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We had a vegetarian for dinner. Not as the main course, but as guest. He was amiable. And flexible. Not that he tolerated meat, or seafood or fish. Or even carrot puree bolstered with broth that remembered meat or seafood or fish. But he was willing to endure egg and cheese. And happy to bring his own. Tofurkey.

Hardly necessary, I said. Or advisable, I thought. But he insisted. He's crazy about tofurkey. Which, apparently, is turkey. Made from tofu.

I've got nothing against tofu. (I've got nothing against the stray vegetarian, either.) I like creamy tofu cubed into miso soup or sturdy tofu cavorting through the broccoli stir-fry. But I'm suspicious of food in disguise. And a block of tofu carved into roast-turkey pose seemed outre. Avant. Odd.

Though, as art, interesting. I cataloged my favorite food-shaped foods: The foil-wrapped chocolate "sardine" clamped into a twist-key can. The faux-mushroom meringue dusted with cocoa "spores." The roulade log, buttercream striated into bark. The raspberry mousse mouse, pink mouth agape in the bakery window. Maybe, I thought, I'm guilty of carnivorous, dessertitarian prejudice.

When the tofurkey was unveiled from its foil cloak, I was disappointed. It looked like a brown, shriveled cantaloupe. With gravy. Nothing like compressed bean curd pressed into turkey form.

"What would be the point of that?" the vegetarian asked. Something, I suppose, like the point of calling a ball of tofu tofurkey. But I let the technicalities go. We were all enjoying dinner, vegetarian and carnivore alike.

Afterward, I considered boiling down the tofu carcass into broth. But decided to go with mushroom, which offers a meaty mouthful, minus the masquerade.

Leah Eskin is a Tribune special contributor. leahreskin@aol.com

Mushroom stock

Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 1 hour, 10 minutes Makes: 2 quarts

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

1 cup hot water

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

6 sprigs parsley, chopped

4 sprigs thyme

3 sage leaves

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon coarse salt

9 cups cold water

Soak: Settle mushrooms in a small bowl. Douse with hot water. Set aside.

Soften: Heat oil in a large soup pot. Add onion and cook, stirring, over medium heat until deeply colored, 20 minutes. Tumble in carrots, celery, garlic, herbs and salt. Cook, stirring, until softened, 5 minutes.

Simmer: Pour in mushrooms and their soaking liquid along with the 9 cups water. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until deeply colored and fragrant, 45 minutes. Strain. Makes a flavorful base for vegetable soups and an excellent start to vegetarian French onion soup.

Provenance: Adapted from "The Greens Cookbook," by Deborah Madison and Edward Espe Brown.