Stepaniak - The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook: Delicious Dairy-Free Cheeses and Classic Uncheese Dishes

2003 Jo Stepaniak

Cover art: Linda Paul (www.lindapaul.com)

Cover design: Warren Jefferson

Interior design: Gwynelle Dismukes

Photography: Warren Jefferson

Food stylist: Barbara Bloomfield

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, except for brief quotations in reviews, without written permission from the publisher.

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Book Publishing Company
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Calculations for the nutritional analyses in this book are based on the average number of servings listed with the recipes and the average amount of an ingredient if a range is called for. Calculations are rounded up to the nearest gram. If two options for an ingredient are listed, the first one is used. Not included are fat used for frying (unless the amount is specified in the recipe), optional ingredients, or serving suggestions.

Printed in Canada

ISBN10 1-57067-151-6

ISBN13 978-1-57067-151-7

14 13 12 11 10 09 10 9 8 7 6

Stepaniak, Jo, 1954

The ultimate uncheese cookbook / by Jo Stepaniak.

p. cm.

ISBN 1-57067-151-6

1. Milk-free diet--Recipes. 2. Cookery (Tofu) I. Title.

RM234.5.S739 2003

641.5'63--dc22 2003015951

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by Vesanto Melina, MS, RD

People often say, I could easily give up dairy productsexcept for cheese. Its understandable. Those unique flavors and that distinctive nip are hard to dismiss. And yet we have compelling reasons to search for alternatives. For some, these reasons involve allergy or food intolerance; others are concerned about how calves and cows are exploited in the creation of cheese. Some, aware of the damage done by the dairy industry to soil, water, and air, choose to minimize their environmental footprint. Still others are concerned about the high fat content of dairy products, such as cheese, and the effects of various components of cows milk on their health.

One group that is worried about the effect of fatty foods such as cheese is New York Citys Education Department. Acknowledging that obesity is epidemic among schoolchildren, the Department is reducing the fat content in the 800,000 meals it serves daily. A recent study showed that according to the Centers for Disease Control guidelines, almost 20 percent of third graders and 21 percent of sixth graders in New York City are obese. In some neighborhoods, almost 15 percent of the population has diabetes, a condition related to diet and lack of exercise.

After trying to reformulate macaroni and cheese with more nutritious ingredients, the Department has decided to cut back on this lunchroom staple and similar dishes. In typical mac and cheese, about half the calories come from fat. Compare this with Cheez-A-Roni (page 90), in which just 21 percent of the calories come from fats. Not only are the healthful ingredients in Cheez-A-Roni packed with B vitamins, vitamin E, iron, and zinc, this delicious entre is cholesterol-free!

Cows milk has been a part of the diet for some, but not by any means all, population groups for thousands of years. How did dairy products come to be an essential food group for North Americans?

The first North American food guide was published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1916. This guide contained a recommendation to include 10 percent of ones daily calories from milk, which translated to one cup of milk daily. By the 1930s, a family food-buying guide advised each American to consume two cups of milk daily. From the 1940s on, the recommendation for dairy switched to milk and milk products. From that time forward, USDA food guides became a familiar educational and meal-planning tool in the United States. The dairy industry lobbied to ensure its strong presence on every version of the guide, with its products taking up as much as 25 percent of the area where recommended food groups were shown. Then the industry did its best to get its message to every school child and adult in America, as it continues to do today.

It has long concerned some nutritionists that the USDA has a dual role: on one hand to provide nutrition advice to the public, and on the other to ensure the success of American agriculture. There was an understandable desire for economic recovery from the depression and for agricultural prosperity after the war. This emphasis persists today amidst even more powerful lobbying from the dairy and meat industries. Accordingly, we should take this into account when evaluating health advice from the USDA.

In 1943, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences released the first recommended dietary allowances (RDAs). The RDAs focused attention on recommended intakes for specific nutrients: minerals such as calcium, and vitamins such as riboflavin. These recommended intakes are best guesses by a group of scientific experts and include large safety margins. The RDAs have become a gold standard against which diets can be judged.

Through the first half of the twentieth century, and beyond, the science of nutrition was focused on overcoming deficiencies of various nutrients, for example on getting enough protein. Food guides reflected this concern. Yet for decades, awareness had been mounting that deficiency was not the whole story. Recognition was growing that excesses of fatty, high-protein, and salty foods could also be a problem, leading to devastating and deadly chronic diseases: coronary artery disease, various cancers, diabetes, strokes, obesity, and osteoporosis.

The 1992 pyramid was the first food guide to consider the harmful effects of over nutrition. Yet the original pyramid met such heavy pressure from food industry lobbyists, for example from The National Cattlemens Association, that it was not released for a year, and not in its original, more health-oriented form.

Dr. Marion Nestle, the chair of New York Universitys Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, managed the production of the first (and only) Surgeon Generals Report on Nutrition and Health in 1988. In her book Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (University of California Press, 2002) she provides examples of her experience with the food industrys influence on government dietary guidelines. My first day on the job, I was given the rules: No matter what the research indicated, the report could not recommend eat less meat as a way to reduce intake of saturated fat The producers of food that might be affected by such advice would complain to their beneficiaries in Congress, and the report would never be published.

Not only does the U.S. Government en courage our use of dairy products through massive national nutrition education programs, it provides direct and indirect economic support to agricultural systems that produce milk, meat, and other similar commodities. One reason for the low cost of such foods is the multitude of subsidies, often in areas that escape our detection. Taxpayers support production quotas, market quotas, import restrictions, deficiency payments, lower tax rates, low-cost land leases, land management, water rights, marketing programs, and promotion programs. In a four-year period, from 1996 to 2000, agricultural subsidies took a 55 percent leap from about $18 billion to $28 billion annually.