INTERVIEW WITH:
ISA CHANDRA MOSKOWITZ
interviewer: bob lawton We were super excited to be able to talk to Isa Chandra, founder of the Post Punk Kitchen and author of the Veganomicon and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, our two stand-by kitchen references. She’s currently working on her next cookbook Isa Does It!, coming out Fall 2013.
(starting with the obvious one) We know you started out vegetarian as a teenager, what made you decide to go vegan? The same things that made me go vegetarian made me go vegan. I just always loved animals, especially my cats. As soon as I realized that cows, pigs and chickens were just as awesome as cats, I couldn’t imagine eating them. And then when I learned about how awful the lives of mama cows and chickens were, I decided to give up milk and eggs, too. A lot of people say veganism is only attainable for rich white people -- how would you respond to this criticism? A lot of people like who? Thatís a pretty racist statement, and one that I personally haven’t heard since the 90s (from a rich white person), so I don’t think it even needs a response. But somewhere in there is a legitimate complaint about the cost of food, so I’ll respond to that. I do think that many specialty vegan products are out of the budget for most people, that’s why it’s best to cook whole foods like grains, legumes and veggies. It’s really tragic that organic vegetables are so expensive and that meat is subsidized. Some people really don’t have access to anything but fast food and that sucks! But if you’re not in that situation, and you have access to real food, then it’s actually very economical to eat vegan. I try to make all of my recipes from stuff I can get in the bulk bins, like quinoa, cashews and lentils. And of course if you can afford to eat out then there are more and more vegan options popping up everywhere all the time. 60
chickpea mag summer 2012