Hello, and welcome to the CuilnaryWoman Newsletter! Warm greetings to our new subscribers. You’re getting the weekly free edition of the newsletter. For more features, such as Red Beans and Advice on Monday, The Conversation on Wednesday, and to be eligible for our regular giveaways, upgrade to a paid subscription. (You can read about the latest contest below.)
Just click this button. Thanks for supporting CulinaryWoman.
Plant Based Products Are Gaining Speed
Every so often, I’ll get emails from publicists offering me samples of new products. This is standard practice for anyone who covers a consumer beat, but I’m fascinated by what’s available to food journalists. You wouldn’t believe how much free booze can be had for the taking. I even had someone offer me a barbecue grill.
Sometimes, the brands are willing to be part of the CulinaryWoman giveaway program, but once in a while, I’m curious about what some things taste like. That particularly extends to the plant-based world. I see items in the grocery store all the time, but I’m usually reluctant to buy them in case they don’t taste good.
In the past few weeks, my friends and I did some taste tests of dairy alternatives. I don’t expect you to run out and buy them. But we did find some things we liked.
Taking out the milk
I’m a chocolate lover, but mainly, I’ve always focused on the overall taste, not the specific ingredients. Many mass market and even specialty brands have dairy in their chocolate, both milk chocolate and dark chocolate. The latter is widely perceived as being dairy free, but if you read the label, you’ll often milk solids in the mix.
TCHO, the bean-to-bar chocolate maker based in Berkeley, California, recently launched a series of plant-based chocolate bars, and they sent over some samples. This is also known as vegan chocolate, but I sometimes think of vegan products as homework, more of a chore than a pleasure.
Too, vegan brings to mind the carob of my youth, which was a short-lived fad. If you ever tried to get a child to eat carob, you’ll probably understand why it didn’t become more popular.
The TCHO bars were much better than I expected. And for a couple of the flavors, you could not tell the difference between chocolate with milk, and the plant-based chocolate.
Their plant-based line includes Holy Fudge, Born Fruity, Choco Latte, Aww Nuts, Toffee Time, and Dark Duo. Each packet contains three bars, which are scored into squares so you can conceivably ration them if you’re trying to limit your intake of sweets.
My taste tester gave thumbs up to Choco Latte, a truffle bar whose filling is made from Blue Bottle Coffee. My favorite was Dark Duo, which was every bit as good as the dark chocolate I buy from See’s and other chocolate makers. It’s actually the Holy Fudge bar filled with Born Fruity chocolate. The bar was less sweet than some commercial chocolates, but I thought it would be great with an espresso.
TCHO also sent along some products from its professional line, which I have handed off to the candy maker in my apartment house. I’ll report back once he brings over the results.
Yogurt for the dairy shy
If you go to any grocery or specialty store, you can be forgiven if you are completely confused by the yogurt section. Whole milk yogurts have been joined by Greek yogurt, the Scandinavian product called Skyr, and now by plant-based yogurts.
A number of these are based on tree nut milks, such as almonds. I’m more of an oat milk girl, so I haven’t really delved into either type of milk. Needless to say, we got some pleasant surprises from a collection of yogurt products from Forager Project.
Forager is a family-owned company, also based in California, which has been in business since 2013. Its lineup is based on cashew milk. As Forager points out, cashews are actually a seed, not a a nut, that grow on the outside of the cashew apple.
Forager sent a whole variety of its cashew-milk based products in a dandy insulated shipping box that I’m planning to reuse. There was conventional-style yogurt in a cup, including plain, blueberry and vanilla. We received drinkable yogurt, in a variety of flavors, and what Forager calls “kids yogurt,” in squeezable packets.
Call us kids at heart, but my tasting crew went nuts (sorry) for the kids yogurt, which is available in mango, berry berry and strawberry. Once we figured out how to open the packets, the product was tasty and we loved the idea of easy to carry yogurt drink.
I also liked the drinkable yogurts. I often make birchermuesli, and I usually let the cereal soak in the yogurt while I’m taking my shower or getting some morning duties completed. The Forager drinkable yogurt was perfect for that. We all gave thumbs up to the mango varieties, and the strawberry was tasty, too.
The plant-based outlook
With all these new products on the market, the U.S. is beginning to accelerate its embrace of vegan eating. It is far from mainstream, but the market grew by about 10 percent a year over the past decade. North America, Europe and East Asia, particularly China, are seen as the places where demand for plant-based products will accelerate most.
The Covid pandemic did affect the market’s growth, especially because people wanted to eat comfort foods and because supply chain issues interrupted many businesses’ progress.
But as things begin to normalize, it’s possible that the plant-based market could grow even faster than expected. It will be interesting to see how TCHO and Forager do going forward. I’ll be keeping an eye out for their items.
Have you switched to eating or drinking anything plant-based? I’d love to hear your impressions.
Our Next Giveaway: Gateau
I’m delighted to announce that our next giveaway is Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes, by Alexandra Crapanzano.
As soon as I opened her cookbook, I was swept back in time to the summer that I spent in France with my French family. I learned just how different French eating styles were at the time from what we ate in America. Breakfast was hot chocolate or cafe au lait served in a bowl, accompanied by a croissant or roll with preserves and butter.
The big family meal was at lunch and dinner was usually light. But either for teatime — called “gouter” in France — or after dinner, there were lovely home baked cakes. Since French patisseries are so abundant, you might get the idea that French people only eat elaborate desserts. But that isn’t true at home.
Alexandra’s book includes the recipe that every child learns to make, the one-cup cake that’s based on the size of a yogurt container.
You’ll learn that French cakes have much less sugar than American ones, and that frosting doesn’t play a huge part. At most, many cakes are dusted with icing sugar or a light glaze. (This explains why I have never liked frosting, and the whole cupcake trend was lost on me.)
Alexandra gave a charming interview about her book to Christopher Kimball at Milk Street, and you’re most likely seeing her pop up in other food publications. It would be a wonderful holiday gift for people who enjoy tasty and easy cakes (don’t we all?)
I have one copy of Gateau for a paid subscriber. If you’re already purchasing the newsletter, you’re automatically entered. Why not upgrade and become eligible for Gateau? Click here.
Your copy will come directly from publisher Simon & Schuster, which happens to be the same house that published Satisfaction Guaranteed.
I know you’ll enjoy it. Bon Gateau!
Somebody Feed Phil Returns
I will admit it: I never have understood the craze to visit Croatia. I don’t have HBO, and I’ve seen maybe one episode of Game of Thrones. When I was growing up, people flocked to Dubrovnik, but we stuck to western Europe.
But after watching the new season of Somebody Feed Phil, I’m kind of intrigued to see it. In this series, Phil visits Croatia, Santiago, Nashville, Austin, Philadelphia, and pays tribute to his late parents, Max and Helen.
By now, if you watch the show, you are familiar with Phil’s format: mostly eating, some travel highlights, and a doze of schticky humor. It’s a program that is almost timeless — Phil could have been a hit any time in the past 50 years.
Phil has really become a big deal since his original travel show aired on PBS. He’s actually going to be one of the celebrities on the new season of Celebrity Jeopardy, a true rarity for someone whose career highlight was previously behind the scenes as the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond.
He also has a cookbook coming out this week and a lecture tour starting up.
Throughout this series, Phil is kind to the people he meets, bounces up and down when he eats a food he enjoys and seems to especially like teasing children. Thanks to his worldwide audience, a visit from Phil is like one from Guy Fieri: he’s often recognized and people know he’s in their town to eat.
I was especially touched by the last episode, which is a compilation of appearances by his parents. There is material we never saw and is even funnier than some of the elder zaniness that made it into his shows. I found myself laughing and weeping a little, remembering my own seniors.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
have several appearances slated for the next few weeks. On Nov. 1, I will be giving two presentations to the 24th Ann Katz Festival Of Books And Arts at the Jewish Community Center of Indianapolis. I’ll be interviewed by Martha Hoover, an admired Indianapolis food figure and philanthropist, and I’m expecting a fun conversation.
On Nov. 13, Zingerman’s Bakehouse Managing Partner Amy Emberling will interview me on the closing night of the Detroit Jewish Book Fair. I almost feel like I should be interviewing Amy instead, so I know we’ll have plenty to talk about.
On Nov. 17, I’ll travel down U.S.-23 to Toledo, for the Northwest Ohio Jewish Book Fair. My interviewer will be Kripke Enterprises CEO Matt Kripke, and there will be Zingerman’s snacks and treats on hand.
Please let me know if you attend any of my programs — and of course, I’m happy to sign books.
I can be reached at culinarywoman at gmail dot com. There’s a CulinaryWoman page on Facebook, and find us on Twitter @culinarywoman. I’m on Instagram @michelinemaynard where I often feature my writing. You can read about my New Orleans adventures @micki_in_nola.
I’ve gotten my booster and my flu shot. I hope you will protect your health. Stay well — I’ll see our paid subscribers tomorrow with Red Beans and Advice, and everyone else next week. Remember you can easily upgrade and become eligible for a giveaways and receive additional content.
Thanks for sharing this! I’m always interested in hearing feedback on new plant-based products to try, especially from those who don’t eat them on a regular basis. There’s good chocolate out there made with plant-based milk, but I’d still like to find a white chocolate - that’s hard to find!
I appreciate and respect the growing option of plant-based foods for their sustainability and the additional choices they offer us. But I’m also concerned about my health - namely, watching my intake of fats and sodium, in an effort to control my cholesterol. Some of the plat-based foods (meats, mostly) aren’t always that healthy. I know we’re early in this endeavor. I hope that as they continue their R&D, the plant-based food makers will be able to find that difficult balance of products that are both tasty and (at least somewhat) healthy.