Vegans in the Rust Belt & '92 Days'

Belt Publishing released "Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen: Recipes, Resources, and Stories," edited by Meredith Pangrace, on Dec. 2, 2021. It's a proudly unpretentious collection of delicious-sounding recipes, from pierogi to paprikash, chitterlings to chimichurri.

Meredith, an artist and graphic designer, is the creative director at Belt. She's also a musician who sings, plays the accordion and is a founding member of the band Maura Rogers & The Bellows. 

"Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen" represents the diversity of the Rust Belt region, and includes vegan versions of Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, Detroit-style Coney Dogs, old-world standards, and so much more.

The contributing home cooks and professional chefs offer stories about their recipes, including family history and personal narratives explaining how they created and adapted the dishes. The book also includes resources on how to stock a vegan pantry, guides to useful equipment, and basic how-to’s for “veganizing” staples.

The cookbook is dedicated to "the warm kitchen memories that unite us all." As Meredith says, "I’d like to think this book is for everyone. If you’re not familiar with food of the Rust Belt, you’ll discover Cincinnati Chili and Cleveland Polish Boys. If you’re not vegan, you’ll learn how simple it is to bake a cake without eggs or milk. If you’re new to plant-based cooking, I hope this book will present it in a more accessible, less challenging light."

For more information or to buy a copy, visit rustbeltvegankitchen.com or beltpublishing.com. Also check out Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen on Instagram.

Visit the Belt Publishing website to learn more about this worker-owned, independent press founded in 2013 in Cleveland as a platform for new and influential voices.

Keep listening after the end of Meredith's segment to hear "92 Days" from Maura Rogers & The Bellows' album "Always." The song starts at 37:15. To learn or hear more, check out the band on Facebook and YouTube.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to The Gale Hill Radio Hour!

The show is available in Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast directories. Also on Substack and YouTube; Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Transcript

00:00:36:09 - 00:01:05:17
Kate
Hello. This is the Gale Hill Radio Hour. Sending out stories and insights from our home state of Ohio to wherever you are in the world. I'm your host, Kate Jones. Having a conversation today with Meredith Pangrace, editor of the cookbook Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen: Recipes, Resources and Stories. Meredith, thank you for being on the show today.

00:01:05:21 - 00:01:07:23
Meredith
Oh, thank you so much for having me.

00:01:11:17 - 00:01:29:16
Kate
You're the creative director at Belt Publishing, which published this new cookbook. Let's begin with Belt Publishing itself. What is it? How long has it been around? What is its mission and how and when did you get involved? I know those are a lot of questions.

00:01:29:18 - 00:01:52:22
Meredith
Yeah, well, I can start at the beginning because actually I have been involved with Bell since the beginning. Our founder and Sroubek wrote a book called Rust Belt Chic. I want to say that was maybe in 2011 or 2012. And it was an anthology of voices of writers of the Rust Belt region. So that includes Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Buffalo.

00:01:53:16 - 00:02:06:00
Meredith
And it was very well received and, and kind of found her passion in and doing this project and found it about publishing her belt. Actually, it started as Belt Magazine. So it started as an online publication that I.

00:02:06:00 - 00:02:08:11
Kate
Remember in journalism. Yes. Yes.

00:02:08:20 - 00:02:34:09
Meredith
So Belt magazine is still around. It split off as a nonprofit, but now about publishing came out of that. And we actually make books, printed books. I mean, we turn them into e-books, too. But it's kind of cool that the actual physical books became you know, the the business. So I met up with Ann and I from the very beginning, helped her develop the visual brand for Four Belt magazine.

00:02:34:09 - 00:02:58:01
Meredith
And the website, and then stayed on with her to help her make the books look beautiful. So, yeah, so we're located here in Cleveland, Ohio. We have a storefront now in Slavic Village neighborhood. We're not an actual bookstore, but we have the space as our warehouse, and we hosted pop ups and yeah, we are. I think we're at about 80 titles right now.

00:02:58:03 - 00:03:03:14
Kate
Wow, that is a lot. And these are all from the Rust Belt City. Yeah.

00:03:03:14 - 00:03:26:08
Meredith
So we have we focus on we have a lot of city anthologies. We have, you know, the Cincinnati anthology, the Pittsburgh Anthology. Where are collections of essays from writers of that region? We also do a lot of academic books that focused on focus on the Midwest and Midwest culture. And we are just branching out into the cookbook field.

00:03:26:08 - 00:03:35:23
Meredith
So the book that I'm here to talk about today is our third cookbook. So of regional, regionally focused cookbooks.

00:03:36:00 - 00:03:40:03
Kate
That is great. So you've been a graphic designer for how long now?

00:03:42:06 - 00:03:44:07
Meredith
Probably since I was a child.

00:03:44:12 - 00:03:45:10
Meredith
I come from a.

00:03:45:10 - 00:03:50:22
Meredith
Long line of printers. Actually, my granddad was a printer. My dad has been in the print business.

00:03:51:17 - 00:03:55:16
Kate
Printers, ink in his blood or in your and your blood to here.

00:03:55:16 - 00:04:18:22
Meredith
And my dad, you know, being very tech savvy, he kind of took printing and lithography into digital digital printing and digital production and stuff. So we always had Macintosh computers, you know, in the house before anyone else did. And I remember, you know, learning illustrator and Photoshop from from the very, you know, the very beginnings of those products.

00:04:18:22 - 00:04:19:09
Meredith
So.

00:04:19:13 - 00:04:23:07
Kate
So you were you what age at that time when you were working?

00:04:23:16 - 00:04:36:10
Meredith
Well, I worked for my dad in high school. But I think, you know, I kind of have a memory of being a kid where he showed me, you know, what Photoshop could do to images on a screen, you know, kind of like change people's hair color.

00:04:36:10 - 00:04:43:06
Meredith
And swap heads and stuff. And I remember being really amazed by all that. Yeah, that's so it's in my blood.

00:04:43:17 - 00:05:00:17
Meredith
I, you know, studied fine art in college, but then went to work for my dad and and learn more about the technical side of graphic arts for a couple of years and then realized, you know, actually the creative side is more what I wanted. So focus that on that. So yeah, forever All right.

00:05:00:22 - 00:05:05:20
Kate
So judging from your personal stories in the cookbook, you're also a good writer.

00:05:06:08 - 00:05:06:21
Meredith
Thank you.

00:05:07:13 - 00:05:18:14
Kate
And so when you're asked about what you do, do you answer graphic designer, writer or musician, which is another one of your talents?

00:05:18:14 - 00:05:32:22
Meredith
Right. So the music part came a little later on. I don't think it was until my thirties that I kind of jumped into to music again. I took piano as a kid, but then kind of had a love affair with the accordion in my thirties.

00:05:33:08 - 00:05:36:03
Kate
How did you develop a love affair with the accordion?

00:05:36:05 - 00:05:41:16
Meredith
Oh, right. It's not the most common thing. Well, like in.

00:05:41:22 - 00:06:11:19
Meredith
In relation to the book, to, you know, I have a Slovak heritage, and I think, you know, having a strong Eastern European background, you grow up with hearing that sound, right, of the accordion. And at the, you know, traditional weddings, there was always a poke of end and so it was just this beautiful nostalgic sound always. And someone brought one over to my house like a little toy one at some point and I hadn't heard an accordion for a long time, and I picked it up.

00:06:11:19 - 00:06:28:14
Meredith
And because of the piano background, I kind of knew the right hand side. It was a piano accordion. And from then on, it just I don't know, it just became this weird obsession. And what's fortunate for me is that there aren't a ton of accordion players in Cleveland. You would think there would be, but a lot of them are polka players.

00:06:28:22 - 00:06:36:08
Meredith
But if you're looking to play with folk music or rock music, there's not a lot of competition, so you can get pretty good gigs.

00:06:36:14 - 00:06:40:08
Meredith
That's excellent. So then every game, another part of what I do so.

00:06:40:08 - 00:07:05:10
Kate
Well, my one of my uncles, my dad had three brothers and the only musical one was Uncle Chris, and he used to play accordion at the old Euclid Beach and the stage there and everything. Yes, and so I would hear and there were probably even pictures of that time. He was in a band and it became very musical.

00:07:05:14 - 00:07:12:22
Kate
The only part of the family, the telepathy family, the Greek family, which is musical with Uncle Chris, is.

00:07:14:03 - 00:07:16:01
Meredith
I love that. And it's one of the great.

00:07:16:01 - 00:07:33:18
Meredith
Things about playing the accordion is that a lot of times people at shows will come up to me with a wonderful story like that, that they had an uncle that played or an aunt or a grandma or, you know, they were cleaning out a family member's house and they found one in the attic and they get excited to kind of hear one in a modern setting.

00:07:33:18 - 00:07:35:15
Meredith
Yeah, but not at a polka party.

00:07:35:15 - 00:07:40:08
Kate
Right, exactly. Like that. It's still a very relevant instrument, right?

00:07:40:09 - 00:07:40:19
Meredith
Yes.

00:07:40:21 - 00:07:45:16
Kate
Yeah, that's great. So you play accordion with.

00:07:46:02 - 00:08:09:23
Meredith
Yeah. So More Rogers in the Bellows is the first band that, you know, that's that's definitely where my heart is. I answered an ad on Craigslist again. Not a lot of competition. I was I was looking to kind of learn, you know, how to play more with other people and expand myself practice. And I found more. Rogers, who is an amazing singer songwriter, and she was looking for an accordion and starting a band.

00:08:10:18 - 00:08:19:21
Meredith
And so, gosh, I think it's maybe been about ten years or so since I've been with her in her band and it's just been so such a wonderful experience.

00:08:20:09 - 00:08:45:05
Kate
Well, I ran into you at an anniversary party. It was a garden party. And in the summer, this past summer, and we hadn't seen each other in years and years and years. And it was so cool I did not even realize it was you playing with more Rodgers and the other band members and so enjoyable and just absolutely enjoyed our time there.

00:08:45:10 - 00:08:51:08
Kate
And then we ran into each other on the way out, and we got to talking and it's like, Oh, my gosh, yeah.

00:08:51:08 - 00:08:54:11
Meredith
Meredith Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, that's that's.

00:08:54:11 - 00:09:09:16
Meredith
Something that I've always been interested in. It's like, you can you don't have to, like, start out and be one thing, you know, starting out as a visual artist and graphic design Super rewarding. I'm never going to let that go, but it's fun to add things to the list, right?

00:09:09:17 - 00:09:11:00
Kate
So getting into.

00:09:11:00 - 00:09:16:03
Meredith
Music, you know, in my thirties, doing this book in my forties, I don't even know what I'm going to do in my fifties. I can't.

00:09:16:03 - 00:09:20:11
Kate
Wait. I know. Isn't that fun? But what a discovery at all.

00:09:20:14 - 00:09:22:01
Meredith
Yeah. And I think you do the.

00:09:22:01 - 00:09:22:15
Meredith
Same, Kate.

00:09:22:16 - 00:09:32:05
Kate
So, yes, it's inspiring. Yes. It's very fun. Yeah. So how did the idea for Rust Belt Beacon Kitchen come about anyway?

00:09:33:14 - 00:09:57:00
Meredith
Well, like I said, with, you know, working at Bell Publishing and kind of expanding into the cookbook field, we had this amazing woman, Bonnie Thomas, that put together the belt cookie table book, and that was a surprise success for us. It was super fun. There's for people that don't know, there's Youngstown tradition. It's another Rust Belt cities, too, of the cookie table.

00:09:57:02 - 00:09:58:02
Meredith
Do you know what the cookie I.

00:09:58:06 - 00:09:58:21
Kate
Do not.

00:09:58:21 - 00:09:59:09
Meredith
Like?

00:10:00:01 - 00:10:20:06
Meredith
So the cookie table was when immigrant families would have weddings and they couldn't afford a wedding cake. And so they would ask the guests to bring cookies. And so it was a bit of a showcase because everyone would want to bring their best recipes. And so there would be the cookie table at the wedding. And that has survived on.

00:10:20:15 - 00:10:50:05
Meredith
I was at a wedding about two years ago, and it was a Polish wedding. And they had a cookie table. They had a cake as well. But then they had a beautiful table, a cookie. So Bonnie had this great idea to reach out on social media, which is very much how I reached out for my book to get these recipes from people and put them into a compilation And so being a big fan of Bonnie and what she did, I had this idea because it was the pandemic.

00:10:50:05 - 00:11:18:03
Meredith
I'll start a little bit at the beginning of that story. It was the pandemic. A lot of us were in our kitchen spending time experimenting, maybe looking for new challenges. We had extra time to make things from scratch. You know, that's that's nothing unique to my experience. But we were having we normally have a traditional New Year's Day dinner, which involves sauerkraut, kobashi, stuffed cabbage, pierogies, all these, you know, very Eastern European foods.

00:11:18:03 - 00:11:30:05
Meredith
And without going to restaurants, without all being able to gather together, the alternate plan was just a small family gathering at my parents house. And for some reason, I volunteered to make the food.

00:11:30:13 - 00:11:36:03
Meredith
All of it into my goodness, to make it vegan. I love a lot of the the.

00:11:36:04 - 00:11:51:00
Meredith
Traditional food, but not having eaten meat in many, many years I was always missing out on some aspect or another. So I kind of just decided I was going to take control and make everything not only vegetarian, but vegan with that extra challenge.

00:11:51:00 - 00:11:53:06
Kate
Wow. And your family actually came.

00:11:53:06 - 00:11:54:15
Meredith
And my family is awesome.

00:11:54:23 - 00:12:02:00
Meredith
I mean, there were only four of them there, so I didn't have to convince a big crowd. Okay. Which was which was, you know, good.

00:12:02:00 - 00:12:21:21
Meredith
I didn't have to, you know, try to please my picky nieces or anything. But yeah, so I did some research and I, you know, got some paprikash recipes, like, you know, exploring that and kind of modifying some of those things. Stuffed cabbage is something that I've been making with, you know, I learned to make from with my grandmother years and years ago.

00:12:22:03 - 00:12:44:13
Meredith
And in modifying that and it really yeah, my family was not only like tolerant of it, but they actually were really excited and they loved everything. And so when I posted some pictures of that in one of the I think it was a Facebook group called Vegans using your recipes and people had really great responses. They had a lot of questions.

00:12:44:13 - 00:13:03:02
Meredith
But then they started posting like a response to my pictures, pictures of what they were making and so that got me really excited because other people were just as passionate about, you know, this was my family recipe from you know, I found this in my grandma's cookbook and I made this modification so that I could eat it and my family could eat it.

00:13:03:10 - 00:13:26:03
Meredith
And so that response was really like what got me super excited of making it a community cookbook. I don't feel like I have the right to write a cookbook by any means. I love cooking. I've been an amateur home cook for, you know, a long time, but there was no way I was going to do this myself. I needed that community, and that was the part that was really fun because that then brought the diversity.

00:13:26:10 - 00:13:35:02
Kate
Absolutely. Yes. So what will readers discover and cooks discover in Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen?

00:13:35:18 - 00:14:05:02
Meredith
Well, if they're new to plant based cooking I would hope that they would not be intimidated by it or not feel like it's something that is, you know, super healthy and isn't going to taste good. So I would think that if you are new to it, you're going to find how actually pretty simple it is to make these substitutions and how a lot of these flavors and ingredients are ones that you are really familiar with.

00:14:07:08 - 00:14:30:10
Meredith
If you are a vegan or used to plant base, I would like to think that you'll find some new stuff because there is a lot of diversity for anyone coming into it. You're going to find some great recipes, but you're also going to get these nice stories, right? Because with it being a community cookbook and doing all the outreach I have such a nice sampling of home chefs and professional chefs.

00:14:30:10 - 00:14:36:16
Meredith
It's pretty Cleveland focused just because I'm Cleveland, but we have Chicago contributors and Pittsburgh and Detroit.

00:14:36:19 - 00:14:37:15
Kate
Cincinnati.

00:14:37:15 - 00:14:54:01
Meredith
Cincinnati, yeah. And so those those that having all those different authors contribute brought in all you know, it's not just it's the, the Slovak or Polish or kind of Cleveland idea. We have all kinds of great stuff in there.

00:14:54:03 - 00:15:12:05
Kate
So I agree and I also like something that you said at the very beginning of the cookbook and that Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen is unpretentious, accessible, and fun. I really like it that you're promising that the book is unpretentious. Why is that important to you?

00:15:12:06 - 00:15:23:07
Meredith
Yeah, I feel like there's you know, there's a lot of jokes that, you know, the vegans can be the butt of jokes. And I'm kind of used to that. Also, being an accordion player, I'm used to being the butt of the joke.

00:15:23:14 - 00:15:25:02
Meredith
And so I think when you're when you're.

00:15:25:03 - 00:15:44:15
Meredith
Continuously the butt of the joke, you want to try to change, you know, why that joke even happened? So the, you know, vegans being made fun of for, you know, being preachy or talking about it too much or, you know, having this kind of nose in the air, like, oh, I'm better than you, right? I didn't want that to come across at all.

00:15:44:15 - 00:15:46:11
Kate
And it certainly does not.

00:15:46:12 - 00:15:48:09
Meredith
Okay, good, good, good.

00:15:48:13 - 00:16:11:22
Meredith
And also with with the types of ingredients. I mean, I'm an avid cookbook collector and you know, I'll often be really excited about a new book that comes, you know, in the mail. And I'm going through it and there's, you know, beautiful photos and all these things. But I would have to make a lot of trips to the store or a lot of, you know, Amazon purchases to get the ingredients because they're hard things to find.

00:16:11:22 - 00:16:32:18
Meredith
Or they're saying you need you know, to have certain certain spices that are only from this region. And, you know, and I think that stuff can be just a little you know, it's beautiful. Don't get me wrong. It's very beautiful. But I think there's just something very Rust Belt about, you know, you can just go to your regular old grocery store and get a cabbage and some potatoes.

00:16:33:23 - 00:16:35:11
Meredith
And some nuts. And you can really.

00:16:35:11 - 00:16:37:02
Meredith
Make a beautiful dinner out of those things.

00:16:37:03 - 00:16:43:11
Kate
Yes. And it's comfortable and and it's comforting. Yes. Both both of those things yeah.

00:16:43:13 - 00:16:44:12
Meredith
I like that. Yeah.

00:16:45:02 - 00:17:06:04
Kate
So let's talk about some of the stories in the book. For example, the story that accompanies Grandma's Mountain Stew recipe contributed by a home chef in Lakewood, Ohio. I really loved that. She says in her story that vegan dishes helped keep her grandpa alive for an extra 20 years.

00:17:07:00 - 00:17:38:20
Meredith
Yeah. So that that is that is a great one. And just the name of that recipe is one of my favorites in the book, A Mountain Stew. So you had a story in there. She I think, you know, part of again, the community aspect of this is the contributors have different reasons. And having the reason of health is is definitely one reason why you might switch to plant based diet or try to incorporate a little plant based more plant based food.

00:17:39:13 - 00:17:53:07
Meredith
And so to really have that that strong of a story that, you know, by lowering his cholesterol and getting him off some of the unhealthy foods that he was eating to make him last longer, you know, live longer is really a very, very cool thing.

00:17:53:11 - 00:17:55:14
Kate
And there was a lot of gratitude in that.

00:17:55:17 - 00:18:03:20
Meredith
And then the other part of the story, too, is that it was the grandma. Right, that was cooking for him. And how she, as you know.

00:18:04:06 - 00:18:07:16
Meredith
A grandma. So I'm not sure how old she would be, but she was.

00:18:07:16 - 00:18:14:04
Meredith
Going to the library and researching the vegetarian and vegan recipes. Right. Love that.

00:18:14:04 - 00:18:21:09
Kate
Because before she bought the force. Yes. She wanted to check try them out, make sure that they cut mustard, so to speak.

00:18:21:23 - 00:18:35:10
Meredith
Yeah. So taking that initiative that I'm sure it was very foreign to her, you know, to to look for those kind of things, I'm sure that's not what she was used to, but she was doing that to keep her husband healthy and alive and that she loved him. Yes. Love.

00:18:35:13 - 00:18:49:05
Kate
So very sweet. A totally different note. The fenugreek pancake story and recipe from a professional chef in Chicago. And she's working on her own cookbook.

00:18:49:22 - 00:19:11:12
Meredith
Yeah. Which is actually pretty exciting. There's a there's a couple in the outreach. There's a couple different professional chefs that responded that either they were working on a cookbook of their own or they were starting, you know, physical. A lot of them were pop ups, you know, doing pop up food events. But now we're looking for other brick and mortar stores.

00:19:11:12 - 00:19:18:13
Meredith
So a lot of people that we're really finding more of an audience for the types of food they were making.

00:19:18:18 - 00:19:26:21
Kate
Hmm. And and her cookbooks going be vegan, gluten free, Indian slash Indian fusion recipes. Right.

00:19:26:21 - 00:19:29:18
Meredith
Wow. Right. Right. So when people say.

00:19:29:18 - 00:19:40:23
Meredith
Like, oh, doesn't that isn't that a little niche Rust Belt vegan? I'm like, actually, no, you can. I think sometimes the more niche you are with your cookbook, but the bigger the audience is going to be. Yeah.

00:19:41:00 - 00:20:08:23
Kate
Because people can't find. Right. You know, find those recipes otherwise. So, yeah, it's really cool. Okay. Another one Summer Pasta with creamy sauce from Heather Donaldson, the Cincinnati based owner of Mad Cheese, which. This is pretty amazing. The. The Net cheese creates vegan cheeses. That's not so amazing. But also vegan charcuterie, which is actually amazing.

00:20:09:15 - 00:20:09:22
Meredith
Yeah.

00:20:10:05 - 00:20:17:16
Kate
So and then this particular dish is one of the elegant vegan dishes that Heather likes to make. Hmm.

00:20:17:17 - 00:20:40:13
Meredith
It's beautiful. Yeah. So, Heather, story of, you know, being on the West Coast and then coming back to her Midwest roots and being able to start her business here and it be successful is fantastic. And yeah, vegan cheeses are a tough thing. I mean, from going vegetarian to vegan, that's usually the biggest issue or is that people can't give up the cheese.

00:20:41:08 - 00:20:58:02
Meredith
But she's definitely not only Heather, but a lot of other producers are finding ways to do it. Her her pasta recipe and here it's it this was a completely new one for me was to use hearts of palm candy I have a palm.

00:20:58:07 - 00:21:02:03
Kate
I'd love hearts to pass. That's fascinating to.

00:21:02:03 - 00:21:23:08
Meredith
Me. Made into a cream sauce, which is creamy, but it still has this lightness. So I think that's why I like, you know, the elegant aspect of it. And it's beautiful with the fresh tomatoes and the greens and there but yeah, it's it's really a beautiful one for other cheese recipes. You know, a lot of times cashews are used.

00:21:23:08 - 00:21:46:13
Meredith
Nutritional yeast. Yeah. So and then bringing up talking about the cheese a little bit, there is a part up front in the, the portion that I wrote about make it versus buy it. So there are a lot of vegan cheeses that you can now find. It used to be that you could only find them at health stores, health food stores, or specialty stores.

00:21:46:18 - 00:22:04:00
Meredith
But those products, as the demand increases and also as technology improves, are becoming more and more accessible. However, if you prefer to kind of do things from scratch, if you have the time, we do have some recommendations about how to do some of those products yourself.

00:22:04:11 - 00:22:27:04
Kate
Great. One more story. The roasted squash soup with crispy chickpeas from Jody Berg, the CEO of Vitamix. And what I love is that she writes that her grandparents became vegetarians in the 1930s and raised their children that way. That was not very common, I'm sure.

00:22:27:05 - 00:22:32:23
Meredith
Not at all. And I knew when I was having the idea for this book, I needed to get Vitamix.

00:22:33:03 - 00:22:33:17
Kate
Yes.

00:22:33:18 - 00:22:34:09
Meredith
Not that this.

00:22:34:09 - 00:22:56:20
Meredith
Program is sponsored by Vitamix, but the Vitamix, as you know, in any kitchen, is kind of this cultish, amazing tool. It's been around forever. People that have them swear by them, you know, the one that's on my counter, I use it almost every day. But the coolest thing about the Vitamix is that it's an Ohio based company. It's right here in North Olmstead.

00:22:57:02 - 00:23:01:23
Meredith
So that combination of, you know, manufacturing that they make those.

00:23:01:23 - 00:23:02:16
Meredith
Things here.

00:23:02:16 - 00:23:18:23
Meredith
In Ohio, and that it's always been a, you know, big, big supporter of of whole food and plant based. I mean, they're not they don't I don't think they really promote 100% veganism but no health and right and whole foods more. I think they focus on.

00:23:19:06 - 00:23:33:23
Kate
And not even organic like they're they're it's it's really I don't know it's not that you have to be a certain way you just want to use the the the best whole foods you can find.

00:23:34:00 - 00:23:43:07
Meredith
Exactly. Yeah like the less processed the better. Right. So yes so it's great to have have Vitamix be in this book and have their story in there.

00:23:43:08 - 00:24:01:00
Kate
I know I was really glad to see her in there. And she has a cookbook that just came out two not too long ago and that was the water at some huge anniversary. Yeah. Vitamix. Yeah. And, and yeah, I don't know, however many years it centered.

00:24:01:01 - 00:24:01:09
Meredith
Right.

00:24:01:11 - 00:24:05:15
Kate
Was at least a hundred. It could have even been longer, it seems. Yeah.

00:24:05:15 - 00:24:12:08
Meredith
And I believe it's a community like a lot of their customers contributed book or contributed recipes.

00:24:12:08 - 00:24:13:00
Kate
Yes, I know.

00:24:13:03 - 00:24:15:20
Meredith
Yeah. I'm not sure if it's out yet. I think I preordered it on Amazon.

00:24:16:01 - 00:24:16:22
Meredith
Yeah, I thought it.

00:24:16:22 - 00:24:24:11
Kate
Was out, but I don't know. Well, we're we're not talking about that one today, but but it is it does happen to be, you know, another one of.

00:24:24:11 - 00:24:26:16
Meredith
Those, you know, and it's cool, too, because.

00:24:26:16 - 00:24:37:19
Meredith
She is, you know, the female CEO, right? So it's the granddaughter. Yes. You know, as someone that has as been part of their family business, it just all kind of all those themes kind of align.

00:24:38:00 - 00:24:44:04
Kate
So I like that, too. So you stopped eating meat as a teenager. Your you were, what, 16, I think.

00:24:44:04 - 00:24:44:21
Meredith
16.

00:24:45:00 - 00:24:46:13
Kate
Why did you do that?

00:24:46:19 - 00:25:06:16
Meredith
It's so long ago that I hardly remember why, but I think it was because my brother did for some reason, my older brother that I always just, you know, did kind of everything that he did because he was cool. Started, I want to say for health reasons, And I was usually a pretty big meat eater as a kid.

00:25:06:16 - 00:25:28:04
Meredith
I remember I would like just eat the meat on my plate. I didn't really like vegetables. But when he made that switch and then my mom started cooking meals for him, it really kind of opened up my mind and my palate to new foods. And then I just kind of started to feel better and and then when I went to college and I was able to make my own food choices, and there were a lot of other vegetarians.

00:25:28:10 - 00:25:40:01
Meredith
It was just kind of something that felt right and I felt good. And when I thought about some of the bigger picture things, you know, with with animal rights and environmental things, it just kind of felt good.

00:25:40:07 - 00:25:40:20
Kate
Yes.

00:25:41:04 - 00:25:41:08
Meredith
Yeah.

00:25:41:08 - 00:25:42:14
Meredith
Everybody's got their own story.

00:25:42:14 - 00:26:11:01
Kate
Oh, absolutely. It was really great that your grandmother, who was very well versed in making Eastern European staple, such as stuffed cabbage. Yeah. Didn't judge your choice to become a vegetarian. Instead, she stuffed a few cabbage leaves with rice minus the meat just for you. And it reminded me of my yaya, my great grandmother, who did the same thing because I didn't eat meat, red meat for a long, long time.

00:26:11:09 - 00:26:33:14
Kate
And so and she was a wizard. She had this tiny little kitchen and she was a wizard in the kitchen. And and she would make she would just produce things truly, magically. And she would make all kinds of Greek dishes without the meat for me. And she was it was the same kind of thing. And grandmothers are so loving.

00:26:34:09 - 00:26:52:04
Meredith
Yeah, they really are. And I think, you know, when we were talking before, before we started this interview, just casually about, you know, bringing together. And I think that is something that, yeah, we've learned that from our grandmothers. And then we want to kind of pass that on.

00:26:52:07 - 00:27:07:04
Kate
Yes. And you do in your book in your cookbook, because like your grandmother, you don't judge, as you say, at the end of the book's introduction, more than anything, this book is not going to criticize you for whatever choices you make in your diet.

00:27:07:20 - 00:27:08:05
Meredith
Right.

00:27:08:10 - 00:27:10:00
Kate
I loved it so much.

00:27:10:00 - 00:27:29:02
Meredith
Along those lines. You know, we do have we have recipes in here that are that are Whole Foods based. Right. So the Vitamix recipes and lots of others are you know, it's it's things that you can just grow in your garden and then you can make a beautiful dinner. But we also then realize, like, sometimes life is challenging and you may not have time.

00:27:29:02 - 00:27:32:23
Meredith
So there's some shortcuts there's you know, I call them some like.

00:27:32:23 - 00:27:36:09
Meredith
Low brow recipes. So we.

00:27:36:09 - 00:27:41:09
Meredith
Kind of try to cover all those things and whatever whatever you can do is, is.

00:27:41:09 - 00:28:02:00
Kate
Good. Oh, yeah. Yes. I'd like to mention too, that the book is dedicated to the warm kitchen memories that unite us all. That whole coming together idea. And that is so important. How do we go about keeping an open mind about food and all of our other differences?

00:28:02:12 - 00:28:27:20
Meredith
Yeah, yeah, that's that's such a great question. It's really something to think about. I mean, we're so blessed that we live in a world where we have food choices. You know, we live in a country that we have choices that we can make about our diet. And it's really unfortunate when those choices divide us, when, you know, we have we have people that might mock someone, you know, for their keto diet or their vegan diet.

00:28:28:19 - 00:28:30:23
Kate
So or they're all meat diet.

00:28:31:03 - 00:28:34:12
Meredith
They're all diet. I mean, it's, you know. Yeah.

00:28:34:16 - 00:28:46:16
Kate
Because just what you were saying before about, you know, that that that heartiness about, you know, oh, you know, you eat this way, you know, people, we just all have to eat something.

00:28:46:16 - 00:29:02:20
Meredith
We all have to eat something. And I think, you know, just like we choose to choose what we, where we choose who we want to hang out with. Like we can make these choices and they can be different and yeah, we can, we can still all be in a kitchen, enjoy a great meal together.

00:29:03:04 - 00:29:29:01
Kate
Yes. Yes. And what's really cool is that there are a lot of delicious sounding dishes in this book. And, you know, well, not everything is, you know, necessarily for when I go through it, not my tastes. But that's true for any for sure, any cookbook, because there are just some flavors that I don't like as much as others are styles of food that I don't like as much.

00:29:29:08 - 00:29:31:06
Kate
But I saw a lot of things in here.

00:29:31:06 - 00:29:51:16
Meredith
I'd like to try it. Great. Yeah. Well, we did try, you know, to make sure we covered a lot of different types of cuisine because that that also is what the Rust Belt is. There's all kinds of people, all kinds of groups immigrated to this region and brought with them their traditions and their foods so. Yes, but yeah, you're you're not going to like everything.

00:29:51:16 - 00:29:52:21
Meredith
And that is hard, nor.

00:29:52:21 - 00:29:56:23
Kate
Should you, because like, there is no cookbook ever that has, you.

00:29:56:23 - 00:29:59:00
Meredith
Know, right yeah. You know, it just.

00:29:59:00 - 00:30:08:08
Kate
It's not going to happen. Yeah. I think, though, that trying even a few of the 70 recipes in this book, aren't there something like seven.

00:30:08:09 - 00:30:16:12
Meredith
Yeah, there's like some quick shortcuts. I think the actual contributor is I think there's about 60. But then I have a lot of my shortcut things and my make it by it so I think okay.

00:30:17:00 - 00:30:19:13
Kate
It's you know and I counted them in the.

00:30:19:20 - 00:30:22:12
Meredith
Day they should really know how many exactly.

00:30:22:20 - 00:30:35:15
Kate
Anyway I think they're trying even a few of them and read the stories will really help people understand each other maybe a little bit better.

00:30:35:16 - 00:30:36:16
Meredith
Yes for sure.

00:30:36:18 - 00:30:51:23
Kate
What what a great thing. Yeah. So anyway, would you like to give a shout out to your contributors? You have quite a few of them. Yeah. And I don't mean by name, but, you know, just for sure.

00:30:51:23 - 00:30:58:12
Meredith
I mean, just like I said, I. I could not have written a cookbook. I had no business, you know, probably.

00:30:58:12 - 00:31:05:07
Meredith
Even including people who have a lot of business doing that. But the, the contributors were amazing.

00:31:05:07 - 00:31:29:16
Meredith
And, you know, when I would put the call out and get a response from someone that was just as excited as I was, it was thrilling. Or, you know, maybe they would submit a story and I would, you know, kind of my eyes would well up with tears. Like, it was just a beautiful thing. So, yes, I mean, I am thinking all of the contributors, the home chefs that were willing to have the the nerve and the confidence to contribute.

00:31:30:15 - 00:31:54:10
Meredith
You know, home chefs sometimes can be a little humble and think, oh, it's you know, this isn't that great. But the home chefs contributed fantastic stuff. But then the professional chefs, too, because, you know, there are some here where I'm like, wow, I'm just so thrilled that they gave, you know, contributed to that because, you know, I think sometimes in the spirit of community, because a chef might have, you know, a little big in secret that they might not want to share.

00:31:54:10 - 00:32:00:02
Meredith
But the ones in this book were so generous in sharing some of their tips that are really useful.

00:32:00:02 - 00:32:01:19
Kate
So, yes, that's one.

00:32:01:19 - 00:32:02:16
Meredith
You've told everybody.

00:32:02:22 - 00:32:07:20
Kate
So well. What is the official publication date of this book?

00:32:08:00 - 00:32:19:10
Meredith
So it publishes December 1st, December 1st. They are still they're available now for preorder but they are back from the printer. So even if you preorder now, it'll get to your really soon.

00:32:19:14 - 00:32:33:04
Kate
Yes, yes. Because I did preorder. Yes. And I received my book. One more hour interview and I was very happy about that. Yeah. So where can listeners get more information? Where can they buy your book?

00:32:33:12 - 00:32:51:22
Meredith
So because we are a small independent press, we do ask that you buy directly from us. So about publishing dot com is our store. You can get the Rust Belt begin can kitchen there, you can also pick up that awesome cookie table book. I'll also give a shout out to our Papa cookbook. Are you familiar with Popeye's?

00:32:51:22 - 00:32:54:10
Kate
I've heard of it, but yes, I'm not.

00:32:55:02 - 00:33:02:08
Meredith
A native native fruit and it's real big with foragers right now in the foraging movement and native to where? To this region.

00:33:02:08 - 00:33:07:21
Kate
Really? Yes. Oh, I thought that was somewhere land. Oh, completely like from the south.

00:33:07:21 - 00:33:16:00
Meredith
Or there are some people that actually plant them in the city. Actually, one of the contributors to our book that lives in Collingwood has a couple Patrice in her yard.

00:33:16:00 - 00:33:16:18
Kate
My goodness.

00:33:16:18 - 00:33:30:23
Meredith
Yeah. And so we had our writer do a full Papa cookbook. Everything includes Papas which are free if you can find them and the right time of year. So that book to all that stuff is on Bell Publishing dot com.

00:33:30:23 - 00:33:35:23
Kate
That is so cool. I want to look up Papa. Yeah. Have you have had Papa?

00:33:36:02 - 00:33:37:12
Meredith
I have not been blessed enough.

00:33:37:12 - 00:33:40:00
Meredith
To have a pop up. There's a roadside.

00:33:41:12 - 00:34:01:19
Meredith
Place on Madison in the, in Cleveland on this in the city. It's, you know, an urban little roadside garden, urban garden that sells. And I was there getting some tomatoes and I recognize the papa tree and I almost fell over. I was like, Oh, my goodness. And he's like, Yes, we have three. But they, they're so in demand that I didn't get there in time.

00:34:01:19 - 00:34:05:17
Meredith
When they were finally ripe and they were gone. So maybe next year.

00:34:05:18 - 00:34:08:21
Kate
Maybe next year. That's something to look forward to.

00:34:08:21 - 00:34:11:06
Meredith
Yes. You can get them. You can get to have all these.

00:34:11:06 - 00:34:37:18
Meredith
Add about polishing. But then I also have Rust Belt vegan kitchen scum that has some information. And most importantly, I'd like to push the Instagram account because what I'm kind of asking is to kind of keep that community going. So if people are making anything in the book or if they disagree with something in the book, if they make pierogies a different way or they believe that a Polish dog is some thing completely different, that's not in our book.

00:34:37:18 - 00:34:42:18
Meredith
I want to kind of keep that conversation going. So Rust Belt big and Kitchen on Instagram, too.

00:34:42:20 - 00:34:49:00
Kate
Oh, that's excellent. And who knows? You might have a second, second book sometime.

00:34:49:04 - 00:34:50:00
Meredith
I would love to have.

00:34:50:00 - 00:35:05:15
Meredith
A Volume two especially if there's people that would like to challenge the recipes for sure or say that we forgot. One that's really very Rust Belt are very important because I think you I can even think of some that I be like, Oh, we missed that. So Volume two for sure.

00:35:05:20 - 00:35:09:06
Kate
The Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen Challenge.

00:35:09:10 - 00:35:10:10
Meredith
Yes. All right.

00:35:10:16 - 00:35:13:15
Kate
Great OPIA. A best show.

00:35:13:17 - 00:35:18:07
Meredith
On the Food Network Center, right? Who makes the best vegan.

00:35:18:07 - 00:35:19:13
Meredith
Chicago Deep Dish.

00:35:19:14 - 00:35:20:00
Meredith
Right?

00:35:20:07 - 00:35:31:01
Kate
And that's great. And what people who are, you know, used to the real, you know, quote unquote, the real thing. Think of us, you know. Yes, right. That would be very interesting.

00:35:31:07 - 00:35:51:06
Meredith
We did so thus I mention it in the book. I had a Sunday weenie roast. So that was something that my great grandma used to do is like a casual Sunday dinner where you roast hotdogs over a fire. And so I did that with friends, meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans. And we did a whole taste test of all different kinds of vegan sausages.

00:35:51:13 - 00:35:56:04
Meredith
And that was really interesting to kind of see, you know, what the meat eaters responses were.

00:35:56:05 - 00:35:58:20
Kate
Yeah. Did did they like some of them?

00:35:58:22 - 00:36:19:10
Meredith
It was really interesting because it seemed like the meat eaters almost preferred ones that were a little more processed, like a little more like a homogenous ballpark hot dog where the vegans and vegetarians, like the ones that had a little more texture, a little more flavor, you could actually maybe see some vegetables in there.

00:36:19:20 - 00:36:20:03
Kate
Huh?

00:36:20:11 - 00:36:22:21
Meredith
So it was interesting. Well, really interesting.

00:36:23:01 - 00:36:28:12
Kate
That makes sense to me because the processed ones would be more hotdog like. Exactly.

00:36:28:12 - 00:36:30:15
Meredith
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

00:36:30:16 - 00:36:37:06
Kate
Very interesting. Well, Meredith, is there anything else you'd like to say? This has been an utter delight.

00:36:37:06 - 00:36:44:21
Meredith
It really has. I just want to say thanks to you, Kate. It's been awesome to reconnect with you after all these years and and have this conversation.

00:36:44:22 - 00:36:53:23
Kate
Same here. It's been awesome for me as well. Okay. This Kate Jones with the Gail Hill's Radio Hour. We'll be right back.

00:37:11:22 - 00:37:27:08
Kate
This is Kate again, presenting for your listening pleasure. 92 days from the album Always Buy More, Rogers and the Bellows, courtesy of Meredith Payne, Grace, More Rodgers and the rest of the band.

00:37:44:05 - 00:37:46:16
Meredith
Ruby, are you lonely?

00:37:47:12 - 00:37:50:03
Meredith
I know even strong.

00:37:51:16 - 00:38:00:06
Meredith
Whiskey, gin just screaming. And these words beg for a song Hey, how.

00:38:00:06 - 00:38:06:06
Meredith
I've been feeling I'm feeling trapped inside And.

00:38:06:13 - 00:38:07:13
Meredith
I'm afraid.

00:38:07:13 - 00:38:45:11
Meredith
That I'm afraid of old habits that have died. So don't put me in a trance And don't make me change my name in this car. Stop and you love me Just go Well, I spend 90.

00:38:45:11 - 00:38:47:19
Meredith
Two days alone.

00:38:48:16 - 00:38:50:08
Meredith
Staring the me.

00:38:52:11 - 00:38:53:03
Meredith
Staring.

00:38:53:03 - 00:39:07:04
Meredith
Down my soul I was staring down my feet I go I've been given something more and more I'm.

00:39:07:04 - 00:39:08:04
Meredith
Shaken.

00:39:08:04 - 00:41:46:15
Meredith
By the size alone I'm not shaken by my thoughts So don't put me in a box and make me change my name this time. Oh, God, Can you love me? Just say don't let me get my dress Just don't make me change my name in this Oh, stop can you love me? Just say don't let me get up I don't So don't make me change my name in this part Oh, stop and you love me Just say love you Well, for me one called me and I.