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One of Ken’s latest projects includes cooking at colleges and
universities around the country, helping to add vegan options to their
menus. He is also the author of the book Professional
Vegetarian Cooking, a book packed with vegan recipes, as
well as tips on vegan cooking techniques. |
Chef Spotlight: Ken Bergeron
CEC (American Culinary Federation Certified Executive Chef)
Age: 52
Q. How long have you been a chef?
A. I have been cooking professionally for more than 30 of my 52 years.
Q. Do you have animal companions?
A. Our family includes Sandy, a cat, Skip, a dog, Henry, a parrot, and four
anoles, Mealymouth, Junior, Tiny, and Ferdinan.
Q. What type of cuisine does your restaurant focus on?
A. My former restaurant, ION (sold in 1993), in Middletown, Connecticut,
had a multiethnic cuisine with a strong emphasis on macrobiotic food. The
menu continues with many of these ideas today.
Q. Do you have a personal specialty?
A. My best-known and most popular dish is Oyster Fried Mushrooms. Oyster
mushrooms are breaded with a sea vegetable coating and fried. Often I serve
them with Watermelon Catsup or Fusion Tartar Sauce. These recipes are in
my book Professional Vegetarian Cooking.
Q. What are the most important elements in cooking great vegetarian cuisine?
A. In order to cook great vegetarian food, the cook must have knowledge
of what the great food of the world tastes like. As with any art or craft,
practice is critical in producing great work. Taste a dish before it is
served, as it is the last chance one has to correct the seasoning. And remember
to put love into the meal.
Q. What is the key to getting meat-eaters to enjoy vegetarian food?
A. Most of the clients at my restaurant were not total vegetarians,
but they enjoyed the cuisine. Well-seasoned food with a variety of textures
and flavors will usually satisfy the majority of diners.
Q. What, in your opinion, is in store for the future of plant-based cuisine?
A. I believe the future of vegan food will see more raw food, more
food from the macrobiotic and Ayurvedic traditions, and an increase in the
naturally occurring vegan dishes in most of the world’s cuisines.
More convenience products that can help busy people cook meals in a short
time and ready-to-eat foods at all levels of dining will be available.
Q. What are your favorite ingredients to work with?
A. I have a fondness for sea vegetables and mushrooms but they often play
a part in meals with other ingredients. Those ingredients that impart flavor
such as herbs, spices, vinegars, lemons and limes, sea salt and black pepper,
chilies, etc., give the cook the opportunity to use a variety of foods that
will be the vehicle for the sauce or seasoning. A base of seasonal organic
ingredients is best.
Q. In your opinion, what vegetarian dish or type of food is most frequently poorly prepared and why?
A. Poorly prepared food is the result of poor or inadequate training,
a poor attitude, or, worse, both. The same recipe in the hands of a master
cook will be a wonder to behold.
Q. Fun question of the day: If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only eat one kind of ethnic food, what would it be?
A. Watermelon would be my one food of choice, and then each day I
could imagine it to be whatever ethnic cuisine I was craving. I can easily
eat Indian and other curries or the variety that Chinese cooking offers
every day. But what about pasta? Mexican food? etc. This is not a fun question!
Q. Do vegetarian restaurants have any special obstacles that they face versus meat-based restaurants?
A. Vegetarian restaurants still have to overcome the image of brown
beans over brown rice that emerged in the 1960s. This style of food was
great on intention but lacked cooks with taste and training. Today’s
well-known vegetarian restaurants have been able to learn from the food
industry and present tasty dishes in comfortable and sometimes unique and
modern settings.
Q. Can you give us one great cooking tip for aspiring vegetarian chefs?
A. Besides trained taste buds, the would-be vegetarian chef must learn
the basic fundamentals of cooking. Cutting and chopping, boiling, steaming,
sautéing, frying, braising, grilling, roasting, and at least some
basics of pastry preparation.
Q. What are some food ingredients you recommend that vegetarians and
vegans should have in their kitchen for cooking?
A. On the counter next to the stove and the cutting board I have 100 percent
and extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, tamari sauce, toasted sesame
oil, sea salt, and two pepper grinders, one with black or mixed peppercorns
and the other with Szechuan peppercorns, fresh garlic, and dried chilies.
These, along with staples such as onions, potatoes, pasta, grains, cooked
and dried beans, tomato sauce or salsa, vegan bouillon, various nuts and
nut butters. Some frozen vegetables such as peas or corn also come in handy.
MoriNu silken tofu with their Tofu Mates is a shelf stable item with many
possibilities.
Q. Are there any newer vegetarian products on the market that you are
particularly fond of?
A. Fairly new items to the market that I enjoy are Silk vanilla soy yogurt,
eaten plain or with granola added, and I like the new and improved styles
of veggie burgers, which I can use as they are or make into balls or loaves
or break up and brown for sauce or stuffed cabbage or stuffed peppers.
Q. How do you best prepare tofu?
A. Using pressed or extra-firm tofu (the best regular tofu is made by the
The Bridge, Middletown, Connecticut), cut into bite-sized pieces and marinate
in tamari, ginger, garlic, and sesame oil and then bake for 12 to 15 minutes
at 400°F. Tofu is now flavored and textured and recipe-ready for a stew,
sauce, or dressing, or it can be placed on salad. Use marinade of choice.
The method works for tempeh as well.
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Chef: Scot Jones
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