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Right now, my favorite thing would be eggplants, with a little miso, served with ricotta, tomatoes and shio kombu.

Dan’s winning smoked walleye, Dan’s carrot-centric take on clam chowder, Savannah’s chawanmushi, Manny’s mole and Soo’s rice cakes all garnered high acclaim, but one that stood out particularly for me was Amanda’s vegan gumbo z'herbes with greens, grilled mushrooms and kombu.

As Amanda showed, kombu is an ideal entrant in the vegan kitchen, adding a certain umami and saltiness that can mimic the sea — after all, as Kristen Kish put it when she tried the dish, "kombu is part of the sea . . . the home."

Kombu can offer the flavor of the sea while remaining entirely vegan, imparting a unique, deep salinity and richness.

Kombu hails from kelp and is thicker and more substantial, while nori is derived from red algae.