Vegan

TIME WAS, a chef could do one thing exceedingly well and make a name. But chefs and eateries in Philadelphia are starting to take pride in their versatility, adapting their cuisine to specialized needs. And yes, a big one is plant-based eating. Derek Davis, whose restaurant, Derek's, is a fine-dining fixture in Manayunk, told the Daily News earlier this month: "When I look at my menu, I see we're lacking things that are strictly vegetables, without any dairy, without any animal fats.

FALAFEL IS the original veggie fast food, and with the rising interest in plant-based eating, it's no wonder that fast-food falafel is taking over Center City. The spiced-up chickpea-ball sandwich has been around since antiquity, and it seems like the King of Falafel cart at 16th and JFK has been around nearly as long. The options are limited, but the King's delicious falafel wraps garner long lunchtime lines. Recently, though, fast-food falafel storefronts are challenging the King with their own fanciful takes on the pocket meal.

In this winter of discontent, the ice caps melting, the campaigning permanent, an odd epilogue arises in the kitchen, late the scene of a glistening holiday pork roast, neatly tied on the ribs, succulent and reassuring at the table. It is as if some saturation point has been reached - weeks of consuming gravy-dipped sandwiches of prime beef sliced from a bar's mammoth steamship round, and tender filet at a wedding buffet, and pork loin with the weinkraut that Rieker's, the Fox Chase butcher, imports in big, yellow cans from Germany.

Gnawing on bread while her classmates feast is not Kristin Ronca's idea of an equal-opportunity prom. So this year - mindless of disgusted grimaces from the carnivore crowd - the Upper Moreland High School senior and her vegan friends will sit their taffeta down to enjoy thick brown slabs of wheat meat. "Last year, I went to the senior prom and they served pasta with butter and potatoes with cheese," lamented Ronca, who this time around petitioned the senior class officers for seitan, a no-meat-no-fish-no-fowl-no-dairy-no-eggs alternative.

Good question What are the odds of a man becoming president and there being a war against a Middle Eastern country - and then his son becoming president and there being another war against a Middle Eastern country? Mark F . Walker, Philadelphia The vegan way Thank you for including articles on "alternative" diets, such as vegan and vegetarian (Nov. 14). Not everyone consumes animal-based foods. Jay Hamburger, Houston Thank you so much for your vegan articles - you set a wonderful example.

THEY ARE bomb-throwing Birkenstock brats. Wolves in hemp clothing. Enemies of scientific progress. Inveterate haters of humanity. They are environmental extremists and animal-rights zealots. They are running loose. And they are endangering us all. The national press, which has put a happy green face on the environmental movement for three decades, has largely ignored a recent rising tide of violence being waged by eco-nuts across the country and around the world. In August, someone planted explosives at biotech giant Chiron in Emeryville, Calif.

Life as a vegan (pronounced VEE-gan) may be the acme of culinary correctness, but it takes some explaining in restaurants. "You say, 'Hi, I'm a vegan,' and they think you're from another planet," says Lorrie Bauston, director of the animal-rights organization Farm Sanctuary. These days vegetarianism has many shoots, from lacto-ovo-vegetarians (who accept dairy products and eggs) to fruitarians (who urge a diet of fruit, seeds, nuts, honey and olive oil). Vegans are the most restrictive subgroup.

Among the standard items people might impulsively duck into a convenience store for - beef jerky, pork rinds, a quart of milk or a pint of ice cream - you'd scarcely expect to find vegan sandwiches. And if someone described a 7-Eleven that stocked faux-chicken, seitan steak, falafel and tofu egg-salad sandwiches among many other vegan items, you might logically imagine it in Berkeley, Calif.; or Austin, Texas; or Portland, Ore. Yet you'll find Moshe's brand sandwiches and healthy snacks at quite a few 7-Elevens right here in Philly, including: 16th Street and JFK Boulevard, 34th Street and Lancaster Avenue, Ridge Avenue and Walnut Lane, and Temple University.

THERE'S ONLY ONE place in Philly where you can travel to Ethiopia, Vietnam, Laos and India, drink fair-trade coffee and local beer and catch a jam session, all in the scope of seven blocks. That place is Baltimore Avenue in Cedar Park, a neighborhood on the west side of University City in West Philly. Anchored by leafy, nine-acre Clark Park at 43rd Street, home to a year-round farmer's market, chess games, outdoor movies and plenty of community goings on, Baltimore Avenue was once just farmland outside the city.