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I looked at the customers at the counter, the tables, and in the other booths and they all looked pitiful, and pale. They had long faces, lank hair, sad, half-dead eyes. I said to the waitress, “I suppose these are all newcomers. They just started coming here to get better.”

She drew herself up in a huff and responded, “No, these are vegetarians, they have been coming here for years.”

I beckoned to her to come close and I hissed into her ear in a stage whisper, “Don’t ever tell anyone that these people have been coming here for years, and are still looking no better than they do now.”

My statement made her look at her customers, and in that second, I gathered my purse and my unopened cigarettes and fled the joint. I went home and in self-defense I wrote the following poem:

THE HEALTH-FOOD DINER

No sprouted wheat and soya shoots

And brussels in a cake,

Carrot straw and spinach raw

(Today I need a steak).

Not thick brown rice and rice pilau

Or mushrooms creamed on toast,

Turnips mashed and parsnips hashed

(I’m dreaming of a roast).

Health-food folks around the world

Are thinned by anxious zeal,

They look for help in seafood kelp

(I count on breaded veal).

No Smoking signs, raw mustard greens,

Zucchini by the ton,

Uncooked kale and bodies frail

Are sure to make me run

to

Loins of pork and chicken thighs

And standing rib, so prime,

Pork chops brown and fresh ground round

(I crave them all the time).

Irish stews and boiled corned beef

And hot dogs by the scores,

Or any place that saves a space

For smoking carnivores.

Those sentiments of twenty years ago have given way to my becoming enchanted with vegetables.

I have met and adopted two composers and songwriters, Nick Ashford, who is a strict vegetarian, and his wife, Valerie Simpson, who wavers a bit. I love to cook for them, for they are good food lovers with great palates. I have developed a large number of vegetable dishes for them, which I also love. I have discovered that many of these dishes stand shoulder to hip with meat entrees without shyness or apology. I offer a number of them to you in the pages that follow.

Omelet with Spinach

One 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes, chopped

1½ tablespoons olive oil

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 cup cooked spinach

Freshly grated nutmeg

4 large eggs

2 tablespoons heavy cream

½ cup grated Gruyère cheese

Oil an 8 × 4½-inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Heat the tomatoes in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet until the liquid has mostly evaporated.

Season with the thyme, salt, and pepper and set aside to cool.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a small skillet or saucepan and stir in the spinach. Season to taste with nutmeg.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Break the eggs into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer.

Add the cream and the cheese.

Mix the tomatoes and the spinach together and place them in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan. Pour the egg mixture on top.

Place the loaf pan in a larger pan half-filled with hot water and place the larger pan in the oven.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the omelet is puffed and lightly golden.

Remove the loaf pan from the oven by itself. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the omelet, and invert the omelet onto a plate. Reinvert the omelet onto a serving platter.

Serve hot or at room temperature with a green salad tossed with olives and a bit of olive oil. This omelet will also work well as a sandwich filling.

SERVES 4. Serving size: ¼ omelet.

Baked Eggs

4 large eggs

½ large onion, thickly sliced

4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, melted

11⁄3 cups milk

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

4 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

½ teaspoon curry powder

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

1⁄8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2⁄3 cup grated Swiss cheese

1⁄3 cup grated white cheddar cheese

Hard-boil the eggs