Umami: A tip to cook vegan meals your “meat and potatoes” family members will love. {Vegan MoFo #2}

My Vegan MoFo theme this year is “Go Vegan with JL…In the kitchen!” and I am answering your questions by offering food prep tips and tricks.

What makes my tips special?  Like most of you, I’m a home cook. Sure, I’ve taken a few culinary courses but, at the end of the day, I’m not classically trained in the kitchen, I live a busy life, and I want delicious, healthy, quick vegan meals just like you.  But since I have taken a few cooking classes – and I am a vegan lifestyle coach – I have a few tips and tricks that you might find helpful.

In a recent survey I queried: What challenges are you facing in food preparation in your vegan kitchen? My Vegan MoFo posts this month will focus on your responses to that question.  

Today’s question:

“How can I make things my meat and potatoes husband will eat too!”

The first thought that came to mind when I read this  was “Umami” –  I first learned about umami when I took a public cooking class with Robin Asbell.  In her book Big Vegan Asbell writes:

Vegans would do well to understand umami.  It is the Japanese  word for “meaty,” or the experience of well-rounded mouthfeel.  The Japanese have made an art form out of harnessing the amino acids and other molecules that spark this fifth taste.

In recent years, a taste receptor for umami was located, and scientists believe that we evolved to feel pleasure when we eat umami-rich foods because they are good for us.

This kind of umami comes from fermented foods like miso, soy sauce fermented bean pastes of all kinds … and tempeh. Other sources are mushrooms ..vine-ripened tomatoes…sweet corn, peas, beans, winter squash, walnuts, sunflower seeds, and almonds all have varying levels of umami. Sea vegetables, like the kombu used in miso soup, are full of umami chemistry.  Even nutritional yeast is loaded with umami….

Ginny Messina wrote the terrific post, Is Umami a Secret Ingredient of Vegan Activism? It was after reading her post that I had the “aha!” moment when it came to making foods that might appeal to my omnivore husband. (What? You didn’t know I have an omnivore husband?  I do!) Ginny wrote:

Regardless of the reason for this taste preference, it’s important to recognize that a penchant for meat and cheese may be innate or due to early experience. It’s about taste. And research consistently shows that taste is the primary driver behind food choices.

But that’s not as dismal for vegan diets as it sounds, because we can add umami to vegan recipes.

Thanks to Ginny’s post I began to intentionally think about umami ingredients to add to recipes. My husband has said that he doesn’t like nutritional yeast. So I just stopped telling him when I used it and he’s enjoyed the recipes. (Is that bad?!)  Over the weekend I did a cooking demonstration at a local farm market. My recipe was simple – just six ingredients:  vegetable broth, garlic, onion, tofu, kale and miso (umami!).  I was worried that the Creamy Kale Miso Soup might be just a bit too vegan for a “mainstream” audience.  Nope, every single person who tried the soup loved it.  Umami.

Bryanna Clark Grogan wrote a terrific article, The “forgotten” fifth flavour: Umami and suggests:

What plant-based foods contain umami compounds? Fermented foods such as soy sauce, miso, balsamic vinegar, and wine (which also has its own special flavor-enhancing qualities—but that’s another column!); dried shiitake or matsutake mushrooms; sea vegetables; green tea; vegetarian bouillon; tomato juice and other tomato products. Browning foods by sautéing, grilling, and caramelizing also produces umamicompounds.

Umami is a powerhouse in meatless dishes, where it supplies the robust element that usually comes from meat or poultry. Try it yourself, by using deeply browned, or caramelized, onions in a vegetarian soup or stew, for instance…

My tip: When cooking for your non-vegan family, think about umami-rich foods.

Here’s a dish I made last week that is rich with umami foods, including kombu, ume plum vinegar and potatoes. This stick-to-your-ribs meal just might please everyone in your multivore household!

Warm Adzuki Bean & Potato Salad

Tags: bryanna clark groganginny messinarobin asbellumamivegan meals for meat and potato family membersvegan mofovegan mofo 2012vegan umami foodsWarm Adzuki Bean & Potato Salad

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