Umami is defined as the fifth basic taste and can be described as a savory, fuller flavor that involves all the senses. But to many chefs, the word means so much more.

Kevin Dunn, a chef who teaches the ins and outs of plant-based cuisine in Michigan, defines umami beautifully—and yes, I'm jealous because his palate has clearly isolated the taste:

"Umami is a Japanese term that means a true memory of flavor. One Japanese philosophy relates this to MSG and to a meaty mushroom or seaweed taste. My philosophy is that umami is a memory of flavors created by your experiences. Have you ever driven down the road and been hit with an all-consuming taste for something—say, apple pie—and the feelings are so real that you could taste the apple pie—the cinnamon, the crust, the crispness of the apple? That is umami, and all great chefs possess the ability to bring those flavors into their minds in order to develop keen flavors in their cuisine."

Just a few of the umami-rich foods out there are green tea, tomatoes, soy beans, and mushrooms, such as shiitake and enokitake. Dried shiitake mushrooms have an especially high level of umami, and that's why they are the perfect ingredient to use in chef Dunn's own mock eel recipe.

The super-savory shiitakes make this simple recipe full of flavor. I added sliced carrots and jalapeños into the mock eel recipe, and then served it over brown rice. I have no clue what eel actually tastes like, so I can't say if this is a convincing imitation, but I can say that it was good, and it may be one of the first times I've found umami.

Be sure to check out the recipe for mock eel, and read more about chef Dunn.

I agree with chef Bonnie Tees that stir-fries are one of the most poorly prepared (and, in my opinion, over prepared) vegetarian menu items out there. If I have to eat another bland burrito, stir-fry, or plate of spaghetti with marinara, so help me God…

With that said, it's nice that in today's food world, vegetarian options have finally expanded beyond the three fallback items above. Restaurants around the world are now more willing to take chances with vegetarian dishes—even if that chance is just an updated version of an old classic.

Chef Bonnie, from Bonnys in Montréal, was sweet enough to share this recipe for cannelloni—the classic tube-shaped pasta that is often stuffed with a creamy filling before being covered in tomato sauce and baked.

I opted to add extra sauce to my "cannelloni" (I had to follow Bonnie's advice and use rolled lasagne sheets because I couldn't find cannelloni), which I learned is now acceptable because The New York Times says so. The result was a comforting dish that surprisingly had even more flavor than I had expected from the minimal ingredients.

The chatter will be kept to a minimum in this entry because the recipe itself is quite long. It's not difficult or all that time-consuming—it just needs a lengthy explanation.

On Gourmet magazine's site, I found an interesting recipe by David Chang that pairs sautéed mushrooms with a pistachio purée. I made just a few changes to his recipe—mostly just to make it easier—without greatly altering the main components of the dish. Enjoy.

Just because I'm vegan doesn't mean I'm not mildly obsessed with the Food Network, like many of you out there. Now if only they'd hold a vegan Iron Chef competition, I think my life would be complete.

In the meantime, I can pick and choose which recipes I want to veganize, and today's winner is a rice pudding created by Giada De Laurentiis and featured on the Food Network's vegetarian Christmas menu. (Psst…I'm also featuring another item from the menu in a guest post on Almost Vegetarian sometime before Christmas. I can't tell you which one, but be sure to check it out.)

Rice pudding has long been a traditional holiday dish worldwide. Wikipedia's rice pudding page describes variations of the dish that can be found in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas and gives the history of the dessert. Some of the recipes are already vegan, like the Puerto Rican version, which is made with coconut milk, and the others can be easily veganized.

Giada's recipe is one that fell into the "easily veganized" category, because I only had to substitute the soy milk. Once this creamy pudding started simmering on the stove and the smell of vanilla and orange zest filled the air, I knew that Christmas is almost here—and that I had found the perfect dessert to finish off my holiday meal.

Not sure of the difference between tofu and tempeh? Need to know how to make vegan versions of your family's favorite recipes? Worried about how a vegan diet will affect your health?

Luckily, chef and author Robin Robertson kindly answers questions just like these, right here on VegCooking.com, in the monthly column titled "Ask the Vegan Chef." If you have a question for Robin, browse past questions and answers here, where you can also submit your own questions.

As promised, this is part two of the sneak peek at Robin's answers to your latest questions.

Ask the Vegan Chef, Part 2
Answers by Robin Robertson

Q. I am working on redoing our vegetarian options on our plated menu here at the Hynes Convention Center. I want to start using vegan meats. I have a bunch of recipes for the basic vegan meats, but they all call for veggie beef broth or veggie fish stock, etc. What I can't find is how to make the veggie meat broths. Any info you could give me would be of great help. Thank you.

A. A good rich homemade vegetable stock can be used to add great flavor to recipes—you might try that first and see if you don't agree. If you really want a more "meaty" flavor, you could add one of the following products to your broth (available in natural food stores or online): Vegex Beefy Flavoring, Vogue VegeBase Vegetable Broth Mix, or Vogue Reduced Sodium Instant Vegetarian Chicken Base. Here's one site that sells these products: www.healthy-eating.com.

Q. I've tried to go vegetarian many times but don't seem to have the "intestinal fortitude" for it. Let's just say, all those beans and tofu do not agree with me. How can I become vegetarian without spending the day in the bathroom, popping Tums every hour, and burping every three minutes? Can it happen with a gradual adjustment? Is there a bean out there that's easier to digest? Or a way to cook them that would be easier on my system? I really want to stop eating meat, but it sure makes life uncomfortable! Any input would be appreciated.

A. Here are some things that can help: Soak dried beans in water for eight hours or overnight, and then discard the soaking water before cooking. After soaking, drain the beans and cook them in fresh water. Be sure to cook the beans until they're very soft, because this will make them more digestible. Adding the dried sea vegetable kombu or the herb epazote to a pot of beans is believed to help make them more digestible. Just add 2 teaspoons dried epazote or a 2-inch strip of kombu to the pot before cooking the beans. Begin eating beans just a few times a week until your body gets used to digesting them. Soon, you should be able to eat them more often. Some beans are said to be easier to digest than others. Among the most digestible are adzuki, black-eyed peas, and lentils. If all else fails, use a digestive enzyme product to make beans easier to digest. These products are generally taken as a tablet or sprinkled on cooked beans before eating them.

Q. This Christmas, I was given a Lodge cast-iron Dutch oven to use at my campsite. It came with a cookbook with all sorts of chicken, beef, etc., recipes. My daughter is vegan, and I try to stay as close to her diet as possible. Where can I find vegan recipes for cooking over my campfire?

A. Check out this VegCooking.com feature: "Cooking With Fire". There are also some cookbooks that can help, such as The Vegetarian Grill by Andrea Chesman. You also might enjoy some of the quick-and-easy recipes for cooking with nonperishable food in Apocalypse Chow: How to Eat Well When the Power Goes Out by Jon Robertson (and for which I wrote the recipes).

This might be the only time in my life when I'll say "I wish I lived in New Jersey." I was reading over the "Chef Spotlight" profile for Joseph Rosolen when this little nugget of information caught my eye: "A few years later, he recognized that busy people needed a fast, convenient way to have delicious, healthy food delivered to them, and in 2006, Online Vegetarian Deli was born."

Yes, that's right—in New Jersey you'll find a delivery service that specializes in healthy vegan and vegetarian meals, with menus updated weekly. This week's offerings include a seitan cutlet sandwich, broccoli rabe over pasta, black-bean and winter squash stew, and vegan mac and cheese, to name just a few items on the all-vegan list. Why don't they have services like this everywhere?

Since I don't live in Jersey, I decided to try out one of the recipes that Joe shared with us here, an Italian potato salad. The key to success with such a simple dish is using the best ingredients available—so if it didn't turn out, I'd only have myself to blame, not Joe. To add just a little more to the salad, I left the skin of the potatoes on and garnished with just a few capers. The result was a simple yet flavorful dish, largely because of the high-quality olive oil I used.

Raw chef Chad Sarno has agreed to do a guest post for us today that features his recipe for beetroot ravioli with cashew-chive bourson cheese, green-garlic oil, and aged balsamic. Yum. Be sure to visit his site, rawchef.com, and the site of his restaurant, Saf: Simple Authentic Food, after reading the post.

This is one of my favorite and easiest versions of raw ravioli. In my Istanbul and Munich restaurants, we offer many small plates, encouraging our guests to share and experience many options off the menu. I have offered this dish on our opening menu, and it was by far the best selling small plate we offered for the winter. It is a great starter or amusé for any Mediterranean-focused meal, really giving the diner that first delicious introduction of what is to follow. The sweetness of the beetroot and the cashew-based cheese is balanced out very nicely with the acid of the balsamic and spiciness of the garlic oil.

Wine Suggestion: 2005 Gruner Veltliner, Wimmer-Czerny, "Alte Reben Weelfel," Wagram, Austria

The natural acidity of the GV grape is rounded out by rich notes of honeysuckle, pear and a hint of mulling spices softening the sweetness of the cashew-bourson while not conflicting with the garlic oil and balsamic.

I think the opposite is clearly a bit closer to the truth if you look at this quotation from chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain:

"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food."

Don't get me wrong—I like Anthony Bourdain as much as any vegan really can. I read Kitchen Confidential, and I enjoy No Reservations and his bad attitude in general—just not when it's directed at me.

In reaction to ole Tony's disdain for those of us who avoid animal products, a blog appropriately titled Hezbollah Tofu has started up to prove that there's nothing lacking about vegan recipes, even when they're based on Bourdain's own recipes.

But wait! It gets even better. Now we can see how these veganized versions are stacking up against Tony's originals. Endless Simmer lets visitors vote in its regular "Who Cooked It Better?" series, and this time it is Bourdain's French onion soup vs. Hezbollah Tofu's veganized version.

I'm not sure when the polls close, so hurry and vote now!

Thanks go out to Brendan for the tip on this great story.

Vegan bakeries are popping up all over the country. In many cities, vegans can walk right into what appears to be just your normal bakery, only to find that they can order anything on the menu. I'm obviously insanely jealous because the same is not true in Atlanta (why not?!). Sure, we have coffee shops and Cosmo's that offer vegan baked goods from wholesale bakers, but I need a storefront. I need to walk in the door and see glass cases full of cakes, cookies, and brownies so that I can drool over each. Picking up one brownie covered in plastic wrap off a shelf isn't quite the same as seeing endless, beautiful options.

People who live in D.C. are blessed to have seemingly endless, beautiful options because their city is home to the all-vegan Sticky Fingers Bakery. Yeah, I'm jealous of them too. But at least I can read about the bakery this month on VegCooking.com because we are profiling Ben Adams, the pastry chef from Sticky Fingers Bakery, in our Chef Spotlight. After reading about his training, techniques, and ability to whip up Cinnamon Sticky Buns, Chocolate Love Cake, and I Dream of Cheesecake, you'll be jealous too.

You can read about Ben and Sticky Fingers here.