VEGAN PLANET - ROBIN ROBERTSON INTERVIEWED
Interviewer: Claudette Vaughan

Vegan Planet was written in 2003 and it’s fast become the standard text in many vegan households around the world. With 400 Irresistible Recipes from home and around the world, it’s not difficult to reason why.

How can we engage you to try Vegan Planet’s Orange and Chipotle – Kissed Butternut Squash Bisque, Florentine-Style Tofu Manicotti, Three-Seed Lemon Tea Bread, Cumin-spiced Wagon Wheels with Jalapeno Pesto, Belgian-Style Seitan Stew with Dark Beer, Salad Parfits, Banana Swirl Cheesecake, Brandy Apple Pie or Chocolatey Peanut Butter Brownies to name just a few of her fantastic recipes. The author, Robin Roberson is a qualified chef turned vegan extraordinaire! Here is the Abolitionist’s Interview with this talented women.

Abolitionist: Tell us about “Vegan Planet” please, Robin.

Robin Robertson: It came about because of a desire to share the whole world of vegan variety for food and to inform a people about what veganism all all about. Previous to this I had been producing vegetarian cookbooks. I myself have been a vegan since 1986. I always have produced vegan cookbooks and promote them “vegans for vegans” but publishers usually say, “Can we put milk in here or add this here just to reach a broader base?” so my vegetarian books were really a result of that but I finally convinced my publisher that the vegan community is growing and growing. To me I see the vegan as the new vegetarian of 10 or 20 years ago. Veganism is now getting more into mainstream and I just felt there was a need for a comprehensive book and that’s how Vegan Planet developed. To me the whole idea of breakfast, lunch and dinner common foods and how to cook vegan vegetable stock and the basics to more elaborate preparations, mainly getting all the ethic cooking is important to produce one book that covers all. People have a tendency to get locked into a narrow confine of eating the same things so I just wanted to broaden peoples’ horizons and show them there’s a whole world of food out there still to be explored.

What are your own personal views on turning animals into food? Is this the reason why you became vegan in the first place?

I come at veganism purely from my heart, purely for ethical reasons. I consider the health benefits a nice bonus – that’s how I look at it and that’s how I looked at it as a child also. I feel I was born vegan but I wasn’t allowed to express it until I reached my 30’s. Even as a kid I hated meat, I hated the idea of it. I’d cry. My parents would make me eat it. I didn’t have any knowledge other than the fact that I loved animals and they were my friends. Even back then I thought it insane to eat them. I have always been totally empathetic with animals and the idea of eating them as food is just horrendous to me. Even when I did eat meat I abhorred it with every fiber of my being. Now that I am vegan I am at peace within myself.

What keeps a vegan healthy Robin?

The first thing I always tell people is keep a well stocked pantry because if you don’t keep food in the house then you get hungry and that’s when the system can break down like living on French fries and coke cola. To me it’s about having a well balanced diet. I think a lot of people that fail at a healthy vegan diet is people who don’t eat a well-balanced meal. So the first thing is to have your pantry well stocked.

You need to think about it with a clear head and organise it well. “I need whole grains, beans, I need to keep a lot of veges in the house” and then keep a lot of condiments in the house to keep all different flavours going. A good variety of food is very important to keep things interesting.

What are some of your Have-To-Haves in your pantry?

I have-to-have to have every seasoning available. I need Tamari for a good stir-fry. I need some good quality curry paste. I need garlic, olives, capers and good tomatoes for wonderful Mediterranean dishes. I like to do everything you can think of and I like to cook all of the time. I love all the different flavours of the world and again, that’s where Vegan Planet came from. I sincerely feel that people are missing something if they are only choosing one cuisine.

I can see a Macrobiotic influence in the recipes but what other influences have you been impressed by?

I started out Macrobiotic long before I was vegetarian or vegan. It was easy turning vegan, after being Macrobiotic. A lot of people say “Veganism must be so hard” but when you start out with Macrobiotic then turn vegan all of a sudden a whole new world opens up for you. That was my first real dietary change. I did a real drastic change from just having a really horrible diet as a mainstream professional chef. I was making a lot of rich French cooking and when I finally broke out of the restaurant business my health was just suffering something terrible. Now was the time to do something really cleansing and drastic so the macrobiotic diet was the one that cleaned me out and was good for my health at the time. I did that for 2 years and from that I felt more balanced. From there I was able to get into more health food tastes. A lot of my recipes have developed from my days as a chef in the sense of using good, rich flavours. One of my specialties is using classic recipes with plant-based ingredients.

I think a real cardinal rule of having a successful time of being a good vegan, eating good food, staying there and being happy with that is the food has to taste good and the same thing for people you have to cook for. If it doesn’t taste good, they are not going to eat it. That to me is the most important thing. You are half way there if you start with good ingredients then if you know a few things about how to prepare it, you’ve got it made!

You like to entertain with your husband. What’s been some of the feedback like from meat-eaters?

Without any exception they have all been amazed. They have been shocked and surprised and they just can’t believe it. I don’t think they were just being polite either. A lot of these people aren’t the kind of people that just say something and don’t mean it. They can’t believe there’s no meat in the food I cook.

Let’s go through a few things I thought were standouts. You have a White Bean Cassoulet there. That originally was a French meat-based bean dish. How did that come about?

Again, some of my background in French cooking comes through. I used to really enjoy cooking using the French style. To me, sure Cassoulet is a meat dish but it’s also a bean dish. I thought to myself, “Why guild the lily here?” Why can’t the white beans be the star of it and that’s really my version of it. Even if you are a meat eater you’re getting wonderful protein with your beans, what do you need all that meat in there with it for? It’s kind of like competition. It’s still a cassoulet.

What is Seitan Reuben? - the Reuben part of it?

A reuben here is a very popular sandwich which first made its appearance in the New York Deli’s in America. It was originally made with corned beef or pastrami with swiss cheese then sauerkraut and a thousand-island dressing. What I did was substitute the Seitan for the deli meat and vegan cheese instead of swiss cheese and otherwise I make it pretty much the same way.

What’s “drunken” noodles?

That’s my favourite Thai dish.

Spelt and Gamut are ancient grains where we’re seeing abit of a resurgence over here in Australia in all kinds of breads, main dishes and soups. It was interesting to see your Tuscan Spelt Soup. Tell us about that?

I was actually able to have that for the first time while in Tuscany last year. We went to Italy and I’m Italian so it was wonderful to visit the land of my ancestors. I have always love Spelt and it was only in Tuscany I tasted the authentic version and it was everything I thought it would be.

What are some of your secrets for creative sweet and scrumptious creations Robin? For example, in Vegan Planet there’s a recipe for Pumpkin and Rum Cous Cous Cake.

People often think of cous cous as savoury but they don’t realise is if you substitute water or vegetable stock with a fruit juice it turns into a very sweet moist cake then add a little sugar, water then mix it with the cous cous then let the cous cous chill. I usually press it into a free-form pan so I can then unmold it and when it gets chilled it looks almost like a cheesecake. It’s very dense and moist but you can put any flavour with it. You can put pumpkin in, chocolate in or you can just make it with a simple apple juice and that has a nice light mellow flavour with it. It makes a great dessert or even for a brunch kind of a cake.

Why does your vegan frittata work when so many vegan frittata recipes have failed? Is tofu a reliable replacer for eggs?

Yes it can be, you just have to know how to work with it. I use firm tofu in my frittata recipe. I like the flavour of it better. I leave the Silken tofu for creamy type things.

What are your views on soy products Robin?

I love soy! I eat them all the time. Some people might over-do it a little bit but I think they’re great. Everything in moderation.

For all those trainee vegans thinking of going vegan full time what advise have you got for them?

I’d ask them to do it! What do you have to lose. It’s a wonderful way to eat and it’s a wonderful lifestyle. Look in the eyes of an animal and tell me how can you do anything else but go vegan? That’s how I look at it.

What animals do you share your house with?

In our household we have two black and white tuxedo cats, Gary and Mitzi. We have just moved to a very rural area and we share our property with several ducks as we have a pond on our property. We have rabbits and deer and a feral cat. He won’t let us near him but he comes to eat. There’s a little bit of everything here including a lot of wonderful wildlife.