Where I'm At

There's nothing harder than being around tons of great food, and telling myself not to indulge in anything.
I work with a very talented pastry chef. His work is amazing, but it is also tasty! I can't tell you how many times my stomach grumbles when he removes a batch of apple cinnamon coffee cakes from the oven, or when a batch of blonde brownies are ready to cut, still warm and intoxicating. I keep telling myself, "You've had those brownies a hundred times," or stuff like that. Usually it works for me. Sometimes, I come close to breaking down.
I frequently have people ask me, "How can you be eating vegan, and still be chef of a normal kitchen?" I wonder the same thing almost every day. I've been eating vegan for about 10 weeks. The owner of the company I work for is probably oblivious to the fact that I do my job every day, working with many talented and passionate chefs, who cook many great things all the time, and I don't sample any more than I have to. It's do-able, but it is hard. One of my chefs, Dotty, was preparing short ribs today. I think she makes the best short ribs I have ever tasted. She was making a batch today, and gave me a piece to try. I studied the morsel of meat for a minute, while she talked to me about what she was working on. I felt no desire to wolf down this little morsel of heaven. For the first time I can remember, I did not want to try it. It looked brown and fatty to me, kind of unhealthy, even if it was only about 2 ounces of meat. I didn't need to sample this entree anymore. Dotty is competent, and an excellent cook. I knew the short ribs would be perfect, so I told her as much, and moved on. I am still struggling to avoid non-vegan temptations on an almost hourly basis, but the process is becoming a little easier.
My wife, Donna, tries to create different dishes all the time at home, to keep herself motivated, but to also help keep me on track. I keep trying to get her to eat Indian food, which has a multitude of vegan options. The Indian spices kill her digestive system, but she is at least trying these things (I think just to make me happy.) We won't be going to Kebob and Curry restaurant any time soon, but I can still experiment with chana masala and 5 lentil dals for the time being at home.
Speaking of restaurants, we haven't gone out too often recently. It's tough to go to a "normal" restaurant and ask for vegan options. Most of the time, the server will look at you like you're from another planet. I'm a chef! I like to be waited on and eat in other people's restaurants! A new joint opened up near our house, about 5 minutes away. We went there as a family to celebrate the restaurant opening after the building had been vacant for 4 years. The menu was devoid of vegan options, except for spaghetti or ziti. Donna had the ziti, I had the spaghetti. (I ask for spaghetti with plain sauce a lot. It's a pretty safe option anywhere we go!) She asked for hers with NO cheese, and received it WITH cheese. (I almost knew that would happen!) Donna told the general manager that we lived close by, but that we're vegans. Would there be any way they could do veggie burgers? The manager said he would definitely have them on hand the next time we came. Great! That will be boring after 3 or 4 weeks! That's kind of why we have stopped going out.
We did find out about a vegetarian restaurant on the Pawtucket/Providence line called The Garden Grille. We went by it once, very crowded and very small. We'll try it again soon however.
It shouldn't be so hard for a vegan to find a restaurant meal. I think more of them will open as people realize how much fun they can be to try, and how different the menus are. I mean, really, how many restaurant open with 80% of the same things that someone down the road has? So for right now, I appreciate what I do as chef in a kitchen with "normal" foods. At least the smells are interesting!