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Fed up with being grossed out by cooking shows that are all about cutting up and cooking animals, Isa Chandra Moskowitz decided to start her own fun, funky, animal-friendly public-access cooking show, The Post Punk Kitchen (“the PPK”). Part cooking show, part punk band performance, the PPK is 100 percent vegan. Isa has also authored two cookbooks with recipes from the show—the wildly popular Vegan With a Vengeance and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.
Working with fresh, natural, easy-to-find ingredients, Isa cooks up to-die-for dishes including Lentil Salad, Porcini Wild Rice Soup, Strawberry-Plum Crisp, and, of course, heaps of heavenly vegan cupcakes. Like her culinary creations, Isa sparkles with creativity and charm. “Punk taught me to question everything,” says Isa. “Of course, in my case that means questioning how to make a Hostess cupcake without eggs, butter, or cream.”
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Chef Spotlight:
Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Restaurant or company:
Author of Vegan With a Vengeance and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and host of the Post Punk Kitchen
Do you have companion animals? If so, can you describe them?
I have two cats, Fizzle and Avocado. They are brother and sister and also share my birthday. Fizzle is fluffy and black and acts as my sous chef and alarm clock. Avocado is tortoiseshell and more into administrative duties, like sitting on my lap when I write and spilling stuff on recipes that she doesn’t think cut the mustard.
How long have you been a chef?
I´ve been cooking since I was 16, and I’m 34 now.
What type of cuisine do you focus on?
I do mostly home-style cooking.
Have you or your cookbooks received any awards?
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World won a “Veggie” award for cookbook of the year, and Post Punk Kitchen won a “Veggie” award for DVD of the year. Vegan With a Vengeance won a PETA “Proggy” award for cookbook of the year.
Do you have a specialty?
Not really, but my favorite thing to cook is brunch items. I also like rolling things or stuffing things.
What are the most important elements in cooking great vegetarian cuisine?
Knowing how ingredients act is most important. Whether you know it through trial and error or from reading about food science doesn´t matter, just that you apply your knowledge when cooking.
What is the key to getting meat-eaters to enjoy vegetarian food?
This is pretty simple, but just cook great food! I don´t think there is one food item that everyone will enjoy over another, since everyone´s palate is different. You can cook simple things or exotic things, pizzas or haute cuisine—whatever it is, just make it slammin´. I also think that not pretending your tofu is meat helps. Just call your dishes what they are, that way the expectation of something meaty isn´t there.
What, in your opinion, does the future of plant-based cuisine hold?
I think that vegan cuisine is the great uniter of all cuisines. Good vegan chefs pull from a variety of cultures and regions and tend to be more creative in their approaches to cooking—taking things that are familiar to people (or sometimes not) and giving them something unexpected. Think Asian lasagna or Mexican knishes. I think that more and more people will move toward a plant-based diet, whether out of necessity or because of health reasons, but hopefully for ethical reasons as well. And vegan chefs will be ready for them with inspiring and satisfying food.
Do you have a favorite cooking method?
I´m all about the cast-iron grill. I think, especially for people who crave meat, nothing beats the smokiness and texture of really well-prepared grilled food.
Where did you train to become a chef?
I didn´t train, per se. I spent a lot of time cooking for groups like Food Not Bombs or just cooking huge meals for some cause or another. I would say that I am self-taught, but that isn´t really true because I was always obsessively reading cookbooks and watching cooking shows.
What are your favorite ingredients to work with?
I love all legumes. They are so versatile. I like experimenting with different beans, mushing them up and forming them into croquettes or patties, trying different seasonings with them, and pairing them with grains and sauces. I love that they are so affordable, have so many health benefits, and taste great. There are so few ingredients that give you all that. Terry, my co-author, likes to joke that there is nothing I can´t do with a chickpea.
In your opinion, what vegetarian dish or type of food is most frequently poorly prepared and why? Without a doubt, tempeh. I remember as a teenager, I almost wrote it off because I never had it done well. There are two ends of the spectrum for messing up tempeh. The first is by not cooking it long enough. Tempeh, in most cases, either needs to be marinated in something salty and acidic (say, a little soy sauce, lemon juice, and wine) for a good amount of time or gently steamed or boiled to get the bitterness out of it. The other extreme is that people add way too much soy sauce to try and hide the bitterness and end up with a salty, watery mess.
If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only eat one kind of ethnic food, what would it be?
I suppose Thai food. But then, I would also wonder why the owners of the Thai restaurant wouldn´t help me get off the island. But this would serve a double purpose, because I could ostensibly build a raft out of chopsticks.
Do vegetarian restaurants face any special obstacles that meat-based restaurants don´t have to face?
I think that veggie restaurants have a dedicated clientele, a niche market I suppose, of people who will support them no matter what. So that might make a positive difference. But in dealing with the public at large, I think that meat-eaters would enter it a little more judgmental than they would a burger joint—kind of with a “this better be good” sort of attitude.
Can you give us one great cooking tip for aspiring vegetarian chefs?
Work with every vegetable you can get your hands on. Really figure out their qualities. Once you get the basics down, don´t get caught up in the hegemony of what has traditionally been done with it before. Sometimes I go to the farmers market and just pick out whatever looks really good, and then I go through a laundry list of dishes. Like, would this be good in a risotto? An empanada? A crepe? Celebrate your failures, because that really is the best way to learn, by experience. Cook every day, even when you don´t feel like it and you just want to order Chinese food. Some of my best dishes have come about when I was in a lazy, crappy mood. Keep your eyes and mind open—inspiration is everywhere.
What are some ingredients that you recommend vegetarians and vegans have in their kitchens to cook with?
Keep your pantry stocked with bulk beans and grains—that way, you really never have “nothing to eat.” Never run out of olive oil, cooking wine, garlic, onions, and lemon.
Are there any newer vegetarian products on the market that you are particularly fond of?
Thank god for ricemellow crème.
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Chef: Scot Jones
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