, you might contact local bakeries (or
natural food stores) for a supply of fresh-baked, veggie items. Many fresh
breads, rolls, and bagels are already veggie! One last note: soy and rice
milk are becoming very popular among many segments of the population (if
you don’t want to cook with it, you might still consider offering it
as a beverage on its own or as a condiment for coffee and tea). If your purveyor
doesn’t have it, you might contact a local store that stocks it and
work out an agreement with them. If you are interested in getting more
information about vegan products, contact the VRG and request the "Product
List for Institutions." Most important, have fun with your new menu listings.
You’re doing a good thing!
Got a foodservice question? Visit our website at
http://www.vrg.org/fsupdate/fsbb.htm
and query away!
Excerpts from the Winter 1999
Issue:
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