Seasons by the Sea: Bringing Home the ‘Bacon’
At the ripe young age of 23, Jay Astafa is an accomplished vegan chef, owner of his own catering and event company, a consultant for Surf Lodge’s vegan menu, and will be providing the food for the Wellness Foundation’s summer benefit on June 18 at the Mulford Farm in East Hampton.
“I never thought I’d be a vegan chef. I was an aspiring actor. I’ve been a vegetarian, like my mother, for a long time. When I saw the PETA movie about how meat is processed, I became vegan,” he said.
Mr. Astafa had been working at his father’s pizzeria, Three Brothers Pizza, originally in Rockville Centre, now in Farmingdale, since he was 16. But looking at all the meat and cheese-laden pizza pies became frustrating, and he went about educating himself and experimenting with methods of making dairy-free mozzarella, ricotta, even bacon. He convinced his dad to add vegan options at the restaurant. It now has an additional, completely vegan menu, and there is now a Three Brothers Vegan Cafe.
Using chamber vacuum sealers and sous vide cooking (long slow cooking at low temperatures, the food sealed in plastic bags and immersed in water), he creates sashimi out of watermelon, “tuna” out of tomatoes, and bacon out of eggplant. His cashew milk mozzarella is a magical, mystical combination of soaked cashews, water, coconut oil, tapioca starch, kappa carrageenan, and salt, blended and cooked, though it’s actually much more complicated than that.
Another popular item that he swears customers can’t distinguish from meat is barbecued jackfruit tacos. Apparently after cooking, the jackfruit achieves a stringy texture similar to pulled pork. From there he adds the traditional spices, and nobody’s the wiser.
Now I’m pretty sure my editor assigned this story to me because I struggle with vegan recipes and vegan substitutions. I kind of feel like one should just give up on bacon and cheese (if you are so inclined, I am not) rather than eat a sad soy imitation. I have attempted cauliflower pizza crust and coconut oil piecrust, cursing the responsible websites and sweating through the recipes to achieve no more than mediocre results. Recently I made some what could have been excellent vegetarian enchiladas with homemade sauce from Hatch chilis I had grilled myself. I decided to try a soy Monterey Jack cheese substitute, thinking, “How bad can it be? I don’t need very much, just something that adds some gooey unctuousness to these enchiladas.” I kid you not, the cheese tasted like rubberized Gerber baby food vanilla pudding, it was that disgusting.
It is clear that Mr. Astafa has the experience, expertise, and equipment to create Parmesan cheese and faux piggy products and sushi from vegetables, and he told me that learning to cook vegan-style is not a matter of restriction and substitution, it is experimenting and exploring.
When I spoke with Douglas Mercer, founder and chairman of the Wellness Foundation, he told me that two things inspired him to encourage others to embrace a healthier lifestyle and eat a plant-based diet. One was personal: the long and slow death of his father at a young age after a series of strokes. The second was a cover photograph from The East Hampton Star in February 2005 of middle school students boycotting the unhealthy foods offered at the school. He said, “If these children can stand up to poor food choices, then so can I.” In the last 11 years, over 8,000 students in our community have participated in the Wellness Foundation’s Healthy Foods for Life program.
“The key focus is educating people so they can make informed decisions. They’ll know what works; then they can decide to make lifestyle changes. The kids are our main focus. The foods we eat have to be satisfying, tasty, economical, and good for us.”
Mr. Mercer is pleased with what the foundation has accomplished locally, but wishes our national health care system were more proactive in teaching prevention of chronic disease through a healthier lifestyle. “Doctors aren’t trained in lifestyle and wellness, but when they see their patients who have participated in our Wellness Challenge” — a six-week course of exercise, diet, and mindfulness — “they are amazed at the results: weight loss, lowered blood pressure and cholesterol, and less need for prescription drugs.”
Looking at Mr. Astafa’s menu for the Wellness Foundation’s benefit and the pictures on his website makes me eager to try his food. It looks whimsical, original, and colorful. At the entrance there will be a vegetable garden with pumpernickel breadcrumb and porcini dust soil. The watering cans will be filled with Green Goddess and ranch dressings. There will be strawberry rhubarb pie pops, beet burgers, melon gazpacho shooters with eggplant bacon, and those crazy sounding barbecued jackfruit tacos with lime crema.
Inspired by the kindness and caring of Mr. Mercer and the playfulness of Mr. Astafa’s cooking, I am tempted to go back to the vegan drawing board. Perhaps if I adopt the Wellness Challenge’s philosophy, “Progress, not perfection,” I’ll have more luck.
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