Vegan

In this episode of Chow-To, Guillermo meets with Francesca Chaney, the youngest restaurateur in Brooklyn, at her vegan café Sol Sips. Francesca teaches Guillermo how to make vegan cultured butter using coconut oil , creating not only a healthier and tastier alternative to the commonly found substitutes (looking at you margarine), but also an affordable option compared to store-bought. Cultured vegan butter can be used as a tasty spread or browned and used for baking as well. Francesca was named one of Eater’s Young Guns ’19, as recognition of her culinary talent and her amazing community work out of Bushwick. Her plan is to offer affordable wellness to underserved customers, and make sure her products are accessible to all.

Café Gratitude, a small vegan chain from California, has an interesting concept to improve the future of our planet. Meatless Monday deals and offerings across the country show no signs of slowing down. Growing concern over both the quality of mass-processed meats along with climate change and the humane treatment of animals, is inspiring folks to adopt vegan habits, at least part-time anyways. The café took a step ahead by offering 50% off on their most popular dishes every Monday for a limited time, as an incentive for diners, while trying to motivate other restaurants to follow the model. Café Gratitude’s motto “Be plant rich” means they want you to live a rich life mostly on plants.

In this episode Guillermo meets the queen of vegan cheese, Miyoko Schinner, and learns how to make a basic cashew cheese at home. They talk about the current state of the dairy industry, and how plant-based production can ultimately be its savior, and ours. Miyoko takes Guillermo on a tour of her animal sanctuary, and her vegan creamery, right in the middle of dairy country in Petaluma, CA.