Blending Tradition with Veganism, La Semilla Restaurante.

1. How did you approach creating a vegan menu that remains true to the heart of Latin flavors?

Our approach to creating a vegan menu stems from traditional preparations with a mix of contemporary technique and inspiration.

For instance, items like Picadillo and Croquetas de Jamón are essentially the same preparation except we use plant-based ingredients that we make in house or source elsewhere. The only difference aside from those is the level of tweaking needed to get the flavors balanced since we do not have animal proteins which contain more fat than vegan alternatives. As for the other items on the menu, we pull inspiration for specific items and navigate our way from the drawing board to the plate using seasonal ingredients and the techniques we know how to utilize.

2. Ingredient Substitutions: Many Latin dishes have signature ingredients like cheese, meats, and eggs. Can you share some innovative plant-based substitutions you've used to recreate traditional dishes in a vegan way?

Yes! We use a lot of mushrooms in house for meat substitutes, like in our Bistec de Palomilla and Al Pastor Tacos. We use Jackfruit for the lechón in our Cubano and for our ropa vieja empanadas. We also love seitan! It's a 2000+ year old method that's been used around the world for many purposes.

We make a ham that is ground for the croquetas and sliced for our Cubano. We make seitan in house to replicate the texture of ground meat for our picadillo and crunch wrap and cut it differently for our asada tacos. It's a wonderful substitute and actually loaded with protein and nutrients.

The fact that we create it in house allows us to control the ingredients which enables us to guarantee it as a healthy alternative to animal

protein to our guests.

3. Family and Tradition: Are there any family recipes or culinary traditions passed down through generations that have found their way onto your menu? Can you share a story behind one?

The best example of this is our beloved dessert: Frituras de Calabaza. Over the 10 years Sophia and I have been together, I have heard Abuela Ella talk about “Frituras de Calabaza” SO many times.

They are always described as the most moving and heartwarming dessert that makes you stop in your tracks. I heard them described as crispy fried pumpkin fritters that had a fluffy interior and they had to be made with Calabaza. Other than that, I knew nothing about them or how her grandmother (sophia's great-great grandmother Adela) made them.

She told us that when she lived in Cuba she would go to school in the morning and go home for a few hours for lunch and would return to school for a few more hours. That was the schedule for her curriculum. When she would return home for lunch, her grandmother was known to be hovering over the stove frying frituras for an afternoon snack.

The house was warm with the smell of cooked pumpkin, and it put a smile on everyone's face and tummy. I made it a mission to recreate these as best as I could from hearing the stories of them. When I first fed them to Ella, it was a cold December day before we opened the restaurant. I cooked them up, covered them with a vegan Cajeta I made from Oat milk, dusted them with powdered sugar and added a sprinkle of espresso sea salt as an homage to Cuban cafecito.

She began tearing up and said they were a religious experience and it brought her back to her home in Cuba. It was one of the best moments of my life as a cook.