about me Yes, my name really is Lagusta. It's not a nom de chef referring to the joys of eating with gusto, French spiny lobsters (les langoustes), or the Spanish verb for "to like" - it's the kind of name you get when your parents are hippies who met in the mud at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. It's pronounced with a GUS in the middle, most emphatically not a GOO (not like "gusto"). I went to cooking school (the Natural Gourmet Cookery School Chef's Training Program in New York City), but the male-dominated restaurant world is a little too much for a feministy woman like me. I often cook and rant and eat with my mentors at Bloodroot, a gourmet 32-year-old feminist-vegetarian restaurant and bookstore in Connecticut. I used to cook and bake at Souen macrobiotic restaurant in New York City, and I've done numerous private cooking jobs around New York and New Jersey. I am also an occasional guest chef at the Natural Gourmet's Friday Night Dinners, where I direct 12 chef's training students in preparing a gourmet, 4 course meal for up to 100 diners. For more information, click here to view my resume, which hasn't been updated in five years. I live in New Paltz, NY in a thriftshoptastic house with a bicycle-powered washing machine with my sweetheart Jacob and our three cats: Sula, Noodle, and Cleo. The other members of the Lagusta's Luscious team are Megan, who does NYC deliveries in a biodiesel car and runs this cool retreat, Christina, who is finishing her studies at SUNY New Paltz when she is not doing New Paltz-area deliveries, and my awesome sous chef Veronica, whose vintage aprons and lively chatter make the long cooking days so pleasant. about the meal delivery service and my food philosophy Lagusta's Luscious Vegetarian Home Meal Delivery service is a vegetarian home meal delivery service based in Upstate New York. We have been providing real food to busy health foodies since 2003 and cook out of a licenced commercial kitchen in Rosendale, NY. If you're tired of eating the same old flavors, Lagusta's Luscious is for you. Lagusta's Luscious meals are wildly diverse and draw on authentic regional flavors from around the world. I pride myself on creativity in menu planning and execution, but all of the meals are rooted in traditional cultures - I don't combine wildly disparate flavors just for kicks, because that approach to cooking sort of irks me. My meals are most definitely for the adventurous eater who is bored of typical restaurant fare, but I won't tire your palate at the end of a long day with a deconstructed this-or-that with lavender foam and savory marinara-flavored lollipops or anything. A vegetarian for almost 20 years and a vegan for 15, I love to eat and realized years ago that I was dissatisfied with what usually passes for "vegetarian cuisine." So, went to a natural foods cooking school to learn how to make vegetarian food that is just as delicious as that served at the best restaurants. Many healthy eaters (and would-be healthy eaters) seem to believe that eating healthily means eating bland or otherwise unappetizing food, and unless their food fulfills these requirements they are unhappy with their diet.

My first concern, on the other hand, is always making sure the food is heartbreakingly delicious. It just happens that my ethical beliefs precluded me from learning to cook with animal products, but aside from their omission, the standards I hold myself to and the techniques I use are the same as those of the finest chefs (although the fancy French word is a little out in synch with my personal plebeian beliefs, but we’ll let it slide for now).

The fact that the food I cook is healthier than that of the Standard American Diet (aka “SAD”) is just a happy coincidence – I just can’t believe that food is a means of getting nutrients in the body and nothing else. This, I believe, is why so many of Lagusta’s Luscious clients are not vegetarians per se, but just people who want to eat healthy and like really good food. The stereotypes about vegan and vegetarian dishes as limp vegetable stir-fries and lentil loaves are put to the test with my food – I believe eating ethically and healthily is a life-affirming choice to be entered into with lust and joyfulness.

One thing I'm especially proud of is how hard I work to find good ingredients. I love developing relationships with farmers and merchants who share my passion for quality food. Most food businesses get most of their ingredients from a single supplier, like Sysco, because it's cheap and easy. Whenever I see a Sysco truck outside of a restaurant I make a note not to eat there, because that sort of industrial food can never be luscious, not matter how talented the chef is. It takes a lot more time and effort, but I keep long lists of who sells the best olives, mills the freshest flour, and grows the widest variety of heirloom tomatoes.

the vegetarian advantage...and a word about social responsibility

I cook completely vegetarian meals -- no meat, fish, fowl, eggs, or dairy. However, my number one priority is always the tastiness of the food I prepare, and none of my dishes fall into the category of the bland "health food" usually associated with vegetarian cuisine. Even people who do not call themselves vegetarian are pleasantly surprised by how complete and delicious my meals are. In fact, (and very surprising to me) about 90% of Lagusta's Luscious clients are not full-time vegetarians.

As well as being a vegetarian business, we also strive to be a socially responsible small business. We like the challenge of thinking of social, environmental, and ethical solutions to the challenges owning a business presents. Examples of ways in which we are proud to be a socially responsible business include:

• As much of the produce as possible is from local farms and not large corporatized health food conglomerates. This not only supports a local economy and community, but it also saves fossil fuels (because food is not shipped as far) and supports independent small farmers. We believe eating local (first) and organic (second) is the single best political action we can take, as it's a way of voting with our dollars several times a day.
• By using reusable food storage containers (which are sterilized every week), we save the waste accumulated from disposable take-out containers.
• Each week's menu sheet is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. We can also e-mail you your menu sheet instead of putting a copy in your bag.
• We advertise in progressive and local publications, like Inside Out (The Hudson Valley's gay and lesbian magazine), and The Nation (we love The Nation!).
• All paper products and cleaning products are recycled, biodegradable and/or all natural.
• All kitchen scraps are composted (we love our Earth Machine!), and all leftover food is fed to hungry musician friends, never thrown away.
• All kitchen towels are washed in my bicycle-powered washing machine.
• We believe that by actively striving to authentically cook the food of many peoples from around the world we are combating the isolationist politics that seems to have gripped our country lately. Seriously!
• Lagusta's Luscious is proudly woman-owned and operated.
• Megan, our NYC delivery person, drives a biodiesel car. (She also runs an eco-friendly inn!)

Of course, the food revolution will never happen if the food doesn't taste good, so that is always our first focus.

Remember: if we can't eat good food we don't want to be part of your revolution!

Lagusta's Luscious meals are always:

• organic (when possible),
• seasonal,
• composed of locally grown ingredients (with much produce from local farms when possible)
• made of real food free from chemicals, preservatives, dyes or any other junk,
• fresh,
• naturally sweetened (no white sugar),
• free of all animal products and cooked on dedicated animal product-free equipment and pots and pans
• and, most importantly, delicious!

It is my sincere belief that true health comes from eating food you love.

Please note that my kitchen is not kosher, but because I do not use any meat, eggs, or dairy, everything that I cook is pareve.

about the truffles and chocolates: Click here to read the whole convoluted story of the truffles.