VENICE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) --

Vegan chef and cookbook author Attila Hildmann loves the red curry pumpkin because it's relatively easy to use -- you don't have to peel it. Although he says, you will need a really sharp knife no matter what your plan of attack is.

"You can just slice it up, remove the seeds, bake it, boil it or just use it raw," said Hildmann.

While many make pies from canned pumpkin, Hildemann says try fresh or raw. The taste is quite different and it's not that hard to start from scratch.

His refrigerator pie is made from raw pumpkin, coconut oil, cashew butter, agave and pumpkin spices. Along with that sharp knife, you'll want a powerful blender to make a smooth filling.

There are other things to try besides pie. Roasted eggplant lasagne with quinoa filling and pumpkin cream sauce is gluten free but packed with flavor.

"If you know how to prepare vegetables, they can actually be pretty tasty. I know a thing about it because I didn't like vegetables," said Hildmann.

But a health scare got him to experiment with produce and the results were a huge success. His plant-based cookbooks are best-sellers and he lost 77 pounds in the process.

A few key points, make sure there is enough protein and fat. Yes fat, for the right texture and to help absorb the veggies nutrients.

An example is a salad of roasted pumpkin, garbanzo beans, broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts.

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Vegan chef cooks up creative ways to use pumpkin in everyday foods

"Four percent of Israelis define themselves as vegans, it's the most vegan country in the world," according to Omri Paz, organiser of the "Vegan Fest" fair, where stands offered pea-based hot dogs, tofu doner kebabs and wheat gluten goulash.

Like vegetarians, vegans do not eat meat but they also eschew all animal products including milk, eggs and honey with some refusing to wear leather or use cosmetics tested on animals.

The Vegan Fest in trendsetting Tel Aviv, where veganism has the most acolytes, attracted 15,000 people in a day.

The most-visited stand at the specialised food fair was that of US pizza giant Domino's, which last year launched in Israel a vegan vegetable pizza topped with soy cheese, a global first for the company which has reportedly sold 300,000 of them so far.

In Tel Aviv, one of the city's best known restaurants, Nanushka, renowned for its vodka-laced grills and party atmosphere, announced its conversion in February and completely rewrote its menu.

And TV's Big Brother show became a platform for animal rights when vegan activist Tal Gilboa took part and won.

Even the army, in which most Israeli young men and women have to serve, now offers soldiers leather-free boots and a small allowance to buy themselves alternatives to the food in mess halls.

Facebook is full of dedicated Israeli vegan communities and is divided into sub-groups, such as "Vegays" for gay vegans and "vegan teenagers" who want special menus in school canteens.

Israel seems predisposed to veganism.

Fruit and vegetables are an important part of most people's diet, with staples such as humus and felafel made from chick peas.

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AS someone who once found it hard to fit in five fruit and veg in a week, nevermind a day, I could never have imagined that my name would find itself on a vegan restaurant booking form.

In fact I had often thought it impossible to comply with the "five a day" aim, seeing as drinking several pints of orange juice to fight off a hangover only left you with one solitary score on the fruit and veg chart.

Growing up - through no fault of my mother - I opted for a daily evening dose of meat with only a mild mouthfull of greens. This meal came after a day spent at school where the food of choice was usually sandwiches, crisps and plenty of chocolate in the Whitecross High canteen.

But as a broke foreign language student living in southern Spain, something happened when a mixture of little income and an average vocabulary left me with no choice but to eat the only thing that was on offer in Andalucian homes and tiny cafes.

Hidden in the hills above Crdoba, most daily menus offered just one starter and one main, meaning that my uncultured mouth was "forced" to try such oddities as asparagus, olives, chickpeas and butter beans.

I also remember, on one particularly hungry afternoon, being presented with a complimentary plate of beef tomatoes in a backstreet bar.

As a teenager these would have been ignored but, being free and also starving, I tucked in.

The result was a revelation as the sea salt and olive oil combined to produce a sensation that was far superior to even the best brand of salt and vinegar crisps.

Here I was stuffing the fruit down my face as if it were a doner kebab but, of course, there was not a spot of regurgitated meat or chilli sauce in sight. I ordered another San Miguel immediately just so I could get my hands on some more free tomatoes. How my world had changed.

And so more than a decade on from my Spanish education I find myself eagerly looking forward to attending a "raw vegan three course meal" in, of all places, my hometown of Hereford.

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Vegan way proves a hit in Hereford