Marketing quiz: Which diet book would sell more copies, Skinny Bitch or Adopting a Cruelty-free Vegan Lifestyle? Yeah…the first one.
Here in L.A., there'd be very few people who, under oath, would say they didn't care about having a body mass index lower than that of their pudgy neighbor. With their staggeringly popular book Skinny Bitch, authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin created a title that at first glance appeared to be a diet book, but held a (surprise!) vegan manifesto between its slim covers. When Victoria Beckman was photographed clutching a copy, the book raced up the best-seller lists.
Silverlake-based gourmet catering company Spork Foods specializes in vegan cooking instruction and is endorsed by Freedman, who gushes, "One class with Spork and your life will never be the same!" (Weighty words from one of the skinniest bitches around.) I headed over to Spork on recent Sunday afternoon to get schooled in the art of eating without animals and wondered if my pants would get any looser in the process.
Spork is headquartered in co-founder Jenny Goldberg's breezy house, and students sit at her kitchen counter in a setting that feels more like a dinner party than a classroom. In fact, a table is already set for the post-instruction meal included with the class fee.
With a mop of red curls and a friendly but didactic demeanor, Goldberg chirps her way through our Vegan Italiano lesson. She demonstrates how to blend vegan sour cream into biscotti batter and lectures on which margarines are best for baking. A lasagna with soy-based béschamel sauce is layered with organic semolina noodles, sweet potatoes and spinach. There are no dead chickens or cow fluids in sight. Students pay $65 for the course and the meal, but sadly, no one gets their hands dirty. It's all observation and note taking, so for someone who's never operated a food processor or who uses socks as oven mitts, the lessons might not stick right away.
On the way home—my stomach stuffed from the menu of white bean spread on sprouted crostini, vegan lasagna and biscotti—I pondered just how skinny I would stay on a vegan diet this tasty. But Goldberg's many lessons have stayed with me, and the last time I headed out for groceries, I went to a farmers market rather than 7-11. Hey, it’s a start.
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