PASSIONate - THE AUSTRALIAN VEGAN COOKBOOK
Author Christine Lehmann interviewed by Claudette Vaughan

Aussie vegan chef and vegan cookbook author Christine Lehmann speaks with the Abolitionist.

Abolitionist: Tell us about the sheer and unadulterated joy of vegan cooking Christine.

Christine Lehmann: The joy of vegan cooking comes from knowing that the meal has been prepared without causing cruelty to any animal and has a net positive effect locally (our own health) and globally (our planet’s health).

Abolitionist: What are your views on diet cokes and vegan junk foods?

CL: That is not real food in any case. I’m not sure what you classify as vegan junk food, but why have any junk when there is an abundance of real and healthy food readily available. I noticed in a supermarket the other day, nifty little snack packs of fresh cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and snap peas – how perfectly easy is that?

A deeper point on this matter is that many people use food (junk or other) as a reward or as a quick fix for pain, be it physical, mental or psychological, real or imagined. We are all at different stages of our own journeys, including myself, so I try to do my best to support people wherever they are on theirs.

Abolitionist: You have dedicated your life to promoting compassionate living and respect for all life on Earth. Please tell us about that?

CL: During the era of the nuclear arms race many people became paralysed with fear and hopelessness and felt unable to have an impact on global decisions and that attitude is still prevalent today with the threat of global warming, habitat destruction etc. But the most important thing is that, as in individual there is an enormous amount one can do to live with respect for all life on Earth. Veganism has a huge impact and is the number one thing someone can do to promote compassionate living. There are countless other ways to make a difference from supporting your favourite animal/earth organisation (either financially, lobbying or even to getting out there and making a public protest); or simply by planting a native garden to provide habitat for local species.

Abolitionist: Please share with us some of your secrets that a good vegan cook needs to know.

CL: The number one thing to aim for is provide food with great taste. I have found that the Asian formula (a balance of salt, sweet, sour and bitter) works well and I tend to emulate that. Keeping a variety of herbs, spices, vegetable stock cubes, soy sauce etc is basic to creating tasty vegan meals. Fresh garlic, ginger, lemon, parsley and basil make all the difference and of course there are plenty more flavours to choose from. Making the effort with some culinary presentation also adds flair and enjoyment to the meal. Also having good equipment makes the task much more enjoyable from the cook’s point of view.

Abolitionist: PASSIONate is a terrific vegan cookbook. That Tofu Wellington recipe is simply amazing. How did you come to write it?

CL: Bethany Alldridge was a keen recipient of my food and I was always handing out recipes to people, so she suggested that I should write a cookbook. So with the help of my husband who did all the technical work, we self published PASSIONate. The story behind the Tofu Wellington goes like this… My sister created a club called ‘If it’s a good idea, pinch it Club’ and I am a member! Like lots of women, I like looking through recipe books and I spotted this style of main meal in a popular mainstream cookbook. So I converted it to a vegan recipe to provide a dinner party centerpiece that would impress. I believe it is important to educate people at every opportunity, not necessarily by lectures, but by demonstrating that vegan living is not only easy but can by stylish too.

Abolitionist: Why did you go vegan?

CL: Once I made the connection with where fur came from, it was a natural evolution. The more I learned about the whole food from animals production cycle the more obvious my choice became.

Abolitionist: What about the rest of the Lehmann family? How does one get the family over without any dramas in transition from veg to vegan?

CL: It’s just my husband Chris and I in our family and he was already a vegetarian when I met him. He is the best husband in the world and thinks every meal I put before him is wonderful (even the mistakes!) In Chris’ family there is one vegetarian and one who abstains from red meat but no one else in our combined families have made the total transition. That is one of the most disappointing aspects of my journey – I feel that is one area where I have failed most prominently.

To move from vegetarian to vegan is a matter of making substitutions until you feel that that is no longer necessary.

Abolitionist: What do vegans still need to perfect?

CL: People generally hate change and they are not going to turn into vegans overnight (with rare exceptions). Vegans need to demonstrate a positive and healthy lifestyle by showing that it can be done successfully. Provide information in a friendly manner when requested and don’t lecture.

Abolitionist: I noticed that the well-known Victorian animal activist, Bethany Alldridge wrote a positive commentary on the back of PASSIONate. Bethany was killed by a car in the process of removing a turtle from a busy highway. Was she a friend of yours? Can you please tell us about her as I never had the pleasure of meeting her.

CL: I had the amazing privilege of calling Bethany my best friend for nearly 20 years. She was unlike anybody else I ever knew, a truly unique and independent free thinker. She was totally committed to any and every animal in distress that ever crossed her path. She was also extremely talented in the arts (singing, poetry, writing, acting, acrobatics, dancing etc). Because of her extreme and vocal views, many people found her very challenging but apart from my husband Chris, she is the only other person in the world that I would trust to do the right thing for me, whatever the circumstances. Bethany left a huge gap in the world and in my heart and there is not a day goes by that I don’t think about her. Most often I wished that I could ask her about something as she was so knowledgeable about animal issues, she had sought out so much information about so many issues from natural dog training to vaccinations and everything in between. She was passionate in her relationships and came out of some them scorched. All her friends and family were so happy for her when she married and had a daughter, little did we know what would happen 6 months later. A spark extinguished too soon.

Abolitionist: I ask all vegan cooks and writers this question. Please share with us your wealth of experience on how to get started going vegan.

CL: Take one step at a time, otherwise you will become overwhelmed and lose motivation. For example, switch from dairy products to non-dairy first. If you wish at the same time, eliminate eggs, then explore alternatives. It is much easier these days with so many vegan products on the market, even fresh soymilk - in heaps of different styles no less. There are soy cheeses, soy butters, dairy free ice creams, ready prepared tofu, vegan burgers, gluten ‘meat’ analogs, egg replacer etc etc. I recommend trying a few things but as the saying goes ‘Fresh is Best’. A vegetarian Asian diet can be easily maintained as they traditionally don’t use dairy anyway and tofu can replace flesh in many recipes. You can even request Asian vegetarian meals on long haul flights.

Abolitionist: What about B12?

CL: I am not a dietician or nutritionist so I don’t feel qualified this. It is a personal choice and highly dependent on how perfect your own nutrition intake is. Even if it is perfect there are many outside influences that compromised one’s health such as stressful work or relationships etc. People need to get themselves tested if they feel unsure about B12. Personally, I have witnessed the shocking effects of osteoporisis on my elderly mother, so I take calcium daily. I made this decision after monitoring my bone density for a couple of years and found it to be falling too quickly. I also take zinc to alleviate some imbalance I suffer due to heavy metal poisoning – the source of which we have never been able to determine, despite extensive testing of everything from our own rainwater to the soil in the vegie patch. As I said, these are highly personal choices which you must determine yourself by responsible research.

Abolitionist: Vegan eating, as demonstrated by PASSIONate, is easy, tasty and rewarding. Tell us about those hot pots, goulash’s and vegan burgers of yours.

CL: I wanted to come up with meals that looked and tasted familiar to the non vegetarian with easily obtained ingredients. As I live in a rural area, I am quite aware that those of us not in highly serviced metropolitan areas have limited access to some speciality ingredients, so my main aim was to keep it as simple as possible while still maintaining taste and nutrition. I ran a small catering business for a while, using some of the hot pot and burger recipes and they were extremely popular, so I must have achieved that goal!

Abolitionist: Going vegan is the most powerful thing one can do today to help animals from their awful plight on this planet. How do you educate people you come into contact with Christine?

CL: Whenever I mention the fact that I am vegan/vegetarian, people tend to immediately tell me how little meat they eat! I attribute this reaction to the guilt that meat-eaters automatically feel when challenged by my diet choice. The best demonstration is my health. If information is requested I will talk about how diet impacts not only health, but the plight of animals, especially food animals, and how this has a much wider effect on the health of the planet. I also occasionally give small classes in vegetarian (vegan) food preparation.

Abolitionist: Name us some of the myths about vegan diets that you dislike Chris?

CL: That vegans are sickly, anaemic and skinny is the one that comes to my mind. There was probably one overpublicised case where this happened and so of course that is all the general public remember. But isn’t it strange that the fit and healthy majority don’t get a mention at all in the press? It is a sad case of the huge meat producing system protecting itself.