Novelist Iris Murdoch, in her novel, The Good Apprentice, has a character announce: “You don’t have to announce your programmes, only to carry them out.” Apt. Carry on a campaign—any campaign—grand, noble, erudite, holistic—but hold the nugget of its raison d’être close within, a warm, happy secret and perhaps, one day come to lead by example. The Garden Café on the Green in Woodstock is such a place, with a wildly delicious inventive menu served in a gracious atmosphere and not a clue—a hint, a peep—to acknowledge the philosophy at its core.

The menu is a revelation, a true exercise in the difficulty of choosing one, just one appetizer and entrée among many that tempt, that beckon, that speak directly to the Inner Gourmand. The afternoon I lunched, I had several minutes solace in which to examine the menu before my companion for the meal, Jenny Brown, the Director of the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, joined me. I marked each dish I wanted to sample and then counted six in total: Grilled Mediterranean Chickpea Wrap, Afghani Lentil and Vegetable Boulanee with Cilantro Yoghurt (soy) Glaze, Moroccan Carrot Salad with Pistachios and Dates, Butternut Squash Risotto Cakes with Sage and Pine Nut Sauce, Curried Red Lentil Spread with Toasted Pita and Avocado and Vegan Cheddar on Whole Grain Bread. Well, Jenny and I ordered three dishes and then I took one more away for dinner later. Plus dessert. Always dessert. Dessert is essential to living a robust, happy life.

The Garden Café is quietly, unassumingly vegan and in it’s softness and through inventive dishes, excellent preparation, elegant use of spice manages to be a testament to a cuisine that is delicious, nutritious and healthy for the consumer and the planet and compassionate toward animals. Chef/Owner Pam Brown has been a vegetarian since 1967 and “over the years has been through several incarnations like macrobiotic.” Even though she makes “foods with beans, whole grains, vegetables and fruit” she doesn’t call herself “macrobiotic because I also use foods—spices, tomatoes, potatoes—that aren’t used in macrobiotic cooking.” Pam’s dedication to the craft is evident in the variety of dishes and the gamut of cuisines—Thai, Indian, Afghani, Italian, American Southwest—represented through spices and flavorings. “There weren’t any real cooking schools to go to back then so I am mostly self taught by cooking so much…studying it myself, keeping a notebook of how things turn out, how I can change recipes to make them better. I’m always reading about food origins, history, recipes and foods of different lands.”

The Curried Red Lentil Spread with Toasted Pita, a creamy, mildly spiced delight radiated warmth and sweetness with notes of spices that tickled not tortured the palette. The Afghani Lentil and Vegetable Boulanee (Roll up) with Cilantro Yoghurt (soy) Glaze is a comforting delight of oven sautéed vegetables tossed with spiced lentils and potatoes with Afghan spices rolled in a warm whole wheat tortilla. Fragrant, slightly exotic and entirely comforting. Jenny and I each had one of the special Garden Bowls—“a meal in a bowl of deliciously prepared whole grains and vegetables with either beans, tofu, tempeh or seitan.” (The selections change daily.) My Garden Bowl: A Wild and Brown Rice Wedge with Sage Sauce, Apricot-Mustard Baked Tofu and Sautéed Greens, which happened to be kale, my most beloved (together with collards) greens. The sage sauce permeated the rice wedge and imparted an herbaceous zest and creaminess to the rice. It almost melted in the mouth. Apricot in February is a treat—and still very locally correct since it was apricot mustard that bestowed the summer sweet onto the tofu. The kale was a vivid swirl of green, crunchy and a bit salty, a wonderful accompaniment to the sweet tofu.

The dinner entrees firmly incinerate any insipid argument that vegan cuisine is somehow less or lacking in sophistication: Wild and Brown Rice Pilaf with Toasted Pecans and Pan Seared Tofu with pear chutney, roasted mashed butternut squash, caramelized onions, sautéed greens; Seitan in Fresh Fig Red Wine Sauce with garlic mashed potato stuffed portabella, roasted cauliflower and vegetables, sautéed greens and Butternut Squash Risotto Cakes with Sage and Pine Nut Sauce with garlic and rosemary white beans, roasted cauliflower and vegetables, sautéed greens.

The dessert menu is varied and tempts with Seasonal Organic Pie sweetened with maple syrup; Fruit Crisp—sweet cinnamon baked seasonal fruit with a crunchy oat topping; Warm Chocolate Brownie with Fudge Sauce and Whip Cream; Gingerbread Cake with Candied Ginger and Lemon Glaze served with Whipped Cream, Sorbet or Ice Cream. The Fruit Crisp I ordered that day featured Pear and Date, and as is the case with most vegan desserts, was not cloyingly saccharine as some traditional desserts so imparted a satisfyingly sweet, textural (oats, dates) and light finish to the meal.

Pam is “maniacal about local and fresh produce. I don’t use tomatoes in winter, any zucchini or strawberries either unless they are in season. I feature asparagus in spring and then when they have gone, they disappear from the menu until next spring. Two of my favorite farms to source from are Taliaferro Farms in New Paltz (wonderful certified organic vegetables—in summer get as much as I can) and Sky Farms. I also go to farmers markets and delightfully, people bring me vegetables and greens they’ve grown in their garden. Not everything single thing on the menu is organic but I completely avoid anything genetically modified—no corn products, refined products. I wanted to use hominy and researched if it was genetically modified. I don’t use any irradiated spices, only organic, high quality spices. Everything is whole grain except for the bread which I bake and is sometimes whole wheat or a mix of grains.”

The children’s menu is a succinct ode to the childhood palate: Soy Macaroni and Cheese with small salad, Spaghetti with Meatless Balls and Marinara Sauce with a small salad and a Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly Sandwich. The Garden Café also features a Smoothie Menu—all smoothies are sweetened with maple syrup. Flavors include Banana Latte with vanilla and chocolate soymilk, coffee, bananas, cinnamon; Berry Ambrosia with pineapple, coconut milk, wild blueberries, strawberries; Strawberry Peach with vanilla soy yoghurt, wild blueberries, peach nectar, strawberries; Blueberry Mango Orange with blueberry soy yoghurt, wild blueberries, mango, bananas, orange concentrate; Vivacious Violet with vanilla soymilk, chocolate soy ice cream, wild blueberries, bananas. Fresh ginger and protein powder are available. So is Soy Whipped Cream.

The Garden Café on the Green in Woodstock opened in October 2006 and is currently, the only vegan or vegetarian restaurant in town. Surprised? Somehow, in notions of Woodstock, vegetarianism abounds. Not so. Pam opened The Garden Café because she “couldn’t—as a vegetarian—get any work at any of the restaurants in town. When I first got here, I couldn’t get a job because I didn’t cook meat. I applied everywhere—to 25 restaurants—so I knew if I was going to work up here, I have to open up something.” Right now, Pam doesn’t have any vegetarians who work for her and, as a matter of fact only two have ever worked for her. “95% of our customers are not vegetarian. My main interest is to have a wonderful place to eat yes but also that people know they can eat this food and it is not weird—it is delicious. Perhaps, they will be inspired to make changes in their own diet, to eat organic, to eat lower on the food chain which influences all sorts of things farming, health, health care. The power of the plate. Our food choices resonate worldwide. It’s really not just what you have for dinner but it affects politics. It is a huge thing much bigger than what it would seem.”

The Garden Café on the Green is located at 6 Old Forge Road in Woodstock, New York and is open every day except Tuesday for lunch and dinner from 11:30 am until 9:00 pm. Please call 845 679 3600 for more information.