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Please tell us a little about yourself!I am a happy food-obsessed New York-based pastry chef, culinary instructor, and author, who is passionate about helping people connect the dots between a healthful plant-based diet and good health. My specialty is vegan pastry arts and I know that holding out a delicious piece of cake or cookies, instead of a stern warning, opens an intelligent conversation about all the reasons to recommend a vegan diet. My little granddaughters call me Cupcake GFran and my clients and their children call me often! What spurred you on to a career in the culinary world? Was it something you always wanted to do or did it come as a surprise? It certainly is more accurate to say it came as a surprise. My mother did not like to cook and I was raised eating a lot of boxed, canned and frozen foods. My mother in law was a wonderful cook and baker, and introduced me to many new foods-real foods, vegetables and desserts made from scratch. I watched and learned from her, and was always happiest in the markets and kitchen. When my children were in junior high school, I decided to enroll in NY Restaurant School. I absolutely loved the experience, the work, all of it. I never expected the turns my career has taken. What led you to become vegan?  I became a vegan, initially for health reasons. My first job out of restaurant school was pastry chef in a gourmet catering food shop in Manhattan. It was a traditional kitchen, and I was eating a lot of my desserts. After a lifetime of eating the SAD (Standard American Diet), I was not feeling well. I actually had to stop working, and took some time off. I happened upon Annmarie Colbin’s brilliant book, Food & Healing, and was struck by the connection between what we eat and how we feel. It’s always been curious to me that I was in CA when I picked up Dr. Colbin’s book, and that as a New Yorker, I’d never heart of the Natural Gourmet Cooking School, founded by Dr. Colbin. I registered from CA to take her Food & Healing Course. I changed my diet overnight, felt great and never looked back. How has becoming vegan affected your career? After I changed my diet, many if not all of my pastry chef colleagues stated if I was making vegan desserts, I was no longer a pastry chef—that vegan and pastry chef were antithetical. After a few years of developing recipes, and the techniques for to making excellent desserts that anyone and everyone will enjoy, I not only no longer have to defend my work, I am specifically asked by professionals for help with this particular, and exponentially growing niche. I am extremely busy with classes that are packed with students who range from absolute beginners to pastry chefs in Paris. I am hired to consult and develop recipes more by traditional companies than those who are vegan. Although not the reason I changed my diet, becoming a vegan and creating vegan recipes and food, has been an excellent career move. The need for vegan desserts has exploded for a number of reasons. In additions to pure vegans, those who are lactose intolerant, egg allergic, reducing or eliminating dietary cholesterol, who following kosher or other religious dietary laws, people with food sensitivities and allergies, as well as those living an eco, green lifestyle are seeking the vegan diet. Desserts seem to be the hardest part of the meal to veganize in an excellent way, and a part of life we all seek. Vegans have birthdays, weddings, and celebrate holidays too. What trials did you face in developing your vegan baking and dessert skills and how did you overcome those obstacles?  Testing, testing and more testing not only recipes, but also the ingredients that I wanted to use: natural, organic real, quality ingredients. Replacing milk with nondairy milks is easy but there are many kinds and there are differences between them. Certainly the same is true of vegan sweeteners; they are not always interchangeable and have particular properties and are not necessarily interchangeable. What I refused to do, and to this day still will not do, is use processed, fake foods to make desserts. I do not have just one go to egg replacer. It depends on the recipe. I do not use boxed egg replacer; I don’t need it. You’re a prolific and well-renowned culinary instructor and you’ve taught at the NYC Institute of Culinary Education and the Natural Gourmet Institute, both prestigious schools. What question do you find coming up most amongst the non-vegan students at those venues and how do you answer it?  There is confusion about what constitutes vegan. Some people think it’s automatically gluten free or raw, which is not true. Vegan can be either but not necessarily. I get a lot of questions about conversions, ingredients and just what is vegan-is chocolate vegan, is honey vegan and how do you make your (fill in the blank) favorite dessert vegan. You are well known for your books Great Good Dairy-free Desserts and More Great Good Dairy-free Desserts. How did you decide what recipes went in the books and what went to the cutting floor and what is your absolute favorite recipe from the book? (I know that’s a hard choice!)The collection of recipes was very well edited and only absolutely favorite desserts made it into the book. I still love the Chocolate Cake to Live For, and I am definitely not alone. My next book will contain the most recent version of that recipe, too. I love the Peanut Butter Mousse Cups which were developed to address my craving for my childhood candy of choice-you know what it is. You emphasize whole foods and natural ingredients throughout your work, but there are people who are skeptical that good desserts can be made from them. What’s your key to winning them over? The key to winning people over is to serve visually appealing, unapologetically delicious desserts that are vegan, but do not announce them as vegan. Let the dessert speak for itself. Then go ahead and tell if you like. I made a stunning and delicious wedding cake this year for a bride being married at NY’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lactose and egg allergies were an issue at this non-vegan wedding. I told the bride not to announce the cake as vegan until after it had been cut and served. She said people went crazy for the cake! Was I surprised? No. The cake was built from chocolate ganache glazed coconut cake layers, chocolate coconut mousse and a coconut-vanilla icing. Do you have any advice for budding vegan bakers?  Get a good grounding in traditional baking technique. Read pro baking books or take classes. I stress in all my classes, and we go over this very thoroughly in my Vegan Baking Boot Camp Intensive®, a certificate course at the Natural Gourmet Institute. To make excellent desserts, vegan or traditional, pastry rules must be followed. Measuring correctly, mis en place, resting pastry dough, and so on. What’s on the horizon for you? Do you have any exciting new projects coming up? I am deeply involved in developing and testing recipes for my next book, which is a daunting but exciting project. More consulting, private classes, and classes outside of NYC are on the horizon. I love to travel and meet people. Thanks Fran!  See the page 30 of the full issue at www.veganculinaryexperience.com/VCEDec10.pdf for Fran's amazing Anise Almond Biscotti recipe that complements this interview.Contact Info Visit Fran on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/fran.costigan, on Twitter at Fran’s Bio Fran Costigan is a nationally recognized culinary instructor, author, consultant, recipe developer and innovative pastry chef who marries healthy eating with sumptuous tastes. Fran’s new book, More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally, offers a complete course in exceptional desserts that are vegan by design, not by taste! Fran’s recipes use organic minimally processed ingredients to make rich, moist cakes, flaky piecrusts, delightful cookies, puddings and more. All are trans fat and cholesterol free and absolutely delicious. A graduate of the New York Restaurant School and the Natural Gourmet Institute, Fran was a pastry chef in both traditional and vegan kitchens. Today Fran teaches her distinctive courses (including her Vegan Baking Boot Camp) in NYC at the Institute of Culinary Education and at the Natural Gourmet Institute, and she presents demonstration classes and lectures at venues throughout the US and Canada. Fran was recently featured making her celebrated "Chocolate Cake to Live For” on the Discovery Health Channel’s show, “Get Fresh With Sara Snow.” Professional affiliations include the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance (NYWCA), International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and Women Chefs and Restaurateurs (WCR), and she is proud to work with the New York Coalition for Healthy School Foods. *PRIVACY POLICY - Contact information is never, ever given or sold to another individual or company By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Service. | subscribe contact contributors pro bonum classes meals |