By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

Wanda Thummel has never cooked with tofu. After attending a meeting of the Western Kansas Vegetarian Society, however, she said there's every possibility that will soon change.

Addressing a small group of culinarily like-minded and curious attendees, the founders of the vegetarian group supplied food for the stomach and the mind at the gallery in the Hays Public Library.

Leading the meeting were group founders Marleah and Ryan Augustine, both of Ellis.

The married couple provided a pre-cooked meal of barbecue tofu sandwiches on whole-grain bread and natural mayonnaise and barbecue sauce.

At only the second meeting of the group, the Augustines spoke about tofu, a substance made from pressed soy milk curds, a staple of vegetarian cooking.

In their presentation, the couple discussed different varieties of tofu, its multitude of uses and gave cooking tips and recipes.

Brochures and literature were available after the meeting, providing more in-depth information about vegetarian and vegan lifestyles and related topics like the effect of animal agriculture on climate change.

Ryan Augustine, a vegetarian for three years and a vegan for about five months, said the group plans on hosting two meetings a month, alternating the focus on food and general information on vegetarianism.

He said the group has been making preparations since April and just had its first meeting two weeks ago.

Marleah, who has been a vegetarian slightly longer than her husband and who is also a vegan, explained that increasing awareness was the primary factor for establishing the organization.

"Really it's just to let people be aware that this is an option," she said, "because so many people when we would say that we're vegan, people are like 'OK, so what is that? What are you eating?'

"They just don't see that as an option."

The couple stresses these meetings are not just for other vegetarians, but also for those looking to expand their culinary repertoire.

The Augustines hope to obtain more interest throughout Hays as well as from other cities in western Kansas.

One way the group is currently doing that is by putting videos of its meetings on the Hays Public Library Web site, www.hayspublib.org.

The group encourages anyone interested to join. There is no membership fee and, as Wanda Thummel said, the food is "delicious."