'Tofu' is Apparently a Dirty Word

I read this story from the The Denver Post earlier this morning and had a good laugh.

Tofu license plate too foul for Colo. DMV
A tofu lesson to learn: Mind your P's, Q's, F's and U's

By Tom McGee
The Denver Post

Kelley Coffman-Lee's plan to advertise her love of tofu on a license plate ran afoul of censors at the Division of Motor Vehicles.

The 38-year-old mother of three asked the DMV to approve a special plate emblazoned with "ILVTOFU" for her Suzuki SL-7.

It was not 2 B.

The agency turned down the request, saying the plate might be offensive to some people.

"My whole family is vegan, so tofu is like a staple for us. I was just going to have a cool license plate, and the DMV misinterpreted my message," the Centennial resident said.

It turns out that "FU" is on a long list of letter combinations barred by the division, said Mark Couch, spokesman for the Department of Revenue. Think of it as "Eff you," he said.

"We don't allow 'FU' because some people could read that as street language for sex," Couch said.

A committee meets periodically to update the list so that plates stay free of letters that abbreviate gang slang, drug terms or obscene phrases made popular in text messaging, Couch said.

Among the more than 200 examples of alphabet soup are obvious red flags such as PIG and KKK and head- scratchers such as BUB and HEN.

The rear of Coffman-Lee's vehicle is festooned with a multitude of bumper stickers that leave little question about her feelings on issues such as global warming and meat-eating.

As a vegan, she won't consume or wear anything that comes from an animal. "But it's not just about food. It is a philosophy of life. It means you have compassion for animals; it means that you don't want to see them performing or research done on them or them being eaten."

So far, Couch said, no carnivore has requested ILVMEAT.

Vegan Recipes and Food in Online Media

Once again, I just though I'd share what I've run across on various newspapers' websites.

Maine's Ellsworth American featured a short and simple recipe for Sweet Maine Turnips w/ Maple Glaze.

The Epoch Times had a short piece on the health benefits of beets which included a traditional Ukrainian recipe for Christmas Borscht.

Yesterday, Sudbury's Northern Life featured a scrumptious sounding recipe for Moroccan Vegetable Soup.

Finally, New Jersey's Cranford Chronicle had a piece about tofu that just left me with a slightly furrowed brow, wondering what the writer's point had been in writing it in the first place. It's basically a piece written by someone who claims to like tofu and who goes on and on about how most people don't like it. Aside from praising her own purportedly innovative squeezing technique, her only recommendation concerning its preparation is to "cook the blazes out of the tofu over a high flame until every last drop of moisture is removed". Um, okay. You may not end up with something "rubbery" or "gelatinously slimy", but it's almost guaranteed that you'll end up with a hard inedible brick. Honestly -- what's the point?

Vegan Recipes in the News

The Food & Dining section of the Courier Press from Indiana features an article today by Sara Anne Corrigan on her attempts to throw together a tasty vegan meal for her guest, the town's new vegan rabbi. In it, she describes the addictiveness (and B vitamin goodliness) of nutritional yeast. She includes recipes for Soy Fritters and Tofu Dipping Sauce from the wonderful The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook (I have a copy of it myself and need to buy the most up-to-date verion). She also features a strange-sounding recipe for a Molded Gazpacho Salad that conjures images from my mom's old 1960s cookbooks. This salad in question is made with vegan-friendly Pomona's Universal Pectin, though. (The Farm's cookbook can be ordered via their catalog here.)

The Patriot Ledger from Quincy, MA has an article on raw-food chef Brenda Richter and includes a recipe for her Garden Blend Soup. (Since when is miso considered a raw food??)

Echowood's Making Tofu At Home: Part two

Here's the second part. The music is a little loud.

Vegan recipes in the news

The Erie Times-News has a recipe for vegan Macaroni and ''Cheese'' from Angeline Linardis' V Cuisine: The Art of New Vegan Cooking.

The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader in Pennsylvania is featuring a story on the very vegan-friendly Mill Hollow Café in Luzerne (check out their menu). The recipe is for Cashew-Tofu Cutlets.

More vegan recipes in the land of online news

Carolina's News 14's website is featuring a recipe for Vegetarian Chopped Liver. I couldn't help but laugh when I first saw it. ''What am I?''

The Irish Independent has a really hearty sounding tofu recipe -- Tommy Tofu, by health journalist Michael van Stratan.

Finally, just in time for Passover, the Jewish Journal has three recipes from Faye Levy's Healthy Cooking for the Jewish Home (not a vegetarian cookbook). There's Braised Calabala Squash w/ Chiles and Ginger, Cucumber, Jicame and Orange Salad w/ Black Olives, and Ethiopean Spiced Vegetables. Given the variety of colourful ingredients and spices, these recipes must be gorgeous as well as delicious.

More vegan recipes in the news

The Bangor Daily News is featuring Zesty Soyrizo Penne, Quinoa Salad, Cilantro Pesto Tofu and finally, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cherry Cookies (which was reprinted from the Post Punk Kitchen website).