A fine mess of chickpeas
Vegetarian cuisine both appealing and feasible
Proof that imaginative vegetarian cuisine has taken hold can be found in The First Mess Cookbook (Penguin, $35), a collection of more than 125 recipes.
Author Laura Wright grew up helping her family produce and sell food in the southern Ontario countryside. She honed her skills working in a restaurant, attended culinary school and shares family recipes on her blog The First Mess. (Its name was inspired by U.S. writer MFK Fisher’s description of the “first mess” of spring peas.) Wright gradually became vegan, and her book makes this regime seem appealing and feasible to manage.
Wright likes to serve this scramble with crepes studded with green onions. Black lava salt is a favourite, but sea salt works too, she says. If you want to cut cooking time, two cans (540 mL each) of chickpeas, rinsed and drained, may be substituted for the home-cooked ones in the recipe.