Green Eggs (and Ham) [Vegan]

September 24th of this year marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Like many of you, I grew up reading the good doctor (who could ever forget cheering on Thing One and Thing Two in The Cat in the Hat?). In honor of one of my favorite children’s authors, I thought I’d re-create one of his most famous dishes, Green Eggs & Ham. Well, okay, let me be honest here. I’d eaten “real” ham maybe a total of three times in my entire life before adopting a vegan diet, and I didn’t like it any of those times. In addition, I was never a huge fan of scrambled eggs, although I adore a good tofu scramble. So why go to the trouble of making this faux-eggs, faux-meat dish? Blame it on the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival. You see, the TO Food Festival is “the largest event of its kind” in North America, and it took place earlier this month at Toronto’s own stunning Harbourfront, with over 100 exhibitors, almost 200,000 visitors, and a very accommodating, sunny 23 C (74F) weather courtesy of Mother Nature. It was three days of vegan paradise, sampling fantastic foods from gluten-free buttercream cupcakes to Indian fare to shish-kebabs to Banana Soft Serve Cookie Dough Blizzards—all 100% plant-based--and good for you. One of the products that intrigued me was a big, 1 kilo (2 pound) bag of green pea flour. I saw the beautiful samples and listened to the vendor’s spiel about how great and versatile the flour was, and since I love chickpea pancakes, I grabbed a bag. It wasn’t until I got home that I thought, “What the heck will I cook up with this stuff?” It does provide 6 g of protein per serving for only 100 calories, albeit in a vibrant grassy green package. And then I read about the anniversary of Dr. Seuss, and it all came together. . . These “eggs” could easily be made with either yellow pea flour or chickpea flour if you didn’t happen to be charmed by a knowledgeable Food Festival vendor as I was. The texture is halfway between quiche and a tofu scramble, with a slightly sweet flavor and intermittent crunch from the chopped veggies. I loved it. And of course, the color will transport you back to your childhood for a time, to that era when breakfast was more than just food—it was fun.