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THE GOOD WORD Vol. 15: Kelly White of Living on the Vedge
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
THE GOOD WORD Vol. 15: Kelly White of Living on the Vedge
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The Good Word is a weekly Meal Ticket feature where we ask Philadelphia food people questions. We�re going to start by highlighting the city�s many excellent food writers and bloggers, with eventual plans to extend beyond the scribeosphere. The questions will be different every week unless we come across a really sweet one we want to reuse. Want to nominate a future Good Word candidate (yes, you can nominate yourself), or submit ideas for questions? E-mail drew.lazor@citypaper.net.
In this installment of The Good Word, we�re chatting with Kelly White of Living on the Vedge. The nine-year vegetarian began her writing career as a City Paper intern in 2005 and contributed to Philebrity from 2006 to 2008. She started LOTV, which touches on all aspects of the local and national vegetarian scenes, in 2007.
You travel quite a bit � so where does Philly rank among other cities in terms of being veg-friendly? What do we do better than other places? In what ways are we behind?
Philly vegans used to eat the same five places. There were no tablecloths or flatware. I would say it's a lot better now, but we still only have one fully vegan upscale dining experience. [Horizons]. That needs to change. The ethnic food scene here is remarkable and you can find a lot of stimulating flavors in any given neighborhood, where menus are generous with vegetables and grains because those were the cheap, native ingredients. Brunch is one of the easiest meals for vegetarians and is also one of the best meals to have in Philadelphia.
The major difference now is that Jose Garces is doing a black bean burger [at Village Whiskey] and chefs are starting to respect that a plate of vegetables can be more than that. I ask for chef's plates a lot if I don't see anything I want. Another huge deal here? Ray's Seitan of Philadelphia has made it the most seitan-saturated city that I know of. Can you think of any place where "wheat meat" is more common? Do you know why? Most seitan is junk. It's not cost-effective to make from scratch in bulk. Ray's is extraordinary.
The Northwest has the edge on everything else. New York has the best vegan chefs and tofu cream cheese bagels, but at the end of the day, it's New York. Vienna has the most impressive outdoor market, Naschmarkt.
Are people still scared of tofu these days? Any tofu-based dishes in these parts that you'd recommend to the uninitiated?
Tofu fear is down, my friend. I served Vietnamese tofu bruschetta from the Horizons cookbook at a party and everyone from the 4-year-old to the 90-year-old devoured it. Maybe it's the middle-aged folks that don't get it.
The pan-seared tofu at Horizons has a high success rate with omnivores. Everyone loves a banh mi with tofu. Tofu scramble is also a really great starter dish and is familiar to people (Honey's, any brunch place or pub).
You're a cocktail head. If you could drink one drink for the rest of your life, what would it be? It could be a tipple in general, or a specific drink from a specific bar.
Now the real questions come out. Caipirinhas! From Alma de Cuba, which has a talented bar staff and that fantastic plantains entr�e. I enjoy the Franklin, but I always get something different there. I wish I went to Southwark more.� The shot I like to fall into bed with on my lips is Don Julio 1942. My regular drink is usually Jack and Diet. I abide by some cocktail law: I only finish drinks if they're worth it. The company and the bartender matter a lot more than the actual spirit. No blue drinks.
Of all the more popular higher-end restaurants in Philly, which have you found to be surprisingly veg-friendly?
Osteria will do so much Beyond the pizza and pasta, they will do veggie antipasti plates according to the number at your table, and everything is always top-notch. Zahav and Buddakan are a lot of fun.
Are there any meat or seafood items that evoke visceral longing within you? Or are they universally off-putting no matter what?
I have no idea what meat tastes like anymore. I think it's hard to crave something if your memory can't aid you. Pepperoni pizza, perhaps. Nobody forgets that. I had a limited culinary experience as a child.
I'm not put off by it at all and get all wide-eyed watching Top Chef like the rest of you. The craft turns me on. However, the meat part of my brain shut off� a long time ago. I never even consider it. I do eat what I want.
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