THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


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TOP PICK: Gourmet Vegan For Everyone, Plus Flexitarians, Pescatarians, & Others


Delicious Vegan Ginger Chicken. Photo
courtesy Vegetarian Plus.

  If you’re not already a flexitarian, pescatarian or vegetarian, a vegan diet may seem extreme. Give up all animal products, including dairy, eggs and honey?

If that sounds like too much sacrifice, you should still consider choosing it for a day or two each week. It’s not only healthy, but it’s also painless. Just browse through a vegan cookbook and see all the delicious things you can have—from chili, pasta, and stir-frys to hummus, tabbouleh and many other global favorites.

Typically, people adopt the vegan lifestyle for compassionate reasons, wishing no harm to animals.

But concerned environmentalists have joined in as well, on the grounds that the planet’s livestock are the number one contributor to global warming.*

If you feel compassion for animals or for the planet, the international recipes from Vegetarian Plus frozen entrées are so delicious that eating vegan one or two days a week is a snap—no cooking required (a microwave is not “cooking”).

 
The Vegan Ginger Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Orange Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala and Lamb Vindaloo are so good that we prefer them to alternatives with real meat.

Read the full review and promise yourself that you’ll try them. The review also contains a list of vegan celebrities. Would you believe that Mike Tyson is a vegan?
 

VEGAN, VEGETARIAN, ETC.: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

In alphabetical order:

A flexitarian is a person who eats mainly vegetarian food, but makes occasional exceptions for social, pragmatic, cultural or nutritional reasons. Flexitarians may occasionally eat meat and/or other animal products. According to the Vegetarian Research Group, about 3% of American adults are true vegetarians who say they never eat meat, fish or poultry. But at least 10% of adults consider themselves vegetarians, even though they eat fish or chicken occasionally.

A pescatarian or pesco-vegetarianism follows a diet that includes fish or other seafood, but not the flesh of other animals. Most pescetarians maintain a lacto-ovo vegetarian (see below) diet with the addition of fish and shellfish.

Vegetarians don’t eat meat or other animal products. There are different degrees of vegetarianism.

  • The vegan is a total vegetarian who will eat only foods from plants: fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes (dried beans and peas), nuts and seeds. Vegans will not eat any animal by-products, including honey, lard, gelatin or cochineal, a food coloring.
  • Lactovegetarians eat plant foods plus cheese and other dairy products, but exclude red meat, poultry, fish and eggs.
  • Ovo-lactovegetarians (also called lacto-ovovegetarians) exclude all of those items except eggs. Semi-vegetarians do not eat red meat but will eat chicken and fish along with dairy products and eggs. (Source: http://www.health.gov.)
  •  
    If you eat everything, you’re an omnivore.

    And there’s more! Our December 2022 updates have an environmental focus:

  • A climatarian is someone who eats sustainably: a climate-friendly, nature-friendly, and healthy diet. It implies less packaging waste and more recyclable packaging as well.
  • A regenivore is someone who wants food from companies that are actively healing the planet. Beyond simply sustaining the environment, the focus is on carbon-reducing agriculture, more rigorous animal welfare policies, and equitable treatment of the people who grow and process food.
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    *Manure produces methane, a greenhouse gas. Cow belching is another culprit. There is more global warming from methane than from vehicles that burn gasoline.
     
     

    CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.
      
     
     
      

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    PRODUCT: Hot Chocolate On A Stick

    It’s March 21st—the first full day of spring—and it’s snowing in our Mid-Atlantic burg of New York City.

    Time for some hot chocolate!

    We just tried Hot Chocolate On A Stick from The Ticket Kitchen of San Francisco. A high-quality block of chocolate is molded onto a stick and you stir the stick in a cup of hot milk until it becomes hot chocolate.

    This is not for the impatient. The chocolate doesn’t melt quickly (and in two tries we couldn’t get it to melt entirely, either). But that’s the fun of it—as well as tasting your hot chocolate at numerous different degrees of chocolatiness as more chocolate melts into the milk.

    The French couverture chocolate is very good. So if you get tired of stirring or waiting for the chocolate to melt, eat it like a lollipop.

    If you’re looking for a special party activity or a treat for kids, this is different and fun.

    Chocolate On A Stick can also be a special party favor or gift. You can download a customizable label template to mark festive occasions (a baby shower, for example).

     


    Stir in a cup of hot milk and you’ve got hot
    chocolate. Photo by Stephanie Faye | The
    Ticket Kitchen.

     

    We only tried the French dark chocolate, but we’re intrigued by the Three-Chili, which blends ancho, cayenne and chipotle chiles into the chocolate for a hot-and-hotter effect.

    But, with all the couverture chocolate we have around here, we’re first going to try to make our own chocolate-on-a-stick in an ice cube tray—some with mini marshmallows, some with fresh mint leaves (seems like we’ve got a lot of that, too).

  • Hot Chocolate Extravaganza: Reviews of more than 65 hot chocolate brands.
  • Terminology and the difference between hot chocolate and cocoa.
  • Try ‘em all: 25 variations you can make with hot chocolate.
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    PRODUCT: New Flavors Of FAGE Total 0% Yogurt


    Cherry-Pomegranate, one of five new 0%
    flavors. Photo courtesy FAGE.

     

    FAGE (pronounced FA-yeh), the first major Greek yogurt brand in the U.S., has expanded its Total 0% line with flavored yogurts.

    In addition to the original plain yogurt, those who want to cut out the fat can enjoy the rich, creamy, triple-strained yogurt in Blueberry Açaí, Cherry-Pomegranate, Honey, Mango Guanabana and Strawberry Goji.

    Each 5.3-ounce container has 120 calories, zero fat or cholesterol, 11g protein and 19g total carbohydrate (including 16g sugar). One serving contains 15% of your Daily Value of calcium.

    The flavoring is kept in a separate compartment to maintain the integrity of the yogurt until right before consuming.

    FAGE began in 1926, when Athanassios Filippou opened a small dairy shop in Athens, Greece. It was a rural neighborhood with a single train station nearby. As travelers came and went, Filippou’s store gradually became known for its creamy and delicious yogurt.

     
    Still family owned, the company is now Greece’s largest dairy company, producing milk, cheese and yogurt for customers worldwide. FAGE opened a United States plant in Johnstown, New York in 2008. It is the only Greek company producing Greek yogurt in the U.S.

  • Learn more at FageUSA.com.
  • Learn all about yogurt in our Yogurt Glossary.
  • See all of our favorite yogurts, recipes and more.
  • Read our review of FAGE Total Yogurt.
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    TIP OF THE DAY: Farmers Markets

    This tip comes from Alissa Dicker Schrieber, The Kitchenista:

    We love shopping in farmers markets. The pleasant environment, the food and the ability to buy directly from the grower can’t be beat.

    Everything is super fresh, often picked (or caught) just the day before. The food is locally produced: It doesn’t travel across the country (or across continents) to get to you. And since the variety of fruits, veggies, meat, poultry, fish, cheeses, breads, etc. is always changing, shopping at farmers markets can add instant variety to your diet.

    Best of all, when you bring home great-tasting, high-quality fresh ingredients, your job becomes much easier. With some simple, unfussy cooking (often, merely some chopping), you can look like a culinary genius. The food already tastes great!

  • For the best selection, arrive at the market early. Certain items sell out very quickly.
  • That being said, farmers will often offer specials and discounts toward the end of the day, when they’re getting ready to leave.
  •  
    Look for dandelion greens in spring farmers
    markets. An excellent source of calcium
    and vitamins A and C, they contain more iron
    than spinach. Enjoy them in a salad.
     

  • A good plan is to start by walking through the market in one direction, to see what all the vendors are offering. (Who has the best strawberries? Who has better prices?) Then, reverse your direction and purchase what looks best.
  •  
    Find a farmers market at LocalHarvest.org.

    While you’re there, click on the CSA tab to learn about Community Supported Agriculture. It has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Participants get a weekly box of seasonal food, ensuring that they get the freshest fruit and produce and guaranteeing an income for the farmer.

      

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    TIP OF THE DAY: Spring Cleaning Tips For Your Kitchen


    Pleasantly scented products make cleaning
    more enjoyable. Photo courtesy Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day.
      Today is the first day of spring. It officially begins at 7:21 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time.

    So it’s time for a little spring cleaning.

    Here are some kitchen spring cleaning tips from Chef Geoffrey Zakarian of The National restaurant in New York City.

  • Throw away your spices and buy a fresh supply. Salt and pepper can stay.
  • Send knives to be professionally sharpened. They will last longer; plus, dull knives slip more easily.
  • Check if your freezer needs to be defrosted and throw away anything that has freezer burn (or has been there for more than a year).
  • Check expiration dates on condiments in the refrigerator, and throw away anything that’s expired.
  •  

  • Empty all cupboards and clean out the dust and crumbs that have gathered, then deep clean cabinets and shelves to remove grease that has filtered in from cooking.
  • Organize your cookbooks and put the ones that you have not been using front and center, in order to mix up your repertoire. If you’re not going to use particular cookbooks, give them away—perhaps have a cookbook exchange with friends.
  • Have your floors and kitchen rug or carpet professionally deep cleaned to extract bacteria and germs.
  • Clean all garbage cans inside and out with bleach.
  • If you have granite or marble countertops, have them professionally polished.
  • Cut up a lemon and run it through your garbage disposal to eliminate odor.
  •  
    Before you start, treat yourself to some great-smelling cleaning products. We like lavender, and have stocked up on lavender countertop cleaner, scrubbing powder and all purpose cleaner from Mrs. Meyers Clean Day. The company also has products in Apple, Baby Blossom, Basil, Geranium, Honeysuckle and Lemon Verbena scents.

      

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