Vegasmic: A podcast
Join Emiliano Pena and Gareth Johnson as they discuss food and healthy eating from a Vegan perspective.
Interested in food and wanting more information about plant-based diet? You might want to add Vegasmic to your play-list.
Join the conversation with Gareth Johnson and London-based dietician, Emiliano Pena as they discuss food and healthy eating from a Vegan perspective.
Emi has just returned from a trip to the Venice region of Italy and he's got strong opinions about sorbet. We also discuss the etiquette of smoke tofu, and some go-to plant-based sauces for a pasta feast.
Emi, what have you been eating today?
For breakfast, I had my usual overnight oats and then I always add some mixed nuts to get that extra mix of healthy fats and then I added some raw cocoa powder. I add a little bit of protein powder and then I also add some cinnamon. I have that with my matcha hot drink.
Delicious. And lunch? What was on the menu for lunch?
For lunch today, I cooked some pasta and I made a plant-based sauce with walnuts, tempeh, tomato, garlic and kalamata olives. And a side salad, of course.
The full meal! We need to talk about your trip to Italy. You got back a few days ago, you were there for like a week - how did it go?
It was really, really, really hot.
I was in the Venice region. It's a very beautiful region because you have the mountains, you have the seaside, you have lots of art. I really recommend visiting but I'm biased.
It's always very warm there during the summer. Some days, it was thirty-five degrees - but you always have the beach nearby, so that makes a difference. You get the breeze as well.
I ate a lot of ice-cream. Lots of ice-cream places there now have plant-based ice-cream, which is delicious.
How do you make a plant-based ice-cream? What makes it creamy?
You have two types of plant-based ice-creams. You have the traditional sorbet. The sorbet is water-based - most fruit flavours are usually sorbet. But then you also have dark chocolate sorbet, which is amazing. It's one of my favourites.
Most gelaterias will have plant-based sorbet. Then, they also make plant-based versions of the flavours that contain dairy. They use olive oil and vegetable flours to make it thicker and trap the the water molecules so you have this nice creamy matrix for the ice-cream.
What's your go to order in the gelateria - is it dark chocolate?
That's usually on the list. But I wouldn't have only one flavour.
It's a two-scoop situation?
I start with dark chocolate and I love pairing that with a fizzy and tangy lemon sorbet.
I would not have put those two things together.
It's a really good mix. Either lemon sorbet or mango sorbet both are delicious with dark chocolate.
If you want something more creamy, I like dark chocolate with pistachio.
Beyond the ice-cream, any other food highlights from the Italy trip?
It's a region where people eat a lot of seafood and also a lot of dairy - lots of cheese - as well as things like prosciutto or salami.
But, as a vegan, you can still get by. They eat a lot of pulses. Summer is a great time for pulse salads.
If you're a vegan and you were visiting Italy on holidays and perhaps your Italian isn't quite as strong as a native speaker, are you saying that it would be relatively easy to access a good range of plant-based food - at restaurants and supermarkets - or would you have to know what you're doing?
If you go to supermarket you'll be able to find things like tofu, tofu, tempeh, and high-protein plant-based foods.
When you eat out, it can be a bit tricky depending on where you are. If you're in bigger cities, then it's going to be easier .
I was at this seafood place and they make really nice pizza. I knew beforehand that there probably wasn't going to be much protein that I could eat, so I had some smoked tofu cubes with me.
You pulled out a container of smoked tofu food cubes at the restaurant? Sprinkled it on your plant-based pizza? Or you were just under the table eating the cubes of tofu?
No, no, I just ate it at the seaside before going into the restaurant.
Speaking of Italian food, last night you hosted a pasta-making workshop. How did it go?
Yes, it was part of a series of pasta-making events we're running in London. We're sharing recipes that are part of a healthy balanced diet, and it's a great way to help people connect with each other.
Explain a little bit about the format of the event?
At yesterday's event, we were six people. We were sitting around the table. I'd prepared beforehand the amount of durum wheat semolina to make the pasta and the water - all the ingredients that people would need.
A lot of people might automatically assume that pasta needs to have an egg or something in it to bind everything together?
When you think about fresh pasta you'd normally think about egg pasta like tagliatele, paperdelle, or tortolini. But you have also fusilli, spaghetti, and penne, which are made with durum wheat semolina - it's just flour with water.
What are some of your go-to sauces to make with pasta?
I like porcini mushrooms. I make a sauce with soaked cashews that you blend until they're creamy. Once you've soaked the porcini mushrooms, you cook them with garlic and parsley and then combine that with the cashew cream. It's rich and filling.
Another one of my favourites is a tomato-based sauce. You add crushed walnuts and olives.
If you wanted to make a protein-rich sauce, you can use soy mince to make a ragu.
When's the next pasta-making workshop?
The next two pasta events are on the 25th and 26th August.
We're recording this in the afternoon, London time. What's on the menu for dinner tonight?
I'm going to use some chickpea flour and make some flatbreads. I'm going to make some black beans with coriander, chilli, and onion. I'll make some guacamole. I'll add some smoked tofu because it goes well with spicy Mexican food.
Delicious!
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for personalised medical or nutritional advice.
Gareth Johnson