Omigosh! Okonomiyaki

The Chef: Melissa

The Menu: A Japanese feast! Ms. Melissa, our Tokyo transplant, generously offered to help out with testing our recipes from the forthcoming May+June issue of VegNews, which worked out perfectly since we just happened to have something Japanese in our lineup, courtesy of our Hot Urban Eats columnist, Terry Hope Romero. Okonomiyaki, or "as you like it" pancake-pizza hybrids may be the most delicious and best-kept secret of Japanese cuisine. Sort of like savory potato pancakes, these treats are made with grated nagaimo, which makes an almost egg-like base. Melissa added flour, shredded napa cabbage, grated carrots, pickled ginger, and spices to each pancake, and then we all added our own toppings—which is where the similarity to pizza comes in, in case you were wondering. We selected from chopped Tofurky slices, green onions, whipped vegan mayonnaise, homemade okonomiyaki sauce, strips of nori, and toasted sesame seeds. Oh, and Melissa also made an awesome salad with grated carrots and steamed edamame. Yeah, things are pretty stinking good here!

The Goods: The majority of us in the office had never heard of okonomiyaki before today, and now we are officially hooked. If there's anything better than savory pancakes that you douse with sauce and toppings like pizza, we don't even want to know about it.

Dumplings, Darling

The Chef: Aurelia

The Menu: Delicious dumplings, a tempeh taste test, and some more of that Argentinean carbonada from Tuesday's lunch. With inspirations from Indonesia, South America, and Asian/Italian-fusion land, the dishes today certainly brought an international flavor to our lunch table. Since these are all testing recipes, we're going to stay on the quiet side, but let's just say that no one left the table hungry.

The Goods: Would the world potentially be a better place if we all got to eat dumplings in the sunshine every day? We think so. Also, you may notice the strips of tempeh on the plate. Those would be new potential flavors from Turtle Island Foods. We can't tell you anything about what the flavors are, but suffice to say that our jobs here at VN get just a little bit more fantastic when we get to try yummy foods before they hit the market. In other we-love-what-we-do news, our brand-spankin' new Music issue landed in our hot little hands today, and we just couldn't be more excited about it. Want to get in on the thrill? Make sure and get your tickets to our Music Issue Launch Party before they sell out!

International Testing!

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A sumptuous smorgasbord of savory dishes from our upcoming September+October Food Issue! What you see above is an interesting Argentinian carbonada with seitan, sweet potatoes, and pears, some crispy baked eggplant planks, a garlicky Greek skordalia, and, finally, half-hidden by the bowl of carbonada, we had an all-American meatloaf—without the meat, naturally.

The Goods: We love bringing our readers the best of the best when it comes to food (okay, and everything else, you're right) so testing is an important factor for us. We totally don't do it just because it means we get to eat yummy food at lunchtime. That definitely has nothing to do with it. Journalistic integrity and all that. Of course.