FOCUS ON FOOD

Vegans come up with some bizarre ideas. They will slice up cauliflower, fry it like a piece of meat and serve it as “steak,” insisting it tastes just like the real deal, or better. Or they use the liquid from canned chickpeas to make whipped cream and appear completely unfazed by the lingering bean flavor. Maybe jackfruit passes as pulled pork in a BBQ sandwich to some, but from where I am standing it looks a lot like the emperor is naked.

No doubt, there are some strange meal creations in the plant-based kitchen, but despite it all, I’m rather fond of it. I dabbled with veganism for a few years and loved the creativity of it. Composing balanced, satisfying and — not least of all — healthy vegan dishes requires skill, some knowledge of food chemistry and a passion for experimenting.

Every now and then, clever vegan chefs strike gold. I have happy recollections of the first black bean burgers we made, which were — to everyone’s surprise — bursting with flavor. Or that time we discovered vegan cheesecake, which is still in the rotation for us today. As a graduate from a plant-based cooking course, where I was able to try my hand on a potpourri of “veganized” dishes, I was most impressed with a fish-less tuna salad made from chickpeas.

What sets this “tuna” salad apart from regular ol’ chickpea salad is the seaweed. It lends it the salty sea flavor which, combined with the tuna-esque texture and the addition of mayo, is so close to the original that most people do not notice a difference. I know this because I have had friends and family try this no-tuna salad, and across the board, nobody could initially tell it was, in fact, tuna-less.

Now, why would someone who does not subscribe to a vegan diet make this faux tuna salad? Aside from the sustainability issues surrounding tuna (and shady harvesting practices), tuna contains higher levels of mercury, which is a health concern to some of us. Others like the idea of tuna salad but not the fishy aroma — seaweed for the win! Also, making this salad is a tasty way to handle leftover chickpeas and sneak more fiber into your diet. Above all, this tuna-less salad is just too scrumptious not to try.