re: #155 Lord Of The Pies

My daughter-in-law is vegan, but she also avoids sugar except for maple syrup

I hope their family are coming for Shavuot/Memorial Day because it’s a new challenge to come up with vegan alternatives while the rest of the family enjoys the usual meat and dairy meals. Last year I made whole wheat challah and butternut squash soup.

This year I think I’ll try a Maple-Apple pie, lentil soup, baked sweet potatoes, beet salad, potato salad and brown/wild rice pilaf as vegan alternatives.

The odd dietary collision I have been observing is my brother (vegetarian) and his girl-friend (coeliac). My brother does a lot of pasta and baking (pie!) while the girl-friend is mandatory gluten-free.

I asked my brother how it was going and his response was “I am eating a lot of meat.” However, we also managed over one holiday to construct a gluten-free pie crust and I then “inflicted” a sour cream apple pie on the girl-friend. (Who had commented about how we were producing lots of gluten-free baked goodies that conflicted with her life-long aversion to baked goods.)

I think at this point my brother is adjusting diet after researching more recent science literature on the subject. I think meat is back on the diet, but he is reducing simple carbs and sugars. Not paleo by a long shot, but should be affecting what he cooks.

And a quick look on Wikipedia indicates that the literature on diet is all over the place. Looks like a place where a doctor or someone can put together their hopefully trendy diet, write a book, and then rake the cash in.