The Triangle Vegetarian Society (TVS) had its annual Thanksgiving feast and generous raffle at one of Dilip's favorite Triangle restaurants, Cafe Parizäde in Durham. Parizäde is one of the Triangle's finest restaurants with a gourmet flair for fresh ingredients with Mediterranean influences, and this was TVS' 5th consecutive Thanksgiving there.

A list of Frequently Asked Questions provided a great deal of information about the event, and you can also see a flyer and press release that advertised the event.

Our menu began with a Fall Antipasto Buffet Table. There was a quinoa salad with olives, shallots, pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, and garlic in a base of the lovely crunchy grain quinoa, with arugula and rosemary-carmelized pear. There were fall lettuces with pumpkin seed-cider dressing; warm spinach orzo with pesto; braised garlicky greens; citrus couscous with dried fruits and garbanzo beans; a roasted salad with asparagus and red pepper; roasted fall vegetables; grilled corn with herbs, both on- and off- the cob; and cardamom pickled beets. We had a Mediterranean minty fatoush salad with toasted flat bread; wheatberry-wild rice salad with lavender-blueberry vinaigrette; breads, crustinis, and pita with Egyptian red lentil hummus, artichoke hummus, and baba ganouj; marinated olives; and spiced pecans.

For main courses, we had fall vegetable paella of three rices with tempeh; Dilip's hearty exotic mushroom filo pie with fennel, wheat gluten, and garlic confit; and roasted sweet potatoes with leeks and vegan maple "butter". Diners also feasted on braised green beans with ginger curry and coconut milk au gratin; braised wheat gluten sauteed with yellow squash and sweet onions; basil-roasted garlic whipped potatoes; and mushroom-onion gravy, apple-walnut stuffing and fresh raspberry-cranberry relish. We had spicy polenta with wilted spinach; penne served Umbrian style with gingered sweet tomato-herb sauce; and a sweet and savory pumpkin leek velouté (thickened soup). Desserts we served included fresh seasonal fruits, phyllo cookies, pumpkin pie, blueberry crisp, and cinammon apple pie.

Apple cider, water, herbal tea, and coffee were available as part of the meal. All the food was strictly vegan with no animal, egg or dairy products, and no honey or white sugar was used.

As in previous years, we had a generous raffle with prizes ranging from gift certificates from area businesses to cases of whole food products, fine chocolates, non-animal gardening fertilizers, and much more. Check out the current list of raffle prizes!

Our Thanksgiving event was a big success! People had nothing but high praise for the delicious vegan meal that Chef Robert put together, and the staff at Cafe Parizäde was professional and helpful, as always. We had 68 members, 200 nonmember adults, 5 children 5-10, and 8 children under 5 for a total of 281 people, a growth of 30% over last year. We sold 870 raffle tickets, had 13 membership renewals, and welcomed 10 new members to TVS. We had 150 raffle prizes worth over $3200.

Looking backwards, we grew 20% 83->100 in 2000, 66% to 166 in 2001, 29% to 214 last year, and 30% to 281 this year. Projecting forward, it seems we're growing at 20-30% annually, so we might expect 337-365 next year!

Such an event wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of many people. Biggest thanks are due to Ken Guttman, for setting our web site up to take reservations and keeping our raffle page updated, this year including images of each company participating; Martin "Blaze" Blazevich, for taking phone reservations right up to after the event began; Dharmita Lutz, for making our biggest ever raffle go smoothly by setting up a lovely display of the 150 prizes and very importantly keeping the distribution of the prizes well organized; Michael Pocinki for providing the sound system and suggesting the singles table, which seemed to be a fun and happening place to be; and the folks who collected money at the front, especially Tink and Barry Nakell and Pam Young who took the busiest first hour, as well as Charlotte Hundley, Dorothy Cicchetti, and Kathy Marx. Kathy we also formally thanked at the beginning of the program for her years of service as restaurant review coordinator.

Thanks to Brian Donlon for setting up an extensive set of literature, coupons, and other materials for folks to enjoy and take home to become better educated about vegetarianism; Jennie Guttman for photographing the event and helping with setup; Kathy Thomson for helping to seat people as well as with setup; all the people who worked with Dharmita to distribute raffle prizes - Cornelia Lee, Joy Anandi, Jane Wheeler, James Balfour, Vicki Fuentes, Karen Seeh, Gray Johnson, Manisha Shah, Jon Brunn, Mary Johnston, Josephine Rondone, and JoAnn Molnar; and James Balfour and his friend Kelly Waller, and Dharmita Lutz for helping to count the money. Many people - Manisha Shah, Jennie Guttman, Ken Guttman, Holly Tiemann, Kruti and Mehul Desai, Kathy Marx, and others, helped to pick up raffle prizes before the event. (If I inadvertently left out anybody, please let me know - and accept my apologies.)