cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
The Decadence of the New Veganism - GQ
Sure, it’s healthy, and yes, it’s ethical, but as some of the country’s most exciting young chefs are showing, vegan dining is suddenly becoming something way more surprising: delicious.
Before he was a vegan chef, Roy Joseph III was a barber. For a while, he'd found himself with a creeping unease with eating meat—just the thought of it sitting in his stomach, with all the antibiotics that animals are fed, everything he knew about how meat was made. “All the killing…,” he said. “They're putting all that stuff in the animals, and I'm putting it in me.”
Alex Davis and Jas Rogers were restaurant servers when they were laid off last year during the pandemic. Days later, somebody stole Davis's moped and Rogers's bike. They found themselves relying, each week, on a box of produce handed out by a local food-aid organization. “That really got our gears turning,” said Rogers. “We just cooked all day.” Eventually, Davis started playing around with making faux meat and a plan began to take shape.
Myisha “Maya” Mastersson competed on the Food Network and ran underground supper clubs. Bernie Jolet sold spiced beef tamales—like the ones his Mexican grandfather had developed while working the railroad in Mississippi and then popularized in New Orleans. Ben Tabor worked at a vegan co-op in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ogban Okpo owned a TV station in northern Nigeria.
Sure, it’s healthy, and yes, it’s ethical, but as some of the country’s most exciting young chefs are showing, vegan dining is suddenly becoming something way more surprising: delicious.
Before he was a vegan chef, Roy Joseph III was a barber. For a while, he'd found himself with a creeping unease with eating meat—just the thought of it sitting in his stomach, with all the antibiotics that animals are fed, everything he knew about how meat was made. “All the killing…,” he said. “They're putting all that stuff in the animals, and I'm putting it in me.”
Alex Davis and Jas Rogers were restaurant servers when they were laid off last year during the pandemic. Days later, somebody stole Davis's moped and Rogers's bike. They found themselves relying, each week, on a box of produce handed out by a local food-aid organization. “That really got our gears turning,” said Rogers. “We just cooked all day.” Eventually, Davis started playing around with making faux meat and a plan began to take shape.
Myisha “Maya” Mastersson competed on the Food Network and ran underground supper clubs. Bernie Jolet sold spiced beef tamales—like the ones his Mexican grandfather had developed while working the railroad in Mississippi and then popularized in New Orleans. Ben Tabor worked at a vegan co-op in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ogban Okpo owned a TV station in northern Nigeria.