Expers' Viewpoints: Asian Cuisine —Vegetarian Friendly Food (1/2)

Nadsa de Monteiro: Along with her mother Lonteine “Nyep”de Monteiro, these Executive Chefs of the highest order are passion-ate about the food traditions of their homeland, Cambodia. Their family owns, operates and are Executive Chefs at The Elephant Walk restaurants and Carambola, both located in the Boston metro region. At these restaurants, Cambodian and French dishes coexist discretely and naturally on a single menu as the authentic culinary expression of the de Monteiro family legacy. The Elephant Walk Cookbook has been heralded as a resource of historical significance, as it is one of the only cookbooks that accurately archive the cuisine of pre-killing fields Cambodia. Trend toward Healthier Diet—Key to Asian Ingredients Success I think that the Asian ingredient that is most noted for its health benefit is ginger. It has been made popular with Chinese stir fries but also accompanying sushi’s. I believe that the health and nutritional benefit of many ingredients in Asian cooking have not been as promoted as they should be. I have had the opportunities to educate the students in my cooking classes about them as well as through organizations such as the New England Herbs Society. I always tell them that not only is Cambodian and other South Asian cuisines light and delicious but also extremely nutritious and beneficial to one’s health through the uses of many herbs and spices that all have some kind of medicinal purpose such as turmeric, lemongrass, galangal, rhizomes, etc. One of our signature dishes, chicken lemon-grass using fresh ingredient spice paste, has been featured as a heart healthy dish by the American Heart Association and I think that helps bring awareness to our diners. I think that in the future, there will be higher demands of organic meats, fish and vegetables as Americans are becoming more and more aware of the effect that their diets have on their health and well being. Perhaps they would be willing to pay more money for the dishes that they know will be good for them as well as for the environment. I am currently participating in the creation of an Asian Food Pyramid headed by the Asian Chefs Association based in San Francisco. This type of activity should help to bring awareness to the public in educating them more about Asian cuisines. Discovering a Pan Asian Diversity of Flavors and Tastes Americans are discovering other Asian cuisines other than Chinese, and they are learning eagerly to appreciate different tastes and ingredients such as raw fish, and not only sweet and sour but also bitter. Japanese foods have been much popularized the last years and raw fish and sushi are now integrated in the American diet for the most part. You can get sushi practically anywhere and readily available not only in restaurants but also supermarkets and else where. The latest discovery has been South East Asian cuisine and Americans are becoming enamored with the salads bursting with flavors using fish sauce base dressings, the grilled meats with fresh herbs such as lemon-grass, etc. As these foods are made more and more available to them, Americans will become familiar with them and are very likely to adopt them as part of their diet. I think that there will be many more uses of fresh ingredients, fresh vegetables and organic products such as tofu or organic meats and wild caught seafood offered to the customers in the future, using methods of cooking that are simple and at the same time preserves the integrity and enhances the flavor of the ingredients. Asian food can be made vegetarian or vegan quite easily with meat and seafood substitutes; it is a vegetarian/vegan friendly type of cuisine and more and more I think that the growing vegetarian/vegan customers will favor Asian cuisines.