Vegan Reuben? I'll take cardboard - it's cheaper.

I had lunch with a friend at a vegan restaurant in Santa Monica last week. I thought, 'OK, I'm game'. Mistake.

I love reuben sandwiches. Can't beat the corn beef. But trust me - do not order a reuben at ANY vegan establishment. I wanted to heave. Now that's not to say everything on the menu is as distasteful as my reuben. My friend had a vegan pasta that was really good.

Which led me to investigate what exactly corn beef is made out of...if it's not meat.

INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup chickpeas
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 cup water
- 2 tsp seasoned salt
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- 4 dried juniper berries, crushed into powder (optional)
- 1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten

There's your vegan corn beef. It's almost as if they - well here, let me look around on my desk. I've got a calculator, yellow highlighter, cell phone, eye drops, manila file folder, rubber thumb protector, soda cup from Quiznos and a lava lamp. Put that all together and VOILA! - you got your vegan corn beef.

Had I seen this recipe beforehand I would've ordered that pasta.

UPDATE: The name of the restaurant in Santa Monica is Real Food Daily. And the reuben picture above is not my own, but from "Vegan Dad" on the Stanford Wellsphere site. I didn't have my camera with me that day to take a picture of my sandwich, which I will note was sadder looking than almost every other picture I've seen online. "Vegan Dad" enjoyed his vegan reuben and "Foodeater" in LA pointed out to me that a vegan reuben at one eatery is not necessarily the same as a vegan reuben at another. Good point.

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