BBQs, Burgers, and Backyard Bites

In this episode, I talk about what it's like to be a vegetarian at a non-vegetarian BBQ, tell you a little story about when I was on the Food Network, and share some specific ideas about what to serve at a BBQ: ideas for the grill (including vegetable skewers, marinated eggplant, polenta with pesto, portabello mushrooms, corn on the cob, BBQ tempeh, and fruit), recipes for salads (such as Thai slaw, spinach salad, pasta salad), and, of course, dessert. I also talk briefly about why the safest way to avoid the carcinogenic compounds that form on cooked meat is to not eat it. Heterocyclic amines, the cancer-causing compounds found on meat (including "beef," "pork," "chicken," or "fish") cooked at high temperatures (whether grilled, BBQd, or pan-fried) do not form on plant foods. Just one more reason to leave animals off our plates.