November 1 is world vegan day. We talked to the staff cafe “Lentils” and “Keys to health” — a unique place in the city of Yoshkar-Ola. Here you can eat delicious vegan food, learn to cook and buy all the necessary products.
Tatiana Korovina, a bartender
— The vegan diet many people seem to be very scarce. What is the range of dishes in your cafe?
— We have a wide range. From the first dishes: seafood soup, soup, fagioli and others. There are main dishes, salads, burgers, dumplings with lentils and potatoes, rolls, cheesecakes. For fans of healthy sweets — cakes, candies, cake and ice cream, milkshakes, smoothies, etc.
— Is it difficult these dishes are to cook for yourself at home?
— All dishes are easy to prepare, and the included ingredients you can buy in the store. The composition of a smoothie, for example, includes orbec, which is sold here. You can cook at home, buying any fruit on the market. And so any dish. And for those who want to learn how to cook delicious candy, pea sausage, chocolate spread, rolls and many other dishes, every Tuesday we host a free cooking class, learn to cook and give taste.
Natalia Komarova, Manager
— Tell us about your activities.
We are interested in the health of our residents and their well being, so decided to open not just a health food store where you can purchase useful products, but also a cafe where you can taste dishes from these products.
Our goal is to offer as many options as possible use natural foods: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, so people can try and prepare nutritious, appetizing, well-balanced vegan diet, cholesterol, excess fats and excess sugar.
Oksana Ignatova, sales
— How to achieve a balanced diet? Than you replace the animal products?
Every day we need proteins, fats and carbohydrates. They are present in all food, but some of them less, others more. We replace meat legumes. Prepare the sauces for the second course, chicken burgers, gravy, sprouted mung beans we use for salads. Milk, sour cream and mayonnaise, cocktails, smoothies, tofu cooking of soybeans. Nuts are present in cakes, ice cream, candy. In addition, we use in the preparation of sunflower seeds, spirulina, hemp flour, pasta and urbashi from peanuts.
— What is the benefit of sprouted beans before ordinary?
— Sprouted mung beans are very similar to fresh peas. But useful properties it is much more. We add it to salads, salad, salad, summer, etc.
— Many people refer to soy very wary. What can you say to them?
— We try to explain that to our shelves gets checked soybeans, domestic production. Proven its anti-cancer benefits. Soy is the only representative of the legumes that has digestible complete protein. If the other legumes must be combined with whole grain and nuts to get complete protein, soybeans can be consumed as a separate dish. The isoflavones that it contains, in its action similar to the estrogen produced by the ovaries, and is even able to partially compensate for the lack of it during menopause.
— You in shop a wide choice of cereals. How to cook them properly?
— Whole grains need to soak overnight, rinse and cook 1 to 3 hours to seed opened and from it came the starch. Unreleased starch gives the load on the intestines. We sell a lot of cereals do not require cooking. But we encourage them to cook for approximately 5 – 15 minutes.
All the cereals we have whole grains that do not pass the cleaning process, so I have the maximum of useful properties, and green buckwheat sprout, we still sell and use in salads. Pasta too, all from whole wheat flour.
— Which is more in demand?
Green buckwheat, spelt, brown rice, whole oats.
— I see you have books and Newspapers. All for sale?
— In our shop there are books about both the physical and spiritual health. There is a library where books can be borrowed and read, there are Newspapers that you can take absolutely free.
— What do you wish readers to the vegan day?
— I wish you all to find free time in the day and come for lunch, dinner or cooking class in the cafe or shop of the city, to learn something new and interesting. After these sessions you will be able to confidently begin to change your diet, your habits. It will be a start for a healthy lifestyle.