August 22, 2023 • 51 mins
In this episode we have a thoughtful chat with chef and activist, Miyoko Schinner. Plus we dish on the hottest headlines, answer listener Q&As, and hear all of the exciting things happening at the VegNews HQ!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Straw Hut Media, food news, celebrities, and more from the
world's number one plant based food and lifestyle magazine.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It's the veg News Podcast and here's your host, Jasmine Singer.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hello everyone, Happy Tuesday. Thank you for joining us for
the final episode of Season one of the veg News
Podcast sponsored by Mudwater, the coffee alternative everyone is raving about,
especially me. I'm Jasmine Singer, your host, and today we
will be catching up with the one and only vegan
(00:45):
entrepreneur and activist Mijoko Schinner. We will also answer all
of your burning vegan questions from the veg News Hotline
and find out what's up at the veg News HQ
from publisher Colleen Holland. But first, here are the lines
of the week. Every week we'll share our top news stories.
Here's what we can't stop thinking about at veg News.
(01:09):
Story number one. NBA star Kyrie Irving and celebrity chef
Supreme Doo have teamed up to bring ten thousand vegan
meals to the unhoused in Los Angeles. Last month, Chef
Doo kicked off his annual ten k Meals Across LA
initiative with a skid row barbecue where he treated unhoused
(01:29):
community members to cheeseburgers from vegan Shane Harthouse. Thanks to
a twenty five thousand dollars donation from Irving chef Doo,
is well on his way to reaching his goal. Our
second story today, every thirty three seconds, someone in the
United States dies from cardiovascular diseases. In fact, cardiovascular disease
(01:50):
is the leading cause of death worldwide. Luckily, a new
meta analysis published in JAMMA Network Open found that meatless
this diets help combat risk factors in people at high
risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Specifically, the study found that
diets rich and minimally processed plant based whole foods offer
(02:13):
the most substantial benefits. It's time to load up on fruits, vegetables,
and lagoons. That's what I just had for lunch. Our
third headline today, known for its over the top plant
based burghers, Slutty Vegan recently opened its thirteenth location at
Spelman College and historically Black University, located in Atlanta, Georgia,
(02:35):
for founder Pinky Cole Hayes, who was featured on episode
four of the Vege News podcast. This latest launch is
a full circle moment, she says, as a proud alumna
of Clark Atlanta University, this milestone of being able to
have a slutty vegan location on an historically black campus
is a true full circle moment for me. The slutty
(02:58):
vegan empire is not slowing down anytime soon, and I,
for one am thrilled about that. Our fourth headline today.
The highly anticipated Barbie movie first hit theaters last month
and continues to inspire a plethora of pink hued innovations
in every corner of the world, including Niku Nashi, LA's
(03:18):
go to hotspot for vegan sushi, nestled inside Vegan bar
apb on Melrose Avenue. Niku Nashi recently added a Barbie
roll to its menu. The sushi role is filled with
fried oyster mushrooms, pickled cabbage, plant based caviar, plant based,
spicy tuna, burdock root and avocado, all wrapped in Barbie
(03:41):
pink soy paper. I'll take ten, please, and do you
ship to Rochester, New York?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Yes? Okay?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Our fifth and final story today. Speaking of Barbie, how
did superstar Margot Robbie prepare for the iconic role well
to get Barbie Ready, the Australian actress, relied on a
routine that included vitamins, skincare regimens, and a diet rich
in fermented foods. By consuming fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi,
(04:08):
Robbie promoted her body's healing while reducing stress, something we
all probably need. Additionally, Robbie and the rest of the
Barbie's drink organic Milk Thistle Tea, which despite its name,
is completely vegan. We'll meet you in Barbieland for lunch.
And that's all of our top stories this week. All
of our headlines of the week will be linked to
(04:29):
in the show notes at VegNews dot com slash podcast.
Now let's get to our conversation, shall we. Miyoko Shinner
is an extraordinary, to say the least, vegan entrepreneur, chef,
activist and cookbook author. Founder of the vegan cheese brand
Miyoko's Creamery. She has recently parted ways with the company
(04:53):
and is now focusing on her activism and projects that
have deep meaning for her. I think you'll find this
interview in incredibly inspiring, and I know I cannot wait
to see what's next for the great Miyoko Shinner. We
will sit down with Mioko right after this. Welcome to
(05:18):
the VEG News podcast. Mioko, I'm so honored to be
talking to you right now.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Well, I'm honored to be talking to you, Jasmine. So
the feeling is mutual.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Oh great, well it is. I'm sure like I can't
even imagine what this year has been like for you,
and I know that there is only a certain amount
you probably can and can't talk about. So let me
just ask you, how are you doing.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Well? This may come as a surprise. What I'm actually
doing fantastically, Oh goodness. And I mean that in a
very very genuine real way. Had you asked me that
three months ago, I wouldn't have been able to say
the same. But you know, but started out as a
pretty terrible year. I feel like I have. I knew
(06:05):
always that there's always, as they say, the light at
the end of the tunnel, that you know you're always
going to make it through, no matter how horrible life
can be. And I feel like I have either made
it through or I'm very very close to it. I mean,
I don't think you're ever out of the tunnel, because
life is a tunnel. Like you're always navigating in the
dark to some degree, and there's always going to be
(06:27):
monsters jumping out at you. And yeah, I had, let's
just say, more than my share of monsters over the
past year. But I can say that I have learned
so much and I feel that I've gotten back to
who I am at the core, my core beliefs that
I can live a more genuine, real existence today than
(06:50):
I ever could have in the last eight to ten years.
And so for that, I am deeply grateful, Because I've
learned so much about myself, life, business, the plant based
food industry, the future of food, human beings, all of that,
and so for all of that, I am deeply grateful
(07:13):
for whatever happened to me, whatever I went through, If
that was what was needed for me to reach this point,
then I'm grateful.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Wow, well, there is a lot there that I would
love to unpack, at least a bit. So first of all,
what has been the most surprising thing you've learned about
any of the above, yourself, the industry, any of the
above you choose, Well, you know, one.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Of the there's a lot of surprising things. I don't
know if I could really prioritize them. But you know,
let's just talk about the fact that you go through
life thinking that you're building towards something that you know
you're on a certain trajectory, whether it's you know, let's
say you start off as a dancer and you go
to all these additions and eventually you become a oral,
(08:02):
famous ballerina or whatever. But you know, there's there's something
that we think we're always building towards. And you think
when you get to a certain age, you've done it
and it's all behind you, and you know, now you
can kind of like go off into the sunset and
relax and all of that. And I'm going to be
(08:23):
sixty six in September, and I am reinventing myself yet again.
Now I wouldn't say it's a complete reinvention, but I
am starting again because I have to for a number
of reasons for my soul as well as just financially,
because I also have to figure out I'm going to
survive for the next thirty years and so it never ends.
(08:45):
And I think we have to realize that we have
to maintain that sort of spirit that you never retire
from life. You may retire from one profession, but then
you need to in order to maintain your spirit, have
to re immerse yourself in the next phase fully in
(09:06):
order to continue your journey. So, you know, I really
do believe that. I thought, okay, well, you know, this
was my last hurrah, and I was going to go
into the sunset fully retired. And now I am really
more excited than ever about what more I can do
that's bigger and better.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
What possibly could you do that you haven't done? I'm
just okay, but what is it? I mean, can you
tell us? Is there anything you can tell us?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
It's unformed still in my mind. I mean, there's lots
of little things. I have a new book proposal out,
you know, so I'm talking to publishers about that. So
I'm excited about that. But more and more, what I've
learned through this whole industry that is more important than
anything I believe is that all of us are animal
rights activists. We're all trying to change the world by
(09:57):
we're all trying to save animals. There's different approaches on
doing that. For the last you know, I would say
thirty forty years, you know, since people like Peter Singer,
there's been this idea that activism was going to save animals,
and so we were all activists or advocates or trying
to find our own different way. And then people started
(10:19):
leaving the activist movement thinking that, oh, activism doesn't work.
We've been trying it for a couple of decades and
the world's still not vegan. We haven't moved past that
two percent of the population mark, which may or may
not be true because I've seen different figures and certainly
it seems like there's a lot more vegans now than
(10:39):
there was twenty years ago. I mean, we have to
admit that, right, But there's a lot of activists sort
of leaving the activism arena and saying, Okay, that's not
going to work. What we need to do is solve
the problem of animals through products, through what's actually being sold.
And this is what's called a market based solution. And
(11:00):
that's where a lot of the movement has gone, is
let's just replace what's on the shelf and people will
naturally shift to veganism. And it seemed like, wow, that
really seems smart. I have to admit that I was
of that ilk for a whiles, like that's all we
need to do is change what's on the shelf. And
what happens is you change what's on the shelf, and
(11:21):
the people that buy those products initially are vegans because
they're looking for those products and not a lot of
other people. And sometimes those other people try it, and
then they either don't like it or whatever, and so
then we go back to the drawing board and say, well,
it's because the products weren't good enough. We need to
you know, vegans will eat anything, but we need to
come up with things that are exact replicas. And we
(11:42):
keep going down this path of trying to solve the
world's problems through products. But the fact is, all of
us who are vegan today, we became vegan. Like Jasmin,
why did you become a vegan? Did you become a
vegan because there was a great product on the shelf
that you just fell in love with?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
No, No, not at all. It vegan because of learning
about what happens to dairy cas and egg laying hens.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Okay, So in other words, awareness is what made you vegan. Yeah,
so awareness is the only thing that makes anyone go
vegan or become a climate activist or anything. It's not
a product on a shelf. The product is just a
convenience that helps your journey, but it's not the reason.
It's not the impetus. And so we need to continue
(12:28):
to to be activists, to advocate, to educate, to create awareness. Now,
maybe we haven't been doing it the right way, maybe
our methodology hasn't been right, but the intent is right.
If we don't create that awareness, no one ever goes vegan.
There's no reason to. And so I've gone back to
(12:49):
that thinking, thinking, Okay, what do we need to do
to not scare people? Know, Like, sure you were one
of those people. You learned about the dairy industry. So
did I. That's what made me go vegan. I was
already vegetarian because I didn't want to kill animals, but
when I learned about the dairy industry is what made
me go vegan. And sometimes that works. Like maybe you
(13:10):
stand there, you know, in a town square in European
city with a bunch of computers showing footage of factory
farms or slaughterhouses, and passers by come along and maybe
some of them go, oh my god, my eyes are awakened.
I'm never going to eat a burger again. Others are
horrified and go, don't show me that footage. That's just
(13:31):
like more than I want to see. So the reaction
is going to be very depending on what the approach is.
But people like to be inspired, and that is something
that we have not succeeded in doing. We've tried to
sort of scare people into submission into becoming vegan, but
(13:52):
we haven't tried to inspire them into becoming vegan. And
I believe that is the next phase of where creation
is what I would call inspirational activism. We have to
figure out how do we actually inspire people to show
them that this is the better lifestyle, that this is
the lifestyle that is that you should aspire to rather
(14:16):
than the you know, oh my god, you know I
can't do that anymore or so in other words, it's
just like you know, being in the cool kids club.
Like everybody wants to belong, everybody wants to be part
of a community, everybody wants a better life. So we
need to inspire people to believe that this is indeed
a better life, a more exciting life, a more beautiful life,
(14:40):
one that makes you happier every single morning when you
get up, you know, you feel great, and a lot
of the health advocates have sort of you know, taken
that route to a certain degree, but it's only been
about health. So we need to figure out how do
we inspire people and up them and love them for
(15:01):
wherever they are in that journey of growing. So that
is you know, for example, my brother took him probably,
i know, twenty years to become a vegan. He finally
became vegan about ten years ago. But for the longest time,
he was you know, like I was just like nudging
him along, and I he became vegan solely over time,
(15:22):
and then finally he's like, I get it now, and
he finally went all the way.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
And he probably had a whole lot of your cheese in.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
That ten years, all kinds of food, you know, just
like lots of things. But he finally went vegan about
ten years ago, and of course he's never looked back,
and he's he's never been happier. But you know, but
I didn't make him feel guilty all the years that
he was my kid brother and you know, chowing down
on hamburger or whatever. I just tried to encourage him
(15:54):
and inspire him along the way. And so now for me,
the thinking is, how do we formalize that? How do
we actually turn this into a real movement? And so
and and for me as a businesswoman as well, like
how do I turn this into a business? Can I
create an inspirational brand and an activist brand, an inspirational
(16:15):
lifestyle brand. So That's what I'm working on right now
is and what would that look like? So I'm just yeah, anyway,
that was a long winded way to say I'm working
on something.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Oh my god, well I can't wait. And so when
you say a lifestyle brand, and I know this isn't
totally formed yet, and so I'm not going to hold
you to this. But you're talking a lot about inspiring
people to go vegan because of like their ethics.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Do I have that right because of their ethics? Because
they because everybody feel everyone wants to be a good person.
Everyone feels like I'm a good person. So how do
we let the values they truly have inside?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
So how do I ask this? Where does or does
vegan capitalism fit into that?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Yeah, so that's really an interesting question. So vegan capitalism.
So my daughter actually was talking about how she feels like,
you know, veganism, vegans are going out into different groups.
And she would say there's a large group now that
is beginning to sort of control the trajectory of veganism
and activism, and she would call them the vegan capitalists
(17:27):
or capitalist vegans. And when you're a capitalist vegan, you're
looking for an ROI beyond just the ethics, beyond just
actually saving animals. There's an ROI involved a return on
your own investment of time and of money and resources
(17:47):
to be rewarded yourself in some way. And I think
there's a danger in that now. Of course, everyone should
be entitled to make a living, but we don't need
to make a killing in more than ways in one okay. So,
(18:10):
and where we're headed is a consolidation of the market space.
There's going to be a handful of winners and a
lot of losers. And because anytime there's investment dollars going
into an enterprise, that enterprise has to scale and has
to scale rapidly because if it doesn't, there's no opportunity
(18:32):
for the investors to get a return on their investment.
So there is always pressure to grow your company as
fast as you can, get as big as you can,
and at that point, everybody else becomes becomes competition rather
than collaborators, so you're always watching out for yourself. You're
protecting your IP, which means that if this, let's say,
(18:55):
your IP is so valuable that it could replace all
animals and convert every single human being on earth to
being a vegan. Okay, let's say, why should you own
the patent on that? Shouldn't that be open sourced if
that's the solution to saving the world, And if your
purpose for starting the company is actually to save the world,
(19:16):
why wouldn't you open source that IP? If it's so valuable,
if it's so much I mean, if it's so effective.
So the fact that people don't open source it to
me indicates a couple of things. One, saving animals isn't
the main objective. It's an objective, but it's not the
(19:36):
main objective. Or Two, it's not the solution. Because it
really were the solution, you'd open source it. I mean,
if you really believed, if your values are truly aligned
with what you put your money, if you really believe
that you want to save the world, and you felt
like you had the one solution that could save the world,
why not make it available to everybody? So that we
(19:57):
can get there faster.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
What would that look like making it available to everybody.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Well, first of all, I don't think I think that's
a myth. I don't think there is a market solution
that's good. So I think I'm just saying that hypothetically. Okay, theoretically,
I'm basically it's rhetorical. But I mean what I would
say is, you know, we often as vegans, only think
about animals and about farmed animals. Oftentimes we don't even
(20:24):
think about wildlife. You know, most of the discussions around
you know, saving cows and pigs and chickens. We also
don't think about people very much, although you know, we've
now kind of got During COVID we became hip to
the fact that slaughter house workers weren't treated very well
and they were dying at alarming rates, and all of
(20:46):
a sudden, it's like, oh my god, look at you know,
factory farming isn't just about animals. It's the way they
treat people. But we also have to realize that it's
not just factory farms, it's the entire the way the
entire economy, the food economy is set up today. It's
all designed for scale. It's all designed so that there,
(21:08):
as I said before, very few winners and a lot
of losers. So if you're a mom and pop operation,
let's just say, you know, you just want to start
a small business. It's very hard to compete these days
because you're competing against all the big players. You just
can't get a foot in the door. You may need
to get a loan, you can't get investments if you're
too small, et cetera. So the bigger you know, when
(21:29):
we create the sort of lopsided economy, we actually destroy
opportunities for smaller producers, smaller farmers. I'm just going to
talk about the dairy industry, but it's happening outside the
dairy industry as well. Consolidation is what has killed most
dairy farms. It's not the rise of almond milk. And
(21:51):
so there's been more and more consolidation where these big
dairy company conglomerates are coming in and buying up small
family farms or contracting with family farms where the family
farms can have to sell at one price to these
large conglomerates. And we all think, oh my god, that's terrible,
but we're so glad that these family farms are failing,
(22:11):
but it's not necessarily putting a huge dent into dairy sales,
because what's happening is the small farmers are are failing
and they're committing suicide and losing their land and livelihood
and all that. But these big conglomerates are getting bigger
and bigger and bigger and bigger. So someone's still making money.
It's just not distributed. But the same thing is happening
(22:32):
with other kinds of farms that are not necessarily even
dairy farms. So the fact is, whether it's dairy or
something else, small family farms are failing, which means that
people can't survive. But these conglomerates are getting bigger and
bigger and bigger. And it's not just in the United States.
(22:54):
It's happening all over the world where we the Western
world are going in to other places, whether it's India
or Africa or Asia, and we are basically rolling up
a lot of these smaller producers and farms and possibly
just sort of destroying them or bringing in our own technology.
(23:18):
I mean, if you just think back to you know,
what Monsanta did with GMO crops in India. So all
of these farmers just got hooked on GMO seeds and
they have to keep buying from Monsanto yearly and their
livelihoods are affected. A similar thing could happen in other
well is happening in other industries, and it could happen
(23:41):
in the so called alt protein space, where we've convinced
ourselves that the only thing that is going to save
the world are exact replicas of meat and dairy. And
so once we do that, you know, we're going to
put in bioreactors in Africa so that we can save
the you know, we can feed the poor starving Africans
(24:05):
who's you know, let's say Ethiopia. Teft farms were destroyed
largely due to a lot of other activities of the
Western world. But we're going to destroy their local economies
and we're going to bring our uh solutions, our Western
solutions to them to save the world. And so to me,
this is these are great inequities.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I call it food colonialism, and it's impacting people here
in the United States as well as people in underserved
developing countries everywhere, and I think we need to watch
out for that that as we invent the future of food,
we don't fall under the same you know, go down
(24:50):
the same foot you know, follow the same footsteps of
our of the other industries. I know I'm blabbing, but
I was in Vietnam one time and I saw this
giant Nesley billboard about how they were bringing good, healthy
dairy nutrition to the people of Vietnam. We have to
remember that the people of Vietnam didn't drink dairy. I
(25:12):
mean that was not dairy, was not a common food,
but now it is. You know, same thing in Japan.
I grew up in Japan. We didn't consume dairy, but
now everybody does nice and so, you know, these are
the kind of things that we have to think about.
We believe that we are the saviors in every single
(25:33):
way the Western world can save the world, save the
rest of the world. And we impose our values and
our systems on every other culture in the world. And
we also destroy local economies within the United States, and
we do not allow same opportunities for women or people
(25:53):
of color. They don't have the same access to investment dollars,
et cetera. And that's a whole other thing, like do
we even need investment dollars. The fact that you can't
even get a business off the ground without investment dollars
is just wrong. You cannot get a foothold anymore, and
so without giving your company away, because remember, when you
(26:16):
get an investment, you're selling a portion of your company
to somebody else. Right in the old case, you could
actually just start a business and you know, you'd have
you'd live upstairs, and you'd have a shop on the
first floor, on the first floor, and then you the
whole family worked and nobody owned it except you, right right?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Can you If you can't, it's totally fine, But can
you tell our listeners a little bit about what happened
for anybody who's been living under a slab of tofu
and for whatever reason missed it? Or are you not?
Do you know I want to go there?
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Well, I really can't. I can't say a whole lot.
All I can say is I you know, I started
a company MEO Gos many many years ago, and I'm
longer involved. We've gone our separate ways, and that I
can't say a whole lot more about that.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Well, okay, that is totally fine, I understand. So I
will say that you have also become quite an icon,
not just within like veganism, but far, far beyond veganism.
Anybody who is listening to this who has been vegan
for a short amount of time, you probably don't remember
the dark days of vegan cheese. It was like cardboard
(27:29):
adjacent cardboard probably would have tasted better. And then you
came along and you cracked the code. And it's not
like you just came along one day. You've been doing
this your whole entire life. So I do have a
few more questions about, like what advice you would have
for entrepreneurs. But first let's just go a little bit
back in time. I know you stopped eating animals at
(27:52):
a young age, so can you tell us about that,
Like what helped little Mioko to make the connection?
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Sure, Little Mioco went on a camping trip with her
schoolmates and was put into the vegetarian group with two
other vegetarians and a T shirt. And the food was horrible.
Now I had to eat tasteless millet that had been unseasoned.
It was the most god awful thing for a rice
eating girl. And I thought, oh my god, this is
what it takes to be a vegetarian. I'll never I'll
(28:19):
ever make it. Anyway, I got home, though, my mother
put pork chops in front of me, which at the
time were my was my favorite all time food, and
I looked at it and I just couldn't eat it
and no longer resemble food to me, and I just
saw a living being. I don't even know how I
made that connection, you know, when you're twelve years old,
(28:39):
you just like make these connections. And I just pushed
it away and I said, I can't eat this. My
mother was shocked, and I thought, you know, I'm sure
I'll want to eat it by the end of the week.
And a few days passed, I couldn't eat it, and
that was it. I never looked back. I never once
craved meat after that. It was the easiest thing in
(29:00):
the world for me. And I remember kids used to
like taunt me with hamburger, you really want to eat this?
And I would like, it's like this is gross, Like,
you know, why would I want to eat that? So
that was it was very easy.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Well that I think it's impressive that you were able
to stick with it, because I talked to a lot
of people who when they were children had that instinct
and then for whatever reason, they just fell back into
the societal norm of consuming animal products. So where did
you go from there? I do I remember correctly that
(29:33):
your mom wanted you to go to culinary school.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
No, no, no, I wanted to know. She actually just
stopped cooking for me. She just said, well, you're gonna
be cooking for you. And that's how I learned to cook.
So because you had no choice, I had no choice,
So you know, that was that. That was so I
did not go to culinary school. I wanted to go
to culinary school because I became fascinated by food and
(29:58):
I was helping a woman in college who was a caterer,
so I kind of, you know, would help her on
various things. Was introduced to French cuisine for the first time,
and I just became fascinated. And of course she wasn't
cooking vegetarian, but I was helping her anyway, and I thought,
oh my god, this is just amazing stuff. And I
(30:19):
wish I could learn how to do this. But I
didn't want to go to culinary I mean I didn't
go because I would have had to actually cook me
and that would have been really, really gross. So I
did not become I did not go to culinary school.
I'm self taught. I did work my way through Julia
Child's Mastering the Artic French Cooking, as well as some
(30:41):
other Cordon Blue and some other books. I read those
and I tried to imagine, Okay, what's actually happening here
when you make a demigloss sauce and you're reducing all
of the brass and the red wine and all this stuff,
Like what's going on? And I lived in Japan at
the time, and I had access to things like soy
sauce and misa which were not used at all in
(31:01):
the United States back in the nineteen eighties, and just
knowledge of two different cuisines, Japanese and American, along with
you know, learning about French cuisine. I started like incorporating
different flavors, using soy sauce to substitute for let's say,
meat broth to give sort of that umami and things.
(31:23):
And that's really how I ended up writing my very
first cookbook, which was published in nineteen ninety. It was like,
I would say, probably that and one other cookbook were
the first two I would say upscale vegan cookbooks that
hit the market pre internet and all that. But and
I had my first cheese recipes in there. In nineteen
(31:43):
ninety I had a cheese ball. I had a Holi cheese.
It was a fermented tofu okay, but it did involve fermentation.
So that was my Yeah, that was my first. And
then I started experimenting with with soy yogurt and making
cheese out of soy yogurt, which was another simple form
(32:06):
of cheese. So okay.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Yeah, I gotta get my hands on this og sort
of old old timey book. I love that. And now
you've helded you have helmed many business ventures throughout this
throughout the past decades. But can you tell us about
Madame Mioko?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Oh, my god, Madame Mioko.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Was Madame Mioko?
Speaker 4 (32:27):
Yeah, well it was a funny name. So that was
my very first business venture back in the nineteen eighties.
And I made pound cakes and I hired a little
graphic I don't know what do they called branding agency
in Japan, and they came up with a name Madame Mioko,
(32:50):
And of course that sounded French. It didn't sound like,
you know, I was in the red light district or
anything like that. And so I wanted to show, well,
pound cakes were really popular in Japan. At the time,
I don't know. It was like pound cakes were the
craze in Japan. So I made a pound cake made
(33:12):
out of okara, which is a byproduct of tofu processing,
and I rented this little bakery, dusty little place way
outside of Tokyo. Took me forever to get there, like
three subways and a bus, and I had to walk
and I didn't have a car. So I delivered my
(33:34):
pound cakes all over Tokyo in a backpack, seventy of them,
so they were a pounding so seventy pounds, and I
delivered them by subway train. And that was my very
first business venture.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
What I would give for a photograph, is there a
photograph of you sitting on the subway with this back back.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
You know, back then we didn't have cell phones, remember.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Well, I do. I also recall the tassout. We didn't
know about that, but I would still love that. So
many things have happened since Madame Mioko was selling cakes
out of her bag, But one of the most important
ventures that you started, I think has been Rancho Campasion.
So tell us about your sanctuary and what's been happening
(34:20):
there lately.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Okay, there's a lot that's been happening. So Rancho Compassion
is a formed animal sanctuary I founded in twenty fifteen
and it started sort of as an accident, and now
we've grown to about well now, okay, I'll tell you
the number in a minute. It's been what saved my
life in many many ways. Aside from the animals. We've
(34:43):
created a beautiful community here of passionate staff and volunteers
and visitors, and we do a lot of outreach activities.
But most recently we merged with another sanctuary in Colfax, California,
which is up in the foothills. They were in extreme
fire territory. You know, we've had all these fires in California.
(35:04):
They had just had one narrow road in and out
and it was either last year the year before they
had to evacuate because of a threat of fire. They
had to evacuate all of their eighty animals and it
was the most frightening thing. So we had met the
executive director, Daniel Hannish, the founder of that sanctuary, and
(35:25):
we was just founder to be lovely and together along
with Monica James of Humane jameson Humane, Monica Stevens of
Jamison Humane, we co founded a nonprofit called LEAP Leaders
for Ethics Animals in the Planet last year, which was
the which is the world's first alternative to four H
and f FA, which is Future Farmers of America. So
(35:47):
I'll get back to that in the minute. But through
founding this organization with Danielle, I got to know her.
And when I found out about her fire danger and everything,
we thought, what if we combined our resources, What if,
you know, we could become stronger together, because we'd be
bigger and bolder together and we could get you out
of fire danger. And so we have merged our two sanctuaries.
(36:11):
Their animals are in the process of transitioning over Director Compolson,
and most of them are over here now. We're still
waiting for the pigs and the cows. And Danielle has
taken up a leadership position here at the sanctuary along
with my daughter who has been the manager for many years, Cammie.
But she is going back to school. She's going to
go to the new school in New York in the fall.
(36:34):
So you know, it's just working out perfectly. And so
we've combined our boards and now we're bigger, better, bolder, stronger,
and I think We're going to be able to do
more more things. Daniel has an educational background, so we're
going to be doing a lot more school activities and that,
(36:55):
along with LEAP will become the LEAP headquarters here as
well too. Hopefully we'll be able to reach more youth,
which I believe or the future of the food system.
And I do want to say, if you don't mind,
I want to talk a little bit about LEAP.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Yeah, so that's what I was going to ask you.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Okay, please great. So we started LEAP last year and
we had a pilot program involving six different sanctuaries. It's
a program where just like four h or f FA,
students get to learn about everything from leadership, to food systems,
to animals, sustainability, all of that. But oftentimes in four
(37:33):
h or FFA kids raise animals and they fall in
love with them, and then they have to take them
to the county fair, parade them around, and then they
get sold off for slaughter, which is really heartbreaking to
a lot of these kids, Like a lot of them
don't realize that that's what's happening. But during this process
of doing that, they are supposedly quote unquote learning about
(37:55):
the food system, and their hearts are being hardened, and
so we wanted to change that. We wanted to create
an opportunity where kids could connect with animals, learn about
animal care if they're interested in that, but not have
to take them to slaughter at the end of the day,
where they get to see their animal grow up, enjoy
(38:18):
on a sanctuary. And so LEAP will take place always
at a sanctuary. So we launched this past year at
six sanctuaries in NorCal with about six kids per sanctuary,
so a total of you know, thirty thirty five kids
or so. And this September we are expanding the program
(38:41):
to twenty five sanctuaries across the United States. So we've
got some in New York, Ohio, and you know, just
all over the country. And so we're still we're going
to it's an educational program. Right now, it's just for
high school, but in the future we want to expand
to middle school and and more. So the kids put
(39:02):
in about ten and a half hours a month out
a sanctuary, learning about everything from public speaking skills to
vegan cooking, to gardening, to sustainability to wildlife ecosystems to
animal care, all of this to become the true leaders
of tomorrow that will help create a compassionate future for
all of us.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
That is friggin amazing. That really makes my heart saying
and I've just long thought that those programs for kids
are just egregious. I mean, they're just they're ripping apart
their friends from them and like you said, hardening their hearts.
And these are children who have the same instincts that
little Miyoko had of like wait, that's I don't there's
(39:44):
something wrong with this, something is not at right. And
why are these adults saying that I should behave this
way and then we need alternatives to that. So I
could not be more passionate about supporting you with the
LEAP program and with the sanctuary work you're doing. And
so that's getting me excited. What's getting you excited? Like,
(40:07):
what are you most excited about right now in terms
of like what's out there in the world, what what
do you wake up thinking yes about?
Speaker 4 (40:21):
So I am still in the process of emerging from
that that tunnel. So I just want to just say
that that I'm excited that in terms of what's exciting
in the world, I believe is that I think we're
all becoming aware that we need more than the small
(40:46):
lives that we've had as individuals, that we need community.
And I'm reading more and more about that, you know.
The Surgeon General said that loneliness was one of them
was an epidemic in this country, and I'm hearing more
and more people tell me that they need community. And this,
to me, is a huge opportunity for us to create
(41:07):
the biggest vegan community, the biggest community in the world,
which is a vegan community, because it can be a
community that truly cares for people, that brings people together
because of shared values. It's not a community of golf lovers,
it's not a community of artists. It's a community of
(41:29):
people that share the same values that we need to
live compassionately and care for all of us, for each other,
all species. And so that is really what excites me.
And what I found as I've e merged from this
tunnel where I felt very very alone for the last
year in many ways, despite the fact that I had
(41:52):
so much support from friends and family and the world,
is that I am now able to enjoy that support.
I'm now able to enjoy my community in a way
that I don't feel I was able to over the
last ten years because I was just so busy doing
my job. And now I can enjoy my community and
(42:14):
understand what their needs are and how I might be
able to help them as well as partake in that community.
I've been busier than ever. I don't know what is
going on, but my house is always full of people.
Right now, my son is visiting me with his family
from Japan, so I've got a toddler and a six
month old, and then my brother is coming up with
(42:36):
his two dogs tonight, and then my other daughter from
San Diego with her brother, and then I've got another
sister in law coming up next week. And for some reason,
I've got friends and family at my house. My life
has never been this full of community, and so, you know,
I think it's incumbent on all of us that are
(42:59):
to think of our selfish community organizers. We need to
get out there and organize communities around us, and that
is how we inspire people to go vegan.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
Mioko. That is such a beautiful note to end on.
Thank you again so very much for all that you're doing.
I know that in some ways you're at the very
beginning of your journey. And I know we started this
interview with you saying I'm sixty six, which, by the way,
is hard for me to believe because you look very young,
like a lot younger. Not that sixty six is old,
(43:31):
but you look a lot younger than sixty six. It's amazing.
But I feel like because I'm vegan, right, like you
were like, oh remember remember a life without cell phones? Yes,
I was an adult before I had my first cell phone.
People always think I'm younger too, so it's because we're vegan. Anyway,
(43:51):
Thank you so much, Mioko.
Speaker 4 (43:53):
Wait wait, wait, yes, tell more thing. Okay, I forgot
I did start something else and I want everyone, Oh
tell me. Okay, all right. I started a little YouTube show.
It's scrappy. It's called The Vegan Good Life with Mioko.
So it's on YouTube. Check it out, subscribe. I show
you how to make a lot of things that are
very basic, whether it's vegan butter or yogurt or crapes
(44:16):
or whatever. So there's anyway. So that's something that is
right now. I'm only able to post it once every
couple of weeks. It's very scrappy. I hope to make it,
you know, glossier in the future, but still it's scrappy
and it's fun. Come and check it out The Vegan
Good Life with Me.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
We'll link to it in the show notes as well.
Speaker 4 (44:36):
And there's animals in it. There's usually like piggies and
goats eating what I make.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
So oh cute, Oh my gosh, so cute. We'll definitely
link to that. And thank you so much for sharing that.
I know people are going to be heading there right now.
They're probably already watching. I love you, Mika.
Speaker 4 (44:51):
I'll talk to you here and thank you, Jasmin.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
The veg News podcast hotline is open for business. Let
me answer your burning vegan questions by calling eight eight
eight nine to one Vegan. This question comes from Michelle
in Indiana. Hi, Jasmine, it's Michelle from Indiana.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
I would really like.
Speaker 5 (45:23):
To date a vegan. Do you have any.
Speaker 4 (45:25):
Tips to make that happen?
Speaker 3 (45:26):
By the way, I love your dating advice column and
venge News. Thank you, Michelle. That's so nice and you've
certainly come to the right place. Though I am now
happily married to my wife Moore. Sorry ladies, who is
also a longtime vegan herself. I'm all too familiar with
the woes of dating while vegan, because let's face it,
dating is already hard enough, and when you're specifically looking
(45:49):
to date someone who shares your vegan ethics, it can
easily feel like mission impossible, right, But listen, I'm here
to assure you it's not. Apps are a really great
to start. Sure you could start on Tinder, Bumble or Hinge,
you know the big ones, and include your preference for
vegan matches right on your profile. I love that that
is an option, but I do highly also recommend trying
(46:13):
out apps and dating sites that are exclusively for vegans
and vegetarians. So download Grazer or Vegle that's veggl y.
Both apps are geared towards the meat free crowd. I
think you might like to sort of have the best
of both worlds. And you know, if you're trying to
meet the love of your life, why not try as
(46:33):
much as you can. And by the way, old school
dating sites are another avenue. I recommend trying Green Singles
or Veggie Connection. You may just find your vegan love
and convert a couple of vegetarians along the way. Right,
Because we have conquered vegan cheese, as we know, from
our guest today. If online dating it just isn't your style,
(46:54):
you might consider becoming involved with vegan organizations near you,
So look for groups in you're city hosting Vegan Paulus,
volunteer at a local animal shelter, or join an eco
conscious book group. Remember, the best way to connect with
people who share your interests and values is to take
part in activities that reflect those interests and values. I
(47:16):
hope this helps Michelle. Be sure to check out our
tips for navigating dating apps as a vegan and our
top dating tips for vegan singles on VegNews dot com.
Best of luck. Do you have vegan questions? Give us
a call at eight eight eight nine one Vegan. That's
eight day, eight nine one Vega n Let's check in
(47:37):
with veg News publisher Colleen Holland to hear the latest
on all of the exciting things happening at veg News. HQ. Hi, Colleen,
tell us what's going on this week at veg News.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Hey, Jaswine, Congratulations on another fabulous episode of the veg
News podcast. I just wanted to stop by and remind
everyone how they can just get the whole veg News experience.
Aside from the podcast. We have so much going on
each and every day, and I just wanted to quickly
run through a few ways that you can engage with
(48:09):
beg News. Of course, there's ben News dot com, our
award winning website. We publish all day, every day. You know,
exciting news stories, practical guides to everything from Trader Joe's
to Starbucks to Chipotle, recipes, delicious editor or proved recipes,
celebrity interviews, and so much more. You can also subscribe
(48:29):
to our newsletters. We have our Vegees letter that goes
out twice a week with all of our really great,
kind of breaking stories, as well as our Vengies Recipes
that goes out with really fabulous recipes for the week,
and then our beloved Vegan Deal the Week goes out
every Monday and we offer readers a really really great
(48:50):
deal on a Beacon product, and our readers love that.
So you can just head to bech Nees dot com
slash sign up to subscribe to those. You can hit
us up on any of the social media channels, whether
you're an Instagram person, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, We're.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
At all of those.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Of course, we would love to have you subscribe to
our magazine. Like I said, we've uh early in another podcast.
We've just celebrated twenty three years, so you can go
to vegans dot com slash subscribe to get our beautiful
magazine delivered to your door. We've got our book co
written by the wonderful Jasmine Singer right here, The Vegins
(49:33):
Guide to Being a Fabulous Vegan. We have our sister sites,
vegan Weddings dot com and hothi vegan dot com and
we're updating those regularly. And finally, take the trip of
a lifetime with a Veginies vacation. We would so love
to travel with you and go on epic vegan.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
Food tours of countries around the world.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
So just check out vegees dot com slash vacations or
more details on that. So that's just a little tour
of all the fun ways you can get hooked up
with veg News and just know we're here for you
to help you live your best vegan life. We live
and breathe this lifestyle and just cherish our readers and
(50:12):
our listeners so much. So thank you for listening to
the veg News podcast and we'll see you over on
all of our various properties.
Speaker 5 (50:20):
Thanks thank you so much for joining us for this
week's episode of the veg News Podcast.
Speaker 3 (50:35):
Head over to VegNews dot com slash podcasts for all
the show notes, and be sure to check out VegNews
dot com each day for the latest in plant based news, recipes,
taste tests, guides, and so much more. And don't forget
to subscribe to our award winning magazine to have the
best of the vegan lifestyle delivered straight to your doorstep.
(50:58):
I want to send a special thanks to straw.
Speaker 6 (51:00):
Hut Media, Colleen Holland, Eddie Garza, Sarah McLaughlin, Jocelyn Martinez,
Vicky Beechler, and Lorie Johnston for their work in the
production of this podcast, and a huge thank you to
our wonderful podcast sponsor, Mudwater. I'm your host, Jasmine Singer,
and I'll see you next week.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
Bye for now.
Straw Hut Media, food news, celebrities, and more from the
world's number one plant based food and lifestyle magazine.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It's the veg News Podcast and here's your host, Jasmine Singer.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hello everyone, Happy Tuesday. Thank you for joining us for
the final episode of Season one of the veg News
Podcast sponsored by Mudwater, the coffee alternative everyone is raving about,
especially me. I'm Jasmine Singer, your host, and today we
will be catching up with the one and only vegan
(00:45):
entrepreneur and activist Mijoko Schinner. We will also answer all
of your burning vegan questions from the veg News Hotline
and find out what's up at the veg News HQ
from publisher Colleen Holland. But first, here are the lines
of the week. Every week we'll share our top news stories.
Here's what we can't stop thinking about at veg News.
(01:09):
Story number one. NBA star Kyrie Irving and celebrity chef
Supreme Doo have teamed up to bring ten thousand vegan
meals to the unhoused in Los Angeles. Last month, Chef
Doo kicked off his annual ten k Meals Across LA
initiative with a skid row barbecue where he treated unhoused
(01:29):
community members to cheeseburgers from vegan Shane Harthouse. Thanks to
a twenty five thousand dollars donation from Irving chef Doo,
is well on his way to reaching his goal. Our
second story today, every thirty three seconds, someone in the
United States dies from cardiovascular diseases. In fact, cardiovascular disease
(01:50):
is the leading cause of death worldwide. Luckily, a new
meta analysis published in JAMMA Network Open found that meatless
this diets help combat risk factors in people at high
risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Specifically, the study found that
diets rich and minimally processed plant based whole foods offer
(02:13):
the most substantial benefits. It's time to load up on fruits, vegetables,
and lagoons. That's what I just had for lunch. Our
third headline today, known for its over the top plant
based burghers, Slutty Vegan recently opened its thirteenth location at
Spelman College and historically Black University, located in Atlanta, Georgia,
(02:35):
for founder Pinky Cole Hayes, who was featured on episode
four of the Vege News podcast. This latest launch is
a full circle moment, she says, as a proud alumna
of Clark Atlanta University, this milestone of being able to
have a slutty vegan location on an historically black campus
is a true full circle moment for me. The slutty
(02:58):
vegan empire is not slowing down anytime soon, and I,
for one am thrilled about that. Our fourth headline today.
The highly anticipated Barbie movie first hit theaters last month
and continues to inspire a plethora of pink hued innovations
in every corner of the world, including Niku Nashi, LA's
(03:18):
go to hotspot for vegan sushi, nestled inside Vegan bar
apb on Melrose Avenue. Niku Nashi recently added a Barbie
roll to its menu. The sushi role is filled with
fried oyster mushrooms, pickled cabbage, plant based caviar, plant based,
spicy tuna, burdock root and avocado, all wrapped in Barbie
(03:41):
pink soy paper. I'll take ten, please, and do you
ship to Rochester, New York?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Yes? Okay?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Our fifth and final story today. Speaking of Barbie, how
did superstar Margot Robbie prepare for the iconic role well
to get Barbie Ready, the Australian actress, relied on a
routine that included vitamins, skincare regimens, and a diet rich
in fermented foods. By consuming fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi,
(04:08):
Robbie promoted her body's healing while reducing stress, something we
all probably need. Additionally, Robbie and the rest of the
Barbie's drink organic Milk Thistle Tea, which despite its name,
is completely vegan. We'll meet you in Barbieland for lunch.
And that's all of our top stories this week. All
of our headlines of the week will be linked to
(04:29):
in the show notes at VegNews dot com slash podcast.
Now let's get to our conversation, shall we. Miyoko Shinner
is an extraordinary, to say the least, vegan entrepreneur, chef,
activist and cookbook author. Founder of the vegan cheese brand
Miyoko's Creamery. She has recently parted ways with the company
(04:53):
and is now focusing on her activism and projects that
have deep meaning for her. I think you'll find this
interview in incredibly inspiring, and I know I cannot wait
to see what's next for the great Miyoko Shinner. We
will sit down with Mioko right after this. Welcome to
(05:18):
the VEG News podcast. Mioko, I'm so honored to be
talking to you right now.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Well, I'm honored to be talking to you, Jasmine. So
the feeling is mutual.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Oh great, well it is. I'm sure like I can't
even imagine what this year has been like for you,
and I know that there is only a certain amount
you probably can and can't talk about. So let me
just ask you, how are you doing.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Well? This may come as a surprise. What I'm actually
doing fantastically, Oh goodness. And I mean that in a
very very genuine real way. Had you asked me that
three months ago, I wouldn't have been able to say
the same. But you know, but started out as a
pretty terrible year. I feel like I have. I knew
(06:05):
always that there's always, as they say, the light at
the end of the tunnel, that you know you're always
going to make it through, no matter how horrible life
can be. And I feel like I have either made
it through or I'm very very close to it. I mean,
I don't think you're ever out of the tunnel, because
life is a tunnel. Like you're always navigating in the
dark to some degree, and there's always going to be
(06:27):
monsters jumping out at you. And yeah, I had, let's
just say, more than my share of monsters over the
past year. But I can say that I have learned
so much and I feel that I've gotten back to
who I am at the core, my core beliefs that
I can live a more genuine, real existence today than
(06:50):
I ever could have in the last eight to ten years.
And so for that, I am deeply grateful, Because I've
learned so much about myself, life, business, the plant based
food industry, the future of food, human beings, all of that,
and so for all of that, I am deeply grateful
(07:13):
for whatever happened to me, whatever I went through, If
that was what was needed for me to reach this point,
then I'm grateful.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Wow, well, there is a lot there that I would
love to unpack, at least a bit. So first of all,
what has been the most surprising thing you've learned about
any of the above, yourself, the industry, any of the
above you choose, Well, you know, one.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Of the there's a lot of surprising things. I don't
know if I could really prioritize them. But you know,
let's just talk about the fact that you go through
life thinking that you're building towards something that you know
you're on a certain trajectory, whether it's you know, let's
say you start off as a dancer and you go
to all these additions and eventually you become a oral,
(08:02):
famous ballerina or whatever. But you know, there's there's something
that we think we're always building towards. And you think
when you get to a certain age, you've done it
and it's all behind you, and you know, now you
can kind of like go off into the sunset and
relax and all of that. And I'm going to be
(08:23):
sixty six in September, and I am reinventing myself yet again.
Now I wouldn't say it's a complete reinvention, but I
am starting again because I have to for a number
of reasons for my soul as well as just financially,
because I also have to figure out I'm going to
survive for the next thirty years and so it never ends.
(08:45):
And I think we have to realize that we have
to maintain that sort of spirit that you never retire
from life. You may retire from one profession, but then
you need to in order to maintain your spirit, have
to re immerse yourself in the next phase fully in
(09:06):
order to continue your journey. So, you know, I really
do believe that. I thought, okay, well, you know, this
was my last hurrah, and I was going to go
into the sunset fully retired. And now I am really
more excited than ever about what more I can do
that's bigger and better.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
What possibly could you do that you haven't done? I'm
just okay, but what is it? I mean, can you
tell us? Is there anything you can tell us?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
It's unformed still in my mind. I mean, there's lots
of little things. I have a new book proposal out,
you know, so I'm talking to publishers about that. So
I'm excited about that. But more and more, what I've
learned through this whole industry that is more important than
anything I believe is that all of us are animal
rights activists. We're all trying to change the world by
(09:57):
we're all trying to save animals. There's different approaches on
doing that. For the last you know, I would say
thirty forty years, you know, since people like Peter Singer,
there's been this idea that activism was going to save animals,
and so we were all activists or advocates or trying
to find our own different way. And then people started
(10:19):
leaving the activist movement thinking that, oh, activism doesn't work.
We've been trying it for a couple of decades and
the world's still not vegan. We haven't moved past that
two percent of the population mark, which may or may
not be true because I've seen different figures and certainly
it seems like there's a lot more vegans now than
(10:39):
there was twenty years ago. I mean, we have to
admit that, right, But there's a lot of activists sort
of leaving the activism arena and saying, Okay, that's not
going to work. What we need to do is solve
the problem of animals through products, through what's actually being sold.
And this is what's called a market based solution. And
(11:00):
that's where a lot of the movement has gone, is
let's just replace what's on the shelf and people will
naturally shift to veganism. And it seemed like, wow, that
really seems smart. I have to admit that I was
of that ilk for a whiles, like that's all we
need to do is change what's on the shelf. And
what happens is you change what's on the shelf, and
(11:21):
the people that buy those products initially are vegans because
they're looking for those products and not a lot of
other people. And sometimes those other people try it, and
then they either don't like it or whatever, and so
then we go back to the drawing board and say, well,
it's because the products weren't good enough. We need to
you know, vegans will eat anything, but we need to
come up with things that are exact replicas. And we
(11:42):
keep going down this path of trying to solve the
world's problems through products. But the fact is, all of
us who are vegan today, we became vegan. Like Jasmin,
why did you become a vegan? Did you become a
vegan because there was a great product on the shelf
that you just fell in love with?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
No, No, not at all. It vegan because of learning
about what happens to dairy cas and egg laying hens.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Okay, So in other words, awareness is what made you vegan. Yeah,
so awareness is the only thing that makes anyone go
vegan or become a climate activist or anything. It's not
a product on a shelf. The product is just a
convenience that helps your journey, but it's not the reason.
It's not the impetus. And so we need to continue
(12:28):
to to be activists, to advocate, to educate, to create awareness. Now,
maybe we haven't been doing it the right way, maybe
our methodology hasn't been right, but the intent is right.
If we don't create that awareness, no one ever goes vegan.
There's no reason to. And so I've gone back to
(12:49):
that thinking, thinking, Okay, what do we need to do
to not scare people? Know, Like, sure you were one
of those people. You learned about the dairy industry. So
did I. That's what made me go vegan. I was
already vegetarian because I didn't want to kill animals, but
when I learned about the dairy industry is what made
me go vegan. And sometimes that works. Like maybe you
(13:10):
stand there, you know, in a town square in European
city with a bunch of computers showing footage of factory
farms or slaughterhouses, and passers by come along and maybe
some of them go, oh my god, my eyes are awakened.
I'm never going to eat a burger again. Others are
horrified and go, don't show me that footage. That's just
(13:31):
like more than I want to see. So the reaction
is going to be very depending on what the approach is.
But people like to be inspired, and that is something
that we have not succeeded in doing. We've tried to
sort of scare people into submission into becoming vegan, but
(13:52):
we haven't tried to inspire them into becoming vegan. And
I believe that is the next phase of where creation
is what I would call inspirational activism. We have to
figure out how do we actually inspire people to show
them that this is the better lifestyle, that this is
the lifestyle that is that you should aspire to rather
(14:16):
than the you know, oh my god, you know I
can't do that anymore or so in other words, it's
just like you know, being in the cool kids club.
Like everybody wants to belong, everybody wants to be part
of a community, everybody wants a better life. So we
need to inspire people to believe that this is indeed
a better life, a more exciting life, a more beautiful life,
(14:40):
one that makes you happier every single morning when you
get up, you know, you feel great, and a lot
of the health advocates have sort of you know, taken
that route to a certain degree, but it's only been
about health. So we need to figure out how do
we inspire people and up them and love them for
(15:01):
wherever they are in that journey of growing. So that
is you know, for example, my brother took him probably,
i know, twenty years to become a vegan. He finally
became vegan about ten years ago. But for the longest time,
he was you know, like I was just like nudging
him along, and I he became vegan solely over time,
(15:22):
and then finally he's like, I get it now, and
he finally went all the way.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
And he probably had a whole lot of your cheese in.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
That ten years, all kinds of food, you know, just
like lots of things. But he finally went vegan about
ten years ago, and of course he's never looked back,
and he's he's never been happier. But you know, but
I didn't make him feel guilty all the years that
he was my kid brother and you know, chowing down
on hamburger or whatever. I just tried to encourage him
(15:54):
and inspire him along the way. And so now for me,
the thinking is, how do we formalize that? How do
we actually turn this into a real movement? And so
and and for me as a businesswoman as well, like
how do I turn this into a business? Can I
create an inspirational brand and an activist brand, an inspirational
(16:15):
lifestyle brand. So That's what I'm working on right now
is and what would that look like? So I'm just yeah, anyway,
that was a long winded way to say I'm working
on something.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Oh my god, well I can't wait. And so when
you say a lifestyle brand, and I know this isn't
totally formed yet, and so I'm not going to hold
you to this. But you're talking a lot about inspiring
people to go vegan because of like their ethics.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Do I have that right because of their ethics? Because
they because everybody feel everyone wants to be a good person.
Everyone feels like I'm a good person. So how do
we let the values they truly have inside?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
So how do I ask this? Where does or does
vegan capitalism fit into that?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Yeah, so that's really an interesting question. So vegan capitalism.
So my daughter actually was talking about how she feels like,
you know, veganism, vegans are going out into different groups.
And she would say there's a large group now that
is beginning to sort of control the trajectory of veganism
and activism, and she would call them the vegan capitalists
(17:27):
or capitalist vegans. And when you're a capitalist vegan, you're
looking for an ROI beyond just the ethics, beyond just
actually saving animals. There's an ROI involved a return on
your own investment of time and of money and resources
(17:47):
to be rewarded yourself in some way. And I think
there's a danger in that now. Of course, everyone should
be entitled to make a living, but we don't need
to make a killing in more than ways in one okay. So,
(18:10):
and where we're headed is a consolidation of the market space.
There's going to be a handful of winners and a
lot of losers. And because anytime there's investment dollars going
into an enterprise, that enterprise has to scale and has
to scale rapidly because if it doesn't, there's no opportunity
(18:32):
for the investors to get a return on their investment.
So there is always pressure to grow your company as
fast as you can, get as big as you can,
and at that point, everybody else becomes becomes competition rather
than collaborators, so you're always watching out for yourself. You're
protecting your IP, which means that if this, let's say,
(18:55):
your IP is so valuable that it could replace all
animals and convert every single human being on earth to
being a vegan. Okay, let's say, why should you own
the patent on that? Shouldn't that be open sourced if
that's the solution to saving the world, And if your
purpose for starting the company is actually to save the world,
(19:16):
why wouldn't you open source that IP? If it's so valuable,
if it's so much I mean, if it's so effective.
So the fact that people don't open source it to
me indicates a couple of things. One, saving animals isn't
the main objective. It's an objective, but it's not the
(19:36):
main objective. Or Two, it's not the solution. Because it
really were the solution, you'd open source it. I mean,
if you really believed, if your values are truly aligned
with what you put your money, if you really believe
that you want to save the world, and you felt
like you had the one solution that could save the world,
why not make it available to everybody? So that we
(19:57):
can get there faster.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
What would that look like making it available to everybody.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Well, first of all, I don't think I think that's
a myth. I don't think there is a market solution
that's good. So I think I'm just saying that hypothetically. Okay, theoretically,
I'm basically it's rhetorical. But I mean what I would
say is, you know, we often as vegans, only think
about animals and about farmed animals. Oftentimes we don't even
(20:24):
think about wildlife. You know, most of the discussions around
you know, saving cows and pigs and chickens. We also
don't think about people very much, although you know, we've
now kind of got During COVID we became hip to
the fact that slaughter house workers weren't treated very well
and they were dying at alarming rates, and all of
(20:46):
a sudden, it's like, oh my god, look at you know,
factory farming isn't just about animals. It's the way they
treat people. But we also have to realize that it's
not just factory farms, it's the entire the way the
entire economy, the food economy is set up today. It's
all designed for scale. It's all designed so that there,
(21:08):
as I said before, very few winners and a lot
of losers. So if you're a mom and pop operation,
let's just say, you know, you just want to start
a small business. It's very hard to compete these days
because you're competing against all the big players. You just
can't get a foot in the door. You may need
to get a loan, you can't get investments if you're
too small, et cetera. So the bigger you know, when
(21:29):
we create the sort of lopsided economy, we actually destroy
opportunities for smaller producers, smaller farmers. I'm just going to
talk about the dairy industry, but it's happening outside the
dairy industry as well. Consolidation is what has killed most
dairy farms. It's not the rise of almond milk. And
(21:51):
so there's been more and more consolidation where these big
dairy company conglomerates are coming in and buying up small
family farms or contracting with family farms where the family
farms can have to sell at one price to these
large conglomerates. And we all think, oh my god, that's terrible,
but we're so glad that these family farms are failing,
(22:11):
but it's not necessarily putting a huge dent into dairy sales,
because what's happening is the small farmers are are failing
and they're committing suicide and losing their land and livelihood
and all that. But these big conglomerates are getting bigger
and bigger and bigger and bigger. So someone's still making money.
It's just not distributed. But the same thing is happening
(22:32):
with other kinds of farms that are not necessarily even
dairy farms. So the fact is, whether it's dairy or
something else, small family farms are failing, which means that
people can't survive. But these conglomerates are getting bigger and
bigger and bigger. And it's not just in the United States.
(22:54):
It's happening all over the world where we the Western
world are going in to other places, whether it's India
or Africa or Asia, and we are basically rolling up
a lot of these smaller producers and farms and possibly
just sort of destroying them or bringing in our own technology.
(23:18):
I mean, if you just think back to you know,
what Monsanta did with GMO crops in India. So all
of these farmers just got hooked on GMO seeds and
they have to keep buying from Monsanto yearly and their
livelihoods are affected. A similar thing could happen in other
well is happening in other industries, and it could happen
(23:41):
in the so called alt protein space, where we've convinced
ourselves that the only thing that is going to save
the world are exact replicas of meat and dairy. And
so once we do that, you know, we're going to
put in bioreactors in Africa so that we can save
the you know, we can feed the poor starving Africans
(24:05):
who's you know, let's say Ethiopia. Teft farms were destroyed
largely due to a lot of other activities of the
Western world. But we're going to destroy their local economies
and we're going to bring our uh solutions, our Western
solutions to them to save the world. And so to me,
this is these are great inequities.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I call it food colonialism, and it's impacting people here
in the United States as well as people in underserved
developing countries everywhere, and I think we need to watch
out for that that as we invent the future of food,
we don't fall under the same you know, go down
(24:50):
the same foot you know, follow the same footsteps of
our of the other industries. I know I'm blabbing, but
I was in Vietnam one time and I saw this
giant Nesley billboard about how they were bringing good, healthy
dairy nutrition to the people of Vietnam. We have to
remember that the people of Vietnam didn't drink dairy. I
(25:12):
mean that was not dairy, was not a common food,
but now it is. You know, same thing in Japan.
I grew up in Japan. We didn't consume dairy, but
now everybody does nice and so, you know, these are
the kind of things that we have to think about.
We believe that we are the saviors in every single
(25:33):
way the Western world can save the world, save the
rest of the world. And we impose our values and
our systems on every other culture in the world. And
we also destroy local economies within the United States, and
we do not allow same opportunities for women or people
(25:53):
of color. They don't have the same access to investment dollars,
et cetera. And that's a whole other thing, like do
we even need investment dollars. The fact that you can't
even get a business off the ground without investment dollars
is just wrong. You cannot get a foothold anymore, and
so without giving your company away, because remember, when you
(26:16):
get an investment, you're selling a portion of your company
to somebody else. Right in the old case, you could
actually just start a business and you know, you'd have
you'd live upstairs, and you'd have a shop on the
first floor, on the first floor, and then you the
whole family worked and nobody owned it except you, right right?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Can you If you can't, it's totally fine, But can
you tell our listeners a little bit about what happened
for anybody who's been living under a slab of tofu
and for whatever reason missed it? Or are you not?
Do you know I want to go there?
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Well, I really can't. I can't say a whole lot.
All I can say is I you know, I started
a company MEO Gos many many years ago, and I'm
longer involved. We've gone our separate ways, and that I
can't say a whole lot more about that.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Well, okay, that is totally fine, I understand. So I
will say that you have also become quite an icon,
not just within like veganism, but far, far beyond veganism.
Anybody who is listening to this who has been vegan
for a short amount of time, you probably don't remember
the dark days of vegan cheese. It was like cardboard
(27:29):
adjacent cardboard probably would have tasted better. And then you
came along and you cracked the code. And it's not
like you just came along one day. You've been doing
this your whole entire life. So I do have a
few more questions about, like what advice you would have
for entrepreneurs. But first let's just go a little bit
back in time. I know you stopped eating animals at
(27:52):
a young age, so can you tell us about that,
Like what helped little Mioko to make the connection?
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Sure, Little Mioco went on a camping trip with her
schoolmates and was put into the vegetarian group with two
other vegetarians and a T shirt. And the food was horrible.
Now I had to eat tasteless millet that had been unseasoned.
It was the most god awful thing for a rice
eating girl. And I thought, oh my god, this is
what it takes to be a vegetarian. I'll never I'll
(28:19):
ever make it. Anyway, I got home, though, my mother
put pork chops in front of me, which at the
time were my was my favorite all time food, and
I looked at it and I just couldn't eat it
and no longer resemble food to me, and I just
saw a living being. I don't even know how I
made that connection, you know, when you're twelve years old,
(28:39):
you just like make these connections. And I just pushed
it away and I said, I can't eat this. My
mother was shocked, and I thought, you know, I'm sure
I'll want to eat it by the end of the week.
And a few days passed, I couldn't eat it, and
that was it. I never looked back. I never once
craved meat after that. It was the easiest thing in
(29:00):
the world for me. And I remember kids used to
like taunt me with hamburger, you really want to eat this?
And I would like, it's like this is gross, Like,
you know, why would I want to eat that? So
that was it was very easy.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Well that I think it's impressive that you were able
to stick with it, because I talked to a lot
of people who when they were children had that instinct
and then for whatever reason, they just fell back into
the societal norm of consuming animal products. So where did
you go from there? I do I remember correctly that
(29:33):
your mom wanted you to go to culinary school.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
No, no, no, I wanted to know. She actually just
stopped cooking for me. She just said, well, you're gonna
be cooking for you. And that's how I learned to cook.
So because you had no choice, I had no choice,
So you know, that was that. That was so I
did not go to culinary school. I wanted to go
to culinary school because I became fascinated by food and
(29:58):
I was helping a woman in college who was a caterer,
so I kind of, you know, would help her on
various things. Was introduced to French cuisine for the first time,
and I just became fascinated. And of course she wasn't
cooking vegetarian, but I was helping her anyway, and I thought,
oh my god, this is just amazing stuff. And I
(30:19):
wish I could learn how to do this. But I
didn't want to go to culinary I mean I didn't
go because I would have had to actually cook me
and that would have been really, really gross. So I
did not become I did not go to culinary school.
I'm self taught. I did work my way through Julia
Child's Mastering the Artic French Cooking, as well as some
(30:41):
other Cordon Blue and some other books. I read those
and I tried to imagine, Okay, what's actually happening here
when you make a demigloss sauce and you're reducing all
of the brass and the red wine and all this stuff,
Like what's going on? And I lived in Japan at
the time, and I had access to things like soy
sauce and misa which were not used at all in
(31:01):
the United States back in the nineteen eighties, and just
knowledge of two different cuisines, Japanese and American, along with
you know, learning about French cuisine. I started like incorporating
different flavors, using soy sauce to substitute for let's say,
meat broth to give sort of that umami and things.
(31:23):
And that's really how I ended up writing my very
first cookbook, which was published in nineteen ninety. It was like,
I would say, probably that and one other cookbook were
the first two I would say upscale vegan cookbooks that
hit the market pre internet and all that. But and
I had my first cheese recipes in there. In nineteen
(31:43):
ninety I had a cheese ball. I had a Holi cheese.
It was a fermented tofu okay, but it did involve fermentation.
So that was my Yeah, that was my first. And
then I started experimenting with with soy yogurt and making
cheese out of soy yogurt, which was another simple form
(32:06):
of cheese. So okay.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Yeah, I gotta get my hands on this og sort
of old old timey book. I love that. And now
you've helded you have helmed many business ventures throughout this
throughout the past decades. But can you tell us about
Madame Mioko?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Oh, my god, Madame Mioko.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Was Madame Mioko?
Speaker 4 (32:27):
Yeah, well it was a funny name. So that was
my very first business venture back in the nineteen eighties.
And I made pound cakes and I hired a little
graphic I don't know what do they called branding agency
in Japan, and they came up with a name Madame Mioko,
(32:50):
And of course that sounded French. It didn't sound like,
you know, I was in the red light district or
anything like that. And so I wanted to show, well,
pound cakes were really popular in Japan. At the time,
I don't know. It was like pound cakes were the
craze in Japan. So I made a pound cake made
(33:12):
out of okara, which is a byproduct of tofu processing,
and I rented this little bakery, dusty little place way
outside of Tokyo. Took me forever to get there, like
three subways and a bus, and I had to walk
and I didn't have a car. So I delivered my
(33:34):
pound cakes all over Tokyo in a backpack, seventy of them,
so they were a pounding so seventy pounds, and I
delivered them by subway train. And that was my very
first business venture.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
What I would give for a photograph, is there a
photograph of you sitting on the subway with this back back.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
You know, back then we didn't have cell phones, remember.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Well, I do. I also recall the tassout. We didn't
know about that, but I would still love that. So
many things have happened since Madame Mioko was selling cakes
out of her bag, But one of the most important
ventures that you started, I think has been Rancho Campasion.
So tell us about your sanctuary and what's been happening
(34:20):
there lately.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Okay, there's a lot that's been happening. So Rancho Compassion
is a formed animal sanctuary I founded in twenty fifteen
and it started sort of as an accident, and now
we've grown to about well now, okay, I'll tell you
the number in a minute. It's been what saved my
life in many many ways. Aside from the animals. We've
(34:43):
created a beautiful community here of passionate staff and volunteers
and visitors, and we do a lot of outreach activities.
But most recently we merged with another sanctuary in Colfax, California,
which is up in the foothills. They were in extreme
fire territory. You know, we've had all these fires in California.
(35:04):
They had just had one narrow road in and out
and it was either last year the year before they
had to evacuate because of a threat of fire. They
had to evacuate all of their eighty animals and it
was the most frightening thing. So we had met the
executive director, Daniel Hannish, the founder of that sanctuary, and
(35:25):
we was just founder to be lovely and together along
with Monica James of Humane jameson Humane, Monica Stevens of
Jamison Humane, we co founded a nonprofit called LEAP Leaders
for Ethics Animals in the Planet last year, which was
the which is the world's first alternative to four H
and f FA, which is Future Farmers of America. So
(35:47):
I'll get back to that in the minute. But through
founding this organization with Danielle, I got to know her.
And when I found out about her fire danger and everything,
we thought, what if we combined our resources, What if,
you know, we could become stronger together, because we'd be
bigger and bolder together and we could get you out
of fire danger. And so we have merged our two sanctuaries.
(36:11):
Their animals are in the process of transitioning over Director Compolson,
and most of them are over here now. We're still
waiting for the pigs and the cows. And Danielle has
taken up a leadership position here at the sanctuary along
with my daughter who has been the manager for many years, Cammie.
But she is going back to school. She's going to
go to the new school in New York in the fall.
(36:34):
So you know, it's just working out perfectly. And so
we've combined our boards and now we're bigger, better, bolder, stronger,
and I think We're going to be able to do
more more things. Daniel has an educational background, so we're
going to be doing a lot more school activities and that,
(36:55):
along with LEAP will become the LEAP headquarters here as
well too. Hopefully we'll be able to reach more youth,
which I believe or the future of the food system.
And I do want to say, if you don't mind,
I want to talk a little bit about LEAP.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Yeah, so that's what I was going to ask you.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Okay, please great. So we started LEAP last year and
we had a pilot program involving six different sanctuaries. It's
a program where just like four h or f FA,
students get to learn about everything from leadership, to food systems,
to animals, sustainability, all of that. But oftentimes in four
(37:33):
h or FFA kids raise animals and they fall in
love with them, and then they have to take them
to the county fair, parade them around, and then they
get sold off for slaughter, which is really heartbreaking to
a lot of these kids, Like a lot of them
don't realize that that's what's happening. But during this process
of doing that, they are supposedly quote unquote learning about
(37:55):
the food system, and their hearts are being hardened, and
so we wanted to change that. We wanted to create
an opportunity where kids could connect with animals, learn about
animal care if they're interested in that, but not have
to take them to slaughter at the end of the day,
where they get to see their animal grow up, enjoy
(38:18):
on a sanctuary. And so LEAP will take place always
at a sanctuary. So we launched this past year at
six sanctuaries in NorCal with about six kids per sanctuary,
so a total of you know, thirty thirty five kids
or so. And this September we are expanding the program
(38:41):
to twenty five sanctuaries across the United States. So we've
got some in New York, Ohio, and you know, just
all over the country. And so we're still we're going
to it's an educational program. Right now, it's just for
high school, but in the future we want to expand
to middle school and and more. So the kids put
(39:02):
in about ten and a half hours a month out
a sanctuary, learning about everything from public speaking skills to
vegan cooking, to gardening, to sustainability to wildlife ecosystems to
animal care, all of this to become the true leaders
of tomorrow that will help create a compassionate future for
all of us.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
That is friggin amazing. That really makes my heart saying
and I've just long thought that those programs for kids
are just egregious. I mean, they're just they're ripping apart
their friends from them and like you said, hardening their hearts.
And these are children who have the same instincts that
little Miyoko had of like wait, that's I don't there's
(39:44):
something wrong with this, something is not at right. And
why are these adults saying that I should behave this
way and then we need alternatives to that. So I
could not be more passionate about supporting you with the
LEAP program and with the sanctuary work you're doing. And
so that's getting me excited. What's getting you excited? Like,
(40:07):
what are you most excited about right now in terms
of like what's out there in the world, what what
do you wake up thinking yes about?
Speaker 4 (40:21):
So I am still in the process of emerging from
that that tunnel. So I just want to just say
that that I'm excited that in terms of what's exciting
in the world, I believe is that I think we're
all becoming aware that we need more than the small
(40:46):
lives that we've had as individuals, that we need community.
And I'm reading more and more about that, you know.
The Surgeon General said that loneliness was one of them
was an epidemic in this country, and I'm hearing more
and more people tell me that they need community. And this,
to me, is a huge opportunity for us to create
(41:07):
the biggest vegan community, the biggest community in the world,
which is a vegan community, because it can be a
community that truly cares for people, that brings people together
because of shared values. It's not a community of golf lovers,
it's not a community of artists. It's a community of
(41:29):
people that share the same values that we need to
live compassionately and care for all of us, for each other,
all species. And so that is really what excites me.
And what I found as I've e merged from this
tunnel where I felt very very alone for the last
year in many ways, despite the fact that I had
(41:52):
so much support from friends and family and the world,
is that I am now able to enjoy that support.
I'm now able to enjoy my community in a way
that I don't feel I was able to over the
last ten years because I was just so busy doing
my job. And now I can enjoy my community and
(42:14):
understand what their needs are and how I might be
able to help them as well as partake in that community.
I've been busier than ever. I don't know what is
going on, but my house is always full of people.
Right now, my son is visiting me with his family
from Japan, so I've got a toddler and a six
month old, and then my brother is coming up with
(42:36):
his two dogs tonight, and then my other daughter from
San Diego with her brother, and then I've got another
sister in law coming up next week. And for some reason,
I've got friends and family at my house. My life
has never been this full of community, and so, you know,
I think it's incumbent on all of us that are
(42:59):
to think of our selfish community organizers. We need to
get out there and organize communities around us, and that
is how we inspire people to go vegan.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
Mioko. That is such a beautiful note to end on.
Thank you again so very much for all that you're doing.
I know that in some ways you're at the very
beginning of your journey. And I know we started this
interview with you saying I'm sixty six, which, by the way,
is hard for me to believe because you look very young,
like a lot younger. Not that sixty six is old,
(43:31):
but you look a lot younger than sixty six. It's amazing.
But I feel like because I'm vegan, right, like you
were like, oh remember remember a life without cell phones? Yes,
I was an adult before I had my first cell phone.
People always think I'm younger too, so it's because we're vegan. Anyway,
(43:51):
Thank you so much, Mioko.
Speaker 4 (43:53):
Wait wait, wait, yes, tell more thing. Okay, I forgot
I did start something else and I want everyone, Oh
tell me. Okay, all right. I started a little YouTube show.
It's scrappy. It's called The Vegan Good Life with Mioko.
So it's on YouTube. Check it out, subscribe. I show
you how to make a lot of things that are
very basic, whether it's vegan butter or yogurt or crapes
(44:16):
or whatever. So there's anyway. So that's something that is
right now. I'm only able to post it once every
couple of weeks. It's very scrappy. I hope to make it,
you know, glossier in the future, but still it's scrappy
and it's fun. Come and check it out The Vegan
Good Life with Me.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
We'll link to it in the show notes as well.
Speaker 4 (44:36):
And there's animals in it. There's usually like piggies and
goats eating what I make.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
So oh cute, Oh my gosh, so cute. We'll definitely
link to that. And thank you so much for sharing that.
I know people are going to be heading there right now.
They're probably already watching. I love you, Mika.
Speaker 4 (44:51):
I'll talk to you here and thank you, Jasmin.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
The veg News podcast hotline is open for business. Let
me answer your burning vegan questions by calling eight eight
eight nine to one Vegan. This question comes from Michelle
in Indiana. Hi, Jasmine, it's Michelle from Indiana.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
I would really like.
Speaker 5 (45:23):
To date a vegan. Do you have any.
Speaker 4 (45:25):
Tips to make that happen?
Speaker 3 (45:26):
By the way, I love your dating advice column and
venge News. Thank you, Michelle. That's so nice and you've
certainly come to the right place. Though I am now
happily married to my wife Moore. Sorry ladies, who is
also a longtime vegan herself. I'm all too familiar with
the woes of dating while vegan, because let's face it,
dating is already hard enough, and when you're specifically looking
(45:49):
to date someone who shares your vegan ethics, it can
easily feel like mission impossible, right, But listen, I'm here
to assure you it's not. Apps are a really great
to start. Sure you could start on Tinder, Bumble or Hinge,
you know the big ones, and include your preference for
vegan matches right on your profile. I love that that
is an option, but I do highly also recommend trying
(46:13):
out apps and dating sites that are exclusively for vegans
and vegetarians. So download Grazer or Vegle that's veggl y.
Both apps are geared towards the meat free crowd. I
think you might like to sort of have the best
of both worlds. And you know, if you're trying to
meet the love of your life, why not try as
(46:33):
much as you can. And by the way, old school
dating sites are another avenue. I recommend trying Green Singles
or Veggie Connection. You may just find your vegan love
and convert a couple of vegetarians along the way. Right,
Because we have conquered vegan cheese, as we know, from
our guest today. If online dating it just isn't your style,
(46:54):
you might consider becoming involved with vegan organizations near you,
So look for groups in you're city hosting Vegan Paulus,
volunteer at a local animal shelter, or join an eco
conscious book group. Remember, the best way to connect with
people who share your interests and values is to take
part in activities that reflect those interests and values. I
(47:16):
hope this helps Michelle. Be sure to check out our
tips for navigating dating apps as a vegan and our
top dating tips for vegan singles on VegNews dot com.
Best of luck. Do you have vegan questions? Give us
a call at eight eight eight nine one Vegan. That's
eight day, eight nine one Vega n Let's check in
(47:37):
with veg News publisher Colleen Holland to hear the latest
on all of the exciting things happening at veg News. HQ. Hi, Colleen,
tell us what's going on this week at veg News.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Hey, Jaswine, Congratulations on another fabulous episode of the veg
News podcast. I just wanted to stop by and remind
everyone how they can just get the whole veg News experience.
Aside from the podcast. We have so much going on
each and every day, and I just wanted to quickly
run through a few ways that you can engage with
(48:09):
beg News. Of course, there's ben News dot com, our
award winning website. We publish all day, every day. You know,
exciting news stories, practical guides to everything from Trader Joe's
to Starbucks to Chipotle, recipes, delicious editor or proved recipes,
celebrity interviews, and so much more. You can also subscribe
(48:29):
to our newsletters. We have our Vegees letter that goes
out twice a week with all of our really great,
kind of breaking stories, as well as our Vengies Recipes
that goes out with really fabulous recipes for the week,
and then our beloved Vegan Deal the Week goes out
every Monday and we offer readers a really really great
(48:50):
deal on a Beacon product, and our readers love that.
So you can just head to bech Nees dot com
slash sign up to subscribe to those. You can hit
us up on any of the social media channels, whether
you're an Instagram person, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, We're.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
At all of those.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Of course, we would love to have you subscribe to
our magazine. Like I said, we've uh early in another podcast.
We've just celebrated twenty three years, so you can go
to vegans dot com slash subscribe to get our beautiful
magazine delivered to your door. We've got our book co
written by the wonderful Jasmine Singer right here, The Vegins
(49:33):
Guide to Being a Fabulous Vegan. We have our sister sites,
vegan Weddings dot com and hothi vegan dot com and
we're updating those regularly. And finally, take the trip of
a lifetime with a Veginies vacation. We would so love
to travel with you and go on epic vegan.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
Food tours of countries around the world.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
So just check out vegees dot com slash vacations or
more details on that. So that's just a little tour
of all the fun ways you can get hooked up
with veg News and just know we're here for you
to help you live your best vegan life. We live
and breathe this lifestyle and just cherish our readers and
(50:12):
our listeners so much. So thank you for listening to
the veg News podcast and we'll see you over on
all of our various properties.
Speaker 5 (50:20):
Thanks thank you so much for joining us for this
week's episode of the veg News Podcast.
Speaker 3 (50:35):
Head over to VegNews dot com slash podcasts for all
the show notes, and be sure to check out VegNews
dot com each day for the latest in plant based news, recipes,
taste tests, guides, and so much more. And don't forget
to subscribe to our award winning magazine to have the
best of the vegan lifestyle delivered straight to your doorstep.
(50:58):
I want to send a special thanks to straw.
Speaker 6 (51:00):
Hut Media, Colleen Holland, Eddie Garza, Sarah McLaughlin, Jocelyn Martinez,
Vicky Beechler, and Lorie Johnston for their work in the
production of this podcast, and a huge thank you to
our wonderful podcast sponsor, Mudwater. I'm your host, Jasmine Singer,
and I'll see you next week.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
Bye for now.
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