Linda and Alex at Veganosity's interview
Interview by GitanjaliWe interviewed Linda and Alex at Veganosity!
Visit the blog: Veganosity.
Hello Linda and Alex at Veganosity, so tell us...
When did you begin your blog, and what inspired you to start it?
We launched our blog in January, 2014 after we started veganizing our favorite conventional recipes and getting props from our non-vegan family members and friends. We wanted to show the mainstream that being vegan doesn't mean that you have to live on lettuce and tempeh. We also wanted to bust the hippie stereotype that vegans have. You can still dress like a fashionista if you're a vegan, and it's a whole lot cheaper. Yay!
Tell us about the path of converting to a vegan lifestyle-the difficulties and the successes.
Linda was a vegetarian for years before getting pregnant with Alex, so it wasn't difficult going cold turkey (no pun intended). Alex was never a meat eater, but she did love cheese. However, after watching videos on factory farming, her love and respect for animals far outweighed her cheese cravings.
The most difficult part of converting to a vegan lifestyle was explaining it to certain family members and friends. Some seemed almost offended by the prospect of us not participating in the consumption of animal products. Go figure?
The successes are huge. We both feel so much better. Linda lost the tiny 50 year old pooch that was emerging in her mid-section, and Alex lost several pounds. She also started running with her mom and is participating in a half-marathon at the end of September. It's also forced us to get creative in the kitchen, and our chef skills have improved ten fold.
What are your culinary influences?
Honestly, we don't really follow any particular culinary experts. Most of our creativity comes from within, and from what's available in our refrigerator and pantry. We do love watching the shows on Food Network, such as Chopped. We learn a lot of do this, don't do that kinds of things from those shows.
If you could be a contestant or guest on any cooking show what show would you choose?
Chopped on Food Network. We love that you have to be a quick thinker, and super creative. We also love the competitive nature of the show. We're athletes, so that is very appealing to us. :)
What is your earliest food memory?
Linda - My earliest food memory is at my childhood home on Christmas Eve. I was quite young, and I remember how happy my father was to be eating his once a year favorite foods, such as creamed herring, steak tartare, and my mom's cookies. As horrible as the food seems to me now, it still warms my heart to think about how happy it made my dad. Proof that food can sustain your stomach and your heart.
Alex - My mom's lasagna and her chocolate cake. Granted, she used to make the lasagna with cheese, but it was amazing, and she made it for me on my birthday, along with her homemade cake that was decorated with fresh magnolias from our garden. For my most recent birthday she veganized the lasagna with tofu ricotta and breaded eggplant "noodles." It was incredible! She made the cake with egg replacer and almond milk and it was just as delicious as the conventional one.
Do you have a secret ingredient, a product you use a lot that is unexpected or that helps you save time?
Not really. We use applesauce as an egg replacer in our baked goods, because it creates a perfectly moist product. To save time we might use canned chopped tomatoes, but not very often. It doesn't take that much time to dice up some tomatoes.
What's it like working together as a mother/daughter duo?
It's a lot of fun! We have always been close, but this has brought us even closer. We are very like minded, so it works. Now that Alex has moved to her own apartment and is working as a personal trainer and has started grad school, Linda has been the one cooking, photographing, and posting the recipes. But, Alex is the mastermind behind a lot of the recipes. She is very creative, and our ideas are usually born during our long Saturday morning runs along the Chicago lakefront.
What are your goals for your blog? Where would you like to see it in the next year? Five years?
We want to be the go-to blog for everyone and anyone who wants a delicious, healthy recipe to make for themselves, family, or friends. To put it simply, we'd love Veganosity to be a household word.
In the next year we would love to see our subscription rate and our organic views quadruple on a monthly basis.
In the next five years, we'd love to be large enough to have employees and an office so that we can let others work on marketing, while we have fun in the kitchen. We'd also love to package and sell some of our cake and cookie mixes and have a best selling cookbook.
Yes, we definitely have some big goals!
My worst food flop was...
Bean balls. We tried to replicate meat balls for spaghetti and meatballs. The bean balls fell apart in the sauce and tasted gooey and a little slimy. Not our best moment. We still haven't gone back to those, but now that you've jogged our memories, I think it's time to conquer those babies!
Anything else you would like to share?
Our site is all about a happy, healthy vegan lifestyle. We welcome everyone, vegan or not. We are a judgment-free zone, so if you're not a vegan, but you're looking for a delicious, healthy recipe, or if you would like us to veganize one of your favorite recipes, ask us, we would love to help you out.
Thank you Linda and Alex at Veganosity for answering our questions and see you soon!
Published by Gitanjali - 09/17/2014
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