2019 Gumbo final - Book - Page 81
Vegan Soul Food
Roy's solution for struggling vegans was to
make soul food vegan, opening a restaurant
without a single animal-based ingredient.
n a small restaurant on Bennington Avenue, Cornelius
Roy planned on revolutionizing Baton Rouge food
culture. Now, around two months after Vegan Friendly
Foods’ opening, the business is still going strong.
Roy, one of the owners of Vegan Friendly Foods, wants to
make vegan food popular for everyone and spread awareness
of healthier foods. As an on-and-off vegan for eight years, he
understands how hard it is to find good vegan options. His solution
was to make soul food vegan, opening a restaurant without a
single animal-based ingredient.
Vegan Friendly Foods operates under normal business hours on
Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 on Bennington Ave.
“It’s about spreading and educating. This is kind of like activism
in a sense. It’s weird trying to help people with their diet,” Roy
said. “This is not the healthiest vegan thing to eat, but it’s a good
starting point to help you transition.”
Besides their signature dishes, like jambalaya and mushroom
steak, they also plan on testing out new dishes, like vegan ice
cream. Their desserts, especially the vegan King Cake, have been
big hits. Other dishes took a lot of effort, like the Backslider Burger,
which was the restaurant’s effort to make a good vegan burger.
want to see how they work first here in the restaurant before I
break off and do other stuff.”
Right now, Vegan Friendly Foods gets around 70-100 customers
a day, frequented by both college students and members of the
Baton Rouge community. They’re just starting to expand, getting
their first catering event for February.
One of the best experiences Roy’s had since Vegan Friendly Foods
opened is the support and the appreciation from the Baton Rouge
community. Roy said the restaurant has gotten a lot of positive
feedback so far.
“Those things really touch me because they’re appreciative of
the food, they say ‘thank you for being here,’ like ‘Baton Rouge
needed this,’” Roy said. “Those types of interactions with the
community have been very touching.”
Vegan Friendly Foods owner Cornelius Roy sits outside of his
restaurant on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 on Bennington Ave.
“So we’re vegan right? We need to have a burger that we can eat
that’s comparable to another burger that someone would eat that
has bacon and cheese and all that stuff on that,” Roy said. “So
that’s why we did like a coconut bacon, the cheese, the avocado.”
Another challenge was making good vegan mac and cheese,
which took them some trial and error, especially in the taste and
consistency.
“That is something in the vegan community that is the definer,”
Roy said. “If you have the mac and cheese, we love you. And that
is something, ironically, we’ve been struggling with nailing that
down.”
They eventually succeeded in making good mac and cheese by
using nut-based cheese. After having a customer taste it without
any complaints, Roy thinks they finally hit on the right recipe.
Besides experimenting with new dishes, Roy also wants to
implement a monthly newsletter with advice on how to eat
healthily as a vegan along with other lifestyle advice. His goal is to
make the restaurant into a community place, somewhere where
everyone can express their culture.
Story // Rachel Mipro
Photo //Bella Biondini
Design //Chloe Bryars
“The store is a hub, it’s a testing ground. It’s more than a
restaurant,” Roy said. “I have other concepts I want to do and I
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