Roberto Martin–author of the new cookbook “Vegan Cooking For Carnivores: Over 125 Recipes So Tasty You Won’t Miss The Meat” and who serves as personal chef for Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi–discusses his history as a cook in Southern California at such chain restaurants as Acapulco’s and Mimi’s, before heading off to be trained as chef at the Culinary Institute of America. 
He recounts how this led to personal chef stints with showbiz figures like Arnold Schwarzenegger & Maria Shriver and Tom Cruise–and, eventually, to cooking for Ellen and Portia. Martin describes how he, who hadn’t done much vegan cooking and the two women–who were relatively recent converts to veganism–worked together to find a number of dishes they liked preparing, and eating, often involving taking favorite dishes from childhood or adulthood, and vegan-izing them. He explains the idea of “substitution” so important to this process and to the cookbook, citing as an example, a request from Portia for Shepherd’s Pie. He also touches on other dishes that appear in the cookbook, key ingredients for many of those dishes, and responds to listener questions and comments.
Listen Online Now:
COMEDY CORNER: Erin Foley’s “Vegan Cooking For One”(www.ErinFoley.com)
MUSIC: The Temper Trap’s “Rabbit Hole,” The Iguanas’ version of “El Orangutan,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: Seals & Crofts’ “Hummingbird”
