Cooking school offers vegetarian lessons

College students who opt for the vegetarian or vegan life often find themselves tiring of the food available to them. While IU offers some alternatives, many students are left searching for another option. \nThanks to the Bloomington Cooking School students have another choice: to learn to cook for themselves.\n"People are eating out more and more, yet, when they do eat at home, they want to better their cooking skills," said Matt O'Neill, Bloomington Cooking School and Runcible Spoon co-owner. "In one cooking class, they can learn to cook, enjoy a great meal, enjoy social interactions and become relative experts."\nThe cooking school will offer a special presentation at 6 p.m. today teaching vegetarians and vegans, as well as non-vegetarian participants, to use tofu and tempeh in their daily meals. \nBoth tofu and tempeh, the main ingredients in many vegetarian and vegan meals, come from the soybean plant, yet tofu and tempeh are made in very different processes. Tofu is made when fresh, hot soy milk is curdled. Tofu was first used in China around 200 B.C. and continues to remain popular today, according to the U.S. Soyfoods Directory.\nTempeh, on the other hand, is a traditionally Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. Its taste is similar to mushrooms and produces natural antibiotics thought to increase the body's resistance to intestinal infections, according to www.tempeh.info.\n"Bloomington is full of the health-conscious, including vegetarians and vegans," said Jan Bulla-Baker, co-owner of Bloomington Cooking School. "We try to cater to those needs by teaching classes that are specially suited for them."\nPartnered with Bloomingfoods, a local co-op grocery store, the presentation was to be taught by Christie McCloud, kitchen manager of the east Bloomingfoods location. However, because of scheduling problems, senior David Bower, a chef at Runcible Spoon and a vegetarian for five years, will be teaching the class instead.\n"Many are fooled by the myth that being vegetarian or vegan means eating only salads," Bower said. "My goal is to show that vegetarian and vegan foods can be as flavorful and as nutritious as meat and healthy at the same time."\nA recent survey by the Vegetarian Resource Group estimates that 30 to 40 percent of the country's consumers are vegetarian or vegan, proving that Bloomington residents are not alone.\n"We live in a nutritionally and ecologically aware area," O'Neill said. "We try to bring in those who live the lifestyle and who teach not only the techniques, but also the culture of the food."\nWhile stores like Bloomingfoods offer foods that mesh with strict dietary guidelines, many feel local grocery stores are neglecting students' dietary needs.\n"If you go to Kroger and they don't offer vegan cheese or soy milk that you need, fill in a suggestion card or talk to the manager," Bulla-Baker said. "The important thing to remember is that if they do start to carry it, you have to buy it to ensure they will continue to carry it."\nThe event will be held at the Bloomington Cooking School, located at 115 N. College Ave., Ste. 14. Cost for the event is $45, with Bloomingfoods co-op members receiving a $10 discount. For information regarding available spaces, call 333-7100.\n-- Contact staff writer Jennifer Griffin at jdgriffi@indiana.edu.