Archives: Blog

Chat with a vegan: Rian Peters, recording artist

Chat with a vegan: Rian Peters, recording artist

As part of our “Chat with a Vegan” series, PlantUniversity’s Brighde Reed sat down and spoke with Rian Peters. Rian is a recording artist based in Vancouver, and a vegan of many years. We hope you find his experience and advice helpful no matter where you are on your own plant-based journey.

You can follow Rian on Instagram at @iamtheliving and @livingplantfoods, or on his website.

If you’re interested in learning more after reading this blog post, you can find great resources on the Vancouver Humane Society’s PlantUniversity Platform and subscribe to get free plant-based recipes and be notified when the next interview is posted.

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.

More posts like this

Plant-Based Eating in the Classroom

Plant-Based Eating in the Classroom

Featured author: Emma Levez Larocque, Plant-Based RHN

It is said that we tend to be as healthy as those we spend the most time with. This is one reason why encouraging the consumption—and enjoyment—of nutritious plant-based foods in the classroom can be such a powerful influence.

As a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Community Educator I have delivered a number of plant-based workshops in schools, in partnership with teachers, and sometimes parent helpers. Though there are almost always students who vehemently declare at the beginning of the class that they “hate all vegetables,” when they are invited to help make the food, and see how tasty and vibrant it looks, they can rarely resist taking a bite. Even the most reluctant veggie eaters are often won over by simple, colourful plant-based dishes that they have had a hand in making.

Helping students make connections between what they’re eating, their own health, planetary health, and compassion for non-human animals can arm them with wisdom that will last long past their school days.

Inviting a qualified guest into the classroom is one way to bring this type of information to students. However, there are lots of ways to work plant-based learning into classroom curriculum or the school day on a regular basis too.

3 ways to bring plant-based learning into the classroom

1) Incorporate regular food preparation and cooking in the classroom

Most kids love to eat, and many love to cook or help prepare food—especially if it involves getting their hands dirty! Exposing children to healthy, tasty food can have a huge impact, particularly when it is done consistently and over time. Keeping the recipes simple and low tech makes it easy to implement these types of lessons more often. Massaged Kale Salad is a recipe that I have made with many groups of children, and they love it because they get to crush the avocado into the kale and get their (clean!) hands dirty. Because they have made the salad, they are usually eager to eat it too.

Power balls, no-bake cookies and fruit/veg “face pizzas” on pitas or tortillas are other things that don’t take a lot of equipment and are very hands-on for students. When cooking and food prep is part of your classroom routine students have opportunities to try new foods, develop and practice important life skills, and it can help encourage the regular consumption of plant-based foods.

2) Use activities that make eating plants visual and fun

An example of this is teaching kids about “eating the rainbow,” a very visual concept that often resonates with young people. Colours in foods often correspond with the nutrients they contain, and this is one reason why eating vibrant, colourful foods is so good for us! Counting the number of colourful foods they have eaten in a day can become a fun game for students.  In addition, using the rainbow framework can be helpful in discussing how colourful foods can be beneficial for different aspects of our health (e.g., orange foods are good for our eyes and help protect us from getting sick, etc). There is a free infographic download from Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine on the Nutrition Rainbow that may be helpful here.

3) Talk to students about where their food comes from

As a society we have become disconnected from our food and farms. However, that is beginning to change as mainstream society acknowledges the impacts our food choices have on planetary health and the wellbeing of non-human animals.

Eating more plant-based foods is a positive, pro-active thing we can all do to tread more lightly on the earth and understanding this can be very empowering for students. Discussion content will necessarily depend on the age of the students involved.

For younger students a great place to start may be an activity that compares various environmental impacts—like water use or pollution—of animal foods versus plant foods. This information from The Vegetarian Resource Group could help teachers interested in creating such an activity. PETA’s Share the World kit may also be helpful for elementary school teachers looking to bring education about the importance of compassion and empathy into their classroom.

Conversations with older students may be inspired and informed by documentaries like Seaspiracy, Game Changers or David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet.

As major organizations like the United Nations are recognizing the merit of a global dietary shift toward more plant-based foods, schools and universities around the country and continent are beginning to embrace their important role in educating students about the connections between food and health, environment, and compassion.

Are you a teacher, educator or parent who has helped to introduce plant-based learning into your school? How are you doing it? Let us know in the comments below. Or, if you’re interested in helping to implement more plant-based learning into your classroom/school and need support, we’d love to hear from you!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Vancouver Humane Society’s PlantUniversity Platform to stay updated on new free resources and tips uploaded to the site.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More posts like this

Chat with a vegan: Ravi Bohgan, entrepreneur, body builder, and supercar enthusiast

Chat with a vegan: Ravi Bohgan, entrepreneur, body builder, and supercar enthusiast

As part of our “Chat with a Vegan” series, PlantUniversity’s Brighde Reed sat down and spoke with Ravi Bohgan. Ravi is an entrepreneur, app developer, body builder, and supercar enthusiast who is passionate about plant-based eating. We hope you find his experience and advice helpful no matter where you are on your own plant-based journey.

You can follow Ravi on Instagram at @vegainsonline.

If you’re interested in learning more after reading this blog post, you can find great resources on the Vancouver Humane Society’s PlantUniversity Platform and subscribe to get free plant-based recipes and be notified when the next interview is posted.

Where are you from and what are you passionate about?

I’m a dad to three children, and two lovely dogs as well. I’m married and living in Chilliwack, BC. We are entrepreneurs. We run a marketing firm, an online marketing firm – email and Facebook – a lot of stuff with Google, Facebook, that kind of thing. We also are launching a brand new app in the automotive industry in September targeted at the automotive enthusiast. We’ve also developed a completely different type of GPS than the world is currently using.

I’ve always grown up very into sports. I don’t get to play as much, but I still keep very active in the gym. The last competition I did for men’s physique was back in 2019. COVID ruined a lot of the shows but I still do photo shoots prepping for just men’s physique promotion.

Our other personal hobby is the automotive world, which is where we developed the app for I’ve developed my supercar out of a Mercedes AMG. The whole concept of it was veganism.

I have owned that car for four years. I always didn’t like that I couldn’t find a high-performance vehicle without leather in it. So I decided to take the car because I still wanted a four-door. After all, I take my kids with me to every car show and car event that I go to. We ripped out all the leather from inside the car and we replaced it all with Alcantara which was expensive. We branded it Vegains, which is my bodybuilding name Vegains online. So I branded everything Vegains inside and we turned it into a full show car.

It sparks a lot of conversation at the different car shows. And, when I get into it and talk about how the interior is redone. It’s not tuned on gasoline anymore, it’s tuned on ethanol, which is a plant so it’s fully vegan. It gets a lot of conversation started and we win many trophies at different shows.

How did you get into bodybuilding and how did that turn you vegan?

I moved back to Canada from England when I was 18. I was very thin, I only weighed about 120 pounds being just under six feet, which is common for the British lifestyle. All my cousins were all farm boy builds, very wide, a lot bigger than me. I wanted to gain some size, fit in, and defend myself against my cousins who would push me around. 

I started working out, not knowing what I was doing though it was more ego-lifting. I was young and immature and I just enjoyed being at the gym.

I trained throughout my twenties. I didn’t learn how to work out properly until I was 27. I met a bodybuilding coach who taught me how to lift properly, taught me a lot about nutrition, but more the traditional fitness way of eating, keto lifestyle, high protein, low carb days, that kind of thing.

And while I saw results, when I turned 29 going on 30, I got sick. It came from food poisoning from either chicken or cheese, we never could identify it. But my bodybuilding took a turn for the worse.

Everything went downhill, food poisoning lasted about six weeks. It wouldn’t go away. I had doctor appointments, MDs, and naturopaths, but nobody could identify it besides the fact that I had lost about 20 pounds in weight, nothing was healing. I couldn’t digest food anymore. I went on a journey after the MD agreed with my naturopath saying it appears I was allergic to animal proteins. At that point, I had no idea what vegetarian or vegan even was.

They said, I needed to change my lifestyle and go plant-based to heal my gastrointestinal system, which I did with the help of my mom cooking lots of traditional east Indian food – lentils, quinoa, garlic, ginger, and a lot of really healthy things.

I ate no junk food, no meat, and no animal products at all. When I got healthy again, a different coach asked me to start eating chicken again and eggs and train to compete the next year to gain everything back. I had a moment where I went to cook a chicken breast and I cooked it and sat down to eat it and I couldn’t eat it.

Not because at that point I had made any sort of ethical connection. It just looked disgusting. I went back to my lentils and I went back to my chickpeas and went back to eating that way which he wasn’t happy with because he was more the traditional bodybuilder. He said, okay, how about fish? I decided to eat fish. After two months of eating specific tuna, salmon, and cod, I got mercury poisoning. I went through a nine-month detox after that was officially diagnosed and got my reflexes back.

Then I started to make the ethical connection shortly after that, just comparing things with my dog Lola.

How did going vegan improve your life?

I just felt better-being plant-based and started to question everything about the fitness industry based on, what my MD and my naturopath said I probably got sick due to the aggressive keto dieting. They educated me on a lot of topics the fitness industry will never educate you on.

I was shocked to hear it all went down my own rabbit hole of research, which lined up everything that I was taught by the MD and the naturopath.

How do you get your protein?

I use Ergogenics protein powder. They have a hemp protein powder so I use that in my smoothies. I use hemp seeds in my smoothies as well, along with peanut butter. So it’s very easy to get a smoothie up to 40, 50 grams of protein to what my current coach still wants me to hit per meal.

My other sources are vegan meats, Yves Ground Veggie, Beyond Meat, and Impossible Burgers, I’ll have one, I go out to eat at restaurants. I still use it in my meal plans at home as well, more of the healthier sources would be tempeh, tofu, lentils, and chickpeas.

You kind of get protein from everything. Like when I write out all my meal plans with macros and the calories involved in them, so I can understand and envision what I’m intaking. So like when I’m making my meal plans and I add in even the rice that I’m having or the bread with the gluten protein along with the soy milk when I’m having smoothies or even a bowl of cereal, it all adds up very quickly. So hitting protein amounts is very easy. When somebody asks me in the gym, where do I get my protein?

I relay that question in a different way to say, do we even know how much you’re supposed to in terms of how much protein per day, based on your body weight and your activities and your goals in the gym?

What’s a typical day of eating for you at the moment?

So for breakfast in a general off-season meal, I do a large hash brown veggie meal. The protein source will be like the Yves Ground Veggie and tofu mixed. Sometimes, tempeh diced in just to keep a diversity: hash browns, then, veggies I’ll have like zucchini, spices, onions, garlic, and any veggies I have on hand. I do stick with the majority of low-fiber veggies. I found going plant-based originally, I didn’t need that much fiber in my diet, so I don’t eat broccoli, cauliflower, or asparagus every single day just once or twice a week. I stick to low-fiber veggie foods throughout the day which helped my gut stay consistent and just continue healing. 

For lunch, I’ll make a smoothie. I’ll have a large smoothie, chia, hemp, soy milk, my protein, peanut butter, and a greens powder also from Ergogenics and then a pre-workout meal, I’ll usually make a small sandwich and then I’ll have simple sugars, like a bowl of cereal with some light granola in it so it’s higher, simple sugars and lower in fat. Doesn’t need to be high in protein, it’s just so my body has that energy at the gym to fill up the glycogen in the muscles and have a great workout. Post workout I’ll usually do another smoothie with cream of rice.

Again, get some simple sugars to heal the body, heal the muscles, and get, the energy it needs to start recovering. 

For dinner, we’ll usually do some type of rice bowl with tofu, whatever protein source we’re eating as a family, I’ll do something similar to that. And then before bed, I’d usually make a peanut butter sandwich to make sure I’ve hit my macros for the day.

Because I generally eat a lower fat diet. So I started adding avocado toast, peanut butter, chia, and hemp, to my meals, especially in the off-season. Use more of the fat content to help gain some weight and make sure I have enough calories to keep scaling and then when I look to cut in the summer, it’s very easy for me.

What’s your favourite meal?

My favourite vegan meal would probably be my wife’s Shepherd’s Pie with the gravy, or she makes a heck of a Mushroom Wellington, it’s an occasion meal. It takes a lot of effort to make, but it’s just absolutely incredible.

What’s your favourite restaurant in Vancouver?

I’d probably say Chi Vegan. Yeah, we became good friends with Chi, the actual head chef. She’s amazing. The food there is fantastic as well.

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

More posts like this

Chat with a vegan: Natasha Tatton, owner of BReD

Chat with a Vegan: Natasha Tatton, owner of BReD

As part of our “Chat with a Vegan” series, PlantUniversity’s Brighde Reed sat down and spoke with Natasha Tatton. Natasha is the owner of BReD, a plant-based bakery in Whistler, British Columbia. We hope you find her experience and advice helpful no matter where you are on your own plant-based journey.

You can follow Natasha on Instagram at @eds_bred.

If you’re interested in learning more after reading this blog post, you can find great resources on the Vancouver Humane Society’s PlantUniversity Platform and subscribe to get free plant-based recipes and be notified when the next interview is posted.

Can you tell me who you are and what it is that you do in Whistler for work and for fun?

I’m Natasha and I am the co-founder of BReD, the Sea to Sky corridor’s only vegan bakery. I run it with my husband, Ed, who makes the bread. We’re most famous for our organic sourdough bread. I run the front-of-house section. I also do a lot of the finance and marketing work for the business and everything else that needs to be done.

For fun, I enjoy snowboarding in the winter, hiking in the summer, and anything else that gets me outdoors, like kayaking, going for a run, and sharing good vegan food with people.

When did you become vegan and what was your motivation?

I became vegan in the year of 2014. It wasn’t an overnight thing for me, it was a gradual progression. I had been a vegetarian for many years and when I came to Whistler I got a job at Whistler Blackcomb Ski School in the kitchen, which meant cooking for 800 ski instructors and kids every day. 

It was the first time I’d ever had to cook meat and I really didn’t enjoy cooking the meat. I was preparing food like wieners and pot pies and the meat and dairy products were really low quality too. At the same time, a juice bar opened in Whistler village. I would go there every day to eat and chose smoothies or juices to cleanse my body a little bit. 

As the ski season went on I noticed that my colleagues at ski school (who were eating the food that I was told to cook) started to put on weight, and became more depressed and spotty whereas everyone at the juice bar was glowing and they were all basically vegan. 

I realized that I wanted to be more like them. I got a job with them in the summer when ski school was over. I became a raw vegan chef and quickly started experimenting at home with vegan food.

That year, I started to watch vegan documentaries, such as Cowspiracy and Food Choices and I had my eyes opened to not only how catastrophic a non-vegan diet could be for our health, but also the environment. As time went on I learned more about how our diet impacts animals. I guess I went vegan for my health, and to look good and feel good as well as for the environment, but I stay vegan for the animals.

What was your biggest surprise when you became vegan?

My biggest surprise when I became vegan was learning the versatility of foods like nuts. I never really knew that you could make milk, butter, creams, and all those dairy substitutions with cashews and any other type of natural seed. I started making cashew cheesecakes. These desserts were really trending then and I got into making my own plant-based milk too.

What has becoming vegan brought to your life?

I think there’s a shift in consciousness in people after they’ve been vegan for a while. It sounds quite hippy-dippy, but I’ve heard a few other people remark on this as well too. You start to see animals in a different light.

Not that I was eating meat, but to be honest, I was vegetarian because I just didn’t like the taste of meat. I still wore leather and I still ate dairy products and eggs. I hadn’t made a connection between the animals that I was using and what they were going through to get on my plate.

Now, I look at animals as brothers and sisters and I’m more empathetic to them. I love watching the birds whenever I’m just walking down the street and I always look out for the crows. Before I went vegan, I wouldn’t have even noticed them and if I had noticed them, it would’ve been because they were making a loud noise and I probably would’ve been irritated by that. So I’ve just found a lot more compassion towards and an interest in animals since becoming vegan.

What did you eat yesterday?

For breakfast yesterday, I had watermelon in the morning. It’s really good for the body to get digestion going. Then I had a fruit smoothie a bit later in the day with some berries, banana, and coconut water with a few superfoods chucked in for fun. For lunch, I had leftover burritos with cauliflower and quinoa and for dinner I was emptying the fridge. I had some leftover Oh She Glows nacho cheese dip from an Oh She Glows cookbook with sautéed potatoes, some avocado that needed to be eaten, and some sprouts because I love growing my own sprouts. That’s it!

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

More posts like this

10 strategies for your busy vegan kitchen

Vegan lunch table. Chocolate smoothie bowl, Buddha bowl with tofu, chickpeas and quinoa, lentil soup and toasts on a gray background.

Featured Author: Anna Pippus

10 strategies for your busy vegan kitchen

Today for Vancouver Humane Society’s PlantUniversity Platform, we are going to provide you with strategies shared from animal rights lawyer and cookbook author, Anna Pippus, that will help you manage your busy vegan kitchen! You can follow Anna on Instagram at @easyanimalfree for more great plant-based tips and recipes. We hope you find these strategies helpful, whether you’re just starting the shift to plant-based or you’re well on your way. 

 If you’re interested in learning more after watching this video, you can find great resources on VHS’s PlantUniversity Platform and subscribe to get involved in VHS’s work to help animals, people and the planet

1. Learn to cook.

Being able to cook for ourselves is liberating! It doesn’t need to be complicated or fancy.

Consider checking out cookbooks from the library and watching YouTube videos—not just the food pros, but “what I ate in a week” videos are also great to get a sense of how ordinary people really feed themselves.

2. Get comfortable with leftovers.

Cook more than you need for dinner and eat the leftovers for lunch.

Some foods, like pasta and stir fries, usually need a splash of water when they’re reheated to keep from being too thick or dry.

Leftovers can be repurposed into new meals. For example, rice and beans for dinner can be tacos for lunch; roasted sweet potatoes keep well for 4 to 5 days and help make lunchtime salads filling; and leftover rice is ideal for fried rice.

3. Plan ahead.

If you’re not great at meal planning, instead consider cooking by theme. For example, Mondays are pasta, Tuesdays are bowls, Wednesdays are one-pot meals, and Thursdays are stir fries and other pan-Asian inspired meals. On Fridays you could do something fun like burgers and air-fries, and over the weekends coast on leftovers, have long lazy brunches, and get together with friends and family for meals. Having themes means you have some direction but also some flexibility.

For more ideas on how to organize meals around themes, check out “The Vegan Family Cookbook” by Anna Pippus.  

4. Have some back pocket meals.

For most of us, being prepared 100% of the time is impossible. The hungries will strike and you’ll need a low-effort meal in a hurry!

For lunch, try chickpea crepes, chickpea salad sandwiches or tacos. Or simple favourites like peanut butter and jam toast, with veggies and fruit. Or a big salad with roasted sweet potato and lentils or beans.

For dinners, some quick go-tos could be cashew cream pasta, red lentil curry or rice noodles with tofu.

5. Learn to cook without recipes.

Recipes are a great way to learn a new recipe, and to replicate an old favourite.

But following recipes every day can be exhausting, because it takes more mental effort to read through instructions, using measuring tools means more dishes, and it can feel like a chore rather than a creative expression.

Don’t be afraid to go off-recipe! Use the vegetables that are going bad and the spices you prefer. Skip the ingredient you don’t have, or look up a substitute.

Many meals don’t even require a recipe at all, like stir fries, bowls, and soups. The Vegan Family Cookbook also includes a section on how to make a bowl and soup without recipes. YouTube and instagram are also great resources for this.

6. Stock the pantry.

It’s useful to have a variety of grains, legumes, and flavour enhancers on hand. A few key pantry staples are brown rice, oats, pasta, rice noodles, red and green lentils, pinto beans, chickpeas, coconut milk, soy sauce, jarred tomatoes, a few kinds of vinegar, and tons of herbs and spices.

7. Buy produce that lasts

Consider buying foods like cabbage, carrots, apples, potatoes, onions, frozen berries, and frozen peas. That way even when the fridge is getting bare, you can come up with a fresh meal.

Cabbage is good raw as slaw, in tacos or on bowls, or as a side for burgers. It is also perfect in soups and stir fries, where it’s barely detectable, even by kids.

Frozen peas can be thrown into pasta water in the last five minutes of cooking. Add some cashew cream sauce, and it’s a nearly-instant dinner.

8. Keep it simple.

Consider ways you can make cooking easier – like cutting out multiple steps when one step will do just fine. For example, instead of boiling and then roasting potatoes –  just roast them. The goal is yummy and nutritious, not gourmet.

Over-complicating things is a fast track to overwhelm and burnout.

9. Cook and clean as you go.

Conventional cooking wisdom is that we should prepare all of our ingredients before we start cooking, but a rolling prep strategy can save you time. For example, chop an onion and get it sautéing before prepping the rest of your soup ingredients, or get rice or noodles boiling before making your sauce.

Dishes are easier to clean when food hasn’t had a chance to get stuck onto them. When you have downtime while cooking, this is a great time to clean any prep tools you’re finished with and wipe the counters.

That way, after dinner when you just want to relax and hang out together, you’re not staring down a giant mess. The prospect of a big kitchen mess can deter us from wanting to cook in the first place, so nip this in the bud with a clean-as-you-go approach!

10. Have fun.

Cooking can become genuinely enjoyable and is an opportunity to get creative.

At dinner time, consider playing some beautiful music and make a simple meal. It’s relaxed and enjoyable.

We love these strategies from Anna Pippus and hope you find them helpful in your own kitchen! We encourage you to check out her cookbook, “The Vegan Family Cookbook”, for more plant-based recipe inspiration!

If you’ve found this helpful, please consider sharing it! Don’t forget to subscribe to Vancouver Humane Society’s PlantUniversity Platform to stay updated on new content and to get involved in VHS’s work.

Adapting meals to be plant-based

Vegan or vegetarian Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving holiday celebration. Flat-lay of friends eating at Thanksgiving Day table with pumpkin pie, roasted vegetables, fruit and rose wine, top view

Adapting meals to be plant-based

Featured Author: Asha Wheeldon

Hi everyone, I’m Asha Wheeldon, the founder of Kula Kitchen and co-host of Chop It Up. We focus on creating plant-based food to nourish and empower our community. Many of the meals and flavours are inspired by food I grew up enjoying with my family in East Africa and Toronto. We are driven by community through collaborations with other food producers and local partners.

Today, for the Vancouver Humane Society’s PlantUniversity Platform, I’m going to share some tips on how to get creative in your own kitchen and help you adapt traditionally non-plant-based recipes to be plant-based. 

If you’re interested in learning more after watching this video, you can find great resources on VHS’s PlantUniversity Platform and subscribe to get involved in VHS’s work to help animals, people and the planet.

I remember the first couple of months during my transition to PB diet. The first dishes I was looking to recreate were some of my favourite childhood dishes that were mostly my mother’s, such as stews, sauces and baked goods. Over time I came to terms with the fact that what I create will not be the same, the texture and flavour will not be the exact copy of the “original” recipe. I found myself enjoying the process and the outcome of the dishes, I would share with my friends and family who also loved them.  

I want to share some of the things I think about and steps I take when I’m trying to adapt a recipe that is not traditionally plant-based, to be plant-based:

I think about what I want the food to taste like, the texture and flavour:

  •  Some of the more versatile alternatives are tempeh, textured vegetable protein; they come in granules, slices, curls and cubes. Coconut milk for yogurt, nutritional yeast for cheese. For the most part, you can use the same seasoning with a few adjustments. 
  • Mushrooms like oyster and king oyster mushrooms are a great alternative for  fish. 

Small adjustments go a long way:

  • One of the great eye-opening moments I had was realizing that most of the foods I loved were mostly plant-based, all I had to do was remove or replace 1-2 ingredients. For example…Sukuma wiki is sautéed collards or cabbage prepared with meat protein and enjoyed with chapati or ugali, a corn based porridge. I often add soy or mushroom to make it plant-based. It’s still one of my favourite meals.

I have my favourite ingredients available:

  • Some of them include: lentils, collards, and black eyed peas.
  • Before I learned about some of the meat alternatives like soy,  I would cook with ingredients I was familiar with and love. This made for a comfortable experience. I cook with lentils and black eyed peas often, you can find them in most grocery stores, they have lots of protein and fibre. 

Seasoning is gold; I like to keep stocked with various spices in my pantry. 

One of the most important things to me about food and recipes, are the flavours! I love foods that are rich in flavour so the first steps includes stocking up on my favourite spices and adding some new options (I may have and continue to go overboard sometimes).

I have a few suggestions that can help you with getting the perfect flavours for your dishes: 

I found that if you keep to the original seasoning which is often already plant-based, you can still maintain the original taste of the dish.

Some of my favourite spices and herbs are:

  • Cayenne, Turmeric, Berbere, cumin, curry powder, cardamom, cinnamon. 
  • A tip: I often blend the spices to create different flavours. For example, if I am preparing a rice dish, the spices would be on the lighter side and not as spicy. For stews I can go all in and sometimes add in some of the sweeter spices like cardamom. 

What’s great about blends is you can use your staples to expand your seasoning options. This also applies to marinades when incorporating spices and sauces.

I’m going to show you how to make one of my favourite and super simple spice blends:

You take 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, cumin, chili and cloves and mix. There you have it – a simple spice blend you can use on your next dish like rice pilau!

Herbs, Limes and lemon are always a good idea:

  • You can enhance nutritional impact with citrus for greens, many leafy green vegetables like collards and kale are great iron source and they activate with adding citrus.
  • I find herbs like cilantro provide that fresh and elevated flavour. Add fresh as garnish or cook with your meals like rice pilau, and stew.

I have a couple favourite dishes at Kula Kitchen. One of them is our portobello curry bowl with black eyed peas, mushrooms, collards, and carrots and served over rice pilau. This dish is warming and a perfect meal on colder days.

I also love our nourished bowl with tofu and mushroom scramble, black eyed peas, collards, and roasted sweet potatoes. This is a perfect dish for breakfast and lunch. They are available to order on our website, KulaKitchen.ca, along with our packaged plant-based meats, stews, curry, and sauces.

I would encourage anyone starting their plant-based journey to be more intentional and meet yourself where you are at, try not to be hard on yourself. Nothing is perfect, you will slip up, make mistakes, and create a completely different dish and that’s ok! What happens next is an abundance of ideas, creativity, and fun. Lots of Fun! 

For this reason, I think it’s also important that we support each other during our journey. As a vegan, if you know someone who is trying to introduce more plants in their lives, support them where they are at. Also recognize each person has different identities, stories, and viewpoints. I think it’s important that we encourage each other; let’s meet each other wherever we are and have more meaningful discussions that are free of judgement and exclusion. I have witnessed family and friends through their journey, who have shared how  they were inspired by the encouragement and judgement free discussions, the food and support. It really does take community support for better outcomes for animals, humans and the planet.

I hope this has inspired you to get cooking and to get creative in the kitchen. And remember, always be gentle on yourself and others in this plant-based journey.

To stay connected you can find us online at www.kulakitchen.ca,  ChopItUp.ca and Kula Kitchen and ChopItUpyvr on Facebook, Instagram, and Kula Foods on LinkedIn. We offer weekly delivery and pick up services that include offerings from our community. You can also find our products at our local partners spaces in BC. We love hosting events like our collective cooking classes to get folks together over food, and keep in touch to find out about events in the Vancouver Area.

If you’ve found this helpful, please consider sharing it! Don’t forget to subscribe to Vancouver Humane Society’s PlantUniversity Platform to stay updated on new content and to get involved in their work.

Subscribe to stay updated

More posts like this

Eating habits pose a problem for fish

A tuna swimming in the ocean with more tuna in the background

Eating habits pose a problem for fish

A tuna swimming in the ocean with more tuna in the background

You’ve probably heard somewhere that goldfish have only a three-second memory.

Like so many of the “facts” about fish that have been widely accepted for decades, it’s not true. It’s also symbolic of the many misconceptions humans have about the estimated 3.5 trillion fish with whom we share the planet.

It turns out fish can not only remember things; they can plan, use tools, socialize and play. They are far more intelligent than previously thought and, more importantly, they are sentient. They can experience feelings such as fear, frustration, comfort and enjoyment. They can feel pain.

Sadly, these complex and misunderstood animals are in trouble; and our society’s appetite for fish and other animal-based food products is largely to blame.

This World Oceans Day, let’s explore some of the ways fish are harmed by eating habits—and what we can do about it.

Skip to section:

Fish farming

Industrial fishing

Agricultural runoff

How you can help

Alternatives to eating fish

Fish farming

A fish farm in British Columbia

Fish farming, also known as aquaculture, has been referred to as the factory farms of the sea. That’s because farm-raised fish are kept in crowded conditions without enrichment where they cannot engage in their natural behaviours.

Fish raised in fish farms are subjected to intense stress that leaves them vulnerable to disease. To prevent disease, fish farms depend heavily on antibiotics, which can contribute to drug-resistant infections in humans.

Farmed fish aren’t the only ones who suffer due to aquaculture, though. Naturally carnivorous fish like salmon, halibut, and tuna are typically fed diets made with fish meal and fish oils. The antibiotics and waste from fish farms can seep into the surrounding water, impacting the local ecosystem. Fish farms can spread disease to wild fish. Most First Nations in B.C. oppose open net fish farming, citing the harms they cause to wild fish populations.

Farmed fish account for about 20% of Canada’s seafood production.

Content warning

The following video contains graphic scenes depicting the inhumane conditions and slaughter of farmed fish.

Industrial fishing

Fish caught in a net from a commercial fishing boat

To meet the world’s growing demand for fish, the commercial fishing industry uses methods that result in massive losses of marine life. Methods include:

  • Bottom trawling: a large net with heavy weights is dragged across the seafloor, scooping up everything in its path and damaging sensitive marine habitats.
  • Longlining: Boats use lines that can extend for up to 50 miles, with thousands of baited hooks branching off from the main line.  

It has been estimated that between 0.79 and 2.3 trillion fish are caught globally from the wild each year (2007-2016). According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than 34 per cent of fish in the world’s marine fisheries were classified as overfished and nearly 90 per cent of the world’s so-called marine fish stocks are now fully exploited, overexploited or depleted.

An estimated 80 fish species have gone extinct in recent centuries and more than 3000 are threatened with extinction.

Industrial fishing methods also result in bycatch, the unintentional capture of non-target species such as dolphins, sea turtles and diving birds. Animals unintentionally caught in nets often die by suffocation, starvation, or drowning.

Agricultural runoff

An animal agriculture feedlot seen from above

The animal agriculture industry is a major source of ocean pollution. Manure from animals raised for food and pesticides used to grow animal feed can make their way into our earth’s waterways with each rainfall.

Agricultural runoff can lead to the overgrowth of algae, which then decomposes and depletes the water of oxygen. Fish, who cannot survive in oxygen-depleted water, either die or move elsewhere to compete for increasingly scarce territory and resources.

In 2017, the meat industry was criticized for causing what is now considered the world’s second-largest ocean dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

How you can help fish

School of fish underwater

By shifting to a plant-based diet, you can directly save about 348 fish lives each year! This includes fish who are caught or farmed for eating and those used as feed for farmed fish. Eating more plant-based foods also decreases the demand for industrial land animal agriculture and fish farms, two major contributors of ocean pollution that harm wild fish and other marine life.

Alternatives to eating fish

PlantUniversity’s Recipe Library has plenty of tasty meals and snacks, including plant-based versions of fish foods!

Try this tasty Chickpea Salad Sandwich for some quick and easy lunches, or use this clever Vegan “Fish” Sauce in a mouth-watering Pad Thai!

You can also take the Plant-Based Pledge to receive free weekly recipes straight to your inbox. Each week you’ll receive a unique and delicious recipe, like this Sticky Garlic Vegan “Salmon”, just in time for Meatless Monday.

Recipe library

More posts like this

Plant-based popularity seems ever-growing

Plant-based popularity seems ever-growing

Plant-based eating has moved into the mainstream in recent years, as demonstrated by a 2018 national survey conducted by Dalhousie University which found British Columbia is leading the dietary revolution. The survey found that nearly 40 per cent of British Columbians 35 and under say they follow a vegan or vegetarian diet.

In North America, a growing number of schools, hospitals, food service providers, businesses and municipalities are recognizing and acting on the collective impact of our food choices, and as a result are embracing the plant-based movement.

Find plant-based businesses near you

At least 16 U.S. cities and counties have included meat-reduction efforts in their climate change mitigation strategies. For example, Santa Monica, California’s climate action plan commits the municipality to reducing meat and dairy purchases by 15% and Portland, Oregon’s climate action plan commits to increasing institutional purchases of healthy, climate-friendly food at public meetings, events, and in government facilities. 

Also in the U.S., Chartwells and Morrison Health Care committed to shifting 20% of menu offerings to plant-based by 2020; the University of Guelph in Ontario is working to replace 20% of meat protein with plant-based proteins; and Western University in Ontario is aiming for 55% of menu options to be based on plant proteins.

Metro Vancouver has seen amazing progress in recent months. In November 2021, citing a report from the Vancouver Humane Society, the City of Vancouver unanimously passed a motion to shift 20% of animal-based purchasing to plant-based. The District of North Vancouver passed another plant-forward motion in March citing the same report.

Amaga Food, a North Vancouver food service provider for several secondary schools, has also committed to transitioning 20% of menu offerings to plant-based. To date, 16 secondary and post-secondary schools throughout Metro Vancouver have also worked to increase their plant-based offerings through initiatives like Meatless Monday.

Share the plant-based movement!

Find tools and tips to advocate for more plant-based options in your area here.

Advocacy tools & tips

More posts like this

Go plant-based for the planet

Go plant-based for the planet

Read on to learn how animal agriculture impacts our environment, and how a plant-based diet can help.

Climate change

Water pollution

Air pollution

Species loss

Antibiotic resistance

Use of valuable resources

Climate Change.

The rise of intensive farmed animal production (factory farming) is causing major environmental damage around the world.

Scientists behind one of the most comprehensive analyses to date of the environmental impact of food production have argued that avoiding meat and dairy products is the best way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet. In fact, research suggests that shifting Western diets to plant-based eating patterns has the potential to reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70 percent.

The UN projects an increase in global meat consumption of 76% by 2050, including a doubling in the consumption of poultry, as well as a 69% increase in beef and a 42% increase in pork consumption. This means that the problems listed below can only get worse, as the animal agriculture sector grows to meet demand.

The animal agriculture industry contributes to greenhouse gas emissions in a number of ways, including:

  • Deforestation caused by expansion of pastures and land for feed crops
  • Burning fossil fuel to produce fertilizers used in feed production
  • Maintaining industrial animal production facilities
  • Transporting feed and processing and transporting animal products
  • Methane release from the breakdown of fertilizers and from manure
  • Methane release from enteric fermentation (produced by animals)

A study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the NGO Grain found that, together, the world’s top five meat and dairy corporations are now responsible for more annual greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuel companies Exxon, Shell or BP. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has therefore stated that:

The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.

Water Pollution.

Globally, agriculture is the largest source of water pollution – and the animal agriculture sector is a major contributor.  A 2018 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) found that:

…the intensification of livestock production — world livestock numbers have more than tripled since 1970 — has seen a new class of pollutants emerge: antibiotics, vaccines and hormonal growth promoters that travel from farms through water into ecosystems and our drinking water. At the same time, water pollution by organic matter from livestock farming is now significantly more widespread than organic pollution from urban areas.

The meat and animal agriculture industry has also been blamed for ocean “dead zones” in which marine life has been killed off by toxic agricultural run-off that pours into rivers emptying into coastal waters.

Air Pollution.

Aside from greenhouse gases, animal agriculture produces significant air pollution. Research shows animal agriculture operations are a source of numerous airborne contaminants including gases, odours, dust, and microorganisms. It has been estimated that a 50 percent reduction in agricultural ammonia emissions worldwide could prevent more than 200,000 deaths per year across 59 countries.

Species Loss.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) published a report in 2017, stating that: “biodiversity is disappearing at an astonishing rate due to the food we eat and the feed we supply our livestock industry…” According to the report, 60 percent of all biodiversity loss across the planet can be traced back to farmed animal production. 

Another study states:

The consumption of animal-sourced food products by humans is one of the most powerful negative forces affecting the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems and biological diversity. Livestock production is the single largest driver of habitat loss, and both livestock and feedstock production are increasing in developing tropical countries where the majority of biological diversity resides.

Antibiotic Resistance.

According to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), antibiotic resistance is one of the most urgent threats to the public health. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. Most antibiotics are fed to farm animals, which can create antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” that infect humans. A 2015 study concluded that:

Demand for animal protein for human consumption is rising globally at an unprecedented rate. Modern animal production practices are associated with regular use of antimicrobials, potentially increasing selection pressure on bacteria to become resistant.

Another study on the issue said: “one solution to reduce antimicrobial consumption in animal production may be to promote low-animal-protein diets.”

Use of valuable resources.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 26% of the planet’s ice-free land is used for farmed animal grazing and 33% of croplands are used for farmed animal feed production. The FAO says:

The livestock sector is one of the key drivers of land-use change. Each year, 13 billion hectares of forest area are lost due to land conversion for agricultural uses as pastures or cropland, for both food and livestock feed crop production.

Beef production alone uses about three fifths of global farmland but yields less than 5% of the world’s protein, according to a report by the Worldwatch Institute, which also states:

Meat production also consumes a lot of water. Agriculture uses about 70 percent of the world’s available freshwater, and one third of that is used to grow the grain fed to livestock.

Indeed, it takes 15,000 litres of water to produce a kilogram of beef, which is far more than is required by a number of staple foods, such as rice (3,400 liters per kg) or potatoes (255 litres).

Take action today!

Take quick action for animals on Earth Day! The Vancouver Humane Society is supporting Animal Justice Academy and calling on the federal government to transition federal food services and catering toward more plant-based options by December 2022. From now until April 22, 2022, add your voice in the social media storm.

Use the buttons below to quickly tweet your support:

Animal ag is a leading driver of deforestation, desertification, GHG, loss of biodiversity, water consumption & pollution, land degradation. Transition toward more plant-based options in federal food services by Dec 2022. #EarthDay
@s_guilbeault @jyduclos @Carolyn_Bennett
Production of meat worldwide causes twice the pollution of production of plant-based foods. Transition toward more plant-based options in federal food services by Dec 2022. #IPCC #EarthDay
@JustinTrudeau @mclaudebibeau @FilomenaTassi

More posts like this

More cafes increasing plant-based milk options

A Starbucks cup on a table with a blurred-out cafe in the background

More cafes increasing plant-based milk options

As the demand for plant-based foods is increasing, more cafes are responding by shifting menus.

Why are cafes shifting toward plant-based options?

A global collective of 11,000 scientists recently declared a climate emergency and pointed to six critical steps to addressing the situation. Included in the six recommendations was the assertion that “eating mostly plant-based foods while reducing the global consumption of animal products, especially ruminant livestock, can improve human health and significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions.”

Institutions that offer food service can help make it easier for consumers to access plant-based options by prioritizing those items on daily menus. One useful and effective strategy includes making the default menu option plant-based, effectively making the climate-friendly, healthy and humane option the easiest choice for consumers, while still allowing the consumer the ability to modify the default option if they so choose.

Tips on going dairy-free

Chain cafes are shifting their menus

By 2030, Starbucks is aiming for a 50 percent reduction in its carbon emissions, water withdrawal and waste sent to landfills. “Alternative milks will be a big part of the solution,” said Starbucks CEO, Kevin Johnson. “The consumer-demand curve is already shifting.”

Johnson says the company will encourage consumers to choose plant-based milk made from coconuts, almond, soy or oats, which all have a smaller environmental footprint than dairy products. In North America, 15 to 20 percent of Starbucks customers already opt for plant-based milk options.

However, the company has not yet moved to remove the additional $0.80 charge from its plant-based milk options in North America. This is a necessary next step to truly encourage a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly and animal-friendly shift.

The company’s announcement comes after an environmental assessment determined that dairy products are the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions across its operations and supply chain.

The move to prioritize plant-based milk is part of Starbucks’ updated sustainability plan, which includes a pledge to “expanding plant-based options, migrating toward a more environmentally friendly menu.” The company is currently exploring new plant-based beverages and breakfast menu items.

The coffee giant’s expanded sustainability plan and focus on plant-based foods reflects the growing need to address our food system’s contribution to climate change, the global biodiversity crisis and the high demand for meat that drives factory farming.

Tim Hortons is also recognizing the importance of offering more plant-based milk options.

As a response, Tim Hortons introduced almond milk at locations across Canada in 2020, oat milk in 2021 and soy milk at select locations. According to Tim Hortons, research shows that customers who request plant-based milks prefer almond over any other types.  

Independent cafes are leading the way

A hand holds a pink beverage in a glass mug from the top floor overlooking Kind Cafe, Vancouver.

Many smaller cafes are joining or leading this plant-based movement. One in particular is Kind Café, located on Main Street in Vancouver. This locally owned, 100% plant-based and zero-waste cafe offers a number of plant-based milk options, including a variety of nut milks.

This is an excellent example of a cafe that offers plant-based milk as their default option.

Looking to find more plant-based cafes? Visit PlantUniversity’s Animal-free shopping & eating guide!

Find local plant-based businesses

Interested in learning more tips for expanding plant-based menu options at your school, workplace, business or in your community? Get in touch with us!