How difficult is vegan and sustainable eating, travel, and living in Japan? Come in and listen as Brigitte discusses the topic with sustainable travel expert and Hiroshima tour guide Joy Jarman-Walsh, one of the forces behind Japan's sustainable travel improvements. In this episode, we cover: - Joy's journey in discovering that it was possible to b…

Do you want to avoid suffering from swollen, achy, hot joints, feeling fatigue, or struggling with mobility? Or decrease your risk of cardio-vascular events? Those issues often associated with aging are not inevitable! Join Brigitte in conversation with Linda Tyler, author of The Plant-Based Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook and creator of GraciousVegan.c…

This is a can't-miss episode! Join me in conversation with Elaine Perlman, Executive Director of Waitlist Zero, an advocacy group committed to ending the kidney shortage in the United States. In this episode of the Vegan Family Kitchen Podcast, Elaine shares her deeply personal journey from embracing veganism and healthy plant-based living to becom…

In this episode of the Vegan Family Kitchen podcast, host Brigitte Gemme talks with her guest, Deborah McNamara - a Vancouver-based counselor who is fascinated by the relationship between food and our connections with each other. Deborah discusses her experiences with helping adults make sense of their relationships with food and children, giving i…

Learn about plant-based baking from the professionals! In this episode of the Vegan Family Kitchen Podcast, Brigitte Gemme interviews Natasha and Ed Tatton, owners of Whistler's BReD Bakery and authors of the newly published book BReD: Sourdough Loaves, Small Breads and Other Plant-Based Baking. We talk about: Replacing dairy and eggs with whole pl…

Most people could cook faster, waste less money and time, and be less stressed if they handle their grocery haul differently. In this podcast episode, Brigitte shares strategies for reducing food waste and cooking faster by properly storing groceries. Listen to the episode and try Brigitte's tips to get more organized in the kitchen, cook more effi…

Can there be such a thing as a blissful menopause? Every woman's experience will be different, but certain lifestyle and mindset shifts will make it a smoother ride. Brigitte's guest on the Vegan Family Kitchen podcast today is Anna Pelzer, a vegan menopause coach. She has some gentle guidance to help. In this thought-provoking conversation, Anna s…

Brigitte explores the idea of cooking as a form of spiritual nourishment and shares her current five rituals for a deeper and more meaningful cooking experience. These include expressing gratitude before cooking, deeply understanding the origins of ingredients, staying fully present during the cooking process, cooking with a community, and sharing …

With the charismatic Jean-Philippe Cyr, delicious and comforting vegan dishes are served with a side of self-deprecating humor... or is it the other way around? Jean-Philippe, a.k.a. The Buddhist Chef, just published his most recent English-language cookbook, The Buddhist Chef's Homestyle Cooking, and we chatted about: How being from a big Quebec f…

How to stay connected with our culinary heritage without sacrificing health? Let's talk about it with Karla Salinari, a.k.a. The Latina Health Coach and author of the recently published cookbook Abuela's Plant-Based Kitchen: Vegan Cuisine Inspired by Latin & Caribbean Family Recipes. Diving into Karla Salinari's inspiring journey, we learn about he…

Veganic gardening is an approach to growing plants organically without any animal inputs. In other words: plant-based gardening! If you already have a garden, listen in to learn from Meg Kelly how to transition to a kinder and safer approach. If you don't already grow your own veggies, be prepared to get inspired by her hot tips to get started! Meg…

Why not try something different, pay attention to the results, and take it from there? This Vegan Family Kitchen Podcast episode's guest, Helen C. Giles, is a colleague, cooking friend, and meal plan subscriber whose stories will encourage you to embrace experimentation and give thanks for the life and body you have now. In this conversation, we ex…

Get inspired to cook more healthy vegan Italian food with Antonia Ricciardi! Antonia trained in physics and worked in the publishing industry, but her roots in the family restaurant in Southern Italy stayed strong. In our podcast conversation, you'll learn more about: Antonia's inspiring shift from the sciences to the culinary world, ingeniously we…

How to deal with having to go down to the air raid shelter in the midst of cooking dinner? Is there even something that's good to eat when you are under threat of bombing? And how can we make cooking and eating a more meaningful experience, even under a prolonged state of emergency such as war? In this can't-miss episode of the Vegan Family Kitchen…

In this episode of the Vegan Family Kitchen podcast, I sit down with Dr. Jules Cormier, a family physician, plant-based nutrition advocate, and ninja sports athlete who shares his inspiring story of transformation, healing, and performance. In his 20s, Dr. Cormier suffered from cholinergic angioedema, a severe condition that caused anaphylactic-lik…

Most people believe that they'd cook better if they had a bigger kitchen... but is that so? Kathy Davis, who runs the Eat More Plants Academy and published three cookbooks, lives in a RV and her story challenges conventional views. It's all about intention. Kathy Davis is the CEO of VegInspired and a plant-based lifestyle and mindset coach for fema…

Nic Bathurst, a dietitian and nutritionist, and mom of four kids, thought of herself as a healthy and fit person with good habits. Then, at age 48 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a mastectomy and started digging into the literature about breast cancer. What she found out was not what she had learned in school. That was 10 years …

The food we eat isn't neutral: every bite has the potential to nourish and heal us, or harm us. So says Leah Cooper, my friend Down Under who teaches yoga and whole food cooking in the macrobiotic tradition. In our conversation, we talk about: Why the connection between yoga and food isn't always made in conventional yoga classes What therapeutic y…

"When we uncover who we are, and we are willing to show up as that person, a lot of barriers just fall away." Those are the wise and inspiring words of my guest, Kimberly Winters. Kimberly is the host of the Did You Bring the Hummus? podcast, where she gently guides those who wish to adopt a vegan lifestyle through their transition. In addition to …

Charlyn Black trained as a family doctor more than forty years ago, but most of her career has been as a scholar dedicated to understanding the social determinants of health for over three decades. She is now a Professor at the UBC School of Population and Public Health, and an enthusiastic advocate for the power of predominantly plant-based diets …

Today on the Vegan Family Kitchen Podcast I meet with Crystal Bonnet, raw vegan chef and author of the just-published beautiful book The Art of Raw Desserts. Crystal is a graduate of the Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy and of the Pure Joy Academy. She develops unique and delicious all-vegan raw recipes and now teaches everything she knows to home c…

How can the principles of mindfulness and compassion support a transition away from overeating and food addiction? I had the pleasure of exploring this topic with Karen Steiner in conversation for the Vegan Family Kitchen Podcast. Karen Steiner is a Weight Loss Coach, Food Activist and Meditation Teacher. Professionally, she has Master’s degree in …

My first book Flow in the Kitchen: Practices for Healthy Stress-Free Vegan Cooking is available for pre-order in ebook format from Amazon (compatible with all mobile devices)! (Paperback and Kobo coming soon.) It's not a cookbook! Instead of feeding you recipes, I offer you the seeds you can plant to grow your own versions of standard vegan dishes …

Do you hate cooking? You are not alone. My guest today, Gemma McFall, used to feel just like you, but then she found a way to leverage her strengths to improve her kitchen reality. Listen on to find out what she did. Gemma McFall is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and also a Vegan Meal Plan subscriber. Her work is to help women reduce stress and…

Cooking really good food for myself and my loved ones isn't a sprint. It's an ultra-endurance event. It has to be attended at least 3 times per day (more like 6 when counting snacks for growing and/or active people). It's not like I can deal it once for the year or a few months and be satisfied. It's one of those cyclical things that repeats every …

Babita Shresta thought she had landed on another planet when she first visited a grocery store in Minnesota. Coming from rural Nepal, where as a child she learned to cook fresh vegetables and simmer lentils alongside her grandfather, she had never seen packaged processed food. Pre-cooked tortillas and roti sold in plastic bags blew her mind. She co…

This question has been settled scientifically for a number of years but it still keeps on coming up, so I thought I would review the recent scientific evidence about the link (or rather, the lack of link) between soy and cancer risk for your convenience. Spoiler: soy certainly does not cause cancer and in fact may be preventive. You will find the r…

Can fertility improve with a plant-based diet? Research certainly seems to be on the side of a reduction in meat intake having a positive effect, while health plant-based diets focused on whole foods have the potential to improve many of the factors that influence fertility. To talk about it, I invited Dr. Jenny Lee on the podcast. Dr. Jenny Lee is…

Iron is a common concern of well-meaning friends and relatives, upon learning that a loved one is going vegan or committing to eating more plants (and fewer animals). Since most people still think of meat as the source of the most abundant and easiest to absorb iron, isn’t forgoing animal products putting you at risk for iron deficiency? Unfortunat…

Earth Day is a timely moment to reflect on how we are connected to our natural environment and to all the other beings who share this planet with us. I am humbled to be joined by Reverend Ian White Maher, a Unitarian Universalist minister and also the founder of The Seekers’ Table, an online contemplative community. Ian is also vegan, a lifestyle c…

How do you get into shape after having kids without spending hours in the gym? Amy Kakebeeke is the queen of squeezing short yet effective workouts in-between the many commitments of her busy life as a working mom. Get ready to be inspired to hop off the couch and start moving! In the podcast, we: - talk about Amy's work with busy women who want to…

If you also deal with picky eaters, you know how frustrating, discouraging, and worrisome it can be. I hope this story about my children's food journeys will make you feel less alone and more hopeful. If you're interested in my Feed picky eaters with love workshop, check out the details here: https://veganfamilykitchen.com/register/feed-picky-eater…

There aren't many aspects of your life that won't be improved by joining a plant-based cooking club. It's a great way to ensure that you show up in the kitchen on weekends to do your batch cooking for the week. When Wednesday night comes and you open the fridge, you'll find the building blocks of dinner ready to assemble to create a fresh-tasting, …

Anne-Marie Bonneau has been living plastic-free since 2011 and you'll find her story and tips inspiring and empowering. In this episode, we discuss what motivated her and her daughters to say goodbye to plastic and reduce their food and packaging waste and Anne-Marie shares her zero-waste shopping routines. We discuss the mindset shifts that make i…

Grace hasn't been a ritual in my life thus far... but I think it should from now on. What do you think? I always love to hear from you. Drop me an email at hello@veganfamilykitchen.com. If you need help deciding what's for dinner, I can do that for you. Try the Planned & Plant-based 5-dinner plan and see if it helps out: https://veganfamilykitchen.…

I am sick and tired of seeing meat, dairy, and egg recipes in mainstream newspapers and magazines, as well as featured in TV shows. And don't get me started on famous previously-plant-based bloggers who start posting meat recipes because it increases their advertising revenue. The world does NOT need another meat recipe. We all have to start doing …

The Instant Pot craze - and extremely effective marketing campaign - has cast a shadow on that simple hero, the slow cooker. Despite being the simplest appliance there is - with exactly zero moving parts! - slow cookers can still save the day, and in fact I recommend you use them at least once or twice per week to make comforting soups and stews. L…

Warning: miscarriage and child loss are mentioned in this recording. If you are only here to learn how to cook, I suggest you skip this episode. This podcast episode is a personal one where I tell the story of a dream - actually a nightmare - that woke me up in horror recently. It's also a reflection on motherly loss and how it made me transform my…

Have you been subscribing to meal kits and getting boxes of ready-to-cook food delivered to your door? I bet you are ready to step onto the next level by upgrading to a plant-based meal planning service instead. I hope you enjoy the Vegan Family Kitchen podcast. If you'd like help getting started with plant-based meal plans, hit me up at hello@vega…

CSA box programs have you pay upfront for your summer's veggies. Is it worth it? For us, I think so, but it really depends on your circumstances. Make sure to listen to this podcast episode before you sign up for a CSA box program for the first time! See the original post: https://veganfamilykitchen.com/are-csa-boxes-worth-it Do you need a healthy …

When you cook, cook. (Or wash the dishes.) If you think you need your phone in the kitchen, listen to this episode to find you need to leave it out. It might just improve everything about your meals! -- Need help figuring out how to feed yourself and loved ones really good plant-based food? Come and visit me at veganfamilykitchen.com. I have a free…

About a third of American and Canadian households have a dog, and the numbers have grown since the beginning of the pandemic. My own household does not include tail-wagging friends, but I know dogs are part of the family for many. So what do they all eat? Can dogs be plant-based? This question becomes increasingly urgent as companion animal numbers…

What's the link between health and wealth? Among other things, both require us to invest in them - and both yield fabulous benefits and freedom if we are committed to growing them steadily. Join me in the Vegan Family Kitchen as I engage in conversation about health and wealth with my neighbor and long-time Vegan Meal Plan subscriber, the financial…

Eating animal products, aside from being horribly polluting and terribly cruel, is shamefully inefficient. Thankfully, we can do better thanks to technology today, and the future looks bright. I was thrilled to interview Karthik Sekar, Ph.D., a data analyst in the "alt-meat" industry and author of the book "After Meat: The Case for an Amazing, Meat…

Individual action is a great place to start when it comes to climate change, but a terrible place to stop. Beyond plant-based cooking, we also have to consider the policies that have led us to the current crisis. As western Canada's industrial animal farming infrastructure is walloped by unprecedented storms and hundreds of thousands of animals dro…

Pull yourself a chair in the Vegan Family Kitchen and join the conversation with my guest, Marian Erikson. She is the host of the Plant-based Briefing podcast and a cherished Vegan Meal Plan subscriber. Get a meal plan to be Planned & Plant-based next week Listen to the Plant-based Briefing podcastBy Vegan Family Kitchen / Brigitte Gemme

Do you hate cooking? Are you resentful about having to make dinner every night? Let's take a deep (but quick!) dive together into this question that is truly a matter of life and death. What are the forces that stack the odds against home cooking in our culture? And what can we do about it as individuals? If you're willing to go from "I hate cookin…

Think cooking is a chore? Time to give your head a shake and turn things around. Cooking CAN be fun... if you make it so. I interviewed Siobhan Coates, the fun coach, to talk about it. You're going to love her amazing tips to bring the joy into your kitchen. Watch this, then go put it into practice right away! Connect with Siobhan on Facebook: http…

Is cooking more of a chore and less of a joy? That's understandable, and you're not alone. There may be underlying issues to address to improve your situation, but right now - when it's time to cook - focusing on gratitude might make you feel better. Here are my grateful thoughts. Visit the original post to comment with your reasons to feel gratefu…

Batch cook this weekend and make your life SO MUCH BETTER next week! Get inspired with 20+ awesome all-vegan plant-based recipes that I selected because they are great for batch cooking: blog post and recipes. More meal planning and batch cooking resources.By Vegan Family Kitchen / Brigitte Gemme