In September when I began dabbling in veganism and in YouTube, I came across Nicole Coulter, a vegan chef with colorful, tasty, and inventive recipes. I knew instantly that I’d want to cover her in The Inquisitive Eater’s Profile of the Month series. She has a vast amount of knowledge, creativity, and a knack for making all food look delicious. Here’s Nicole in her own words about her channel, her journey as a vegan chef, and the joys of a plant-based lifestyle.

HR: What was it about veganism that initially drew you in? Why did you choose to become vegan?

NC: I was initially drawn towards veganism for the health aspect of it. I went down a deep hole of research and was inspired to start looking into the vegan lifestyle to discredit it, but all the research I did actually did the opposite. A few days later I went vegan overnight. I had seen and read too much for me to continue to eat meat, dairy and eggs. I also found out about the environmental impact animal agriculture has on our planet and how much it depletes our water, land, and pollutes the air we all breathe. Then I started to wonder why we were raised to view some animals as edible and some as lovable. It felt hypocritical to stop and pet every dog I passed on the street, and then go home and cook chicken for dinner, and buy clothes and shoes made from cow’s skin. It just didn’t make sense. I actively choose not to support one of the most corrupt industries in the world. I have never felt better, and I’m never going back.

Video reference: My Vegan Story

HR: How does vegan cooking exercise your creativity as a chef?

NC: It has made me SO much more creative in the kitchen! It’s allows me to think about food and flavors on a completely different level. You realize that spices and aromatics like garlic, onion and herbs are what actually give meat all it’s flavor. Which means you can apply that to anything: tofu, lentils, legumes, mushrooms etc. The techniques for cooking meat and dairy have already been discovered and perfected in every way possible in the culinary world. Vegan cooking is a whole other ball game. New methods are constantly being discovered. Especially within the mock meat and cheese companies like Gardien, Field Roast and Beyond Meat. It’s amazing what is being done without harming or involving animals at all.

Video reference: Vegan Scallops with Mushroom Risotto

HR: How has veganism changed your cooking practice?

NC: Being vegan has really simplified my cooking. That might shock some people, because if you aren’t familiar with the lifestyle, it’s very common to think of vegan cooking as being full of exotic and hard to find ingredients, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. If you want to feel your best on a vegan diet, sticking to whole plant foods is vital. Focusing on simplifying your palate and honing in on nutrient-dense foods that satiate you is the key to long term health. I eat a lot of potatoes, rice, legumes, leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and tofu every once in awhile. I’ve learned to appreciate the flavor of foods in their natural form. At home I eat pretty simply, and when I’m cooking for the YouTube channel I tend to make things more exciting.

Video reference: What I Eat in a Day

HR: What are the positives of the vegan YouTube community? What are the draw backs, if any?

NC: The positives are having a sense of belonging. Being vegan in your daily life can be challenging because we only make up about 1% of the entire population, so it’s very easy to feel alone. YouTube gives vegans an outlet to share their vegan journey and lifestyle with the world and it can be a great place to share struggles as well. It’s an amazing platform to introduce veganism to the world. I think most people going vegan today are people who watch YouTube or watch documentaries suggested by vegan YouTubers. It’s also a great place to make friends with other vegans in the community. You are able to connect and chat with people you normally wouldn’t meet in real life. With that being said, it can also be a very toxic environment as well. Militant vegans usually have the loudest voices and the biggest platforms, so people watch their videos and think they speak for vegans everywhere. These are the people who fulfill the classic “angry vegan” stereotype that leaves non-vegans with a bad taste in their mouth. Vegans tend to have varying degrees of crazy, and unfortunately the craziest ones get most of the attention and publicity. More often than not, the militant ones are shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak, because they don’t make their lifestyle seem very appealing. It anything they are the ones who make people afraid of the word “vegan”..

Video reference: What I Miss the Most After Going Vegan 

HR: What made you decide to share your vegan journey and talents as a chef online? What has been the best part of creating your channel?

NC: I started my channel before I went vegan back in 2015 because I was living in a city I hated, and I was bored out of my mind and needed a creative outlet. It gave me a sense of purpose and excitement that I hadn’t felt in quite some time. I wanted to show people how rewarding and delicious cooking can be. After going vegan, that purpose shifted slightly. I want to normalize veganism and make it more accessible. My goal is to make the word “vegan” less scary. And even if people don’t want to, or aren’t ready to make the jump, I want them to have a judgement-free place to go and find encouragement. The best part of creating my channel has definitely been connecting with my subscribers! Even though it’s corny and cliche to say…they are what keep me going. It’s nice to find people who just get you. I am so comfortable showing them my weirdness. Maybe a little too comfortable…

HR: Have you discovered a favourite recipe? What recipes do you make most often?

NC: My favorite recipe changes every few weeks. It all depends on what I’m craving at the moment. Usually it’s some sort of potato, Mexican or Asian dish. I make a lot of sushi with steamed broccoli or braised bok choy, nachos with fat-free cheese sauce and some sort of bean concoction, and fries. Always fries.

Video reference: My Top 5 go-to Vegan Meals

HR: Where are your favourite places to grocery shop? 

NC: When the weather is nice I love shopping at local farmer’s markets. When the winter rolls around my go-to stores are ALDIs and Wegmans. ALDI has a great selection of organic, high quality produce and everything is insanely inexpensive. Wegmans is like a religion to people living in the North East. They’re are obsessed. It’s kind of like our version of Whole Foods.

Video reference: ALDIs Grocery Haul 

HR: If you had any advice for new vegans, or those contemplating going vegan, what would it be?

NC: There are just as many ways to eat vegan as they are to eat non vegan. Not all vegan diets are the same, and not all of them will work for you and your lifestyle. Do what works for you and what makes you feel the best. Don’t turn to self proclaimed “health gurus” of instagram or YouTube for health advice. Don’t turn to me for health advice. Do your own research and seek advice and counsel from credible vegan doctors and nutritionists like Dr Gregor, Esselstyn, McDougal, T. Colin Campbell and Dr Barnard. And watch documentaries like Forks Over Knives, Cowspiracy and Earthlings. Also don’t expect a vegan diet to magically fix everything in your life. It will probably make your life better in some way, but don’t turn to it to solve all of your problems. It’s just food. Real change and progress starts in your mind.

Video reference: Vegan “Health” Community Online 

Find Nicole on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

Nicole Coulter is a personal chef and aspiring food photographer based in Rochester, NY. She is the creator of More Salt Please, a vegan cooking and lifestyle YouTube channel, where she shares creative vegan recipes and tips on how to live a practical and delicious vegan life. Her main goal with More Salt, is to change people’s negative connotation of the word vegan and to encourage rather than shame others into the lifestyle. And change the misconception of vegan food being flavorless and boring.

featured image via Nicole Coulter.

As October draws to a close, I am celebrating the time I got to spend talking to the subject of this month’s profile: the RocknRoll HiFives. Perhaps the most enthusiastic and talented family I’ve ever met, Joe, Gloree, Eilee, and Evren taught me a lot this month about the importance of the breakfast sandwich and having fun with your family, wherever you are. Listen to their song El Sueño and read about their incredible journey with music and food.

HR: Did you think about the food in preparation for touring? Was food part of your plans or considerations in this lifestyle of being on-the-go?

RRHF: Part of our planning for tour is around food. We make lists for gear, clothes, toiletries and food. We have traveled in the RV a few times now and have figured out what that best/easiest food options are for us while on the road. In our RV there is less room in the kitchen area (including storage) than at home. Space constraints definitely dictate menu options, and we’ve learned what basics we need for good meals on the go.

We eat breakfast in the RV 100% of the time, as we are slow going in the morning and enjoy breakfast foods, sipping coffee and looking back at yesterday’s adventures. We usually make egg sandwiches or pancakes. Sadly, bacon is not on the menu because we try to keep the type of waste going into the sink light (due to the RV ‘system’). Occasionally the kids may have cereal, but it’s usually a hot breakfast.

We often have lunch on board the RV too. Sandwiches are easy (we can literally make them on the go) and we get some veggies on them too (lettuce, tomato, avocado). Soups, macaroni and cheese and simple pasta dishes are good go-to options. They are quick and easy prep and clean-up.

We usually eat out for dinner, as dinner is scheduled around our show times and most places we play serve food. If we have a night off we try and grill some chicken or we may opt for a frozen pizza (the RV has an oven!) and a salad.

HR: Has your relationship with food and feeding your family changed?

RRHF: No, we don’t think it has. On the road, our meals may not be as well-balanced as they are at home, however, we do get bored while in transit which usually leads to snacking. So we opt for nuts, granola bars, trail mix and your usual crutch (including chocolate treats!). Fruit (fresh and dried) are great for traveling too. Also when preparing meals we make some fun videos to help change the mood a bit since we are traveling IN the kitchen, so to speak. We try to change the environment instead of changing the relationship with the food. That’s how we change the relationship, by having fun with food. Once at home, we go back to balanced meals – and even on the road, as opportunities present themselves, we find balance.

HR: Are you able to have a “family meal” in a traditional sit-down sense, or have you found that the “sit-down” part of it doesn’t matter, so long as you’re together?

RRHF: At home or on the road, we have sit-down meals as often as possible. In all honesty, the only meal we don’t share is Mon-Fri lunch, as the kids are in school and we are working. On the road, our meals are 90% sit down, even the 10% that are had as the wheels are turning (and Joe is at the helm) are had ‘together’ – meaning we don’t digress to our devices or remove ourselves from the group. We still talk and partake in the meal as if we were at the table all together.

HR: Do you have to improvise when cooking, and if yes, how?

RRHF: Yes, we do improvise when cooking in the RV. Joe is the master of improvising. He opens the refrigerator, the cabinets and finds things to put together to keep it interesting. Not sure if you have seen them, but sometimes we post “Cooking in the RV with Joe” videos during our travels. It keeps things light in the RV and gives our friends a glimpse of our RV fun times. Joe pretends to be a chef with his own cooking show. His character is an RV food expert which opens up his imagination, allowing him to come up with good combinations. Mostly though, he makes us laugh and the food always taste better when we are all smiling.

HR: How often do you eat “out”? Have you eaten or discovered any noteworthy food in your travels?

RRHF: We eat out for most of our dinners. We would say about 70-80%. We have come across lots of great food on the road. Some of our fun comes from local people’s suggestions for ‘down home road eats’. We particularly loved our BBQ stops in Tennessee during our last tour (we even had leftovers that we added to our frozen pizza…improvisation yum!) and we visited a southern cafeteria style place called Arnold’s Country Kitchen in Nashville where our son stated he had the best fried chicken of his life! Our favorite spot in Chapel Hill, NC is Merritt’s for their famous BLTs. Sometimes we’ll go twice in one trip!

We love when we play a venue and they feed us dinner or give us a major discount. There is nothing more satisfying than playing music for your food!

HR: What have you learned from being on tour that you didn’t expect?

RRHF: We learned to take our time and enjoy food a lot more. Also to be more conscientious of what we eat. We can’t afford to have any stomach issues on the road. First, we have to perform! Second, even though we are in ‘a house on wheels’ it is never fun to feel yucky when you are not home.

HR: Is there something you all eat together while on tour that recreates a sense of being at home?

RRHF: Definitely breakfast. It’s the start of our day and we’re all starting it together. Sometimes a late night snack will have that feeling as well. We’re all beat from a long day and rocking hard. We may chow down a late night snack and use the down time to reminisce about the day before getting ready for bed, brushing teeth, etc.

Comprised of parents Joe and Gloree Centeno and their progeny Eilee, aged fourteen, and Evren, aged twelve, the RocknRoll HiFives are the newest family rockers to break onto the scene. And while hardly a brand new act, the HiFives just released their third EP titled “the Beat the Sound the Dragon’s Roar” on Little Dickman Records. The RocknRoll HiFives are influenced by a mixed bag of rock n roll, indie rock, noise, punk and super heroes. Music from the Beatles to Superchunk, Guided by Voices as well as the Ramones, AC/DC, Foo Fighters and the Jam with the awesomeness of Evel Knievel and Spiderman. The RocknRoll HiFives enjoy sharing their love for music and proving that you’re never too old (or too young) to rock out.

In early September, we had the pleasure of interviewing Liz from Project Pastry Love, a food blogger that documents her pastry-learning journey through bright photos, yummy recipes, and a dash of humor.

HR: Could you tell us the story of how your blog came to be?

LW: I felt regret in my life, always felt like I never followed things through. I went for acting in the city and I gave up too soon, which was probably a good thing, but there was regret there. So, I started to fall in love with baking. Because I couldn’t take classes at the time as I had just had my second baby, I said to myself: “I’m just going to teach myself and really follow it through.” I got this huge baking textbook about two years ago and started reading it and then finding different recipes all over the place. Then I was like: “Oh! I’ll blog about it!” So, yes, it was definitely born out of regret.

HR: Has your baking practice affected your cooking practice? I’ve always considered cooking really easy and baking really hard because baking seems to be a science for the most part!

LW: I still have a lot to learn, but I bake a couple of times a week and I love the science behind it. Now, I’m getting good at it, but now I notice that if someone asks me something about bread rising, I want to get a cup of coffee, sit down, and discuss it. Shoot, I’m really passionate about it!

HR: Do you ever do an “oops” or a practice run?

LW: Yeah, sometimes I’ll try it first. At times, even if it was a complete failure, I’ve decided to put it up. But not very often. I’m glad when I do fail the first time because I learn so much more. When I do it again and blog, I can really tell my readers why this works because I failed that first time. I find that pie pastry is totally terrifying. When you do it over and over again, you begin to realize that it’s in your fingers and that’s such a hard thing to write down. It’s knowing that line and you can only learn by failing.

HR: Has having a food blog affected your writing?

LW: Yes, because I didn’t think about the writing. I wanted to be quick and I didn’t want to bore anybody, but then a couple posts in I started to think that I wanted my kids to see this … sort of like a diary. There was one particular post I did where I got personal and was being funny and a lot of friends and family responded to it. That was exciting. I like to do a paragraph first about what is happening in my life, but I don’t force it. If there’s really nothing, I go right to it. Then, I also find that there is story-telling in the post of how I did it. So then I take a picture and think in the back of my head: “Okay, how am I going to tell it?”

HR: I would imagine what you’re feeling at that moment might dictate what you want to create. Maybe one moment you want something hearty or maybe you’re feeling the summer time so you want something light.

LW: Yes. I find that with bread and any type of pastry. I find that when I need quiet, or want to meditate without realizing I want to meditate, I choose bread because it’s rhythmic in the kneading.

HR: Have positive things come out of this that you couldn’t have expected?

I’m friends with food bloggers and bloggers around the world. It’s a community that is very supportive of each other and I guess I didn’t expect that, at all. I didn’t expect the writing, and my love for telling a story. And the photography. When I go to a restaurant I look at my plate and think about how perfect the lighting is. I didn’t expect to think along those lines at all.

HR: What is the biggest challenge?

LW: The biggest challenge is promoting myself. That just sucks. [laughs] It’s a challenge that I’m also doing it all myself. I don’t have anybody taking pictures. That’s all me.

HR: How do you promote yourself?

LW: Social media. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Bloggers also have these “parties” where you can link up your post. So it gets it out in the blogging sphere. It’s kind of how we help promote each other. If we see something we like we’ll then put it on Twitter.

HR: Are there other food blogs you love to read?

LW: I wish I had my list here because there are a lot. Of course, there’s the Smitten Kitchen. Joy the Baker is amazing. The Wicked Good Kitchen is amazing; she’s an amazing baker and she goes into the science of it and there’s something very cool about it. I could just read her stuff all day.

Liz Weidhorn lives in northern New Jersey with her husband Aron, and two
young boys, Cameron and Wesley. As a stay-at-home mom she spends her day cleaning the house, playing make-believe, staring at the large laundry
pile in the corner, and feeding her boys all before hitting the wall at
4PM. She believes that a homemade pie is the perfect dessert, and a that
good vodka martini can solve any problem.

featured image via Project Pastry Love.