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“The vitamin I wanted to take didn’t exist,” says the mykind Organics founder.
RAY ROGERS: You’ve been a vegan and committed animal rights advocate for a long time now. What first made you aware of the plight of animals? ALICIA SILVERSTONE: I’ve been an animal lover ever since I was a little girl. My mom was the same way; if we saw a stray dog running in the street, we would rescue it, which I still do to this day! Because of this love for animals, I flirted with vegetarianism throughout adolescence but it wasn’t until I was 21 that it really struck me profoundly and I went all-in. I watched the documentary The Witness and took a look at my dog and thought, If I’m not willing to eat you, how can I continue to eat these other creatures that have the same desire to live, are just as funny, and have the same reaction to pain as my dogs? Little did I know, this diet would completely transform my health: I ditched my asthma inhaler, weekly allergy shots, and acne. RR: It’s so much easier to eat a healthy and delicious vegan diet today than in years past, whether cooking for yourself or dining out. Can you talk a little about how you like to cook for yourself at home now and what restaurants you cherish, at home in LA or elsewhere in the world? AS: My books The Kind Mama and The Kind Diet have some of my absolute favorite recipes: a couple of highlights from The Kind Mama include protein-packed waffles, veggie sausage and sweet potato hash, and chocolate-dunked coconut delights. From The Kind Diet some go-to dishes include: quick date-apple-cinnamon oatmeal; artichoke, mushroom and leek crostini with pesto; bok choy drizzled in ume vinaigrette; and chocolate-peanut butter cups. Other go-tos really depend on the season, and what’s fresh in our garden. In the summer, I make killer salads that my son, Bear, helps me put together. In the winter, I love a warming soup. Some of the eateries I love in LA include Vromage—they have so 135
many insane nut-cheeses and tasty sandwiches—and Crossroads Kitchen! Crossroads’ menu changes seasonally, but delicious dishes I enjoy include the vichyssoise soup, impossible sliders, truffle potatoes, squash blossoms, and the peach sundae. In New York, I frequent Souen, Candle 79 and AbcV. Souen has been a staple for me for the past decade, with items like greens and daikon, kinpira, yuba soup, maze rice, and watercress salad. Candle 79 and the Candle Cafes have yum fun dishes like seitan piccata, seitan chimichurri, and peanut butter bliss. AbcV is out of this world; Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s vegetarian food is seriously next level. The beet carpaccio is insane. RR: Was mykind a natural extension of the kind of cruelty-free health regimen that being vegan is for you? AS: Yes. This vitamin journey began when I was pregnant with my son. In order to grow the healthiest little human possible, I was already feeding my body with all the clean, nutrition-packed foods that had transformed my health years ago. But because these babies can be little nutrition vampires—and because some days were not all sunshine and kale—I wanted to have peace of mind that I was getting every health-supporting vitamin and mineral that my body needed during this time. I embarked on a quest to find the cleanest prenatal vitamin possible, ideally one that was aligned with the way I eat: organic, non-GMO, plant-based, and free of funky processed junk. I didn’t want a bottle of chemical isolates dressed up with organic fluff. The vitamin I wanted to take didn’t exist. So I went looking for a partner—the stars aligned with Garden of Life—and I co-founded mykind Organics. It is made from whole foods, and is certified USDA organic, non-GMO-verified and free of synthetic binders and fillers. RR: What is one thing you would recommend taking every day? AS: Before we made our own truly