20041125 Cafe Parizäde Annual Triangle Vegetarian Society Thanksgiving - pictures by Linda Long

We had another fantastic Thanksgiving at Cafe Parizäde in 2004. Each year, I work with them to put together an ever growing annual Thanksgiving event for our vegetarian society. Our 2004 Thanksgiving was, I believe, the biggest vegetarian event of 2004, and we garnered local TV and newspaper coverage, as we always do.

The event was a great success! We had an extensive menu beginning with a Fall Antipasto Buffet Table. It had a quinoa salad with olives, shallots, pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, and garlic in a base of the lovely crunchy grain quinoa, with arugula and rosemary-carmelized pear. Also we had warm spinach orzo with pesto; braised garlicky greens; hearts of Romaine lettuce with lemon, olive oil, and capers; string bean almondine; lightly steamed corn-off-the-cob accented with smoked poblano peppers and cumin and served with a light sprinkling of lime juice and salt; roasted exotic mushrooms with fennel and garlic, drizzled with white truffle oil; and citrus couscous with dried fruits and garbanzo beans. We offered a Mediterranean minty fatoush salad with toasted flat bread; breads, crustinis, and pita with Egyptian red lentil hummus, artichoke-spinach hummus, and baba ganouj; marinated olives; and spiced pecans.

For main courses, we had Dilip's cherry-kissed and seared tempeh with baby bok choy in a coconut milk curry; Moroccan sweet potato and squash tagine; Shepherd's Pie with wheat gluten, roasted root vegetables, and mushrooms, with a potato crust; roasted chestnut-barley risotto with Brussels sprouts; and Orecchiette pasta with fresh tomato-basil sauce. Also, folks enjoyed roasted garlic olive oil mashed potatoes with chives; mushroom gravy, apple-pecan stuffing, fresh raspberry-cranberry relish, and Black Mission fig chutney; wild rice with crookneck squash; country cornbread; and sweet potato-leek-potato velouté (thickened soup).

For dessert, we offered fresh seasonal fruits, phyllo cookies, pumpkin pie with pomegranate glaze, cherry crisp, and cinnamon currant apple pie. Apple cider, cranberry juice, water, herbal tea, and coffee were included in this all-inclusive all-you-can eat/drink meal for around $20 per person!

As always at our Thanksgivings, all of the food was strictly vegan, or plant-based. There were no animal, egg or dairy products, and no honey or white sugar in any of the food.

We also had a generous raffle of 138 items worth over $3000, with prizes ranging from gift certificates from area businesses to cases of whole food products, fine chocolates, non-animal gardening fertilizers, and much more.

We charged an all-inclusive price of $20 for TVS members, $23 for other adults, and $9 for children aged 5-10; children younger than 5 ate for free. We had 360 people in attendance, a growth of 28% over last year, and had local coverage by the two big local newspapers and several of the area television news programs.

Also, Triangle Vegetarian Society enjoyed national coverage this year. Linda Long, a writer from New York who specializes in vegetarian food articles, flew down to cover our event for several national publications; we were a cover story of the Spring 2005 American Vegan (V.4 #4) and are slated for a fall 2005 issue of VegNews. Her fame attracted the Washington Duke Inn, also here in Durham, NC to invite both Linda and me to visit, and they hosted a lovely luncheon for us the day before.

Linda was kind enough to send me all of the pictures that she took at the event at Cafe Parizäde, and invited me to use them as I wished. Hence the pictures here. All of these pictures are Linda's and are posted with her permission.