A Word from Chef Joseph

The book you hold in your hands is a work of love from two friends who greatly appreciate food and its ability to impact health and well-being. I am delighted to work with my dear colleague and mentor Vesanto Melina in bringing to you this well-researched and tested guide to adopting more plant-based foods into your daily food regime. This book contains cutting-edge scientific information on vegetarian nutrition, along with over 150 recipes that are nutritious, tasty, and easy to prepare. The full spectrum of recipes will take you through the day, from breakfast to desserts, with choices that you can revisit time and time again as you discover how truly good these recipes are. But before you make your shopping list and fill your fridge and pantry with wholesome foods, let me tell you a bit about myself.

My career as a professional chef began 27 years ago, and by today's standard, that is a long time to stay in a single occupation. The more I deepen my knowledge of food, the further I experience its ability to nourish and heal the body, mind, and spirit, and the more I appreciate my vocation. Having found my right livelihood is a blessing, and this particular path bestows gifts that go far beyond the health that I experience along the way.

As a young adult I embarked upon formal chef training that opened doors into the world of fine-dining restaurants, where the focus was serving individual plates to appreciative audiences. Later I worked in the banquet kitchens of prestigious hotels such as the Four Seasons, where I learned to transfer the high standards of quality that I had learned in smaller settings to volume cooking. These skills were eventually transferred to the world of film catering, where I worked as a team member feeding movie crews.

Highlights of my livelihood include developing a whole food catering company, working as a consultant to several natural food manufacturers, assisting in the production and revision of two corporate cookbooks, and acting as a consulting chef for the opening of two natural food restaurants. Along the way I have had the honour of feeding international rock-and-roll personalities, political leaders, dignitaries, and numerous Hollywood celebrities.

However, my favourite achievement has been co-writing the Canadian bestselling cookbook, Cooking Vegetarian, with Vesanto Melina, Registered Dietitian. The book was launched in 1996 and subsequently released in the United States in 1998, where it also enjoyed widespread popularity. I met Vesanto in 1991 and over the last 20 years we have collaborated on numerous projects. The nutritional knowledge I gained from working with Vesanto has been invaluable, and I consider my working relationship with her to be one of the most rewarding associations of my professional life.

The roots of my love for food go back to my youth—to when I lived in Edmonton with my parents and five siblings. Mine was a large family, and my mother spent a good amount of time making sure we were well fed. My mom and dad came from big Prairie families; they were raised on farms, so they knew the value of planting vegetable seeds in the spring to reap a harvest that would feed active, growing family members.

Soon after my mom and dad were married, they bought their first home from a gardener. That property had a large garden plot in the backyard, along with fruit trees and plenty of flowering plants. Every spring I helped plant a vegetable garden that would yield produce well into the autumn. Two crab apple trees not only offered twisting branches for good climbing but also a secret hiding place at the height of summer. Come fall, the abundant fruit from those trees was turned into jams and jellies. They took their place in the basement pantry alongside canned peaches, pears, beets, tomatoes, and Saskatoon berry jam—what seemed at the time to be countless jars of bright, multicoloured, mouth-watering food. I never went hungry.

Growing up in a large family, most kitchen duties were shared among my brothers and sisters. My preference was always to help my mom after school with the preparation of dinner, rather than with the dishwashing afterward. I didn't know it then, but the seeds of a lifelong relationship with the nourishing properties of food were being planted in my psyche.

My first formal work experience with food began at the age of 13. I worked as a baker's assistant on a part-time basis during the school year and full time during the summer months. Although, as a teenager, the thought of a career in the arena of food was not a consideration, this destiny would continue to beckon me.

Many years later, when I finally made the decision to enrol in a year-long culinary arts program, my primary intention was to work in a kitchen to pay for my university education. During the course of my chef training, I had the very good fortune of being sent on a three-week practicum to the Vancouver Four Seasons Hotel. I was awestruck at the size of the kitchen, the high standards of excellence, and the sheer number of kitchen personnel. The staff included 47 people from all over the world filling all positions of a modern-day kitchen brigade, from the executive chef all the way down the chain of command to the apprentices. That experience changed the direction of my life, and after graduation I embarked upon my career path with enthusiasm and a new vision for my self.

For the next seven years I worked in fine-dining restaurants and hotels, and to my good fortune ended up back at the Four Seasons Hotel in the banquet kitchen. After working there for a year, I met Vesanto, and was drawn to her vast knowledge of nutrition. I began collaborating with her, and over the next two years we developed a series of popular vegetarian cooking classes that received national media attention. In those classes Vesanto offered practical vegetarian nutritional theory, and I led a hands-on cooking segment. We taught hundreds of people from all walks of life, from teenagers to grandmothers, and great fun was had by all. At the end of the day, our students went home better informed and richer for the experience.

After those two years of collaboration, Vesanto embarked upon her successful writing career, which began with the publication of her international bestseller Becoming Vegetarian, and then continued on to our first book together, Cooking Vegetarian. I also did private catering with an emphasis on natural whole food ingredients, and this led to work as a caterer for film crews and movie talent. In this capacity, I took an interest in providing specialty diets to those who requested them. It was a natural fit for me, since I was equipped with a wide range of nutritional knowledge.

Over the many years of working with food, in addition to my formal training in classical French cuisine, I have studied vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, Ayurvedic, and diabetic diets. Through all of this, three personal perspectives have emerged. First, transition from one dietary lifestyle to another can take years. For lasting results, this important process requires time, knowledge, and patience. Feeding the body is a lifelong process that can involve adjustments from one stage of life to another for myriad reasons. Second, since each person is constitutionally different, no single diet can be considered the ideal for everybody (or every body). Although we all require carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, and minerals, the combinations and the types of foods we choose to meet those needs vary between individuals and cultural groups. Third, we are all brilliantly tailored individuals, guided by a deep source of inner intelligence. If we pay attention to the wisdom of this intelligence, we will be led into the dietary pattern that best serves who we are as individuals.

I am very pleased to collaborate with Vesanto on this book. It is our sincere wish that you expand your nutritional knowledge and increase your culinary repertoire for the purpose of sustaining your health, or of regaining your health if it is compromised. As you work with and adapt this book to suit your lifestyle, may you find inspiration to eat well to be well.

Joseph Forest, Professional Chef