Vegan diets are suddenly the hot new thing.

Mike Tyson, the former boxer who once bit someone’s ear off, says he has now turned to a vegan diet – which means avoiding meat, dairy and other animal products like eggs or honey - and he is looking extremely trim and healthy.

Mark Bittman, the New York Times food columnist and author of many wonderful cookbooks, has gone on a “Vegan Before 6” diet, which means he eats only vegan food during the day, then switches to eating whatever he likes for the evening meal. The health benefits have been miraculous. He has lost 35 pounds, his cholesterol and blood sugar levels have dropped to normal levels and his sleeping problems have disappeared.

“But what can you eat?” friends will say when I talk about cooking and eating more vegan foods myself.

And the answer is: plenty. Nature provides us with a beautiful array of nuts, beans, tofu, lentils, vegetables and fruits. Of course, you have to know how to cook, because just throwing a steak or piece of salmon on the barbecue is obviously off limits. You also have to know that losing meat and dairy means losing nutrients that have to be replaced with supplements or other foods.

I make luscious shepherd’s pie with lentils instead of ground beef, and I make a salad of tomato, avocado, black beans and sauteed arugula that’s to die for (Recipe coming later this summer, so watch this space)! I coat tofu with nutritional yeast and fry it until it’s crispier and better than the best fried chicken. I never feel deprived when I eat this food.

To find out more about vegan living, an excellent blog I read regularly is http://planetoftheanimals.blogspot.com/ written by Andrew Hunt, a columnist for this newspaper in the op-ed pages, and a close friend of mine. Andrew focuses on animal rights in his writing, but the blog contains many useful links to vegan recipe sites.

Today’s recipe is a family favourite that happens to be vegan as well. It’s rigatoni with a sweet tomato sauce, brightened by carrots and enriched by chick-peas. I topped the pasta with vegan basil pesto from a brand called Sunflower’s Kitchen, which I bought at David’s Gourmet in Kitchener. If you don’t mind a little cheese in your pesto, you can use any brand of pesto.

ldamato@therecord.com

Enough rigatoni for 4 people

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 carrot

3 or 4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

1 28 oz (796 ml) can tomatoes

1 teaspoon (5 ml) sugar

1 tablespoon (15 ml) tomato paste

1 can (540 ml) chick-peas, rinsed and drained

1 tablespoon (15 ml) pesto

Olive oil and black pepper for garnish

1. Boil salted water in a large pot and put in the rigatoni.

2. Puree the tomatoes in a blender or with a hand blender; set aside.

3. Chop the carrot into bite-sized pieces. Heat the olive oil on medium heat and add the carrot; fry 5 minutes until the carrot is browned. Put in the garlic pieces and fry 30 seconds. Pour in the pureed tomatoes, the sugar, and the tomato paste. Add the drained chick-peas. Bring everything to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Add water if the sauce seems too thick.

4. When the rigatoni is cooked but still firm to the bite, drain and put it back in the original pot with a little olive oil to prevent sticking. Just before you are ready to serve, stir the pasta into the sauce and simmer 2 minutes. Serve topped with a little pesto, a drizzle of olive oil and some fresh black pepper.

Makes 4 servings.

ldamato@therecord.com