The whole world on a plate: break free of the traditional triad for a meal worth singing about - includes recipes - Getting Started

Vegetarian Times, April, 1996 by Joyce Hendley

MOST OF US grow up knowing exactly what our plate should look like: The Mercedes-Benz logo. That is, neatly divided into thirds, with a helping each of protein (usually meat), starch and vegetables occupying each section. Now that you've made the decision to become a vegetarian, you may think your plate looks a little--well, incomplete. What's to fill that gaping space where a hunk of meat used to be?

It's not hard to understand your dilemma. After all, the protein-starch-veg triad has been drummed into our collective psyche for decades. It started with the notion of the "Four Food Groups," which owned that a meal wasn't complete unless it contained a serving from each group. The ideal meal contained group numbers one through three and was washed down with number four--milk.

This pattern endures in the National School Lunch Program, which, by law, serves up one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for children on every tray. That means, you guessed it, a serving of meat (or meat alternative), a serving of vegetables, a serving of starch, and a serving of milk and fruit to accompany the meal. No wonder we find it a hard habit to break.

By the '70s and '80s, though, the Four Food Groups concept fell out of favor as nutrition policy-makers determined that the country's nutrition-related problems were no longer caused by deficiencies, but by excesses--the high-fat, high-animal protein diets that made obesity, heart disease and cancer more likely. But today's school meals still look pretty much the same, and the trisected plate remains the national norm.

THE PROTEIN SEDUCTION

THERE'S NOTHING inherently wrong with a plate that contains protein, starch and vegetables--it's just that protein-based foods usually occupy too large a place while the vegetables and starches skulk in the corners. Our country has long had a love affair with protein, ever since our earliest discoveries about nutrition in the first half of this century. Protein became known as the builder of muscle and strength, and with that image came the belief that the more protein we ate, the better.

We've therefore learned to judge the value of a meal on its protein content. The priciest items on restaurant menus almost always have a protein food at their core--a slab of steak or swordfish, or half a chicken. The vegetables and starches, though they often involved more labor and thus more expense, are often much cheaper. Likewise, we pay a higher price for breakfasts if they come with eggs, sausage or bacon.

In fact, our protein needs are quite small. Only a few ounces a day of protein-rich food are required, and legumes, grains and vegetables can supply all of it. So in reality, the trisected plate could use revamping, with the protein section shrinking considerably.

FROM THIRDS TO HALVES

WHAT SHOULD YOUR PLATE look like, then, if you're trying to move away from the Mercedes-like pattern? How about considering your plate to be more Earth-friendly and less protein-oriented? Focus instead on the other two elements, starches and vegetables, with protein on the sidelines: perhaps integrated with the vegetables, or sprinkled over the top. What you have instead is a plate made up of two halves--or, to continue the imagery, the interlocked yin-and-yang symbols. This might seem like a radical change, but it's actually an eating pattern most of the world follows instinctively.

Do a little traveling and you'll soon see that the convention of a meat-starch-veg pattern is just that-- a convention. Visit Italy, and you'll learn that there is no dividing up the plate, that every food has its own dish and its own starring role. Dishes come in succession, from a starter bowl of pasta or soup, then a main dish with some vegetables, to salad, a plate of fruit, and perhaps cheese or a light dessert. (It sounds like a lot of food, but the portions are small.)

Or visit India, where rice fills most of the plate and breads, chutneys, pickles and a "main dish" (frequently vegetables or legumes) round it out. Or have dinner with a family in China, where each of you would add flavor to your own bowl of rice with morsels of stir-fried vegetables, simmered tofu or pickled vegetables. In these and other great world cuisines, protein is treated like a condiment.

MAKING THE SWITCH

FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLES of other countries is an easy way to make the transition from the trisected to the bisected plate. It's as simple as trying a dish with pasta and beans on one side, and a green salad on the other--or perhaps some polenta sprinkled with cheese, and grilled tomatoes. How about stir-fried greens and tofu with rice filling the other half of the plate, or sauteed spinach with whole wheat chapatis (Indian-style flatbread) dipped into dal (lentil stew)? These satisfying dishes never leave you feeling as if something is missing.

Of course, these nutritious principles also work with American foods. You could start with combinations like rice and green pea salad with summer squash, succotash with sauteed carrots, or thick vegetable soup with a hunk of bread. Or, try the following two all-American recipes and serve them together. You'll fill the two halves of your plate, and satisfy your soul as well.