Ever-Green Vietnamese: Andrea Nguyen returns to her food roots

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Our cookbook of the week is Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants from Land and Sea by Andrea Nguyen. To try a recipe from the book, check out: Huế rice crepes, smoky nori-tofu wontons and coconut-coffee pops.

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What happens when a food writer experiences a shift in appetite? For Andrea Nguyen, a midlife decision to eat less meat and more vegetables ended up bringing her full circle. She tapped into her Vietnamese heritage and food culture to help her live a sustainable life — both in an environmental sense and her ability to keep it up in the long-term.

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The year 2019 was a busy one for the James Beard Award-winning author and cooking teacher. Nguyen had recently published her sixth cookbook, Vietnamese Food Any Day, which kept her travelling. This was a good thing; she saw her packed schedule as a sign that her decades-long culinary career was blooming.

At the same time, her late father’s health was declining. And, having just turned 50, middle age hit “in a profound manner.” The changes in her body made it clear that she had to make a shift.

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“I was just not eating and taking care of myself as I should. And when you hit 50 — we don’t talk about it much, because in food, we’re supposed to eat a lot and drink a lot and have a lot of fun and celebrate all of that. But rarely do we admit that there are pros and cons to celebrating food with gusto.”

Nguyen knew a strict diet wasn’t the answer. Instead, she returned to her food roots. “I’m not a very virtuous person. I don’t know that many people who are. But we’re trying to cook and eat well and to live good lives and to have fun in our kitchens. I just needed to be much more thoughtful in terms of adding vegetables to my diet. And then, it turns out that it was in my DNA or something. But I had forgotten about it for 40-some years, since my family came here to the United States (from Vietnam).”

Article content

Nguyen channelled this new-old way of eating into her seventh cookbook, Ever-Green Vietnamese (Ten Speed Press, 2023). The 125-plus recipes and variations take their lead from plants but are not exclusively vegetarian or vegan. Tofu is the primary protein source; Nguyen steers clear of commercially made meat substitutes and recipes use minimal animal protein. Creative adaptations abound, including vegan fish sauce and plant-based peppery bologna (giò lụa chay).

As much as we might like to draw neat lines around our food choices — gravitating toward labels such as keto, macrobiotic and paleo — an adaptable approach is on the rise. The number of flexitarians is growing in Canada and elsewhere as people choose to eat more plant-based foods. (Meat consumption in Germany, for example, is at a record low.)

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Nguyen’s easygoing attitude toward vegetable-forward cooking is in line with the more than 3.5 million Canadians who identify as flexitarians.

“If you’re a little flexible, you can still focus on vegetables and make fabulous food. If you’re vegan, you can use this book and make fabulous food. As a food writer and cooking teacher, I don’t want people to feel boxed in, because I think that limits you,” says Nguyen. “You’re checking off the boxes. You’re worried about all of your guardrails and stepping outside of your lines instead of just learning how to create really good food.”

The word ‘ever-green’ in the book’s title holds layers of meaning, a nod to the vegetable-forward recipes as well as a sense of timelessness. Nguyen enjoyed exploring enduring ideas in Vietnamese cooking. Plant-based meat alternatives may come and go but tofu has been around for more than 2,000 years. She found countless ways to celebrate her native cuisine with this ancient protein source, produce and grains.

Article content

“We can call it plant-based. We can call it plant-forward. We can call it plant-dominant or plant-led. But for me, it’s really about the elemental aspects of Vietnamese food and cooking, which is very agricultural, very agrarian, very much rooted in what we harvest from the land and adding just a little bit of meat. And my use of seaweed is not super-traditional, but man, seaweed adds a lot to recipes.”

Seaweed contains the chemical compound glutamate, umami’s driving force. Nguyen uses it in unconventional ways throughout the book, grinding nori into dust and using it to flavour her oven-fried tofu wontons, soaking wakame and kombu for a hit of briny flavour in her vegan fish sauce.

We don’t talk about it much, because in food, we’re supposed to eat a lot and drink a lot and have a lot of fun and celebrate all of that. But rarely do we admit that there are pros and cons to celebrating food with gusto.

Nguyen considers Ever-Green Vietnamese to be the most creative of all her books. While drawing on Vietnamese traditions, it also plays with ideas and vegetables that aren’t typically part of the repertoire. “When you focus on vegetables, you realize how much more exciting they are than animal protein, because there’s such a variety of vegetables and they have different appearances.”

Article content

Using purple carrots to make đồ chua (“the quotidian Vietnamese pickle”), for instance, tints the whole jar magenta. What wood ear mushrooms lack in flavour, they make up for in crunch and a deep, ebony colour. “It’s just being mindful of the ingredients as you manipulate them.”

In some recipes, Nguyen combines tofu with animal protein. This technique is one way to cut down on the amount of meat in a recipe, she says, whether you’re making burgers or lá lốt (wild pepper) rolls. But it also helps dishes retain their flavour and moisture, since tofu soaks up the juices that would otherwise be lost to the pan. Marrying the two turned out to be “a complete win-win situation.”

There’s a tendency to define dishes by their protein element, she adds, from chicken pho to meatball banh mi. But when you peel back the layers, the important role plants play is clear. Pho noodles are made of rice; baguettes rely on wheat. Spices and aromatics, fresh herbs, chilies, pickled vegetables and other plant-based components are essential.

Article content

When the focus is on the meat, the other elements of a dish often go unnoticed. Nguyen flips the script in Ever-Green Vietnamese, amplifying the colours, flavours and textures of plants while occasionally using meat in a supporting role. Some recipes are re-imagined versions of her favourite Vietnamese dishes and others are entirely new.

Take her char siu cauliflower, which she tucks into bao for a lighter, vegan version of the Cantonese-style barbecued pork buns she now only eats once every few years.

“I thought, ‘Well, what do you really like about those buns? You really like the bun. You like the sauce. You like all these other things that you put in there.’ Then I tried putting the cauliflower in there, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is so satisfying.’ And it just is satisfying. So, my question always was, with any of these dishes, do they satisfy me as an omnivore? And that’s always the question. Is it satisfying? Does it fill me up? Does it make me happy? And the answer was yes, or I didn’t put it in the book.”

Article content

Article content

Our cookbook of the week is Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants from Land and Sea by Andrea Nguyen. To try a recipe from the book, check out: Huế rice crepes, smoky nori-tofu wontons and coconut-coffee pops.

Article content

What happens when a food writer experiences a shift in appetite? For Andrea Nguyen, a midlife decision to eat less meat and more vegetables ended up bringing her full circle. She tapped into her Vietnamese heritage and food culture to help her live a sustainable life — both in an environmental sense and her ability to keep it up in the long-term.

Article content

The year 2019 was a busy one for the James Beard Award-winning author and cooking teacher. Nguyen had recently published her sixth cookbook, Vietnamese Food Any Day, which kept her travelling. This was a good thing; she saw her packed schedule as a sign that her decades-long culinary career was blooming.

At the same time, her late father’s health was declining. And, having just turned 50, middle age hit “in a profound manner.” The changes in her body made it clear that she had to make a shift.

Article content

“I was just not eating and taking care of myself as I should. And when you hit 50 — we don’t talk about it much, because in food, we’re supposed to eat a lot and drink a lot and have a lot of fun and celebrate all of that. But rarely do we admit that there are pros and cons to celebrating food with gusto.”

Nguyen knew a strict diet wasn’t the answer. Instead, she returned to her food roots. “I’m not a very virtuous person. I don’t know that many people who are. But we’re trying to cook and eat well and to live good lives and to have fun in our kitchens. I just needed to be much more thoughtful in terms of adding vegetables to my diet. And then, it turns out that it was in my DNA or something. But I had forgotten about it for 40-some years, since my family came here to the United States (from Vietnam).”

Article content

Nguyen channelled this new-old way of eating into her seventh cookbook, Ever-Green Vietnamese (Ten Speed Press, 2023). The 125-plus recipes and variations take their lead from plants but are not exclusively vegetarian or vegan. Tofu is the primary protein source; Nguyen steers clear of commercially made meat substitutes and recipes use minimal animal protein. Creative adaptations abound, including vegan fish sauce and plant-based peppery bologna (giò lụa chay).

As much as we might like to draw neat lines around our food choices — gravitating toward labels such as keto, macrobiotic and paleo — an adaptable approach is on the rise. The number of flexitarians is growing in Canada and elsewhere as people choose to eat more plant-based foods. (Meat consumption in Germany, for example, is at a record low.)

Article content

Nguyen’s easygoing attitude toward vegetable-forward cooking is in line with the more than 3.5 million Canadians who identify as flexitarians.

“If you’re a little flexible, you can still focus on vegetables and make fabulous food. If you’re vegan, you can use this book and make fabulous food. As a food writer and cooking teacher, I don’t want people to feel boxed in, because I think that limits you,” says Nguyen. “You’re checking off the boxes. You’re worried about all of your guardrails and stepping outside of your lines instead of just learning how to create really good food.”

The word ‘ever-green’ in the book’s title holds layers of meaning, a nod to the vegetable-forward recipes as well as a sense of timelessness. Nguyen enjoyed exploring enduring ideas in Vietnamese cooking. Plant-based meat alternatives may come and go but tofu has been around for more than 2,000 years. She found countless ways to celebrate her native cuisine with this ancient protein source, produce and grains.

Article content

“We can call it plant-based. We can call it plant-forward. We can call it plant-dominant or plant-led. But for me, it’s really about the elemental aspects of Vietnamese food and cooking, which is very agricultural, very agrarian, very much rooted in what we harvest from the land and adding just a little bit of meat. And my use of seaweed is not super-traditional, but man, seaweed adds a lot to recipes.”

Seaweed contains the chemical compound glutamate, umami’s driving force. Nguyen uses it in unconventional ways throughout the book, grinding nori into dust and using it to flavour her oven-fried tofu wontons, soaking wakame and kombu for a hit of briny flavour in her vegan fish sauce.

We don’t talk about it much, because in food, we’re supposed to eat a lot and drink a lot and have a lot of fun and celebrate all of that. But rarely do we admit that there are pros and cons to celebrating food with gusto.

Nguyen considers Ever-Green Vietnamese to be the most creative of all her books. While drawing on Vietnamese traditions, it also plays with ideas and vegetables that aren’t typically part of the repertoire. “When you focus on vegetables, you realize how much more exciting they are than animal protein, because there’s such a variety of vegetables and they have different appearances.”

Article content

Using purple carrots to make đồ chua (“the quotidian Vietnamese pickle”), for instance, tints the whole jar magenta. What wood ear mushrooms lack in flavour, they make up for in crunch and a deep, ebony colour. “It’s just being mindful of the ingredients as you manipulate them.”

In some recipes, Nguyen combines tofu with animal protein. This technique is one way to cut down on the amount of meat in a recipe, she says, whether you’re making burgers or lá lốt (wild pepper) rolls. But it also helps dishes retain their flavour and moisture, since tofu soaks up the juices that would otherwise be lost to the pan. Marrying the two turned out to be “a complete win-win situation.”

There’s a tendency to define dishes by their protein element, she adds, from chicken pho to meatball banh mi. But when you peel back the layers, the important role plants play is clear. Pho noodles are made of rice; baguettes rely on wheat. Spices and aromatics, fresh herbs, chilies, pickled vegetables and other plant-based components are essential.

Article content

When the focus is on the meat, the other elements of a dish often go unnoticed. Nguyen flips the script in Ever-Green Vietnamese, amplifying the colours, flavours and textures of plants while occasionally using meat in a supporting role. Some recipes are re-imagined versions of her favourite Vietnamese dishes and others are entirely new.

Take her char siu cauliflower, which she tucks into bao for a lighter, vegan version of the Cantonese-style barbecued pork buns she now only eats once every few years.

“I thought, ‘Well, what do you really like about those buns? You really like the bun. You like the sauce. You like all these other things that you put in there.’ Then I tried putting the cauliflower in there, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is so satisfying.’ And it just is satisfying. So, my question always was, with any of these dishes, do they satisfy me as an omnivore? And that’s always the question. Is it satisfying? Does it fill me up? Does it make me happy? And the answer was yes, or I didn’t put it in the book.”

Article content