Vegan

WATER ICE IS A cherished summer institution in Philly, and those of us who skip dairy, whether for ethical, health or other concerns, can appreciate this cool vegan treat. Sorbet, Popsicles, frozen fruit bars and the like are also delish. But let's face it: "You can always have water ice [or sorbet]" is the cool-treat equivalent of "you can always have a salad. " Nothing against salad or water ice, but we sometimes want that singular richness and flavor associated with ice cream.

FOR A TOWN WITH A dairy-slathered steak sandwich as its main food icon, a town whose name signifies "cream cheese" to many Americans, Philadelphia certainly has more than its share of vegan surprises. Now, I'm not talking about the "surprise" that all-veggie foods can be decadently delicious, but rather those dishes that show up where you wouldn't necessarily expect them. Case in point: While walking down South Street recently, I saw a sidewalk sign advertising a new joint devoted to creatively topped hot dogs.

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat: Craig LaBan: Sorry about the two-week hiatus - I was down the Shore doing some serious research on beach eats. You can read the first installment of that annual two-part Shore package Sunday, which features some truly great meals from Cape May to L.B.I., and several noteworthy stops in between. One is the OC Boardwalk, where a pair of very new coffee bars have given me hope in a coffee desert. The brand-new Three Fish window at the southern end (1322 Boardwalk)

THE STANDOFF took place outside a slaughterhouse, and the air hung heavy and hot with the stench of livestock. On one end was a vegan, a woman who believes that the worldwide slaughter of animals for human consumption is akin to a "holocaust. " Across from her was a young man dressed in black, an employee of the Madina Live Poultry Co., in Upper Darby, who said that "animals were put on earth for us. " The vegan, and other animal activists, had come for a cow, the one that momentarily escaped the slaughterhouse Saturday night only to be captured after ramming a police cruiser.

The documentary "Forks Over Knives," which follows in the footsteps of "Food, Inc. " from 2008 in showing how the average American diet is killing us, is basically a straightforward 90-minute infomercial for veganism. Aanyone looking for a critique of the fast-food lifestyle and factory farming from any other perspective is bound to be disappointed or angry. Director Lee Fulkerson builds the film around two men: Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. and T. Colin Campbell, scientists who've long advocated a plant-based diet well before such ideas moved into the mainstream.

Identifying yourself as an eater used to be simple. You either ate meat, or you didn't. Now? Maybe you eat meat, but only certain kinds or only on certain days - or even during certain hours. Or you don't eat meat - except when you do. If you're not a vegetarian or a carnivore, what are you? The term flexitarian is catching on, although author Mark Bittman likes "smartly thought-out omnivore. " His most recent books, Food Matters and The Food Matters Cookbook, came about because of his own vegan-by-day/carnivore-by-night lifestyle.

PART-TIME vegans are cropping up everywhere. There's the veggie-themed Meatless Mondays, a wartime campaign revived in 2003 by Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health. And New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman has touted his daily "vegan until 6 p.m. " plan for a while. In February the trend truly arrived with Oprah Winfrey's One-Week "Vegan Challenge": 378 Harpo staff members went animal-free for a week - no meat, no dairy, no eggs - and many chatted about their experiences with food gurus Michael Pollan and Kathy Freston.

Here's a recipe for vegan pizza adapted from The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine , by local writer Dynise Balcavage (urbanvegan.net). The goal is one large pizza to serve about 8, but you'll have plenty of leftover sauce. SAUCE 6 tablespoons olive oil 1 bulb garlic, sliced (about 15 cloves) 1 medium onion, finely chopped Fresh ground pepper 2 tablespoons dry red wine 40 ounces canned or packaged chopped tomatoes 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped 1 tablespoon dried parsley 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon sugar Vegetable stock (optional, to thin sauce as needed)

"VEGAN PIZZA? Isn't that an oxymoron?" That's the most common response that the phrase "vegan pizza" generated just a few years ago, and now that we're approaching the first annual Vegan Pizza Day (Jan. 29), that's still the thinking of many. After all, what's pizza without cheese? And if there's one thing we know about vegans, it's that they don't eat cheese. Actually, authentic Italian pizza doesn't require cheese (see sidebar). But, more importantly, here in the U.S., times are a-changing, and with them, plant-based cheeses.

Was I the last to hear that Bill Clinton had gone vegan? From the Golden Arches to golden beets in a single bound. Who says we are forever deaf to the pleas of our better angels? Of course, the former fast-foodie-in-chief isn't out there all alone. Steve Wynn, the casino mogul, and Mort Zuckerman, the magazine mogul; actor Alec Baldwin, and, so it says in a piece on "The Rise of the Power Vegans" in this month's Bloomberg Businessweek, is, yup, Mike Tyson. ( Yo , you got a problem with that?