Valley couple brings vegan ethics to holiday table

By Bonnie Barnard, December 2011
Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Michele and Lonnie Whittington

There is no sacrifice involved for the Reverends Michele and Lonnie Whittington to honor their vegan convictions at their traditional holiday meal. "The food we eat is ammmazing!" says Michele Whittington.

How does a family celebrate Christmas without a turkey or ham on their table? Without whipped cream piled atop their pie or figgy pudding? What is Christmas without butter and eggnog? For some families, eating compassionately trumps tradition. The Michele and Lonnie Whittington are one such family and they are part of a growing number.

This Christmas, the Phoenix couple can be found officiating Sunday church service at Creative Living Fellowship on 7th Street and McLellan. Michele is the senior pastor and will speak to the metaphysical meaning of Jesus’ birth, while Lonnie, a newly ordained minister, will lead the congregation in announcements. After a full morning, they will return to their nearby home for a quiet day.

“Although I’m vegan, Christmas is still about the food. The food we eat is ammmazing,” Michele rolls her m for emphasis. “We will light some candles in the kitchen and dining room for ambience, turn on some background 70s holiday music, and I will sit at our ample table replete with holiday wear drinking a glass of organic red wine. Lonnie and I will talk or sing as he prepares the meal.”

Lonnie is the cook in the family. “I love to cook,” grins Lonnie. “I learned early it helped me in getting the girls, and, once I married Michele, I realized my love of the art.” Michele turned a meatless diet after reading the book “Skinny Bitch.” “I became a vegan initially out of vanity,” she says. “I had continued to gain and lose the same 30 pounds. The book title caught my attention.” With her small, impeccably dressed frame, it is hard to imagine she once struggled with weight.

“The book advocates veganism, or a plant-based diet with no animal generated food” says Michele of “Skinny Bitch”. When I closed the book jacket after reading the final page, I became clear about three things: the meat-based and preservative-laden diet I was eating wasn’t honoring my body as a temple, my food choices were out of alignment with my core spiritual belief that we are all a physical expression of One LIfe, including animals, and the way I was eating was harming Mother Nature.”

“Health, ethical or spiritual convictions, and caring for the environment are the three primary reasons people shift to a plant based diet,” says Jolia Allen, online editor of the Florida-based magazine Vegetarian Times. “And, it is growing.”
            A 2008 study commissioned by Vegetarian Times indicates 3.2 percent of Americans forego meat, or if the statistics are universal, at least 46,000 Phoenix residents will be joining the Whittington’s style of celebration. This isn’t news to The Green Restaurant, which owns two restaurants in The Valley. The Phoenix restaurant is on 7th Street; the second can be found in Tempe. “When we opened six years ago there was one other vegetarian restaurant in the Valley; The Vegetarian House,” says Green Restaurant manager, Trygve Johnson. Today I can give you a sheet full of restaurant names.”

What will the reverends be eating this year for Christmas? Before church they will indulge in hot currant scones with steaming coffee. Their celebration main course will be Faux Shrimp Butternut Soup, buying their shrimp substitute at The Loving Hut
on 32nd and Indian School. The soup will be complimented with Lonnie’s carmelized broccoli and garlic. “Lonnie will surprise with an additional dish or two,” Michele glows. “Then we will finish off with his Mayan Chocolate Spice Pudding” for dessert.

Lonnie’s cooking has become infamous in their church community. The couple brings vegan dishes to all potluck events. After much prodding, Lonnie produced the vegan cookbook “Food For Thought”, available through the church’s bookstore or by calling 602-906-4080.

He offers the following recipes:

Sugar Snap Pea and Barley Salad
Ingredients
2 cups water
1 cup quick-cooking barley
8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed and sliced into matchsticks
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
14 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions
• Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add barley and cook, covered, for 10 to 12 minutes, or according to package directions.  Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.
• Rinse the barley under cool water and transfer to a large bowl.
• Add snap peas, parsley, onion, oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Toss and combine.

Mayan Spiced Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
1 - 13.5 ounce can light coconut milk, divided
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup agave sweetener
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon chili powder, plus more for garnish
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 - 3 ounce bar vegan dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
• Whisk together 1/4 cup coconut milk and cornstarch in a small bowl.  Set aside.
• Combine remaining coconut milk, agave sweetener, cinnamon, chili powder and salt in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Whisk 1/4 cup hot mixture into cornstarch mixture to form a slurry.  Make sure there are no lumps of cornstarch remaining or your pudding will not be smooth.
• Whisk slurry into hot mixture and cook 3 minutes or until thickened, whisking constantly.  Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate and vanilla.
• Transfer to metal bowl and set in a larger bowl filled with ice and water.  Whisk occasionally to cool.  Ready to eat in 30 minutes.  Serve sprinkled with a pinch of chili powder.

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