Mark Reinfeld has over 20 years experience preparing creative vegan and raw food cuisine. Mark is the co-author of four books including, The 30-Minute Vegan. Mark is also the founding chef of the celebrated Blossoming Lotus Restaurant, winner of a prestigious I’lima Award for “Best Restaurant on Kaua’i”. Visit http://veganfusion.com/ for more information on Mark’s Vegan Fusion Cuisine teacher training workshops. We spoke with Mark by phone for this interview.
What has been your experience in working with macrobiotic elements such as miso and sea vegetables as found in Asian influenced cuisine?
After reading the book “Healing with Whole Foods” by Paul Pitchford several years ago, I have incorporated various ingredients used in macrobiotic cooking into the Vegan Fusion style of food preparation.
When you travel how do you compensate for the taste differences of produce grown in rich volcanic Hawaiian soil as even some local organic gardens come from such depleted soil?
There really isn’t a big noticeable difference in most cases. The creation of the desired flavor in dishes usually comes down to the last few minutes, when minor tweaks are made based on the unique flavor of the ingredients used. The most notable difference is with tropical fruit which generally has a sweeter taste in Hawaii compared to that which is shipped great distances.
Is it important in your opinion to experience all the dimensions of tastes in order to have a better developed palate?
I think it is important to experience all the dimensions of taste. With vegan cooking we create a wide range of flavors using different techniques such as grilling, culturing, roasting, marinating, sprouting, and dehydrating.
What advice would you suggest to budding Vegan cooks who have the urge to recreate the same dishes they did as omnivores?
When following a recipe for a non-vegan dish, first identify the ingredients that already are vegan and make sure you have them on hand. Then look at the non-vegan ingredients and replace them with a vegan alternative when possible. Replace milk with soy milk, almond milk, or rice milk. Replace butter with vegan butter (Earth Balance is a popular brand). Using soaked sea vegetables such as arame can add the flavor of the sea to dishes. Chicken and fish can often be replaced with extra firm tofu; beef can be replaced with tempeh or seitan. You may want to marinate the tofu, tempeh or seitan to impart additional flavor. There are some wonderful vegan cheeses on the market now to replace dairy cheese, or you can make your own plant based cheeses from cashews, macadamia nuts, almonds or your favorites.
Is it more important to you to have access to familiar staples and spices or the right creative environment when cooking away from your own environment?
I think it’s important to be able to be creative with whatever ingredients you have access to. it helps to have access to some staples in vegan food preparation…for me it would be nutritional yeast, wheat-free tamari, Celtic or Himalayan salt…I also like to use chipotle chili powder, toasted cumin, and lots of fresh herbs.
What led to your career as a vegan and raw chef and what are some of the highlights of your career?
After attending law school for a semester at NYU I had a realization that although I did well in academia, law was not my passion. I moved out west and started working in the kitchen of a health food store called Jimbo’s in San Diego. I had always loved cooking as a child and this reconnected me with that love. I spent a few years there experimenting a great deal with vegan and raw food preparation, working in several different positions. I then branched off on my own and started consulting for a health food store in Malibu, California called Pacific Coast Greens.
I worked on several consulting projects around the country before landing on Kauai, Hawaii where I formed the blossoming lotus cafe with a group of others. The restaurant was open for over 6 years, during which time it won an Ilima award for ‘Best Restaurant on Kauai’.
Bo Rinaldi, one of the original partners in the restaurant and coauthor of our first book, went on to open a Blossoming Lotus in Portland, which is still operating successfully today. (www.blpdx.com)
I went on to write four cookbooks, (Vegan Fusion World Cuisine, coauthored with Bo Rinaldi, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw”, coauthored with Jennifer Murray and Bo Rinaldi, “The 30-Minute Vegan”, and “The 30-Minute Vegan’s taste of the East”, both coauthored with Jennifer Murray. I am currently working on the third book in the series – “The 30-Minute Vegan’s Taste of Europe”.
I am also offering workshops, intensives and retreats around the world, teaching people the tips and tricks of vegan and raw food preparation. For more information on upcoming events, please check out my website www.veganfusion.com