
DATE: Wednesday, June 18, 1997              TAG: 9706180804

SECTION: FLAVOR                  PAGE: F1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY FLACHSENHAAR, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:  150 lines

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS TASTE BUDS TAKE NOTE: FAT-FREE, VEGETARIAN FOOD CAN BE FULL OF FLAVOR, AS VIRGINIA BEACH AUTHOR EXPLAINS

ROBIN ROBERTSON wants it all. She wants the food she cooks to have the rich, satisfying taste of her mother's Italian specialties and the classical French dishes that Robertson prepared when she was a restaurant chef. At the same time, she wants her food to be healthful - meatless, low in fat and cholesterol, high in nutrients.

The recipes in the four cookbooks she's written over the past five years celebrate good health and good taste at the same time, she says.

``I accept any challenge to make anything taste good and to convert any meat recipe to meatless,'' said Robertson, who lives in Virginia Beach. ``Many people say they couldn't live without meat, but do they really mean meat or the flavors of the special sauce and the sesame seed bun that go with it?''

Even Thanksgiving dinner, said Robertson, is more about stuffing and mashed potatoes than it is about turkey.

Recipes for stuffing and mashed potatoes are featured in her two published books, ``366 Simply Delicious Dairy-Free Recipes'' (Plume/ Penguin, 1997) and ``366 Healthful Ways to Cook Tofu and Other Meat Alternatives'' (Plume/Penguin, 1996), which is now in its second printing. And there are recipes for quiche, calzone, cheesecake, chocolate pie, even meatless versions of meat loaf, steak pizzaiola and veal marsala.

Robertson relies on meat substitutes such as tofu, tempeh (fermented compressed soybeans) and seitan (also known as ``wheat meat''), in addition to beans and whole grains. In her dairy-free book, which was released in April, she uses soy, rice and almond milks.

``When most people hear the word vegetarian, they think of nuts and berries,'' Robertson said.

This adventuresome vegetarian puts those ingredients to work in recipes such as three-nut butter pie, artichoke-hazelnut soup and a sweet tart made of raspberries and blueberries. So much for dull and boring.

Right now she is editing her manuscript for ``Vegetarian Fire & Spice,'' an international collection of spicey recipes. That book, along with ``The Soy Solution: How to Reduce Cholesterol by Cooking With Soy Foods,'' will be published by Plume/Penguin in 1998.

Robertson, who is 44, didn't always eat and cook with good health in mind. As a child in Hazelton, Pa., she dined on her mother's comforting, from-scratch meals of homemade breads, soups and pastas. ``She was a wonderful cook but she used a lot of meat, dairy and eggs,'' said Robertson.

When she took cooking classes as a young adult, Roberston learned how to do the rich sauces of French cuisine. In Hazelton, she worked as a chef, buyer and caterer before landing a job as kitchen manager at a 150-seat restaurant in Charleston, S.C., where ``there were 16 fresh fish dishes every day.'' She often reported to work at 8 in the morning and didn't get home until midnight. She ate ``on the line'' while she worked.

``Physically and emotionally I burned out,'' she said. ``And I felt like I hadn't seen my husband in years.''

Her rundown condition motivated Robertson to study cooking for good health.

``I hit the health food stores and the library, propped my tired feet up and started reading everything,'' she said. ``I tried to adapt the principles of vegetarianism to the rich meals I was used to. I wanted the best of both worlds.''

At about the same time, the theater company where Robin's husband, Jon, worked switched to a volunteer staff and he found himself out of work. A writer and editor, Jon found a new job at ARE Press in Virginia Beach. In 1989 the couple moved.

After writing a book about her years in the restaurant business, Robin closed the door on restaurants and devoted herself to making the switch to her new food philosophy. She wrote a book about her new approach to food and tried to get both that and the restaurant manuscript published.

The editors didn't bite but they liked her style and presented her with the idea of the ``366'' series. Since then she has put in long workdays in the small kitchen of her meticulous ranch house researching, testing and proofreading recipes for her books. Recently she sent off proposals for seven additional books and she is still hopeful that her two unpublished manuscripts will be picked up.

Occasionally she teaches a class, such as the lesson in healthful breakfasts she delivered to bed-and-breakfast owners during their convention last winter in Norfolk.

``Being at home and being my own boss is so much more relaxing,'' she said. ``But I needed that restaurant background. It made me fearless in the kitchen.''

Robertson draws inspiration from library books on food and travel, from the five cooking magazines she gets and from the ``boxes and boxes'' of notes, menus and handwritten recipes that jam her attic.

``I'm a hoarder. I write down everything and save it,'' she said. ``I try to visualize a new dish, then I make up a recipe title,'' she said. ``Writing down the recipe is like a meditation for me. I can almost taste the food before I cook it.''

Robertson says that, like her husband, she tends to get obsessive about work. ``Often I have to make myself walk over to the ocean or spend some time in the garden to get some fresh air,'' she said. Her backyard is fragrant with the scent of rosemary, mint, basil and lemon balm.

On weekends she and Jon, to whom she has been married for nearly 26 years, go to the movies to unwind. Both claim they feel better physically and have more mental energy thanks to their vegan lifestyle, which they have arrived at gradually over the last nine years.

``We are constantly motivated by the fact that our four parents died too young of diseases like cancer, heart disease and stroke,'' said Robertson. ``Their illnesses could easily have been related to their poor diet.''

Now Robertson chooses her ingredients carefully and, for good measure, always adds to the pot a hearty dose of her food philosophy:

``You should have fun in the kitchen,'' she said. ``It seems pointless to hate cooking when we all have to eat.''

Attitude, she says, can have a lot to do with the finished product. ``A cook can transfer energy into food,'' she said. ``Remember all the nurturing and love your mother put into a homemade soup? I call it mindfulness.''

For newcomers to vegetarianism, she gives these tips:

Use libraries, bookstores and health-food stores to research healthful eating. There are so many more resources available today for vegetarians than there used to be. Many ingredients are now sold in supermarkets, in addition to health food stores.

Start with a dish you already like, for instance a pasta or stir-fry. Substitute cubes of tofu for the chicken or meat.

Use a bit of additional oil when cooking because meat substitutes like seitan don't exude the moistness that meat does. Robertson uses safflower, olive and sesame oils.

Cook frequently used ingredients, like rice and beans, in large batches, and refrigerate or freeze.

Use convenience products, like canned vegetarian beans and veggie burgers. There are many more available these days. MEMO: Mary Flachsenhaar is a free-lance writer in Norfolk. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

CHARLIE MEADS/The Virginian-Pilot

Robin Robertson of Virginia Beach poses with some of her low-fat

dishes, which have been detailed in her four cookbooks. ``When most

people hear the word vegetarian, they think of nuts and berries,''

she says.

Robin Robertson's cookbook outlines alternatives to fat-laden

dishes.

Photos

CHARLIE MEADS / The Virginian-Pilot

Rotini Salad, top, and Tofu Lasagne from Robin Robertson's

cookbooks.

No-Bake Fruit and Nut Cookies served with Strawberry-Banana Shake.