But what you might not know from Bialik’s online presence is that she’s also a fabulous cook. Bialik even wrote a cookbook called Mayim’s Vegan Table, boasting more than 100 delicious, plant-based recipes. Her recipes are often comforting, homey, and fulfilling, from zucchini pie to hot pretzel challah. Want to learn how to cook like Bialik? Here’s how to get started with her uttery craveable recipes.

Make Mayim Bialik’s cozy, delicious recipes

Chocolate truffle pie

This recipe is remarkable not only for its beautiful, decadent finished product, but also for its unique ingredients. To stay kosher for Passover, the recipe uses matzo cake meal, and is also vegan. Bialik added richness with almond meal, and recommends bittersweet chocolate. Her unique recipe for a DIY vegan egg replacer is our new fave. Just mix water, oil and baking powder for what she calls the “best cheap egg replacer.” We agree!

Get the recipe here.

Vegan reuben sandwiches

It’s obvious Bialik understands the height of cozy comfort food when you see her reuben recipe, which makes good use of an assortment of savory spices, tamari, vegan bacon, dill pickles, and rich vegan mayo. Make the recipe here.

Untraditional “millennial” latkes

Bialik knows her latkes. You might call them potato pancakes, but to her, they’ll always be latkes. But Bialik doesn’t just make a traditional latke. She also makes avocado toast latkes—yes, you heard us right. They’re garnished with chives and “Everything But the Bagel” seasoning, to boot. Her second new-school latke is the Buffalo latke, topped with celery, Buffalo sauce, and ranch dressing. And her last latke, which she calls the wild beast latke, features vegan nacho cheese sauce, vegan Thousand Island dressing, and sauteed onions.

Grab that latke recipe here.

Sufganiyot (jelly donuts)

Deep-fried jelly donuts are for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At least, according to us, and probably Bialik. Find the recipe here.

Chocolate chip pumpkin cookies

Pureed pumpkin makes these cookies extra soft and chewy. Whip up this cookie recipe here.

Daiya-style pizza

Mayim knows that nothing brings everyone to the table like a pizza, so she shared her vegan pizza recipe that uses cornmeal for a delectable crust. The key? Making your own crust from scratch with yeast and flour. Get rolling your dough with this recipe here.

Vegan mac and cheese

A good vegan mac and cheese is a thing to behold, but Bialik’s is gluten-free, too. Her recipe makes use of gluten-free flour and gluten-free macaroni. Cook it here.

Mayim’s zucchini pie

When summer rolls around and you have garden zucchini coming out of your ears, you’ll be grateful for this easy recipe. Get cooking here.

Honey cake

Subbing in agave syrup makes a traditional honey cake deliciously vegan. Mayim. Cook the recipe here.

Baked ziti

If you miss traditional baked ziti, learning how to make it Bialik’s way is super rewarding. The key is making your own herbed “ricotta” and cashew cream. So don that apron and get the recipe here.

Hamantaschen

Never experienced the pure delights of this triangulated magic? You need a hamantaschen immediately. This Purim delicacy is simple to make Bialik’s way, with only a few ingredients—and it’s easily customizable on top, with the jam of your choice. Make this recipe.

Hot pretzel challah

Challah is so rewarding to make, and it’s comforting in more senses than one. Not only does devouring it give you the warmest feeling, but kneading the dough and braiding it is almost therapeutic. Make Bialik’s hot pretzel challah here.

Our Lady of Sion School in Worthing, West Sussex, is collaborating with local company Plant Based School Kitchens (PBSK) to serve up wholesome vegan dishes to its pupils. These include lentil shepherd’s pie, quesadillas, curries, aubergine parmigiana, and even a “fakeaway Friday” burger and chips, along with various desserts and puddings.

The UK’s first plant-based school kitchen

PBSK founders Gary and Anna Hardley are well-known for their eatery the Vegan Street Food Company, which is also located in Worthing. They started the school dinner initiative after hearing Our Lady of Sion’s headteacher Steven Jefferey was impressed with their vegan, gluten-free food. The couple already felt passionate about encouraging others to experience the benefits of a plant-based diet, particularly local youths, after they themselves went vegan and noticed significant health improvements.

“With governments across the globe encouraging eating less meat and consuming more plant-based meals, there is also great focus on bringing plant-based kitchens into schools and other establishments,” explains Gary. “Ethical eating and farming [are] vital to the longevity of the planet and feeding children in schools has too often been about profit rather than nutrition.”

While it’s tricky to find hard data showing a causal relationship between a school’s endorsement of plant-based food and overall success, it appears that this might be the case. One public school (PS 244Q) in Flushing, Queens, reported fewer sick days and impressive standardized test scores. Plus, other data backs up the perceived health benefits of plants.

“Schools are seeing measurable results from a plant-based diet,” says Gary. “By eating more nutrient-dense foods with high hydration and carbohydrates to increase energy, students can focus on school and be alert and wake in the classroom.”

It should also be noted that Our Lady of Sion has not banned meat from the premises, and children can bring whatever they choose as part of a packed lunch. Instead, the new school dinners have been chosen to enable young people to explore the flavors and benefits of plant-based food.

Plant-based food confers ‘health and environmental benefits’

Eating plant-based food isn’t a magic bullet for health or the planet, but fresh produce is undeniably efficient to grow and nutritious to eat. Growing crops for human consumption is efficient and requires far less land, water, and other resources than meat or dairy. In contrast, animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions, but it also causes water pollution and increases the risk of zoonotic diseases.

Reports from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and World Health Organization (WHO) specifically highlight the need to swap animal products for plants, where possible, to optimize human health, food production, and climate crisis mitigation.

Our Lady of Sion School’s move is a reflection of changing attitudes towards meat in the UK, in particular. The vegan market is booming thanks to flexitarians looking to eat fewer animal products and more plants. This is primarily for the sake of personal health, followed by environmental considerations, and then animal welfare.

Naturally, this national (and global) shift in the way people shop, cook, and eat extends to what families prepare for their children, and more kids are eating vegan food than ever before.

Should more schools adopt plant-based kitchens?

As the UK’s post-Brexit, post-lockdown cost-of-living crisis exacerbates already deeply troubling food inequality, ensuring children get the nutritious food they need is particularly urgent. (The US also struggles with childhood malnutrition, and 2017 saw approximately one out of every six young Americans living in food-insecure households. This has worsened since the spread and impact of COVID.)

Ensuring kids get at least one nutrient-dense meal per day can help support low-income families and prevent the worst youth malnourishment. Thanks to the health benefits of plant-based staples like produce, providing vegan school dinners is one way of supporting this.

Gary believes the new menus will help support students in their studies and throughout their day-to-day lives. “From the calcium found in broccoli to the iron found in leafy vegetables, plant foods offer abundant nutrients for kids to grow and students to learn,” he says.

All of the fresh fruit and vegetables for PBSK’s meals are sourced locally from independent supermarkets, and the menu is structured and updated around seasonal produce to match. This maximizes the nutritional content of ingredients and further reduces the kitchen’s carbon footprint. The company is also partnered with GoClimate, a social enterprise built around helping businesses further reduce their CO2 emissions.

Our Lady of Sion isn’t alone in its transition to plant-based. Many schools are choosing to swap animal products for vegetarian alternatives due to this combination of health and environmental benefits. There’s still a long way to go, but if trends continue, it could become even more commonplace for schools to prioritize and promote plant-based meals.

Eilish collaborated with environmental nonprofit REVERB to make the run climate positive. From her shows to transportation and hotel stays, the organization is helping Eilish minimize the tour’s carbon footprint and educating fans on how to take action for the climate. 

The nonprofit will also be reducing the tour’s environmental footprint by working with each venue to ensure there are vegan concessions options for fans. A 2019 University of Oxford study found that eschewing meat and dairy products lowers a person’s carbon footprint by up to 73 percent. 

So, what exactly is Eilish eating while on tour?

What does Billie Eilish eat?

It’s no secret that the musician loves avocados. (After all, she enjoys a good avocado-themed filter and her Instagram handle used to be @wherearetheavocados.) Also on her top list of food likes: burritos, tofu, and lots of ramen. Oh… and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for dessert (like this recipe). At the top of her list of dislikes? Meat and dairy.

Eilish went plant-based back in 2014 after researching the meat and dairy industries. The pop sensation, who also eats predominantly gluten-free, was raised on a vegetarian diet, so the switch was easy, according to Eilish. “Becoming vegan wasn’t like a huge deal for me because meat was never a thing in my life,” she explained. “It wasn’t like I missed meat—wasn’t like I had something to miss.”

“I love animals and I just think there’s no point in creating something out of an animal when the animal is already there,” she wrote in a 2018 Tumblr post. “Leave animals alone. Damn. Also, I’m lactose intolerant and dairy is horrible for your skin and my skin is very aware of that.”

During an interview with Variety, Eilish said she lost weight on her first round of tours. “I never got to eat and it was not my choice—like, it was just we couldn’t eat anything almost ever, especially in Europe,” she explained. Thankfully, eating plant-based while on the road is a lot easier now. “We have so many people and their whole job is to get us food,” she continued. “It’s a really good time to be vegan in life cos’ there’s a lot of places.”

Ready to dig into some of Eilish’s favorite dishes? Here are some of the meals that she’s chowing down on while on tour.

Creamy mac and cheese

Let’s face it—Eilish is a fan of the comfort food classics. Same, Billie, same. So it’s no surprise that while on tour in Dallas in 2019, the “Ocean Eyes” singer opted to order food from Soulgood, a local vegan restaurant, food truck, and bakery. Eilish dined on the likes of tasty street tacos, Italian po’boys, buttermilk biscuits, and the ultimate happy food: macaroni and cheese. “Gluten-free vegan mac n cheese that taste like your Granny made it,” the company’s owner, ​​Cynthia Nevels, wrote on Instagram. Looking to upgrade your average vegan mac and cheese recipe? Try whipping up this vegan mac and cheese waffle slider featuring plant-based pulled pork. Or try this savory mac and cheese burger, which is loaded with breaded chick’n.

Vegan chicken

The ultimate finger food, Nevels also served up plant-based chicken to the superstar. After all, mac and cheese and vegan fried chicken just go together. And you could say Eilish is somewhat of a vegan chicken connoisseur—especially of the spicy variety. In 2019, she devoured ten extra spicy vegan hot wings during an episode of Hot Ones. Looking to make a batch of plant-based chicken that even Eilish would dig into? Try this vegan fried chicken recipe, which features battered mushrooms that are fried to a golden oblivion. Not a fan of mushrooms? Then make this jackfruit-based fried chicken, which is a dead ringer for KFC.

Roasted veggie salad

During a tour stop in Miami, it’s highly likely that you’ll find Eilish enjoying the likes of Love Life Cafe, a plant-based eatery located in the Wynwood neighborhood. The Love Life Salad is a favorite of the singer’s—and it sure is packed with all the good stuff! We’re talking kale, mixed greens, quinoa, roasted vegetables, garbanzo beans, cherry tomatoes, plantains, carrots, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, dairy-free parmesan cheese, and lots of avocado. A superfood basil dressing is drizzled on top for a nutritious meal that’s as nourishing as it is delicious.

Fruit smoothies

While on the road, it’s also likely that you’ll catch Eilish with a smoothie in her hand. In fact, she loves smoothies so much that she once dreamed of working for smoothie chain Jamba. “I feel like the things I’m missing out on are like—I always wanted to work at Jamba Juice,” she told Vogue in 2020. “I don’t know, that’s just something I wanted to do. I wanted to work at Trader Joe’s. Those were the jobs I saw myself having and enjoying.” And fruits are a favorite of the musician. “Fruit is my favorite food group,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I could eat it all day.” Perfect smoothie combos? Strawberry-banana or avocado and papaya. Don’t @ us.

Twelve years ago, Dyson would’ve never dreamed of beating Bobby Flay, much less standing on the same stage as him. When she opened Souley Vegan in July 2009, she owned one pair of pants and 27 dollars—the latter a gift her sister slipped in the cash register just before Dyson flung open the doors.

Dyson has fought tooth and nail to fulfill her destiny of opening her own restaurant. All along her journey, she took ambitious risks to succeed in the restaurant industry. Growing up mostly vegetarian, she began cooking vegan dishes while pregnant with her son. In 2007, she left a stable medical job to pursue the culinary arts—despite being a single mother with zero savings. 

Working as a caterer and vendor at local markets, she saved as much as she could. One day, she stumbled upon the perfect empty storefront at 301 Broadway in Downtown Oakland—but her lack of deposit funds and low credit store loomed like dual storm clouds over her dream. With the help of a generous customer and a landlord willing to believe in her passion and dedication, she was able to secure the space. “I literally got the total sum in my hand 20 minutes before I was due to meet my landlord to sign the contract to seal the deal,” Dyson recalls. 

Today, the chef owns not one, but four Souley Vegan locations—and she’s reveling in her success as her plant-based cuisine basks in the limelight, from the Food Network to San Francisco and Las Vegas. 

Dyson doesn’t want everyone to have to struggle this hard to become a restaurant owner, especially chefs of color, so she has advice for young beginners. The successful entrepreneur spoke with us about how food insecurity can influence mental health struggles, the lessons she learned from her working-class mother, and the cuisine at her soon-to-debut Cajun restaurant.

How a vegan chef beat Bobby Flay

LIVEKINDLY: Your win is historic—you’re the first vegan chef to beat Bobby Flay. How does it feel to earn that crown with a plant-based burger?

Tamearra Dyson: Yes, I beat Bobby Flay, but I’ll tell you this… it almost didn’t happen. Souley Vegan was going through busy times, with an expansion. When I got the call asking me to come, I almost didn’t go, because I didn’t know if I had the time to dedicate to it, but I thought, “I have to go—I never back down.” 

LIVEKINDLY: Was there a point when you just knew you were going to beat him?

Dyson: When they said vegan burgers, I knew that Bobby’s was going to fall apart. As soon as I heard him say he was using chickpeas, I thought, “He’s going in the wrong direction.” I yelled, “It’s going to fall apart”—I even warned him. But also, I felt in my spirit that I was going to beat him, so I was ready to win. The producers chose me, but my journey earned me the right to be there. Bobby told me my energy filled that place, and he told me it was the greatest episode ever, and that he had never taken off his apron and given it to another chef.

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LIVEKINDLY: So will you be following in Bobby Flay’s footsteps? You’ve already got four restaurants—why not a Food Network show, more restaurants, a cookbook, or a full-on empire? 

Dyson: I see myself doing it all—I have a desire to share something of myself. Bobby does it all—he has restaurants and shows, and I see myself like that. My wheelhouse is Souley Vegan, but anybody who aspires to cook watches the Food Network—it could definitely serve as a springboard to aspire to greater heights. I am not necessarily that person or that chef that says let me apply because I want to compete—I love to share, I love to teach, I’ve spoken at several colleges, schools, and events, because I find it’s really where I shine. 

LIVEKINDLY: A recent panel you spoke on focused on food insecurity and structural racism. What was the key message you wanted to convey to students?

Dyson: The students look at me and they say, “You’re a success,” so I say, “Cool, let me tell you about my history,” so they see we’re the same. At the panel, I said that my mother, who has suffered from depression, once shared with me that she had considered suicide several times, but one particular time when it was going on the third day we had not eaten, was particularly bad—there’s nothing worse than seeing a kid hungry. I would see my mother sit by the phone for an hour before picking it up to call someone for help with feeding us. There were so many times we did not eat for days at a time. 

Once we all understand we’re the same, things get a little better. Nobody deserves to be on a pedestal—we’re all the same. We all need to talk about mental health, food insecurity, and structural racism. God bless our communities for being there for us.

LIVEKINDLY: The co-host and judge for your episode, Mark Cuban, is a well-known vegan investor, betting on everything from plant milk machines to vegan pork rinds. Would you want to develop a frozen or packaged food line with him—say, those vegan burgers that beat Bobby Flay? 

Dyson: Listen, this whole ride with Souley Vegan has been hard work, not a miracle, but if you read our stories, where I come from, and how we started, that journey—I wouldn’t be surprised if a partnership happened. Sunny [Anderson] and Mark were eating the food, and Sunny said, “This is the best vegan burger I’ve ever had.” 

LIVEKINDLY: Let’s talk about that journey. You’ve spoken about how your single mom worked as a grocery cashier every day, in order to be there for her children. You said that you learned from her actions how to survive, and also that you wanted to be able to help both your family and your community with these working-class struggles. 

Dyson: My mom taught me work ethic, and I would see her in the morning getting ready—putting on lipstick and getting ready. But also, I could see her getting herself ready to go to a place that she dreaded, but she had to do it to feed her kids. I watched her; I saw her do that every day. She smiled, and she worked through it. 

My creativity in the kitchen definitely has a great deal to do with my mother, because she made something out of nothing.

LIVEKINDLY: You struggled to scrape together the cash for your first Souley Vegan location in Oakland. It’s harder for Black entrepreneurs to get business loans—we’ve seen this repeatedly, and in this report it was documented less than 47 percent of applications from Black business owners are approved. How can Black restaurant owners defy this and keep going for their dreams, until we see an institutional sea change?

Dyson: It’s definitely not a level playing field. I had under $30 in the cash register and it made absolutely no sense for me to go for it, but I believed in myself, in my products, and in what I had to serve—I believed in Souley Vegan. That made me push and we opened the doors. The money I made that first day, I took to the store and bought the produce that I needed for the second day. I couldn’t afford staff, so I was the first one in and the last to leave. I took your order, cooked it, and delivered it. My old job at the hospital was asking me to come back. “You’re struggling, you’re a single mom—come back.” Going back wasn’t an option. Maybe I was absolutely insane, but I believe—and I’m spirit-first, that’s why Souley Vegan is named after the soul—in what I’m doing. The spirit was the push and the drive that helped me when I was on my knees, just saying, “God, how am I going to do this?” 

LIVEKINDLY: Black veganism as a movement is an intersectional issue connecting social justice, health, modern abolitionism, and community joy, and has been incredibly empowering for many. Black vegan chefs are leading the food movement right now. How do you see yourself in that movement?

Dyson: When the community sees someone who looks like them representing them, they are more receptive to that. A lot of Black celebrities got on board with the vegan movement, and it’s been extremely impactful. I started when there wasn’t as much awareness, so I had to build Souley Vegan around teaching and inviting people in, starting at the farmers’ market with samples. Since then, I do a lot of community work, and now a lot of Black chefs are emerging from these communities and having impact in their communities.

LIVEKINDLY: You’re very involved in social impact initiatives in Oakland. What specifically would you like to do more of?

Dyson: We’ve donated to so many schools and organizations—it’s who I am. On paper, it doesn’t make the most sense to be giving away so much, but I operate from a different platform. My mother couldn’t afford to feed us three children, and I’m the youngest of three. I went to Hoover Elementary in Oakland, and I would be hungry going to school. I had a friend who used to meet me to walk to school, and her family would prepare a full breakfast for her every morning, but she wouldn’t finish the pancakes and eggs, and there was a part of me that said, “How could you not finish that?” because I was so hungry. An associate of mine in non-profits wants me to start a non-profit for kids who can’t afford school lunches. She saw a young boy who knocked a prepared lunch out of another boy’s hands, because he was hungry. I’ve been there, and that’s why I’m passionate about ending food insecurity. 

LIVEKINDLY: Your next project is opening up a new restaurant behind your Oakland spot called The Back Porch. We’re expecting all the vegan po’boys and okra gumbo, which Guy Fieri raved about on his show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, but any can’t-miss items?

Dyson: So we’re reinventing ourselves and opening up a space with mostly outdoor seating, with a Cajun bar and bites theme. We’ll have an insane Cajun mac and cheese—I don’t think anybody is ready. It’ll be open at the end of March. We’re also going to have some new menu items coming at Souley. We’re going to do a tuna melt with hearts of palm as the tuna, called The Meltdown. We’ll also be adding the Beat Bobby Flay Burger to the (Souley) menu.

Bodrug’s recipes are colorful and sustainably-focused, executed with a personality that’s effervescent and enthusiastic. Over the songs of Shania Twain and Aretha Franklin, she chomps down on trash can nachos, saucily reprimands vegan food-hating trolls, and grinds up green smoothie recipes “for people who hate green smoothies.” Bodrug’s fans find her relatable precisely because she’s not a chef—to them, she’s just another person who figured out healthful vegan cooking after growing up on a farm eating a “meat-and-potatoes diet.” 

Bodrug’s most popular TikTok series, “Scrappy Cooking,” owes its success to her upbringing on a small hobby farm in Ontario, where she learned zero-waste, stem-to-root cooking from her parents. 

“Growing up on a farm, my parents did not waste and they were very cognizant of the circular role of food,” Bodrug says. “Leftover food scraps went to animals or were repurposed, and we didn’t throw out much, so that ignited my creative cooking.” 

After transitioning to a plant-based diet, Bodrug grew frustrated with gorgeous, complicated vegan Pinterest recipes that didn’t feel practical. That led her to invent her own simple recipes, which she started posting on Instagram as @plantyou in 2015. By 2019, she was able to quit her day job and transition to a full-time, self-employed social media business. 

On February 15, the popular food influencer’s eight-month project and longtime dream became a reality. Her eponymous cookbook, PlantYou: 140+ Ridiculously Easy, Amazingly Delicious Plant-Based Oil-Free Recipes, featuring 140 fun, accessible vegan recipes, debuted. We spoke with her about the key to a successful social media business, why she advocates for flexitarianism, and how her series, “Scrappy Cooking,” is helping thousands learn zero-waste cooking.

LIVEKINDLY: Your story is so relatable, because so many people are coming from the same place as you: a meat-heavy diet. But there was a profound catalyst for your going plant-based: Your father was diagnosed with cancer, and then after his recovery, the World Health Organization declared the very meat you all grew up eating as a carcinogen.

Carleigh Bodrug: My dad was angry, because the Canada Food Guide at the time literally had a plate with your meat and your dairy on it—this is what we were encouraged to consume, which was the very thing that could have contributed to the cancer, and obviously, was not going to help. Almost immediately from that point, my immediate family transitioned to a primarily plant-based diet, and I transitioned to an entirely vegan diet.

LIVEKINDLY: What do you think about the growth of flexitarianism and how that can benefit our world and our environment? 

Bodrug: So my number one message is you certainly do not need to go plant-based overnight or entirely at all. We need millions of people doing plant-based eating imperfectly, not a few perfect vegans—that’s what is going to pressure the food industry to do better. And I also believe lab-grown meat has the potential to abolish factory farming. We’re all going to see a more plant-based, kinder world, which is the whole goal. The goal is not to be perfect, right? That’s my whole message.

LIVEKINDLY: Culturally, I would never tell someone they can’t eat the food they grew up with. As a Korean American, I would just want to see more protein-packed, vegetarian options at spots like Korean barbecue. How do your recipes help people eat more flexitarian?

Bodrug: People have a lot of nostalgia connected to the food they grew up eating. I want people to know that when they go plant-based, they don’t have to give those foods up.

A lot of the recipes that I create and that are in the book are based on recipes that I grew up eating. We ate chicken wings every Thursday night, so my dad and I spent two days testing vegan chicken wings, and they’re one of my favorite recipes in my cookbook. Other foods like tofu can really shock people as a great vegan cheese substitute, like my lasagna with tofu ricotta and my baked feta pasta with cherry tomatoes. In both of those recipes, the vegan cheese is so creamy it almost has a cream cheese consistency. I swear you could give them to a cheese lover and they would not know that it’s not cheese—people on my website go crazy over it.

LIVEKINDLY: Your series, “Scrappy Cooking,” has helped home cooks reimagine food waste, turning squash seeds into plant milk, and strawberry tops into vinegar. Why are you so passionate about cooking with what so many people consider trash?

Bodrug: I am so fired up about helping people not only eat more plants, but also reduce their food waste. “Scrappy Cooking” started with things I’ve been doing in my own home—I didn’t know anybody would be interested. I like to save money, I like food, and I like to reduce food waste. Something like 30 to 40 percent of all edible food in North America actually ends up in the trash, which is really, really sad. The food waste in landfills is creating methane, which really contributes to global warming. 

LIVEKINDLY: What was the recipe that inspired you to kick off the series?

Bodrug: One day, I threw up an orange peel candy recipe—I think this was probably eight months ago—and people just went nuts. So I just started churning them out, and I just posted my 38th episode, which is crazy. And to date, I’ve never seen such a reaction from my personal content on social media; people really like it. It’s been my favorite thing I’ve done to date, because it’s just so much fun. 

LIVEKINDLY: What do you hope viewers are getting out of “Scrappy Cooking”?

Bodrug: I hope it gets people thinking while they’re at the grocery store each week: “Okay, I’m buying this, but what am I going to use it for?” One of my biggest food-waste-reducing tips is to go to the grocery store each week with a meal plan. It doesn’t have to be something fancy—just a piece of paper, with what you’re having for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That’s really going to go a long way in reducing food waste, because so many of us go into the grocery store blind. We’re just picking up things, and then they wilt in our fridge, and end up in the waste. 

LIVEKINDLY: We’ve got a quick-fire challenge for you. Breakfast toast often doesn’t get finished. What do we do with that leftover bread? 

Bodrug: Bread is actually the number-one wasted food in North America, but it has so many potentials. My favorite way is to make a one-pan vegan French toast. Throw the bread into a pan, add mashed banana and plant-based milk to rehydrate the bread, plus cinnamon and a little bit of nutmeg. Throw that in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes and you’ll get a beautiful French toast. You can also create croutons and bread crumbs, and I’ve also done a low-waste stale bread chocolate cake.

LIVEKINDLY: One of your recent reels showed you taking wilted greens and turning them into smoothie cubes. Is the freezer your best friend when it comes to produce?

Bodrug: I feel like we all buy a well-intentioned box of spinach every week at the grocery store. And it’s about that planning again, but maybe you don’t get to it. So, okay, you don’t want to have it in a fresh salad, which I get, but throw it in the blender with a little bit of plant milk and freeze it into ice cubes, and you can put that in a smoothie, right? You can also cook up a vegan curry or a vegan soup and you’re not going to notice that the spinach has wilted. So it’s about being proactive about not letting something go to waste, and you’re gonna save money and reduce your food waste in the long haul. 

LIVEKINDLY: A lot of cooks have food scraps or composting down, but other aspects of the kitchen are still a major struggle. What are your sustainable, low-waste kitchen tips for them?

Bodrug: Look around your kitchen, and see what you have. Minimize and streamline, so you’re not overwhelmed with the number of pans you have. A lot of TikTok videos right now are showing how you can organize your fridge and pantry with clear or labeled containers, so you can visually assess everything from a quick glance, and know what you need to use soon. Having a really beautiful, streamlined kitchen means you can rely on its foundational elements. Also, shop your fridge and pantry before you head to the grocery store, so you don’t get home and realize you already have five cans of chickpeas.

LIVEKINDLY: It can get expensive buying for your kitchen, and achieving full sustainability can sometimes feel out of reach when you can’t afford all the containers. How do you approach a sustainable kitchen from a low-cost perspective?

Bodrug: Use what you have—if you have a plastic scrub brush, you don’t need to go and buy the aesthetic wood one with the beige bristles. It’s not so much about replacing everything in your kitchen with low-waste things—it’s about using what you have. Instead of replacing my plastic food prep containers with new sustainable options, I use a lot of mason jars to store food, since I already had them. Look around for what you already have in your kitchen that can be multipurpose, like glass containers from the dollar store.

LIVEKINDLY: Young people are at the forefront of fighting climate change. The World Wildlife Fund reported that 6 to 8 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food. Do you think Gen Z will nearly eliminate food waste in the next 10 to 20 years?

Bodrug: Being on TikTok, I have a lot of hope, because the younger folks of Gen Z are very climate-focused—like nothing I’ve ever seen. So I do have a lot of hope for that generation really igniting change from a higher kind of lobbying level. We all need to collectively start focusing on reducing food waste, but more than putting the onus on the individual, we need pressure on big corporations who not only waste food, but also have wasteful packaging like single-use plastic. If we as a generation really put it out there that we don’t want to waste food, and we don’t want to deal with single-use plastics anymore, that’s what ignites change. The top 100 corporations create 71 percent of emissions, and the onus is not on the individual as much as it is on these corporations. 

LIVEKINDLY: Let’s talk about your life before TikTok. You were a radio host and news anchor before you became a full-time food influencer and cook. What gave you the courage in 2019 to finally say, this is the moment to leave?

Bodrug: The number-one thing was my meal subscription business. I started a subscription business through PlantYou, which was at the time called the Plant Ahead Meal Prep Program, where I was releasing weekly plant-based meal plans via PDF. They were just to encourage people who had no idea what to cook plant-based, and they offered five meal ideas for the week. People would subscribe for $7.99 per month, and that enabled me to take the jump. I’m a very cautious person and wanted to have some sort of safety net in terms of recurring income, because it’s very unpredictable if you’re just relying on brand partnerships, or viewership and ads. 

But I also felt so called to it. I kept saying to my parents, “I want to do this.” They were like, “Oh my gosh, are you nuts? You have a pension and—just wait until you’re on maternity leave one day.” And that ate me up because I wanted to do it so badly. Eventually, it got to the point where I was like, “Screw it. I’m doing it.” And I did it, thank god—I can’t imagine if I hadn’t. But it hasn’t been easy. 

LIVEKINDLY: It’s really great that you tell the people the truth. Because some people look at what you do, and they might think it’s easy, or just something that’s a part-time job, in your spare time. 

Bodrug: Yeah, it’s hard. I work seven days a week, probably 70 hours a week, and it’s hard when things don’t go right. I looked at my Instagram feed the other day, and I had 1,400 posts that I’ve posted. Somebody asked me for advice on Instagram, and I was like, “Honestly, I’ve posted almost every single day for four to five years.” It’s just being relentless. If you want something, you have to go after it. 

LIVEKINDLY: So how do you deal with the trolls? Do you just not read the comments?

Bodrug: I now have almost a million followers on Instagram, and I still read every single comment—like everybody does. My 2022 mantra was not to respond to trolls. I try to ignore them. There’s nothing you’re going to say that is going to reason with them. For every troll comment, you should respond to five positive ones first. I try to do that because the positive almost always outweighs the negative in people. I am so lucky. I love my PlantYou community—I swear, they’re the best people in the entire world. 

LIVEKINDLY: Okay, so in that nonexistent spare time, what have you been watching lately?

Bodrug: I loved Forks Over Knives and Game Changers—especially for showing your loved ones and friends who are athletes, Game Changers can help move the needle. On TikTok, I’m impressed with the storytelling of these amazing writers and recipe creators that really goes beyond veganism—and then once you have that connection beyond veganism, a viewer might be more apt to try out a recipe, right? I definitely credit The Korean Vegan, because the way she storytells, it doesn’t matter if you’re the biggest meat-eater on earth, or if you’re plant-based or vegan—her story hits home. Tabitha Brown—oh my gosh, you don’t need to be vegan to fall in love with her. I also love watching Lisa Kitahara of Okonomi Kitchen, Turnip Vegan (@turnipvegan), Danielle Brown (@healthygirlkitchen), Remy Morimoto Park (@veggiekins), Mary Elizabeth (@maryelouis), and Stephanie Manzinali (@that.veganbabe).

LIVEKINDLY: You have such a dedicated following of folks who love what you cook. What’s in the future for you—would you ever open a restaurant, or start a cooking school online?

Bodrug: I get asked this all the time, and you wouldn’t know it, but I have this massive fear of cooking for people. I have this massive platform, right? I have a cookbook coming out, but I am not a great cook, from a foundational perspective. I am just a normal person having fun with plant-based food and if you see me being able to do it, you can do it too. And that’s my message, and I think it’s resonated.

But when she’s not out catching the perfect wave, you can find Blanco nestled in her kitchen, cooking up tasty plant-based meals that are as visually appealing as they are healthy. (Seriously, she makes cooking an art form…) So, what exactly does the pro-surfer like to indulge in to keep her fueled throughout the day?

What does Tia Blanco eat?

An athlete, Blanco knows the value of good nutrition. But, you won’t find any meat, dairy, or eggs on her plate. She was raised meat-free by her vegetarian mother, who decided to eschew meat at the age of 12 for ethical reasons. 

“She never forced a vegetarian diet on us, but that was the food she was cooking at home,” Blanco said. “So as a result, we all just ate vegetarian together because my dad ate what my mom ate and I ate what my parents ate.” 

In 2013, Blanco decided to go vegan after watching the short film Glass Walls. “I think that surfing, health, and yoga all go hand in hand and help me to be the best person I can be mentally and physically,” explained Blanco. “I definitely would say eating a plant-based diet benefits my practice as a yogi and a surfer because I always seem to have a lot of energy throughout my workouts.”

Although she doesn’t have the fancy accolades of a culinary institution under her belt, she certainly knows how to whip up a delectable meal. Case in point: her cooking Instagram account, @tiasvegankitchen, which has amassed more than 30,000 followers.

A simple glance at Blanco’s cooking page is sure to send your mouth watering. Fruits and vegetables are staple ingredients for the surfer. From mains like crispy curried tofu and salad bowls to desserts like banana split sundaes and vegan blondies—she knows how to cook/bake it all. And the best part is, her recipes are easy to make.

In one video, she makes a simple green smoothie with banana, cucumber, celery, spinach, oranges, ginger, and coconut milk. In another, she whips up a colorful salad featuring kale, avocado, spinach, lettuce, broccoli sprouts, tomatoes, pomegranates, pumpkin seeds, cashews, and more. “Health is wealth,” she captioned. Here’s a handful of her favorite recipes. Is it lunchtime yet?

Vanilla protein chia pudding

We’re all for versatile recipes. You know… like the ones that can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner (even dessert!). Enter: This protein-packed pudding. Traditional puddings contain dairy and eggs. Blanco’s version eschews these ingredients in favor of plant-based milk for nourishment on-the-go. Throw in chia seeds, vanilla stevia, protein powder, and vanilla extract. Top with your favorite fruits (strawberries, blueberries, all of the above!), nuts, and cacao nibs, and enjoy.

Vegan caesar salad 

A classic, you can’t go wrong with a good ol’ caesar salad. Blanco’s version is simple: romaine lettuce, purple onions, vegan parmesan cheese, and homemade croutons. The latter, she makes using sliced sourdough bread. “Sorry, I eyeballed this,” she captioned in regards to making the dressing, which she whips up using vegan mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, lemon, dijon mustard, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper. 

Fish-free tuna

Want to indulge in fish without, well, the fish? Of course, you could go the route of making a delicious tuna salad sandwich using a plant-based tuna brand like Good Catch or Loma Linda. You can also try making a personal fave of Blanco’s: taste bud-pleasing chickpea tuna. It features chopped red onions and celery, vegan mayonnaise, cayenne pepper, nutritional yeast, capers, lemon juice, mustard seed, salt and pepper, and minced garlic. Throw it between two slices of bread or munch on it with crackers. 

Homemade samosas

For anyone who’s never tried a samosa, it’s basically a savory, heaven-filled, fried pastry. The Indian dish is usually filled with spiced potatoes, peas, onions, and meat. Blanco’s plant-based version features all the good stuff—mashed russet potatoes, chopped garlic and onion, peas, ginger, cumin seeds, garam masala, turmeric, coriander, and a dash of cayenne pepper—sans the meat. Serve with your favorite sauce (Blanco recommends almond cream) and top with cilantro. 

Veggie bruschetta sandwich 

It’s sandwich o’clock somewhere. For a super quick and easy meal, try Blanco’s veggie bruschetta sandwich. It’s simple: bruschetta, vegan mayonnaise, lettuce, sprouts, tomato, onion, cashew cheese, meatless deli slices, herbs, lemon and balsamic vinegar, bread… and voila! A meal to remember.

I wish my school lunch menu had more diversity, or enough to model how to eat vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian. Growing up in a small town in Texas, there were two meals I knew I could count on from our school cafeteria: a Grandy’s-style chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and green beans on Tuesdays and pizza (always dunked in a side of ranch dressing) with a salad on Fridays. Both were served up like clockwork, creating almost Pavlovian hunger cues that normalized these comfort foods as go-tos for me. I can still smell those meals and remember how they tasted, even though I haven’t had them in 25 years. However, I’m hard-pressed to remember any school meals that I, as an adult, would consider healthy—let alone fresh and sustainable. 

The program in NYC is getting mixed reviews—from glowing to GAH! But this isn’t the first time school districts have instituted plant-based eating. Since 2017, they have been a regular part of school nutrition. It’s been available to students and, in fact, is a way to slowly introduce sustainable changes well beyond school. Great, right? So why all the hububub now? It’s in the branding.

The evolution of healthy school food

Trends have changed in school lunches. Chef Jamie Oliver set out to make school lunches healthy and fresh in the UK in 2003 and brought his revolution to the U.S. in 2010. Then-president and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama started the Let’s Move! program to battle childhood obesity and ended up passing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 to help school meals catch up to modern USDA dietary suggestions. That change in standards required more whole grains, increased the portion size for fruits and vegetables—and required the selection of a fruit or vegetable—limited starchy vegetables, and shifted mandated milk consumption to low-fat or no-fat milk only. 

Jessica Ramos, who represents District 13, including Jackson Heights and Elmhurst, in the New York State Senate, tweeted out a photo of her child’s school lunch along with her critique, calling the program “not thought through.” Hopefully, that’s something the DOE can correct as they work with certified dietitians and professional chefs to develop the menu, although it seems like having vegan options on offer all along would make the schools more well-prepared for the shift. The Vegan Friday meals that are currently on the weekly menu have been taste-tested by small groups of students, the DOE says, and menus are made available online a month ahead of time so students and their families can plan accordingly to opt-out if it’s not to the student’s liking.

Mayor Eric Adams may flip-flop on his own plant-based diet, but he spearheaded the district’s implementation of Meatless Mondays in 2019 and its extension to Meatless Fridays in 2021. 

“Plant-based options in schools means healthy eating and healthy living, and improving the quality of life for thousands of New York City students,” Mayor Adams told  LIVEKINDLY in a statement. “Plant-based meals are delicious and nutritious, which is why I previously called for vegetarian and vegan options in schools. I’m thrilled to see that all students will now have access to healthy foods that will prevent debilitating health conditions.”

Sustainability enters the conversation

What Adams, who famously credits his mostly plant-based diet with reversing his diabetes diagnosis, is getting at is that offering students options can bring about incremental change. It can be the first step for many on the road to a healthier, longer life. It can also mean that as these students turn into adults whose eating habits have been shaped by opening their palates to vegan options, normalizing vegan eating, that it can eventually change the way New York as a whole eats—including potentially reducing the carbon footprint of the largest city in the nation by consuming less meat.

For many kids, removing the barriers of entry to eating a plant-based—or at the very least nutritious—meal is the first step to expanding their taste buds and putting them on the road to healthy and sustainable habits. And studies show that if you serve it, they will (eventually) try it. An evaluation of student food consumption in the American Journal of Preventitive Medicine found that when offered healthier options after the 2010 menu change passed by Congress, students opted for and consumed more fruit and more of the food on their plates overall.

Sustainability remains a challenge, however. The report notes that food waste from school lunches was significant before and after the nutrition recommendations were implemented, although not as widely reported through anecdotal evidence. The study suggests that high vegetable and fruit waste levels deserve further inspection. It finds, “Schools must also focus on the quality and palatability of the fruits and vegetables offered and on creative methods to engage students to taste and participate in [the] selection of menu items to decrease overall waste levels.” 

“The DOE is committed to the health and wellbeing of every child, and having a consistent, nourishing and filling meal each day is essential in ensuring students can succeed both inside and outside the classroom,” Jenna Lyle, assistant press secretary for the NYC Department of Education, tells LIVEKINDLY in a statement. “Following on the success of Meatless Monday and Fridays, we are excited to be expanding access to healthy and nutritious food options for NYC students with the phasing in of a vegan-focused menu on Fridays.”

Accessibility is important and a key part of changing the eating habits of students. New York City introduced universal free breakfast and lunch in 2017 to erase the stigma of subsidized lunches. Vegan options were already available to students on-demand, as are halal and kosher meals. And we know that when the cafeteria lunch is free, more students opt to eat it. That potentially increases the number of kids who could grow up to be adults who eat more sustainably because a flexitarian meal choice was available to them.

The challenges for schools thinking of taking up vegan, vegetarian, and flexitarian menus don’t stop there. Making these meals truly sustainable requires more than switching up which days meat is served. A study in Global Environmental Change highlights the massive impact that cutting meat consumption can offer; it found that if the entire U.S. participated in a meatless day each week, greenhouse gas emissions could be cut by 22 percent. Imagine what that means for even a portion of the country regularly participating in meat-free days.

If that’s not reason enough to switch kids to healthier meal choices, the Brookings Institute studied how the quality of school lunches impacted cognitive development and function for students. Looking at standardized test scores, students served a healthier lunch prepared by a private outside company saw a 4 percent increase in their test scores. Students who qualified for a free or reduced lunch improved their scores by 40 percent.

Finally, there’s the question of their health. The consumption of too much meat, dairy, and highly processed foods, are a factor in nationwide increases in diabetes, chronic illness including heart disease and high cholesterol, obesity, and the rising cost of healthcare. 

“The earlier in life that we can establish healthful eating habits, the better,” says Eugenia Gianos, MD and Director of Cardiovascular Prevention for Northwell Health and Director of Women’s Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital. She added her applause to the NYC Department of Eduction’s vegan Friday program, which she calls a positive step. “I see our young people struggle with overweight, obesity, and even diabetes at younger and younger ages. Research shows that plant-based diets help people achieve a healthy weight.”

A study on plant-based diets aimed at physicians in The Permanente Journal found taking up a plant-based or even partly-plant-based diet can address all of these. It further suggests encouraging doctors to move away from language like “vegan” or “vegetarian” and instead talk about consuming healthy, whole, plant-based foods while minimizing eating meat, dairy, and eggs. That’s a move that’s right on trend with what a lot of people want: a Gallup poll from 2020 found that one in four Americans are working on eating less meat, and most cite their health as the reason for making that choice. Plant-based food products are also a growing business, with McDonald’s and Burger King getting into the Impossible and Beyond Meat game and making a killing. The Good Food Institute values it as a $7 billion market in which grocery store sales of plant-based foods that replaced animal products grew 27 percent in 2021.

While NYC Vegan Fridays are not a perfect experience, with different schools clearly serving wildly different meals to meet the new requirements—some of which did not pass the muster of students or parents—it is an idea worth encouraging. When done right, it can improve the health, learning ability, and eating habits we’re teaching to children. When done as a conversation with kids about what meals they enjoy, it can change the trajectory of how they eat for life. 

For the author and philanthropist, eating plant-based is about feeling healthy, but it’s also about being conscious of the impact that our dietary choices can have on the planet. (According to the United Nations Environment Programme, about 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from animal agriculture.) So when Seinfield cooks for her comedian husband Jerry Seinfield and their three children, around 85 percent of the time, it’s totally animal product-free. But she’s careful to create balance, aware that a pushy attitude around cutting meat and dairy can turn people off. 

“I’ve learned to assume nothing about how someone relates to food, emotionally and psychologically,” Seinfeld writes in Vegan, at Times, in an entry entitled, “How Not to Be an Annoying Vegan.” “I don’t ‘should’ people. In general, nobody wants to be told what they should and shouldn’t do. It’s judgy and annoying. I think veganism got a bad rap that way: vegans told people how they must eat, and made you feel like a bad person if you weren’t following their rules.”

Affordable, planet-friendly food

Seinfeld is an accomplished recipe developer and author, with no fewer than five cookbooks under her belt—including Deceptively Delicious, a #1 best-seller rooted in sneaking more veggies into kid food. But she’s also well aware that her food choices and lifestyle are rooted in privilege. She’s the founder of non-profit Good+Foundation. The organization, started in 2001, aims to give mothers, fathers, and caregivers in underserved communities the support they need to lift themselves out of multi-generational poverty. It has partnerships with around 80 anti-poverty programs, which focus on things like job training, counseling, and GED support.

The U.S. food system isn’t equal. In many places in the country, nutritious food is a luxury. It’s estimated that around 19 million Americans live in places where access to a supermarket or grocery store is limited. And even when people can access the store, healthy foods are often among the most expensive items. Often, in places like this, fast food chains offer the cheapest meal options.

Thanks to her non-profit work, Seinfeld is hyper aware of these inequalities. So with her new cookbook, she places easy, nutritious, planet-friendly, and affordable recipes front and center. “There is no doubt that eating healthier is more expensive. There are ways to do it that are more affordable, but that takes a lot of education and time and that is not something parents in my program have,” she told Serendipity Social. “I wanted to make a cookbook that has ingredients that are affordable because I know how it feels when parents in my program feel like they can’t access things that other people have. That’s what my work is all about.”

What does Jessica Seinfield eat?

According to Seinfield, vegan mac ‘n’ cheese is one of her go-to family meal options. Other family favorites from her book include ginger barbecue tofu, cannellini bean rigatoni, buffalo cauliflower, and staples like creamy cashew queso and plant-based “meat” (made with lentils) that have myriad uses. She frequently shares her passion for food on Instagram, and uploads cooking videos on a regular basis. Here are just a few examples of the kind of dishes she loves, and if you’re a fan of how they look, you can find most of the recipes in full in Vegan, At Times, on Instagram, or on her website.

Chocolate sheet cake

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, but you’re not a huge fan of labor-intensive cake recipes, Seinfield’s Chocolate Sheet Cake requires minimum effort, but delivers maximum taste. Just whip up the ingredients in a bowl, pour the mixture into your sheet pan, bake, layer up the icing, and you’re good to munch. As Seinfield says: “zero baking skills required.”

Broccoli pesto

Pesto is a worldwide favorite when it comes to pasta. But the traditional recipe calls for two types of cheese: parmesan and pecorino. But Seinfield’s broccoli twist on the Italian-classic is, of course, totally dairy-free. It works with either fresh or frozen broccoli, and Seinfield recommends a splash of lemon for a little extra zest. Bon appétit. 

Cauliflower gratin

There isn’t anything more satisfying than cauliflower smothered in creamy sauce, cheese, and breadcrumbs. For extra flavor (and nutrition), Seinfield adds butternut puree into the creamy sauce, before seasoning with salt and pepper. The original recipe calls for dairy, but Seinfeld has since created a vegan alternative version on her website, which recommends using Miyoko’s Creamery butter, cashew milk, and Violife cheese. (But you can choose any alternatives you fancy.) 

Ginger cookies

Cookies…made with black beans and pumpkin puree? It sounds wrong, but Seinfield’s recipe makes it taste so right. Her version of the sweet treat in her book Double Delicious included animal products, but since she started eating more plant-based foods, she’s recreated the soft, gooey recipe with vegan ingredients on her website. She said it herself: “they are way more delicious made this way.”

Tofu nuggets

According to Seinfield, these tofu nuggets are “deceptively delicious.” Again, they include the chef’s signature sneaky hidden vegetables in the form of a broccoli puree. She rolls the tofu cubes in the puree, which is mixed with aquafaba (aka chickpea juice!), and then coats them with crunchy breadcrumbs. 

Broiled pineapple salad

This Seinfeld recipe adds a little spicy kick to a classic fruity salad, thanks to jalapeños, chilli powder, and a touch of chipotle. For a cool, creamy texture, avocados are served on the side, and for a little bit of zest, there’s pickled onions too. It’s one to bookmark for those warm spring days that are coming right around the corner.

Indian spiced lentil burgers

When it comes to vegan recipes, burgers aren’t hard to come by. But Seinfield’s are tasty, nutritious, and a little bit spicy. And for those reasons, undeniably crowd-pleasing, too. The recipe also calls for simple ingredients, like canned lentils and chickpeas. Spices include cumin, garam masala, and just a small pinch of cayenne. 

One of Brown’s most popular recipes to date is a TikTok about carrot bacon that she posted in April 2020. That clip, which shows Brown making vegan bacon using carrot ribbons, liquid smoke, maple syrup, garlic powder, and some other spices, has been viewed more than 21 million times.

And Brown’s plant-based creations are a hit with celebrities too. In January 2021, Desperate Housewives alum Eva Longoria whipped up Brown’s version of vegan deviled eggs and documented her cooking process on Instagram. Instead of eggs, the recipe uses mushrooms soaked in pickle juice and a garbanzo bean filling. 

Longoria was so impressed with the final product that she declared Brown’s recipe “changed” her life. “I made these three days ago and I’ve been dreaming about making them again since [then],” she gushed at the time.

Since rising to fame on TikTok, Brown has also landed television roles as well as a talk show, and in February 2021 she revealed that she signed a deal to release two books—an inspirational book and a cookbook.

Why is Tabitha Brown vegan?

Before she went vegan, Brown had been experiencing chronic pain, blurred vision, panic attacks, and anxiety for a year and seven months straight. She made the switch to a plant-based diet after her daughter encouraged her to watch What The Health. The documentary explores the link between a diet rich in meat and animal products and disease.

“My husband and I, we all sat down together, we watched it, and I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this is very interesting.’ What got me, is that when they were talking about diseases and our heritage, they would eat the same thing causing the same disease. For me, my mom died at 51. She had ALS [Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]. My dad is 68, he’s the oldest male to live in the family. A lot of my aunts, uncles, and family members died very young of heart attacks, strokes, and rare sicknesses. To me, meat was the common denominator,” Brown explained to Goodful in April 2020.

“And I thought to myself, ‘Well, I haven’t tried that, right?’ And they were talking about plant-based eating on What The Health. So I told my husband, ‘I’m done with the dummy drugs, all the guinea pig drugs that the doctors have given me over this last year and a half. Nothing has worked. If I’ve tried all that stuff, honey, I can at least try to do this vegan thing for 30 days and see if it makes me feel better.’”

According to Brown, the switch had a positive effect on her health almost immediately and she hasn’t looked back since. “We decided, as a family, to do a 30-day vegan challenge and on day 10 my headaches went away. I remember I was walking through my kitchen and was like, ‘My head ain’t hurting.’ I started feeling better from that day. I started getting my energy back. I just started feeling like myself again,” she recalled. “On day 29, I told my husband, ‘I think this is my path, I’m going vegan.'”

How to make Tabitha Brown’s vegan recipes

Tabitha Brown loves to share a peek at her vegan recipes with her millions of social media followers. She’s particularly fond of dishes that are easy to prepare and family-friendly. She also loves to share recipes for dishes that are vegan versions of classic meals. Here are some of Tabitha Brown’s favorite vegan recipes.

Leftover pasta noodles

When it comes to vegan cooking, Brown is a pro at taking whatever is in her refrigerator at any given moment and creating a meat-free feast. Case in point: this pasta dish she threw together in July 2021 using leftover noodles, red bell peppers, mushrooms, and more. The dish, which is like pasta primavera, also includes vegan butter and dairy-free cheese shreds.

“It’s very good,” she exclaimed as she took a taste. “Honey, use that old pasta that’s been sitting in there for maybe a day or two. That’s your business.”

Stuffed avocado

After a workout in May 2021, Brown went ahead and made herself a satiating stuffed avocado for breakfast. She began by sautéing some vegan sausage, mushrooms, onion, green bell pepper, peaches, spinach, and several spices. 

Once her filling was cooked, Brown removed the flesh from an avocado, cut it up, and tossed it with the rest of her filling. She then stuffed the hearty filling back into the avocado and topped it with vegan garlic Parmesan seasoning and sriracha.

Vegan fish tacos

Brown was craving fish tacos in May 2021, but obviously had to get a bit creative with her filling. To mimic fish she sauteed sliced hearts of palm topped with nori furikake seasoning to get the fish-like taste.

After adding a few more spices, Brown completed her taco filling with bell peppers, onions, and sliced avocado. Once she placed the taco “meat” in a shell, she topped it with some salsa, pico de gallo, and cilantro.

Vegan coconut crab cakes

Brown was once again craving fish in May 2021 when she whipped up some vegan crab cakes using jackfruit and hearts of palm as her “fish” base. The fish-free “crab” cake was also made with celery, onion, and Brown threw everything in a food processor in order to achieve that true crab cake texture.

After adding an array of spices, including garlic powder, nori furikake, and Old Bay seasoning, Brown tossed in some coconut shreds, vegan mayonnaise, and breadcrumbs so the mixture could come together. She then made each party by hand and tossed them in the air fryer. The result not only looked just like a crab cake, but tasted pretty darn good too!

Chickpea scramble

In March 2021, Brown whipped up a chickpea scramble for breakfast by tossing chickpeas, mushrooms, onion, bell peppers, and spinach into a food processor. 

Once the mixture was sufficiently blitzed, Brown added it to a frying pan with a bunch of seasonings such as garlic powder, black salt, and black garlic and sautéed everything together. When the scramble was done, she topped it with some sliced avocado and Old Bay hot sauce. 

“Chickpea scramble for the win!” she declared.

Vegan stir fry

When she couldn’t figure out what to make for dinner in March 2021, Brown made a stir fry of sorts using whatever she had in her fridge. 

On this occasion that included vegan sausage, a sweet potato, some sliced onion, mushrooms, and a bell pepper. To make this hodgepodge of a dish a bit richer, Brown threw in plenty of spices and some vegan cheddar cheese, and topped the whole thing with a handful of spinach.

“I put whatever I want because that’s my business! You do it how you want to,” she explained. “Make it up as you go!”

DIY veggie burger

While there are plenty of pre-made veggie and vegan burger patties on the market, Brown opted to make her own in February 2021 using vegan meat, bell peppers, onion, spinach, shredded dairy-free cheese, garlic, and other spices.

She then mixed everything together and formed a patty with her hands before cooking it in a skillet. 

Instead of a bun, Brown used a tortilla for her burger and put avocado, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onions inside before placing her patty on top.

Vegan pot “unroast”

Though pot roast isn’t vegan, the stovetop pot “unroast” Brown made in January 2021 certainly is. Instead of meat, Brown makes her “unroast” with jackfruit, carrots, celery, onion, vegetable broth, liquid smoke, and spices. Mmm!

Vegan hamburger helper

In July 2020, Brown decided to cook some vegan Hamburger Helper for her family, including her daughter Choyce who made a brief cameo in the clip.

While Hamburger Helper traditionally contains beef, Brown prepared her vegan version using dairy-free mac and cheese, ground plant-based “meat” from Impossible Foods, garlic powder, and other spices, as well as vegan cheese shreds and tomato sauce.

Brown called the hearty dish, “My version of a quick vegan hamburger helper for my family.”

Carrot bacon

Brown first shared her recipe for carrot bacon in April 2020 and it quickly went viral, garnering more than 21 million views.

The meat-free dish is made with carrot strips that have been soaked in liquid smoke, maple syrup, garlic powder, and some other spices, and then thrown in an air fryer or oven. The result is crunchy strips that look and taste like bacon without any of the guilt.

Brown shared the same video again a year later, in April 2021, and reflected on how popular it had become. “Omg family this video was 1 year ago today and you all watched and shared it millions of times!!” she wrote on TikTok. “Thank you!!!”

Can’t get enough of Tabitha Brown’s tasty vegan recipes? Try whipping up Gordon Ramsay’s gazpacho. Or, try making Lizzo’s creamy vegan mac and cheese.

From NBA All-Star Chris Paul to surfer Tia Blanco, now more than ever before, athletes are proving that peak performance can be achieved without consuming animal products. The 2018 documentary The Game Changers, produced by Academy Award-winning director James Cameron, tackles this issue in depth. It explores how athletes are able to compete at the top of their game without meat for protein.

Endurance athlete Ben Pflum, a South Florida native, says the film inspired him to incorporate more plant-based foods into his diet. “All growing up, I was a meat and potatoes guy,” he explains. “I believed you need animal protein to build muscle.” Pflum has had his eyes set on competing in Spartan Race’s Hurricane Heat outdoor challenge. According to the obstacle race’s site, the team-based event is “designed to take your mental and physical capabilities to new limits.”

With the help of his girlfriend, Kendall Atella, Pflum decided to tackle the course on a vegan diet. “I’m excited to see if going plant-based can give me the energy I need to succeed in this hard race,” he says.

Athlete goes vegan for 30 days

“Eating plant-based is a whole new endeavor for me,” Pflum says. “And I want to be sure that I not only stayed healthy, but properly fueled myself for my upcoming race day.” So, he reached out to holistic nutritionist Dave Coast to guide him through his month of plant-based eating.

During his first meeting with Coast, done virtually over Zoom, Pflum lays out his concerns with going plant-based—namely, not getting enough protein.

“Plant-based eaters actually have a more optimal maco profile. I think the options are more limited in terms of what is available to eat,” explains Coast. “Reducing inflammation in the body is one reason we see athletes wanting to try it. You’re going to have a lot of healthy carbs. And you’ll have a much lower fat diet than someone who is eating a lot of meat.”

No meat, no problem

Pflum went from eating meat three times a day, seven days a week, to no meat at all. After just two weeks of eating plant-based, Pflum says he recorded his best Peloton workout ever. “Coincidence on plant-based? I think not,” he says.

Coast advised Pflum to ramp up his lean muscle tissue, so the endurance athlete decided to hit the gym even harder. And for some extra insights into training as a plant-based athlete, Pflum speaks with vegan Olympic gold medalist and Switch4Good founder Dotsie Bausch. 

“People forget that training is damage. Training is not making you stronger, it’s the repair aspect, which food has so much to do with that actually makes you stronger,” she says. 

On week three, Pflum decides to recreate one of his favorite meals: chicken alfredo. He whips up a vegan version using miso paste, nutritional yeast, and whole cashews. “Honestly, it tastes like the real thing,” he says after sampling a bite.

“It’s becoming clearer and clearer that a varied diet of whole food plants can, in fact, provide me with a lot of energy,” he continues. “I’m definitely feeling those effects.”

30 days later: Race day

With only seven days left until race day, Coast gives Pflum a few final words of encouragement. “I’m really proud of your progress. Go get it. Go do it. And leave no gas in the tank. No plant-based gas; no fossil fuel gas in the tank. Just go,” he says.

Thirty days into his diet also marks race day, which Pflum says he feels confident about. He didn’t just complete all twelve hours of the grueling event—he finished with a perfect score, something only two people out of 40 accomplished. “The feeling of finishing and completing an event like that got me so pumped.”

With race day behind him, the true question remains: Does Pflum continue his plant-based journey?

“I was considering this question throughout my whole journey. And I had discussions with my girlfriend of what are we going to do, because it’s a journey that we kind of do together,” Pflum explains. “And we made the decision that  we are going to be plant-based past these 30 days. We love it that much.”