Candice Hutchings: Beyond Vegan
LISA BERRY: I love that you brought up that there’s also junk food as well because a lot of people think that just because you’ve chosen not to eat animals that it’s going to be only all vegetables. I know you have 138 recipes in your book. Do they have options, junk food or healthy food, or all foods? Do you include all of it in there?
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: Yes, I include all of it. So, there is some really indulgent deep-fried stuff, and then there are some more healthful items as well. The book also ranges from easy, beginner recipes to more advanced cooking. It was just to show that Vegan food is not only to kill salad in a smoothie or oatmeal. It can be technically interesting. It can be flavorful and decadent and sweet and rich, but then it also can be very healthful. So, the book is not just for Vegans and Vegetarians, it is for anyone, and that is why I called it Carnivore Approved Vegan Recipes because you don’t have to be Vegan to like them. It is good food. It is not good food for Vegan food, it is simply good food.
LISA BERRY: Would you regard yourself, then, as a food activist?
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: Oh, absolutely. I always say that my form of activism is leading with a fork. It’s delicious, and maybe that will subconsciously six months down the road when you’re at a restaurant, and there’s a Vegan option. I remember that one thing I had that was perfect that was Vegan, so this could be just as delicious. Those are the types of connections I want to make for people.
LISA BERRY: Why do you think there is a general aversion to eating Vegan? Is it just because we have been conditioned to be eating animals and animal by-products?
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: I think so. I think for a lot of us, it’s threatening a way that we’ve always just existed, and the idea that something is made to taste or look like something else is just weird or bizarre, or why do it? It is all the stuff we have seen in media or stereotypes we’ve seen on the internet or been told for years and years and years. It is just conditioning, right? Vegan food is gross and looks at this brown millet bowl, that sort of thing. Now we are coming to realize, as a society, and through all these beautiful accounts on Instagram and Blogs on the internet that it is just fruits and vegetables seen in a completely different way. You love fruits and vegetables, so why not try something Vegan. I think that that’s kind of where we are now.
LISA BERRY: Yet that is where the eco-conscious living comes in, right, supporting local. You have your own YouTube Channel. Now, when did you launch this?
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: So that was launched in 2010 or 2011. I started my Blog in 2010, and I started the YouTube Channel in 2011. It’s just kind of been a slow rise since then. It’s really picked up in the last, I would say, four or five years, and I’ve been doing it now full-time for three years, which is pretty incredible. I get to live my dream every single day and do what I love, which is a lot of challenging work, but it is so incredibly rewarding.
LISA BERRY: You really share a lot of personal stuff, and I think that’s what people are connecting with you like I was. You really communicate with people. Like you have some challenging times. You get anxiety. You suffer from depression from time to time. Do you find that food helps with depression, or can it trigger going into depression, or does it always help you, and is it always a comfort doing this?
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: Yes, it absolutely is. For me, my depression and my anxiety are getting a lot better. I do not know if it has to do really with diet. I definitely notice that if I have a lot of sugar or processed foods, I make myself more vulnerable to being irritable, which then kind of has a domino effect with everything else with the anxiety and depression and so forth. I am very hypo-glycaemic; if I don’t eat, I become very irritable and very anxious. I am extremely sensitive in my body when it comes to that sort of thing. In the winter, I definitely try to eat more walnuts, which are great – they call them nature Valium – which elevates your mood, and I do try to supplement in the winter with a lot of D3, which is great for my depression. So, I do think what you are putting into your body definitely has a huge shift.
LISA BERRY: I’m so curious, who are some of the people – whether they’re Chefs or just people cooking with food or animal people on YouTube that you just love and enjoy watching – that you get inspired by?
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: Yes. I have this really great group of Vegan girlfriends, plant-based girlfriends, over in LA, and they’re called The Vegan View. It’s like The View, but Vegan, and they talk about all kinds of different topics, and they’re very relatable women that really have a ‘no BS’ outlook on life and Veganism and make it very approachable for people. Then, of course, Gaz Oakley in the UK. He is a classically trained Chef who makes the most elaborate, beautiful Vegan dishes. Of course, I love the Bon Appetite Channel and all of their challenges. They’re so good. Cooking with Babish was one of my first obsessions. He creates a lot of fanfare food. Sauce Dash, his name is Mark. We make a lot of similar food, so I love to become a little mad food scientist and really use the science of food to create different things. He does the same things, so we are continually doing similar food, and we’ll probably do a collaboration shortly and kind of challenge each other, but I love that approach. That sort of thing. So, those are some of my favorites.
LISA BERRY: That is awesome. I’m totally going to watch The Vegan View. I will be tuning in because I think, for me, the energy when I’m pulling food together, I’m a holistic nutritionist. There’s something about having exuberance and sharing that energy, so I can only imagine some of these Channels that you’ve mentioned or the shows. You’re right. When we’re interested, and we understand, it can really propel you along your own journey. Did you feel there was a need for it, or were other people asking out for this cookbook?
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: Yes, I’d been asked for a few years to write a cookbook, and I always just saw it as a waste of time if I’m perfectly honest. I was, like, you know what I have a website why would anyone buy my book when you can get my recipes for free online? Then, for me, it was essential to have some aspects in the book, so when Robert Rose approached me, finally, and they’re a local Canadian Publisher, that was important for me, too. They’re a Boutique Publisher, so it was very personal, and that was important. When I kind of expressed what I wanted my book to be, which was a printed version of what’s on my YouTube Channel and, also, I wanted a photo for every single recipe.
LISA BERRY: Maybe you walk around going,” I would love to influence that person or this person to become Vegan.” If you could pick three people that are, we’ll call them celebrities, three celebrities – I’m putting you on the spot – pick three celebrities who you’d just love to serve a beautiful Vegan meal to just so they could experience it, who would you choose?
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: Oh, that is a hard question. So, I’m sure that you listen to a lot of podcasts like I do. One of the podcasts that I’m obsessed with is My Favorite Murder and the two ladies on there. I love true crime, it’s a true-crime podcast, but they kind of do it with a comedic spin, and they’re very feminist. They always talk about eating so much meat. I would love for them to come over and just have the funniest, best conversation with them over a Vegan meal and just show them how delicious vegan food can be. I think Karen and Georgia are amazing, and I would love for them to be Vegan.
LISA BERRY: You’re right when people talk about meat. Does that bother you when you do hear people talk about eating meat, then going on about it? Or when those commercials come out, they’re like triple this and that of meat.
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: Yes. I mean, it doesn’t bother me, but I just think it’s misinformation, right? That kind of like be a man, eat burgers, it just kind of continues to push that very toxic stereotype. Then, when people are making fun of Vegans, it doesn’t bother me. Everyone can have their opinion, and I just really think it’s kind of pushing that more. It just pushes misinformation that Vegan food isn’t good. That’s why I’m classified this way and what I’m doing.
LISA BERRY: Yes, that really makes sense. Do you go out and or let other people prepare food for you, do you always let people know I’m a Vegan, or how do you go about doing that?
CANDICE HUTCHINGS: Yes, I always do my research before I go. Some places are more accommodating more than others, but, for me, I will always research the menu beforehand and kind of know the substitutions I can make or know what questions to ask. While also doing it in a really respectful way, because we all know Chefs have their egos and their personalities and I like to do it in a really respectful way.
LISA BERRY: Just a reminder: Candice’s book is called The Edgy Veg Cookbook – a 138 Carnivore Approved Vegan Recipes, and even more than that, I want people to go check you out on your Channel and get to know you and ask questions and leave comments. Instagram @edgyveg, the website is: www.theedgyveg.com
