One Christmas David and I were going to visit some friends, and one of the friends offered to cook for us.  David told her that we’re vegan, and she quickly rescinded her offer, telling us that she prefers food with flavor.  I don’t think our friend is alone in the assumption that vegan food is bland.  However, as Colleen often points out in her Vegetarian Food for Thought podcast, the flavorings that people use to spice food come from plants.  People top their sandwiches with ketchup, mustard, and relish.  They coat their barbecues with barbecue sauce and their pastas with marinara.  If you want a dish to have a Mexican flair, you add cumin, chili powder, and cilantro.  If you want it to have an Italian flavor, oregano and basil get added.  For an Indian bent, turmeric, garam masala, and coriander are included.  All of these spices and flavorings come from plants.  If they are so bland, why are they added for flavor? 

Today’s meal for Vegan Table Tuesday is a good example of this.  In the summer while people are frying fish, is it really the taste of fish that they want?  Or is it the cornmeal crust spiced with thyme, basil, oregano, and paprika?  In my fish-eating days, what I really wanted was a malt vinegar delivery system.  You can get all of that and more in this dish, Tofu Filet with Cornmeal Crust and Tartar sauce.  The best part is, the fish get to keep swimming, and there’s no worrying about mercury exposure.  This enticing and crispy tofu would also be great cut into sticks instead of filets for the under-10 set and served with ketchup, or for a Baja spin, how about putting them into corn tortillas with chopped cabbage and a squeeze of lime? 

I had quite a bit of the flour and milk mixtures used for the coating left over, and so next time I’ll make just half of the amount the recipe states.  I’m also going to press the tofu next time for a little firmer texture. I served these tempting filets with steamed broccoli, tartar sauce made from Vegenaise, and, of course, a generous amount of malt vinegar.