Still Peachy?

Seven months after my posts of Say it Ain’t so Joe and Holding Out for a Gyro, much has toppled here in un-Happy Valley. Last week, the halo was removed from Joe Paterno’s image on the same local mural that Sandusky was also painted out of. The statue that was a place to pause for vigil the night before Penn State coach Joe Paterno’s passing, ( Goodbye Ol’ Joe), was removed yesterday. The reasons are all intermixed with the same terrible events that have come to light on our local University Park Campus of Penn State.

Today, Penn State not only has a gaping void on the east side of the stadium (I now dub it the No-Pa Memorial) but also in its pocket book. The NCAA has fined Penn State $60,000,000.00 (roughly a year of football revenue), dismissed the team from participating in bowl games for the next 4 years and wiped away all of the teams wins from the year 1988 to present. This changes the history so that Joe Paterno will no longer be crowned major college football’s winningest coach, dropping him to 12th.

Pennsyltucky does and will feel the impact of these decisions. I am personally glad to have heard the $60 million will be paid into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at the university. These funds are not to come from non-revenue grossing PSU sports nor academics but it is difficult to see how they (and the local economy) will go uneffected.

As for food (vegetarian and otherwise) in this area, I notice the Fraser Street Deli changed its menu in February and dropped the Tim Curley – Corned Beef. It still retains the Graham Spanier – Roast Beef sandwich that was listed above the Tim Curley sandwich in the photo I took at this link. Notice also in my new menu photo on this posting, that the Mike McQueary sandwich is still present. Does this mean they are there to stay? I have my doubts.

I made a prediction in November that the Peachy Paterno flavor of ice cream at Penn State’s Berkey Creamery would be removed. According to an article in USA Today, as of last week they had no plans of removing it. That, of course, was last week; before statue was removed and hefty fines, sanctions and penalties had been levied against PSU. I am sticking to my prediction, it won’t be too long until the name of the ice cream won’t sound so sweet to official ears and it will go the way of the Sandusky Blitz.

Breaking Fast, Vegan Style

November has been packed full for me, allowing little time to post the wonderful recipes I have tried, restaurants I have visited and many other good things related to being a vegetarian in Pennsyltucky. I have an nice backlog of photos, stories and even a plant-based milk taste test I have yet to post.

One thing taking up my time has been training for the local Nittany Valley Half-Marathon, now just 2 weeks away. With my plantar fasciitis still under control, I was able to trot out a very speedy 13 miles in Poe Valley last weekend (see video below). This allowed me to blow off a lot of the local stresses of the Penn State scandals and reward myself with some carbs at Elk Creek Cafe after a quick healing ice bath.

Since then, we have again been unsuccessful in trying to cook our own Crispy Potatoes at home. That was tolerable since we had enjoyed multiple servings of wonderful vegan food the day before while attending a fund raiser at the Pancake Barkfast and then visiting with many members of the Green Street Vegetarian Club at Broad Street Market and Espresso Yourself Cafe.

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The weekend before that, I didn’t get to photograph any of our trip to NYC to see Arron perform at New York City Center. His performance in Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room was well reviewed in the New York Times here (read the second to last sentence). We saw the closing night performance which was so amazing that we all went to celebrate with some tasty food across from the stage door at Topaz Thai. Lunch had been at Jekyll & Hyde Club prior to the ballet and I reviewed it in detail a few years ago here.

Here comes Thanksgiving week and another trip to NYC is planned! This road trip will include hearing vegan/ artist Dan Piraro speak at The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. I know Jim is excited for this and then the highlight of getting to visit with Arron & Amy. Maybe even a trip to Terri is in store. Life is crazy busy and very good.

Holding Out for a Gyro (local lament and luncheon lexicon)

For the second post in a row, I start with my Cryin’ Lion icon. Since I last wrote about the prospective changes in Penn State’s food names, head coach Joe Paterno announced his retirement and was fired (in that order) and University President Graham Spanier was also fired. Both terminations are related to being associated with the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal.

When the terrible allegations of Sandusky’s misdoings and molestations came into the news less than a week ago, it started a chain of events. Sandusky was arrested, Penn State’s Senior Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley both stepped down from their posts late Sunday, one day after the charges were announced. Sandusky Blitz ice cream flavor was wiped clean from Berkey Creamery’s menu as well as his face from a local mural. I made a final prediction that Peachy Paterno flavor as well as the Joegie’s restaurant might be a limited edition too.

It is all a little closer to reality now and I watchfully wait to see the fate of JoePa’s foodie namesakes. His isn’t the only named items I am watching. Jim pointed out that the Fraser Street Deli, that used to name its sandwiches after movie stars, has quite a few menu items named after Penn State icons that prominently figure in the Sandusky case. Highlighted to the right, you will see sandwiches that today are still named after Spanier, Curley and Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary who, as a 28-year old Graduate Assistant, witnessed Jerry Sandusky raping a ten-year old boy in a shower then chose to leave the scene.

What’s in a name? Why change the names of the sandwiches at all? They are made with the same ingredients (none that are in focus are vegetarian you notice) so what does it matter that today’s turkey breast sandwich is called an Evan Pugh when used to be called a Walt Disney? Today Fraser Street Deli’s Bobbie Jo Solomon sandwich is what used to be called a Fred Astaire. If the idea is to keep it fresh and interesting to the customers, there is also the risk of people judging the sandwich by the actions (or inactions) of whom it has been named for.

There will always be intriguing regional differences in names for almost identical food creations. Taking the example of a specific sandwich, depending on where you are from you might know it as a sub, poor boy, torpedo, Italian sandwich, rocket, zeppelin, blimpie, garibaldi, bomber, wedge, muffuletta, Cuban sandwich, spuckie, gyro, hoagie or… HERO. They are all the same sandwich with different names. The sad difference with choosing to a hero after a celebrated living person (a hero) is that they are still creating their legacies.

It will be a long time until we will be able to tell if justice has been done to Sandusky’s alleged victims. The above mentioned ice creams and sandwiches were named for local sports heros and university demigods. What we are seeing now is what happens when those we have built up and allowed to fly high above us fall, Icarian-like, from grace. Our heros become zeros and their glorified gyros are wiped off of the cute chalkboard menus throughout Penn State campus and downtown State College. It may be superficial and instantaneous but it’s a step in the right direction to see them as sapiens and not superstars.

Say it Ain’t so Joe

Stopping by Berkey Creamery today you might be compelled to order the Peanut Butter Cluster Fudge. No? Ok, I did switch the last two words in the name of one of about 100 ice cream flavors but it sure feels like the flavor of the day with national media swarming the campus of Penn State over the sex-abuse scandal involving the retired assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky.

Guess what flavor has been taken off the list at Berkey Creamery? You aren’t going to be ordering the Banana Flavored Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Peanuts and Caramel Swirl anymore; Sandusky Blitz has been taken off the menu. It had to be BANANA didn’t it?

Many are talking about the removal of yet another iconic flavor along with his statue along side Beaver Stadium. If you like the Peach Flavored Ice Cream with Peach Slices, you better grab a Peachy Paterno cone while you still can. Cluster Fudge starting to make sense?

This post is a real push on a blog about Pennsyltucky vegetarian foods but sex scandals have an impact on even just that. Penn State Housing and Food Services are aware of, and on top of discussing the fate of their fast food dining area, Joegies.

Hoagies, bananas and ice cream are all vegetarian but we are… probably about to eat crow at Penn State.

The Vegan Passport to Penn State Dining

Jim and I arrived early to Penn State’s Pollock Dining Commons on World Vegan Day to attend a special event. Penn State Food Services executive chef, Mark Kowalski, lead a cooking lesson for the Penn State Vegetarian Club and the Vegetarian Advisory Board. He cooked and served samples of some the vegan items that are available for Penn State students, faculty and staff to eat in the dining commons.

I feel that the cooking demo was top-notch. Chef Mark gave great tips on four different recipes and went into great detail demonstrating most of three of them. He was informative to students on how Quinoa is a whole protein, shared the safety tip about not having the lid secured when using a blender for hot contents and sharing advice on making sure to stir tahini completely before using it in any recipe so the oil gets blended in properly to the sesame solids.

Chef Mark’s talk and demo was smooth and went off without a hitch. He and co-host, Dr. Michele Newhard of the Vegetarian Advisory Board, fielded many questions and imparted information about the function of Penn State’s dining commons and their interest and concern about accommodating vegan diners. This includes at least 8 branch campuses.

Dr. Newhard made it clear that a vegan can eat healthfully and well at many of Penn State’s dining commons but you have to be aware and work a bit to find the foods that are available. She pointed out that while Edamame and seasoned Tofu should be available everyday on the dining commons’ salad bars, the specific employees setting out the food that day might be trying to push a food item that they have in abundance and the vegan items might be not put out. She encouraged people to ask for any items that seemed to be missing. Same went for seeking out exactly where the soy milk is stored.

Chef Mark and Dr. Newhard also encouraged suggestions and took quite a few from the dozen or so students who attended the event. There were some great ideas thrown out and they were eager to hear them all. She reminded everyone to keep in mind that menu items have to be translated into things that can be served en mass and delicate recipes would not be able to make the cut.

One thing of interest Dr. Newhard shared was how the Vegetarian Advisory Board had been suggesting the addition of soy cheese for years but the final nutritional decision on what should be added to dining commons’ menus saw that it was an ingredient that contained too much fat and was unhealthy. Times change and it seems that vegan cheeses are finally being considered.

As Chef Mark cooked, he passed around a cycle of the dining commons’ menus with every vegan choice highlighted. He explained a cycle consists of 3 weeks in which they are sensitive to not overly repeating recipes during that time. He gave to example of serving turkey (bad choice for this crowd) and said that they would strive to only serve it once during the cycle. It seems that one out of every 4 entrées is vegetarian, most of those vegan and a vegan soup is available every day.

When the cooking demo was over, each of the four recipes that had been shown was set out to be sampled. All were warm, well presented and quite good. We tried Quinoa and Vegetables, Red Chili Thai Tofu, Roasted Brussles Sprouts and Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Tahini Sauce. Granted, the amounts that were made for the audience were much smaller than would need to be prepared for any one of the dining commons and Chef Mark recognized that quality control was always going to be a bit of an issue. The one thing he and Dr. Newhard seemed to have their finger on was making sure that ingredients going into vegan recipes were all vegan and that no cross contamination was occurring.

If you are a Penn State student and care about vegan and vegetarian dining on campus, you have a voice and many seem ready to listen and implement your ideas (see contact links at the bottom). Penn State Vegetarian Club president, Lisa Hines, was also present. She had a big influence on getting the information about the event out to students, was well spoken and very approachable. Contact her to be put on the club’s list serve

Dr. Michele Newhard
Executive Chef Mark Kowalski
Penn State Veg Club President Lisa Hines