Omnivorous people, big and small, are generally pleased by a meal centered around a major dish, and that dish is often the meat. Without that major dish, a meal can seem incomplete or unsatisfying unless each of the sides is done with remarkable precision and incredible taste. In the same way, it can be very disappointing to go out to a nice restaurant and have the chef serve Bethany a plate obviously covered in a selection of sides. I would wager that most of the time a vegetarian will not be offered any major dish by a non-vegetarian, and that’s a shame. Regardless of whether or not I want to eat the same way, I love my vegetarians and I want to make sure they enjoy their meals every bit as much as I do.
My kitchen is a multivorous kitchen, which just means that I try to cook meals that are satisfying to omnivores and herbivores alike. I find that when cooking meat and feeding my vegetarian, there are two general ways to create a meal: to either cook the meat as a totally separate and distinct dish, or to cook a common base to the meal and cut it in half at some point to add meat to one part. These categories can also be further refined. For the separate distinct dishes, you can have the meat as a side to the common vegetarian major dish (bacon on the side of pancakes), or there can be the more labor intensive two distinct major dishes (roast turkey and seared marinated tofu). For the common base approach, the first sub-method is preparing something that could be served on its own and adding meat or not (sandwiches). The second option is to prepare a dish part-way and finish the dish separately as vegetarian and not (two chilis).
With these ideas in mind, let's explore the Multivorous Kitchen and show some love for our veggie companions!
