Vegan with a Vengeance

served scones that were donated by a bakery. In Minneapolis they seemed to serve exclusively punks. In Baltimore they served in the inner cities and I bore witness to the sort of urban decay usually saved for postapocalyptic movies.
    If I had to name a time and place, I would say that cooking for FNB was where I gained my knife skills as I chopped scores and scores of vegetables. It also influenced my cooking for years to come. For a long time it was nearly impossible for me to cook normal portions of food.

    It is easy to start your own Food Not Bombs, or join an existing one, and feed people in your community. Check their Web site for more information: www.foodnotbombs.com .
    If distributed equally, the world produces enough food to feed everyone. There is an abundance of food. In fact, in this country, every day, in every city, far more edible food is discarded than is needed to feed those who do not have enough to eat.
    Consider this. Before food reaches your table, it is produced and handled by farmers, coops, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers. At every step, some perfectly edible food is discarded for a variety of business reasons. In the average city, approximately 10% of all solid waste is food. Nationally, this is an incredible total of 46 billion pounds per year, just under 200 pounds per person per year ...
    â€”From the Food Not Bombs Web site

Potato-Asparagus Soup
    SERVES 6
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    I didn’t spice this up too much because asparagus is my favorite vegetable and I like its flavor to shine through. I like to add some fresh dill to each serving but it’s completely optional. If you like a chunkier soup, then just puree half of the soup, or use a handheld blender and puree to your liking.
    3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks
    1 pound asparagus, rough ends discarded, tips cut into 2-inch pieces, lower part cut into ½-inch pieces
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    1 large onion, cut into ½-inch dice
    3 cloves garlic, minced
    1 teaspoon salt
    A few dashes fresh black pepper
    4 cups vegetable broth, or 2 bouillon cubes dissolved in 4 cups water
    2 bay leaves
    Juice of 1 lemon
    Â¼ cup chopped fresh dill
    Place potatoes in a stockpot and cover with cold water. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender. Add the asparagus, boil for 3 minutes, drain, and set aside.
    Rinse out the pot, then in the same pot sauté the onion in the olive oil for 5 to 7 minutes; add the garlic, salt and black pepper,; and sauté 2 more minutes. Add the broth and bay leaves, boil for 10 minutes, discard the bay leaves. Add the potatoes and asparagus, heat through, then puree three-quarters of the soup in a blender or food processor (see Punk Points on page 56). Reheat if necessary. Add a squeeze of lemon and serve garnished with fresh dill.

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup
    SERVES 6
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    Serve this with garlic croutons or a nice peasant bread. When you eat this soup you will be transported to a rustic villa in Italy where the air is clean and fresh, the locals are provincial but friendly, and you have the solitude you need to finish your sonnets. If you have never roasted garlic before, you don’t know what you are missing; it adds a great depth of flavor. I like to think of it as a “restaurant taste” for lack of a better phrase.
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    1 medium-size onion, chopped (about 1½ cups)
    1 teaspoon salt
    A few dashes fresh black pepper
    Â½ teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
    4 cups vegetable broth, or 2 bouillon cubes dissolved in 4 cups water
    3 cups cooked great northern (white) beans, drained (or canned beans, drained and rinsed)
    3 fresh sage leaves, chopped
    1 bay leaf
    Juice of ½ lemon, or to taste
    2 heads garlic, roasted (see Punk Points)
    PUNK POINTS
    TO ROAST GARLIC: Preheat oven to 350°F. Peel off as much of the papery skin as you can and put the garlic in the oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and, when cool, squeeze the garlic out or peel the skin away from each clove.
    In a stockpot over medium-high heat sauté the onions in the olive oil for 5 to 7 minutes.
    Add the salt, black pepper, and fennel seeds; sauté for 1 minute. Add the broth, beans, sage, and bay leaf, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Add the roasted garlic and puree in batches in a blender or preferably a food processor (see Punk Points on