Category: Chat with a Vegan

Can you tell us about your journey to veganism? What initially inspired you to adopt a plant-based lifestyle? 

My journey started in 2019. I lost my auntie to cancer, same way I lost my late mother and father. It was a conversation between my cousins and siblings on how we could look after ourselves a bit better. I knew myself diets weren’t spoken of, vegetarian, pescatarian, and veganism or being plant-based. I tried to look into plant-based a bit more, done quite a bit of research, watched a lot of documentaries, and then one day I decided to just go fully into it. So I’ve been vegan for five and a half years. I mean, I used to run a lot back in the day. I took a gap of running, and I think after a month or so I was doing it [eating vegan], I decided to go for a run and I just couldn’t stop.

So with that, I knew that I was on the right path, and it was all about just trying to make meals that I enjoyed, really. I cooked quite a bit before, so it was just taking those flavours from that into the sort of plant-based cooking I was doing.

What were the challenges you faced in going vegan in your community?

Growing up, everything had meat or some sort of fish inside it, and the meals I grew up on, the meals I loved, everything that came from my Nigerian background technically was vegetarian, but obviously growing up with it just being meat felt right. So I’ve had to learn how to replace certain flavours. And I mean, going online at the time, it really didn’t help me because all I saw was porridge bowls and stuff like that, and it really wasn’t my sort of palate. So yeah, over time I learnt to do vegan Nigerian cuisine, like jollof rice. One of the biggest ones was curry goat. I used to love that as a kid, and just replacing the flavours and cooking some magic in the kitchen. Yeah, it’s been magical.

What do you feel are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about who veganism is “for”?

So when people say “veganism,” they expect it to be more of the classy sort of type of people. I think it’s totally wrong (laughs) because I mean, when people say it’s expensive, well, eating poultry, or eating meat can be expensive as well. It all depends on your preference.

If you’re going out and buying all the fancy vegan steaks or chicken replacements, then yeah, it’s going to be expensive. But if you do it at a cost effective price, you’re getting not just tasty, you’re getting a nutritious meal. It’s all about balancing your palate correctly. If you learn to correct the flavours that you want, create the flavours that you want, and put ’em in them meals, you’re going to be laughing. You’re going to be enjoying some tasty, tasty meals.

So when people say it’s expensive or fancy, I’m just like, “Nah, it is up to what people believe.” I’m never going to be one of the people that are going to throw it in your face. I just say, “Just let the food do the talking, and hopefully you enjoy it.” I don’t think I’ve had any complaints, really.

How has your cultural identity shaped your approach to veganism?

I mean, I’m a Nigerian kid and I grew up in London. Growing up in a diverse community, mostly surrounded by Black and Asian people, I felt a sense of responsibility to advocate for the younger generation. I’m mostly focused on inspiring younger kids, helping them see that veganism can be part of our culture too. I mean, if older adults want to pick it up, that’s good, but it’s all about changing the future for me. So it’s trying to push that, but not throw it in people’s face. And just hopefully they click one day (laughs) if that makes sense.

I’m trying to build a cookbook at the moment, so I’m trying not to release all the recipes. (laughs) Seeing people recreate my recipes is one of the best feelings. It’s just like when I make that dish and I taste it, and I’m just like, “Yeah, that’s something from my childhood,” and I fully enjoy it. So when I see other people making it, it actually does warm my heart. It’s… I don’t know how to explain it. It’s a warming feeling.

Do you feel it has influenced the way you advocate for plant-based living?

The way that my Nigerian culture has gone into my plant-based living is that all the flavours that I remember as a child comes into everything I try and make. Plant-based eating doesn’t have to mean giving up cultural foods. It could be the tiniest little flavours. So it could be like, we use a lot of crayfish when it comes to Nigerian cooking. I don’t know why (laughs) but for some reason we do. So it’s placing little stuff like that and it tastes, when you get that taste, it really, really helps. It keeps you going knowing that you can still eat your food that you grew up on. You can eat stuff like jollof rice, or stuff like egusi. I mean, I don’t eat it often, because I always say it’s a sleeping tablet if you eat pandiem or fufu.

When you have them flavours, it just reminds you of why you’re doing it in that sort of way. It is a different type of feeling than just making a normal Chinese takeaway or fakeaway. Yeah, I mean, when my family tastes it, that’s even better because they’re like, “I didn’t know you could do this.” And I’m like, “Yeah!” (laughs)

How do you see the intersection of veganism and racial or social justice?

The recipes that people would love to see, I believe, are from Afro-Caribbean and even Southern Asia. People always love them sort of recipes. So just having that sort of representation in the community within social media, it helps a lot. It could be anything from breakfast desserts, main dinners, snacks. People want to see vegan recipes that reflect their own culture and experiences.

I mean, we have times like Christmas where people show their take with their own cultural food. We have Thanksgiving for Americans where they put that southern twist on it, and I love seeing recipes like that. Vegan food can include all kinds of food.

In what ways do you feel veganism can contribute to broader social change?

The way I see veganism making more of a social change is it brings more of a community in a bigger, formal way. During lockdown, a friend of mine, Millie, and I started doing community vegan days—like pizza nights or burger nights—where everyone put their own spin on it. If they’re coming from Afro Caribbean, Southern Asian, white, it didn’t matter. People would put their own twist on it. It was one of the best times that got me through lockdown quite a bit. It was one of the best times to see people coming together.

I feel like we need more stuff like that, because everyone’s got their own story. Everyone’s walked their own path. And when people bring their own food, or post their own food, I feel like social media is a big barbecue – everyone brings their own plate, and that brings people together. People meet and make friends. I’ve made some of my best friends from social media, and we all come from different backgrounds. So it’s nice that it brings people together.

I just wish people would have more of an open mind when it comes to trying different flavours. Not necessarily just different flavours from people’s different cultures, but trying a bit of vegan or plant-based food, because as soon as you mention it, people kind of get defensive. So it’s a hard and tricky one but we try to break down barriers. I do believe in not throwing it in people’s face, and letting them try little bits and pieces. Everyone eats a bit of plant-based food already, whether it’s like a potato or anything like that. It’s all about just being open, to be honest.

Can you tell us about any experiences where you’ve seen a shift in someone’s perspective on veganism?

With food, I’ve had friends who have watched Cowspiracy on Netflix and they’ve stopped drinking milk. Little changes just like that help in a long way. I’ve also had friends do one veggie week a month, which I think is really good. That’s a great way of just resetting your body.

I’m not saying everyone has to go vegan or plant-based, but just little changes add up a lot. It’s not just your own palate or what you’re putting inside your body, but in terms of the brutal industry that there is, I think every little bit helps. So if it slows it down a bit, it slows it down a bit, and it gives a bit of a life to an animal that fully deserves it, to be honest.

How do you think veganism contributes to personal well-being?

For my own journey, as I said, once I tried it after a month, I had energy to just run, which was crazy. I used to run just for fun, but suddenly I was pushing distances like I was training for a marathon or something.

But it wasn’t only physical, it was more or a mental sort of state. I felt lighter. My head was clearer. I hadn’t really experienced that. So it’s declogging your body and making it work the way it should work. That is one of the true beautiful things of it. I mean, I can’t really remember the days before that. Well, I remember little bits where my body would ache for just standing on my feet all day, but once I changed, it was different. I had energy for days and I still do.

It is something I believe everyone should try at least once, and just experience what it feels like. It truly is good for the body.

Do you have any favorite recipes or plant-based dishes that are culturally significant to you?

There are definitely recipes that mean a lot to me that I’ve managed to veganize. One of them is curry goat—obviously, without the goat! I used to love that as a child.

So it brings memories of, I could tell you dozens of memories, but stuff like jollof rice where normally we’d use chicken stock, I’ve managed to replace it. I mean when family taste it, they were a bit like, “This is fully vegan?” And I’m like, “Yeah!” You don’t have to use the chicken stock. You just have to be creative with the flavours.

Another one is a egusi and pounded yam, that’s probably my all time favourite. I had it dozens times as a kid, loads and loads! I think I recently posted it this month, and people are making it again. I just love that it’s such flavours. When you can create those little pockets of flavour within it, and it warms my heart. So yeah, I have quite a few dishes that mean a lot to me.

What advice would you give to someone in your community who is interested in veganism but feels unsure about how to start?

The advice I would give to anyone in my community who is willing to start this, but is just afraid or just thinking about it, is to just try little steps.

You don’t have to go “cold turkey” into it—excuse the pun! (laughs) You just do little steps. If it’s milk that you cut out first, then maybe it’s dairy that you cut out next. I mean, I think the biggest one that people find is cheese and stuff like that. So just drop little bits and change little bits over time.

Gradually do it and find what you like. Don’t be worried about exploring different flavours within it, because your palate’s going to change. Your palate’s going to change really good, because the flavours that you’ll be tasting is crazy!

Looking ahead, what impact do you hope to have through your advocacy?

So the impact I hope to have is: just as long as I change or helped one person, that means a lot to me. So the fact I’ve helped hundreds and thousands of people that DM me through my social media, it is crazy.

For anyone unsure, don’t be worried about if you’re going to like it or not. You will learn. Sorry, that sounds like I’m forcing someone! (laughs) You will learn to love the flavours that you make in the kitchen, even if it’s just stuff like tofu. Everyone knows it tastes very bland, but if you learn to use it and season it before you cook it, it changes. It changes and becomes very different.

Just experiment a lot with different types of food, whether it’s chickpeas, lentils, mushrooms, the world is your oyster with it—excuse another pun—but just try it! Because I was one person that was like, “I’m never going to be able to eat this again, or that again,” but I’m eating similar foods like it. I have the flavours there, I have the textures and I’m thriving off it. I don’t have no protein deficiency. I’m a big lad. I still train, I’ll still weight train. I still go for runs every now and then. And yeah, it’s not going to harm you. If anything, it’ll make you better.

My hope is to keep reaching more people, showing them that veganism isn’t about giving things up—it’s about finding new ways to enjoy the foods you love and making choices that feel good for you and the world. If I can help others see that, even in a small way, that’s the impact I want to leave.

How do you stay motivated in your work as a vegan advocate? What keeps you inspired?

The way I stay motivated and inspired is seeing people recreate my dishes. It gives me that little tick, that feeling, “Yeah, I’m doing the right thing.” I mean, most of the dishes I do post online are meals I eat myself. I don’t believe in food waste, so I would try and create dishes to be perfect and correct enough to post. To have people make it over and over again is truly is one of the best feelings.

So myself, I keep myself grounded. I live life like a day in day life. I’m now doing this full time. So I have a schedule that I stick to. I go to t he gym regularly, go for walks. I have fun with my friends.

I live a normal life, but I mean, I would probably be one of the most nosiest friends ever when it comes to your food. I’ll ask you what’d you have for dinner last week, or it’d be a random question. It’s just my mind ticking thinking, “Oh, what can I make with that?”

I used to work as a delivery driver for groceries before, I’ll be carrying the groceries to someone’s door, and instantly I’m looking inside that box thinking, “Oh, I can use that and that and make another recipe.” (laughs) So I have just of recipes just stored on my phone and where I have different combinations that I’m still trying. Most of them are working out and people are enjoying them, like me. I think today I just posted a jalapeno tofu, which… yeah, that was a random one as well!

So it’s just keeping myself grounded within it and just enjoying what I do. And obviously, take good care of yourself as well. So if you need a break, always just listen to your body and take the break.

Is there anything you’d like to share with our audience about veganism that you feel doesn’t get talked about enough?

What I would like to share with the community that doesn’t really get talked about enough is just be kind. Just be kind, because everyone has their own journey and it’s about being supportive.

If someone all of a sudden changes from veganism to something else, there’s a reason behind it. And it’s just about being supportive enough. It’s about the idea that every meal counts. So if someone might be in it 50%, just be kind to that person. I don’t like seeing trolling online, so I would just say just be kind to people because you never know what someone’s going through.

And there’s millions of people that actually eat a plant-based dinner. But I understand there’s a misconception about being plant-based and being vegan. So if someone’s fully vegan and in that lifestyle, then yeah, that’s a win-win. But if they’re just having a plant-based meal, that’s a win also. So don’t be too quick to judge, just be supportive of people because we’re all human at the end of the day, and if you want to be kind to animals, you’ve got to be kind to humans as well. So yeah, I mean it sounds quite weird, but it makes sense in my head! (laughs)

This interview from PlantUniversity’s “Chat with a Vegan” series was hosted by Emma Levez Larocque of Plant-based RHN and featured Ebenezer Odeniyi.

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How did you become vegan? How did it change your life?

I became vegan a little bit grudgingly. There was an opportunity at Farm Sanctuary in northern New York state to be an intern for a month and to work with rescued farmed animals. And I really wanted to do this. I was a vegetarian already and I was becoming an activist and I thought this would be a beautiful experience. However, you had to be vegan on the premises out of respect for the animals. 

And I thought this was very extreme, but I would do it because I wanted the experience. Little did I know that after 24 hours of being an intern at Farm Sanctuary, I felt really aligned with myself, my morals, the direction I wanted to go in life, which was to not harm anyone. What I found after 24 hours of being vegan is that I was happy that I hadn’t hurt anybody. 

I was a little scared, honestly, because I thought, oh, being vegan is to be ostracized and maybe to be a bit of an outcast. You know, I didn’t know, but I committed to it. Because I felt emotionally, psychologically, spiritually aligned, and it really did change my life. 

What were the challenges you faced in going vegan?

When I first became vegan, I anticipated a lot of discord between me and friends and especially family members who I had spent a life with eating animals, and I felt that I was going to be disrupting things and I’m a real people pleaser, so this worried me.  

I was worried that it would really inconvenience the people that I loved. But I was wrong about that. Of course, people need to make adjustments in their cooking when you go to their house, there are things like that that you tackle, but I decided not to make it a big overblown issue. I was like, yep, this is who I am. I’m a vegan. Let me help you with cooking. Let me tell you about all the wonderful things I eat. And I made it something joyous instead of something that was going to be stressful for me or for other people. 

And I practiced that. I can’t say that I was great at it from the get go, but over time, people understood that I was vegan. It was fine.  

In fact, when I go to restaurants or events and I’m the vegan at the table, it’s really neat to see people ask questions.

I’m eating differently. Why? And I answer those questions in just an open and joyful way. And I find that that brings people into the conversation about veganism and satisfies some of their curiosity and hopefully inspires other people to eat fewer or no animals as well.  

What is your favourite food to eat?

My favourite thing to eat – well, this is hilarious because it’s a cliche. 

I am a salad girl through and through and I will take big baking bowls and I will fill them with three different kinds of lettuces and proteins and some seeds or nuts and whatever’s in my fridge and make a really big, juicy, creamy dressing. My mouth is watering just talking about it. So I have a big salad like this every day. 

And then I would say my favourite go-to treat right now is vegan cauliflower wings, like buffalo cauliflower wings. Oh my gosh. My mouth is watering just talking about it. 

What is We Animals Media? Why did you start it?

I’m a photojournalist, and photojournalists always have stories that they want to pursue in the long term, and I wanted to cover animal issues. I wanted to photograph the invisible animals, as I call them – those we don’t give much thought to, the animals we eat and wear and use and, you know, medical research and so on.  

I called this project We Animals until I was starting to get a bit of funding, and then we started operating as a photo agency. More photographers were coming on. We were giving assignments, we were licensing work, and we realized we’re more than a project. We are a photo agency. And so we founded We Animals Media, and we launched that officially in 2019.  

What we do, essentially, is we make available images of invisible animals to anyone helping animals for free. 

To date, we have over 25,000 visuals that people can use to improve their campaigning and their messaging, whether they are an NGO or an activist or an academic.  

Why do you think images are such a powerful way to advocate for animals?

Images are a really powerful way to advocate for animals. It’s easier to engage someone in a split second with an engaging, a beautiful, a poignant image, even if it’s a difficult image that will grab people and lead them to the text, lead them to the information that you want them to know. 

What’s interesting about what we do is that we’re often photographing really difficult circumstances. But we have to do that in a way that makes people not want to turn away. And they might turn away, but we want them to look back again at the image and engage in it. 

And so what we do is we create poignant and visually arresting images that draw you in instead of push you away. 

What are some of the challenges in your work?

There are a lot of challenges with doing this work now. First of all, access.  

Unfortunately, animal photojournalists are not always welcome at the places that we want to document.  

There’s also the challenge of engaging people with the images that we capture. When we ask people to confront images of industrial farming, fur farming, animal abuse, we’re also asking them to confront their relationship with these animals and their cultures and traditions. So it is a big ask. I understand that.  

And that’s why when we show images, we include dialogue and conversation and information, because again, we don’t want people to turn away.  

We want to pull them into a conversation, a really important conversation. 

What advice would you give to someone finding it difficult to make a switch?

If you’re thinking about going vegan, just know that it’s quite joyful. 

That was my fear when I became vegan. I thought I would be ostracized and that it would be hard. But I have felt really, really great with the decision. I feel very healthy. There’s lots to eat anywhere I go now. There’s delicious food to eat, whether it’s a veggie burger at your local pub or Indian food or Italian food. 

So don’t be afraid, give it a try. Also, perfection is the enemy of the good. So, just do your best. 

What advice do you have for going vegan beyond food?

There are several ways that veganism was incorporated into my life slowly. Certainly, it was through leading with delicious food and sharing delicious food with people, but then there are other kinds of vegan choices that you can make. For example, adopting an animal instead of buying an animal when there are millions of dogs and cats and other animals who are just languishing in shelters. 

What I found when I became vegan is that I was thinking about animals in broader ways. I was thinking about the shelter animals. I was thinking about the needs of the urban wildlife. And so I started putting out water, that I see the squirrels and sometimes the raccoons drinking from. 

Animals have it hard in this human dominated world. We have taken over every aspect and every corner of the globe. And so my veganism led me to think just a lot more broadly about how I could help all animals. 

What do you find most rewarding about the work that you do?

The most rewarding aspect of my work is that as a frontliner who has now seen millions of animals in intense suffering, is that my efforts will make a difference because they do influence others when I speak up, whether it’s through what I’m eating or with my words or my photos. 

I know that that’s reaching people and I’m doing my best and some days are hard because the problems are massive and there’s a lot of suffering and there’s a lot of work to do, but that doesn’t mean that I or anyone else should stop. I think we need to just band together and bring more people into the fold. 

That is the joy of helping others and the joy of being kind to others in whatever actions we can take every single day. So that keeps me putting one foot in front of the other- hope and optimism and doing my best. 

This interview from PlantUniversity’s “Chat with a Vegan” series was hosted by Emma Levez Larocque of Plant-based RHN and featured Jo-Anne McArthur.

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Why did you go vegan?

I became vegan after about 12 to 18 months of transitioning towards a plant-based diet and this changed my life considerably, considering that I was suffering from asthma, eczema, urticaria, and cholinergic angioedema. which can also be called exercise induced anaphylaxis. So, I transitioned to a plant-based diet for health reasons at the beginning.

But after about a year, once I was fully transitioned, I started to connect even more with the ethical side of it. And after watching Dominion online, I decided I wanted to be 100 percent vegan, and I never looked back since then. That’s been more than a decade now.

What was your biggest challenge in becoming plant-based?

When I went plant-based, my biggest challenge was probably trying to navigate my small town.

 I’m from a small fishing village. So, telling people that you’re not consuming any animal products when you’re surrounded by fishermen and hunters was difficult for me. For a long time, I actually kept it quite secret until at some point I just couldn’t keep a secret anymore. So, just telling everyone around me was probably my biggest challenge.

And after that, well, it was accessing vegan food and plant-based options while eating out because when you’re from a small, small town, the plant-based options aren’t as refined. It was difficult to eat out and travel around from where I live, but once I was at home, I was good to go.

How did you overcome the challenge of eating out, or is it still difficult?

When I started about in 2012, it was more challenging and we found ourselves very often looking at menus beforehand and even emailing restaurants and calling chefs to see if they could prepare vegan options for us. And to my surprise, most of them could easily accommodate us. Nowadays, the vegan movement has grown exponentially.

I don’t meet that much resistance when eating away from home now. It was mostly when traveling that we’ve seen our challenges.

Even if the options aren’t plentiful, at least there were one or two options at most places where we used to go.

How do you work to spread the message about plant-based diets?

I try to spread the message about plant based diets and the vegan lifestyle pretty much everywhere I go. I have a website called Plant-Based Dr. Jules.

For the general public, I regularly publish free information about tips and tricks on how to transition. I want to make sure that people do it in a healthy way. I do most of that through my social media platforms. At work, I work at a teaching clinic where about 80 percent of future doctors will at some point come through our doors during their medical training. So, I try to have a trickle down effect where I can talk about plant-based lifestyle and ethics and climate change to future doctors, hoping that they’ll then talk to their patients about that.

Also, I have about 15 other doctor colleagues who are super open minded and a lot of people once they’ve read the data on the differences that a plant-based diet can make for health or for the climate, they’re a lot more open to changing. I know that if we can have the medical professionals on board and they can trickle that information down to their patient, I think we can reach a lot more people that way.

How do you encourage your patients to learn about plant-based diets?

I encourage my patients to learn about plant-based diets by simply looking at the data, which often shows that lowering your amount of animal products on your plate is often correlated to reduce risk of most of our chronic diseases. And as a doctor, I’m seeing these chronic diseases daily. So sometimes just linking their health conditions to what they’re putting on their plates is a way to kind of educate my patient on having a more plant-predominant diet.

Now, that being said, I send them to my website very often for free information on how to transition. I send them to my free recipe book, and I give them tips and tricks on how to substitute animal products and replace them with plants.

What advice would you give to someone who is finding it difficult to make the switch?

For someone who’s thinking about going vegan and finding it hard to make a switch, I’d suggest two things.

First of all, I’d say surround yourself with resources of like-minded people. When I started on my vegan journey, I subscribed to YouTube channels, to vegan community groups on Facebook, I watched documentaries. I got educated on all the facts.

My other tip would be start low and go slow.

 It took me about 18 months probably to make a full transition. Within about 12 months, I had almost no animal products on my plate anymore, but I say small incremental changes will add up over time. It’s not about what you’re removing from your plate at the beginning.

That’s the way I transitioned and this way I felt a lot less friction with my daily life by just kind of making small steps in the right direction.

What is the biggest challenge you hear about and how do you help people address it?

One of the biggest obstacles in the way of people that want to change is simply our food culture. For a lot of people where I’m from, animal products is simply part of our culture. I very often refer back to the 2019 Canadian food guide, which was based purely on science, because there’s a lot of old traditions and culture that goes into the way that people eat. And unfortunately, people still think that you need meat to be healthy and you need meat to have muscle.

 For a lot of people, it’s just lack of education. So, find solace in knowing that kind of the Canadian government is backing us by having a plant-predominant food guide. I think that that gives a lot of credibility to the movement. I think the Canadian food guide for a lot of people is the way to start.

It at least opens up their eyes to, it’s not just vegan propaganda. There’s a lot of signs behind why we should be eating a plant-predominant diet, regardless if you connect with the ethics of it or not.

What is the Plant-Based Academy?

The Plant-Based Academy is a project that I’m working on. It’s a mix of a podcast, my blog, and an online e-course that people can take and provides them with video lessons on how to transition towards a plant-based diet, step by step. I’ve been working on that for over a year and my goal is to publish it in 2024. Hopefully that can be a great resource for people that want to have the A to Z transition towards a plant-based diet.

What do you find most rewarding about the work that you do?

The most rewarding thing about promoting plant-based diets are the success stories. I mean, just today I had a patient with chronic abdominal pain that said, I just changed my diet and my symptoms went away. We’re talking about a patient that had undergone x-rays, ultrasound, CT scans, blood work- too many investigations where the issue was simply his diet.

And regularly I get messages of people on my Facebook and Instagram of how just making small changes has drastically improved their lives. I mean, I have patient getting rid of their CPAPs because they lost weight on their plant-based diets. I have patients reducing or even removing antihypertensive medication because they changed their diet.

So, I get that validation right from my patients that tell me about the success they’re having in either managing or even reversing some of their chronic medical conditions, basically through diet and through evidence-based plant-based nutrition.

This interview from PlantUniversity’s “Chat with a Vegan” series was hosted by Emma Levez Larocque of Plant-based RHN and featured Dr. Jules Cormier.

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Note: If you’re listening to the video using earbuds or headphones, the interview audio only works on the left side.

Why did you go vegan?

When I think about why I went vegan, a lot of my initial foundation was around health. When I was in my senior year in college, I got E. coli. I’d been traveling around and ended up getting in contact with my food. Through that process, it helped me start to think about what I eat; think about how food and how diseases transmitted. Through that discovery, I started thinking about and learning about more of the chronic diseases that are often linked to the foods that we eat.

As I started to make a better connection between the food I eat and my health, I started to realize that getting on this vegan path was an option. And as I spent more and more time with the vegan community, I started to understand not only the animal rights perspective of it, but understanding how I needed to bring more compassion to what I do. I became much more of a vegan that understood that yes, health might’ve brought me into it, but the reason I stay is for the animals and for the environment.

What advice would you give for making a transition easier?

When you first transition, you should find things that you like. I know a lot of times when people are thinking about going vegan, often they’re trying to be the healthiest, they’re trying to sometimes get the award for putting in all the goodness, you know, chia seeds, flax seeds, all these things that you hear about superfoods and all of that.

But if you haven’t been eating those things, it can be hard to transition to them because your palate hasn’t developed. You haven’t developed a relationship with those foods. What I often tell people is to take the foods that you already have an existing relationship, often a positive relationship with, and transition those and make them and veganize them.

So if you have a favourite cake that you make normally for people for their birthday, or someone made it for you for your birthday, veganize that. If you have a favourite dish from your childhood, veganize that, especially if it brings about a happy memory.

What happens is, you’re not only going vegan, but you’re connecting a positive experience with those dishes and those items, and therefore you start to build those memories that really many of us unconsciously do through our lives as kids and so forth. And I think by creating that new pattern, it will not only help you bring some enjoyment to the transition, because it can be hard, any type of change can be a little bit hard, but it can also build an experience around it that can be highly positive.

What does ‘veganizing’ something mean?

 Veganizing, at least for me, is often about substitutions.

It’s not necessarily what was in that original recipe is the only way to make it. When I was trying to veganize things, I would pick up a recipe that I knew and loved and looked for a substitute. So if it was calling for milk, I would look for a plant-based milk to substitute it with.

This day and age, there’s a lot of one-to-one substitutes for you to take something that was maybe an animal derivative or item and substitute it for plant-based items.

What is Vegan Mainstream?

A coaching and one-on-one business support tool and system for anyone who has or is planning to start a vegan business.

What we do is we help either teach you the marketing through like courses, or through group coaching. Or what we can do is we can work with you one-on-one to help you set up a strategy to help you understand all the marketing tools out there that are available to you at your fingertips and how to ultimately build, grow or scale a successful vegan business.

What changes have you seen in the marketplace?

 I started my business back in 2009. Not only has the world changed, the vegan world has changed. I think the natural evolution of what many of us hoped for, where veganism is a topic of conversation in mainstream media and mainstream discussions.

Even as we’re going through grocery stores, even as you’re going to restaurants, you’re starting to see options on the menu. It’s so exciting to see the increase in demand for vegan products and services out there, not just from the vegan community, but from a larger group of people; maybe people who aren’t ready to buy a vegan t-shirt, but those individuals are showing up consistently and buying and purchasing these products and getting a benefit from it. So it’s been kind of amazing to see the expansion of the market.

However, there’s still so much work to be done. I think we would all hope there was a larger portion of the population that identified as vegan, but I do feel like the world has really shifted and the discussion is less of a “them versus us”. I really feel like more and more people feel like they can step their toes into veganism.

I believe opening up to discussions about things being plant-based has allowed even more people to join in on that discussion, participate, and individuals almost feel like they could be at home in the vegan community now, where maybe five and ten years ago, that wasn’t the case.

Why are vegan businesses so important?

I think vegan businesses are so important and ultimately can change the world is because of the ethics that we bring often to these businesses. And when I say ethics, I don’t want to make it sound like it’s a moral superiority or anything like that. What I mean is often when vegans are in business, they’re looking at a larger picture. They’re sometimes rewriting the way that we see success in a business where traditionally many businesses were just looking at their bottom line.

You’ll see for many vegan businesses, they’re concerned about their footprint. So therefore they’re trying to make sure that every product or service or anyone that they engage in in the entire. You know, supply chain that they can reduce their footprint, ensure that their products and services are more sustainable.

We want to be more compassionate. We want to be individuals that are aware of the impact that we make. Now, we can’t be all perfect. We can’t all do everything without making some mistakes. So I don’t want people to feel like they have to live up to this perfect picture. But what I feel that vegan businesses often do, and this is not just on the product side, but this is on the service side as well, is that we will often bring a different perspective to the party on how we do discussions, how we negotiate, you know, how we are looking to build solutions that benefit all as opposed to winner takes all.

What was your favourite food when you first transitioned?

When I first transitioned, I was much more of a comfort food person. I was always looking for like vegan pizza, that kind of thing. Also, when I first transitioned, I spent a good amount of time eating a lot more ethnic dishes.

Over time, what I’ve done is mash those two ideas together. While I still eat a little bit of vegan junk food, a lot of what I do is I like building bowls. I think the reason I like comfort foods is because they have high taste and comfort. And then, I’d like a lot of ethnic foods because of the flavor that I really love to, like, build a rice bowl and be able to say, okay, I have a rice bowl here with some pickled onions.

I have some seasoned up tofu, maybe it’s Thai seasoned tofu, you know, I may have some cut up cucumbers in there. I might throw some sprouts on top. I may sauté some mushrooms and onions. And then that way I’m able to kind of get multiple layers of flavor and crunch.

And that’s kind of my way of taking a lot of the different elements and styles and flavours that I ate when I first went vegan.

What vegan business are you loving right now?

As far as the landscape of products and services, there’s much more variety out there. When I first went vegan, it was kind of like you had a vegan burger, you had a vegan makeup or a vegan deodorant and everyone was mostly using the same one. It didn’t really cater to the variety of individuals who are in the vegan movement. And what’s so exciting to me today is how much more diversity is in products and services, how there’s more and more products that are available.

So someone like myself, you know, when I’m looking for makeup, it’s hard to have one-size-fits-all makeup. I love that you have brands like The Lip Bar out there that is offering makeup. And then for someone like myself with African American skin, it’s like, all right, I got some foundation that matches my skin like that really makes you feel represented in the movement.

This concept of inclusivity in products is really key, but some people say it, but they don’t necessarily do it.

It inspires me to be more comfortable of being me, of showing up as me in the world and feeling comfortable more and more in my own skin as I see more and more people being comfortable in their skin and more and more brands celebrating it.

This interview from PlantUniversity’s “Chat with a Vegan” series was hosted by Emma Levez Larocque of Plant-based RHN and featured Stephanie Redcross West.

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How did your vegan journey begin?

I kind of just went through this period in my teenage years where I noticed I wasn’t feeling so good, and that’s when I really started to pay attention to what I was eating.

I was constipated a lot. My digestion didn’t feel good. I was starting to have joint pain problems in my early twenties and I came across a couple of books that opened my eyes. One was Diet for a New America by John Robbins and the other was Fit For Life. Both really opened my eyes to dairy, big time to dairy, and also to not eating meat, and phasing it out. So that’s how I moved into it, was phasing it out. There’s that magic time of about, I think a month, they say to really let the body change and adapt and your palate to open. And that happened for me.

It’s been over 25 years, but I can’t imagine having lived any other way. It was so obscure at the time. And I think living out West gave me a little more opportunity to feel that was accessible because there was more interest in it in the area that we live.

How did you get started writing cookbooks?

I was led into my cookbooks, I’d say largely, from moving out West. And at the time, my husband’s father had had a heart attack and his cardiologist in St. John’s recommended a plant-based diet, which was really unheard of.

I had been working in a marketing position in St. John’s and my heart was not in it at all. I was just like, I cannot see myself doing this for the rest of my life. People said to me, you know, when you talk about food, you light up. I was like, of course I do. Loved it since I was a kid. I knew my parents-in-law were needing help with recipes, and that’s when I just started to sketch things out myself. I wanted to create recipes that I felt like they could use, and they were healthy, whole foods, very low in fat for what health conditions they were going through.

That was the start of it for me. And then I kind of grew with it with every life change in a way, because the next book involves after having our first daughter and trying to incorporate more foods to feed her and those concepts.

How did you start teaching yoga and fascia classes?

 I felt great in my body through food, through diet. That removed a lot of pain and discomfort in my body up until about my 40s. And then things started to change where I was feeling like my joints were hurting and my body just the things I love to do like cooking, for instance, even caused me pain. I thought maybe I’m just missing something like alignment, how to align your body.

So I took yoga and I wasn’t sure if I was going to teach. To me, it was just to learn, but something kind of pulled me into wanting to teach.

So, I just kind of kept on that journey in the background and I was teaching at a studio. But the joint stuff didn’t go away and it was irritating to me because I felt like I’m doing everything right.

And then I came across this work to change your fascia, which really has changed my life because I don’t have the pain anymore. When I talk about fascia work, this is working at the tissues on a deeper level from the inside out. It’s a movement practice, but it’s not yoga.

Everything that we’ve done in our life has shaped the quality and health of our connective tissue. And we want to keep it healthy because if it’s not, it’s dense and dry and not pliable as it should be. It restricts the movement of the limbs. So this is why you have pain. When you can free up the fascia, then the limbs move better. You feel better in your body. And so it’s a really simple formula where you move to create the change from the inside out. It’s the most interesting form of movement that I have.

After a couple of months, I noticed, wow, I can turn my head again. I was like, wow, my tissues feel really different and I’m feeling good in my body again.

So when I started to feel shifts in my body, I can’t explain it other than I felt a draw to it. Just like when I started writing recipes, I felt a draw to it and I’m feeling that with this work.

I’ve had classes that I’ve been running online and now I’m soon to launch a site called Fascia Flo and running zoom classes and video recordings for people to also take.

How do you think healthy veganism and movement are connected?

I feel they’re so interconnected. I feel like you really cannot live well with only one. So let’s say that, because eating a vegan diet, if you’re not really paying attention to the health properties of that vegan diet, if you’re relying a lot, a lot on, we all eat some processed food. If you rely a lot on processed food, then you’re not going to feel good for it.

But similarly, if you’re not moving your body, then you’re also not going to feel good for it. And some people move their bodies all the time and don’t really pay attention to healthy diet. And that, you know, can cause stagnation and issues later on. And also people eat super healthy, but don’t really pay attention to the movement.

We are animals, after all. Species all follow a certain way of eating and they all move. We’re not meant to be as sedentary as we are, and you know, we have to work, we have jobs, we have these things, but we also have to pay attention to what we need to do to balance that out when that is part of our life.

I think when you’re following a plant based diet, you tend to then pull in all these other elements of wellness along the way. If you stay with it, right over time, you want to learn more about this part of wellness. All these little things start to kind of come in and movement’s part of that to me.

What inspires you?

I feel like learning inspires me. I mean, that sounds kind of corny in a way, but I’ve never really idolized people. I’ve looked up to people like I, I would love to meet Dr. Campbell one day. And people who’ve, who’ve taken a different path. even though it was so challenging for them to do so, that’s very inspiring. But also just seeing, you know, people do the things they want to do despite their challenges.

That growth of a human that’s possible is what’s inspiring, and knowing that it doesn’t stop, you know, you remember being in your twenties thinking you know everything, and then you get to your thirties and you think you still know quite a bit. And then you get to your forties and you’re like, I don’t know, I think I’ve got tons to learn. And so you really can keep learning and it’s exciting to keep learning.

This interview from PlantUniversity’s “Chat with a Vegan” series was hosted by Emma Levez Larocque of Plant-based RHN and featured Dreena Burton.

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Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Rian Peters, I am a recording artist. I go under the stage name I Am The Living. I’m based in Vancouver

Why did you become vegan?

I became vegan because a friend of mine sent me a video a few years back and I decided to watch the video, and when I watched the video, it really resonated with me it sparked something inside of me that I would never forget. He was talking about veganism and, the reasons why it’s good for the environment and good for animals, and for your health to turn vegan. There were some images that he showed within the lecture and yeah. I just built a newfound type of compassion and empathy for other living beings. So after I felt that I told myself I can’t continue to consume animals.

What were you concerned about when you went vegan?

To be honest, I didn’t really have any fear, I just felt that it was the right thing for me to do. It was more so just the gradual steps, a lot of people can go cold turkey, excuse the pun. But for me, I decided I’d take it to step by step. That really helped me on my journey to where I am today.

What piece of advice would you give to someone thinking about going vegan?How do you get your protein?

I would just say to them just be confident in your decision and also take your time. But at the same time, if they feel like they’re just ready to cut out certain things from their lifestyle when it comes to what they eat then, go for it. If they’re a bit more on the edge about it, not too sure of what to do take gradual steps. So, just take your time with it and know that this is the best thing for you to do for your health first and foremost, and for the animals, because if you’re not consuming animals, then the animals don’t have anything to worry about.

Yeah. It’s taken me to a place that I never thought I would ever get to. The foundation of my nutritional intake is a raw frugivore lifestyle. I eat an abundance of, natural whole fruits. This is a huge part of what I eat on a daily basis with tender leafy greens, juices smoothie bowls. I stick to uncooked foods. That’s where I’m at right now. I didn’t start that way though. But now, I’m in the best place I’ve ever been to in my life. I’m very happy with how I feel and the energy that I have.

Do you miss eating animal products?

I sometimes still get that question, but I remember when I did transition, a lot of people asked me if I had missed the animal products. From the start, I didn’t miss animal products at all because I knew that it was the best thing for me, for my health, and once my senses started to change and adapt to the foods that I that we are naturally supposed to consume, I didn’t miss the smell or the texture or anything to do with animals.

What benefits have you experienced going vegan mentally, physically, and emotionally?

Absolutely. All of those three. Everything just went onto another vibration. It’s the best I’ve ever, felt inside and out. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

When I was a lot younger I never had this amount of energy and freedom. I feel like sometimes the foods that we eat can really hold us down mentally and spiritually and physically.

What’s your favorite food?

My favorite, my number one favorite vegan food has to be the mango. Fruit is definitely my number one go-to. The creator created mangos for us to eat, you can just grab it off a tree and eat it. That’s my top fruit.

What do you cook when you’re trying to impress?

So there was a time I had a really fun gathering with a bunch of vegans. It was like a potluck, people brought, different foods and I decided to prepare some plantain wraps. They’re literally just made from raw plantain, I blend it up in the Vitamix add a little seasoning, and spread it out on the dehydrator trays, leave them in a dehydrator for a few hours and you can use them as a burrito wrap. So the plantain wraps definitely were a winner.

This interview from PlantUniversity’s “Chat with a Vegan” series was hosted by Brighde Reed of World Vegan Travel and featured Ravi Boghan.

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