Hadicurari’s Culinary Secrets are going vegan in great style

Hadicurari’s Culinary Secrets series is a big hit: once a month a special event is organized which teases and seduces the taste buds. 

In the past few months there have been several successful events, varying from a cheese and wine evening, mussels in the spotlight, Asian fusion cuisine and seafood. Now Chef Ronald van Hasenbroek is jumping into the deep end with a Vegan edition of the Culinary Secrets. He is greatly enthusiastic about this new approach to food and he has met Vegan Guru Meredith Marin, who is gaining a wide following with her hands-on tips and grocery lists for vegans on the island. Meredith’s Instagram account (@veganaruba) is getting many hits from tourists who wish to know where they can have a nice vegan dinner or where to buy vegan products. She also stays up to date with the latest vegan happenings on Aruba and she assists several restaurant chefs in creating vegan options for their menus.

The Vegan Culinary Secrets at Hadicurari is held on December 1 and 2. A creative, plant-based dinner will be served whenever the guests come in, starting from 5 pm on both evenings. As the Vegan Secrets is a new concept, Meredith, Ronald and his F&B Manager Lieke are hoping for a great response.

Eating Vegan consists of eliminating all animal products from your diet; that means not only no meat, fish or chicken, but also no dairy products, eggs and much more and careful reading of all labels. Fortunately, as veganism is gaining ground fast, the local big supermarkets are now providing more vegan products, such as vegan cheese, vegan pasta and so on. ``In Israel, the vegan capital of the world, Domino’s is already delivering vegan pizza’s,’’ tells Meredith, who adds that eating vegan is an ethical choice for her. It is also a healthy choice, as many illnesses, such as diabetes and heart diseases, are virtually eliminated when no animal products are consumed.

Back to Hadicurari, where several herbs and olive oils and heirloom tomatoes (among many other produce) have been especially ordered for the Vegan Culinary Secrets.

And here is the Vegan menu: the first course is made up of an heirloom tomato carpaccio and gazpacho soup and a sun-dried tomato crumble, served with a tarragon dip. The second course consists of glass noodles with edamame beans and sesame, topped with a cucumber tataki, cashews and miso. On with the third course, a curried risotto with asparagus and forest mushrooms in truffle oil and garlic, a potato rösti, fried spinach, a red beet emulsion, funchi fritters and popcorn. Of course dessert is awesome: marinated berries, pineapple and chocolate shavings, served with almond-raisin ice cream.

Lots of vegans will be very pleased with this out-of-the-box, innovative dinner that is coming up. We hope you will all register at least a day in advance if you wish to attend. For more information or registration, please call 586-6377 or go to www.hadicurari.com. If you wish to get into contact with Meredith (she also teaches workshops!), please get into contact with her via veganaruba@gmail.com.