What could be more summery than burgers frying on the grill?If you're a vegetarian or vegan, you don't have to miss out.If you aren't sure how to make veggie burgers, or even whether you'd like them, long-time vegan Ngadi Kamara will be giving workshops with Ammu Aakhu Sahneraon on how to transition to a vegetarian lifestyle.The workshops are being held this month at Cathedral Hall in Hamilton through The Wellness Group, a group of individuals interested in improving residents' health and well-being.Ms Kamara runs a small catering business called Divine Desserts that provides vegan and vegetarian baked goods.The Royal Gazette recently had lunch with Ms Kamara and her seven-year-old daughter, Tcherari Nu.Ms Kamara shared with us her recipe for vegetarian burgers and salsa, made from tomatoes grown in the family's own garden.“I start with [whole, minimally processed oats called] oat groats,” said Ms Kamara. “I started by making my own oat milk and I wanted to use the remnants from that with something.“To make the milk, I soaked the oat groats overnight, I put it in the blender, and drained off the milk.“What is left [the bits of oats] is what goes in the burger. It is that plus nuts — such as walnuts and pistachios — ground up. I also use carrots and a little bit of seasoning.“I don't have a strict recipe, I usually just cook off the top of my head. I am originally from Sierra Leone, and that is the way my mother did it. She never cooked with a recipe.”She said the oats have a glutinous consistency that helps to bind the burger together well, once it is blended.“It works well for our family,” she said flattening the mixture out to make round patties.The patties took 15 to 20 minutes to cook in the oven. Ms Kamara had never tried barbecuing them, but she said you could fry them in oil on the stove, if you preferred.She ate them in pita bread with ketchup, salsa and an eggless vegan version of mayonnaise.They gave off a yummy smell, and both the meat-eating reporter and vegetarian photographer found them yummy, and not as “nutty” as expected.The salsa jazzed everything up, so it was far from bland.Ms Kamara and her husband, Abayomi Carmichael, have been vegans for 16 years.“We wanted to see an improvement in overall health and wellness,” said Ms Kamara. “We call ourselves vegans, but we are wholefood vegans which means we are very careful about what we eat.“Through our research, we found that a vegetarian diet was the way to go.”The couple say an immediate improvement in their energy levels.Ms Kamara found she suffered less from premenstrual tension after she became a vegan. She credits her diet with a healthy, happy pregnancy.“I felt healthy throughout my whole pregnancy. It was the time I felt most vital. My diet didn't change much. I didn't have any craving.“I was a little bit more careful to have a balanced diet, but overall I just ate the same way. Today, my daughter is very healthy.“To her a vegan diet is what is normal. She will tell you why she is a vegan.“My vegan baking business was born out of wanting to do treats for her.“Initially, if we went to a birthday party that I knew was non-vegan I would carry stuff with us so she wouldn't feel left out. Nowadays she knows what to eat or not to eat.”She said things have gotten a lot better in Bermuda for people with an alternative diet compared to the way things were when they first became vegan.“There are a lot more options,” she said. “Ten or 15 years ago you couldn't get a vegan cookie anywhere. We used to bring in our own food a lot.“When we went away we would have a binge-fest. Now you can get things like vegan ice cream, which is good since we have a child.”Ms Kamara said at the end of the day, if her daughter chooses a meat-based diet, at least she will have had a healthy dietary foundation.“My goal in terms of nutrition would be to lay the foundation of good health through her diet now and through her eating habits,” said Ms Kamara. “You can actually stave off a lot of serious diseases by creating a healthy foundation.”The vegetarian workshops are designed to promote a healthier lifestyle, even if people just want to incorporate a few vegetarian meals into their weekly diet.“The workshops are coming out of the realisation that nowadays there are a lot of chronic diseases that Bermudians are having to deal with such as heart diseases, and diabetes,” she said. “A lot of those diseases are avoidable, or can be minimised through diet and lifestyle.“There are several people working on this, and it is an opportunity for us to share our collective knowledge, based on our lifestyles and the way we eat.“We have high blood pressure and strokes in my family. That was some of the things I had to consider when making the change to a vegan diet.“A lot of people aren't aware that they can do simple preventive things, like reading the label to see what is in the product, before buying it.“For example, a lot of people are unaware of how much sugar might be in a can of beans.”She said maintaining a vegan diet, has not been restrictive, but has allowed them to be more creative and to try a variety of different foods.For example, a typical breakfast might include traditional oats, but also less traditional breakfast items like agave juice for sweetener, lichee berries and chia seeds.Two workshops will be offered on July 23 — Transitioning to a Vegetarian Diet at 1pm and Optimising Health Through Nutritional Supplements at 2.30pm.The workshops are free and are being sponsored by Down to Earth health food store. For more information e-mail wellnessgroupbda@gmail.com .