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Last night’s vegan Oscar party was a success. The four and a half vegans present managed to sufficiently wow the ten omnivores with our food and charm. Hopefully they agree. I know they liked the food at least. It was also exciting seeing two famous vegetarians  (Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin) hosting the Academy Awards and vegan Woody Harrelson as a nominee. Maybe I pointed that out a little too fervently every time Woody appeared on screen but I couldn’t help myself. 

Parties like this are a great way to get together with friends and promote vegan cuisine in a very positive fun way. No preaching required. Just serve great food and answer any related questions that come up. Someone will always ask. The men talked about health quite a bit and the women discussed issues related to best documentary winner, The Cove, such as the rampant mislabeling of dolphin flesh as fish to fool consumers. Pretty egregious, mislabeling a mammal as a fish – not just a different species but different biological class entirely. Several of us also expressed our enthusiam for Food, Inc., The Cove’s very worthy contender. It was a hard call between the two. I was glad to see one of them win, and happy that they both got some well deserved exposure as a result of their nominations.

Several of our guests were kind enough to contribute to the menu, which consisted of Paula’s delectable hummus, Betsy’s amazing baked tofu – served with peanut sauce, and her mockamole (made with edamame) which is so good I could eat it every single day, Gary brought Quesadilla’s that were a big hit and an apple pie that I was very impressed with. He said the recipe was from The Conscious Cook. What a great book. Every recipe I’ve tried from it has been a winner.

We served back eyed pea and corn salad, spring rolls with spicy cherry sauce, potato skins with salsa, sour cream, and corn relish and a variety of crackers, crudités and other dips. Our son, Benjamin even made his first catering contribution ever. “Benjamin’s Delight” was celery stuffed with vegan cream cheese and olives. Perfect as a passed appetizer, with Benjamin doing the passing. He also helped me roll the truffles (aka Mignardises) in a variety of coatings – raspberry sugar, toasted coconut, and ground walnut with cinnamon. Benjamin later volunteered serving them to the guests, naturally taking a few for himself along the way. Judging by the number of seconds requested they went over well. That recipe will now be a staple. It is found in both The Best of Vegan Cooking and Great Chefs Cook Vegan. So easy, that I will never use another truffle recipe again. I also served the Happy Herbivore’s black bean brownies but we added peanut butter icing for a little extra drama.

At the end of the evening we tallied the ballots and gave out prizes for the most accurate predictions. The winners received AMC, Regal Cinema, and Blockbuster gift cards, as well as copies of The Future of Food.
I can’t resist an opportunity for activism. Even if it comes in a gift bag.