FOREWORD

TWENTY YEARS AGO, while developing a vegan teriyaki wrap for a friend’s business in Seattle, I stumbled upon the concept that would later become Field Roast vegetarian grain meats. My friend was starting an artisan bakery: hand forming loaves of bread, carefully crafting them into something beautiful and delicious. I was searching for a vegan protein food for a sandwich wrap that would provide satisfaction; tofu was too soft and the fake meat substitutes lacked honesty and were overly processed. Inspiration! Why not create an artisan-crafted, authentically flavored, real vegetarian meat—like an artisan loaf of bread, except for vegan meat? I discovered the centuries-old Asian tradition of using wheat as a protein food, such as mien ching (Buddha’s food) or seitan. I was amazed—such great mouthfeel and tooth resistance. All that was missing were bold flavors and the right physical shapes—sausages, roasts, and loaves. Inspired by the traditional European heritage of the artisan breads my friend was making, I found the European charcuterie tradition of sausage, pâté, and meat making. I combined the foods from two continents and a company was born: the Field Roast Grain Meat Company, a blend of European and Asian heritage. This book, carefully crafted and written by Field Roast executive chef Tommy McDonald, brings to light for the very first time the tips and techniques we use to make our Field Roast brand vegetarian grain meats. In the last two decades, Seattle has witnessed a culinary renaissance not only in the high-end restaurant world but also as a result of the region’s amazing multicultural makeup… Asian, African and Latin American cultures. Tommy’s food skills reflect the next generation of chefs who have come of age during this renaissance and take our rich multicultural food world as a matter of course. The recipes in this cookbook reflect Tommy’s Seattle roots and the dynamic culinary environment he has emerged from.

At the Field Roast Grain Meat Company, our goal is to make the best veggie sausages, roasts, and deli slices we possibly can—using the multitude of plant-based ingredients and flavors that abound. Without being bound to imitate the flavor and sinew of animal meat, we have been able to create foods that taste good on their own merit, utilizing the same ingredients that we title our product flavors—“Smoked Apple Sage,” “Wild Mushroom,” and “Smoked Tomato,” to name a few. Sometimes the simplest of ideas have great impact and merit.

PEPPER-STUFFED BURGERS, HERE

At Field Roast our first step has always been to create a right environment before making our foods. This means many things: giving honor to our employees as the individuals they are outside of work—fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, artists, athletes, immigrants, musicians, and so on. It means gathering together as a company for our monthly community meeting where we hear from one another, celebrate our anniversaries and milestones, and discuss struggles and improvement needs. It means creating a physical environment of beauty and openness, installing windows into our production areas—letting the sunlight in, keeping our facilities well maintained, cultivating a community garden outside in our parking lot. These are the subtle yet important elements that make our products attractive and our customers happy.

Our customers want to know who is making their food, how their food is being made, and where their food is made. We often give tours at our Seattle plant, showing our customers and friends how Field Roast is made. This is unique in an industry that can often be secretive and oblique. In this book, we’ve gone one step further and have shared some of our basic techniques in recipe form. Soon you will be making your own vegan sausages, stuffed roasts, and meatloaf just as we do. This makes us very happy because every pound of vegan meat made means one pound less of animal meat consumed. This is better for our health, our community, and our planet.

At the end of 2016, Field Roast celebrated its twentieth year in business. What a difference twenty years makes—I have seen vegan foods go from highly niched and regularly disparaged as tasteless and fake to generally accepted, popular with politicians and celebrities, and most definitely mainstream. Today we sell Field Roast not only to natural foods stores and restaurants but also Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and most of the major league baseball and football stadiums across the country. Some time ago it became obvious that it was time to hang up my chef’s jacket and pass the baton. I quickly discovered a new generation of foodmakers, a generation that takes vegan foods for granted without being combative partisans, and is comfortable with not only traditional American foods but also the emerging culture cuisines of our times. I’m confident that you will find the enclosed collection of recipes delicious and enjoyed by all the “vores” in your community: carnivores, omnivores, and veggievores.

—David Lee, Field Roast founder and president