Miyoko Schinner
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Welcome to the Artisan Vegan Life! I’m Miyoko, and for decades I’ve delighted in cooking and feeding people, mostly omnivores. My goal is to put artistry into the vegan lifestyle. Good food is simply good food, and if it’s vegan, it’s even better.
I believe that the best food is natural, handcrafted, and made with love (for those who eat and those who don’t get eaten)! Whether you’re a vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian, omnivore, or hardened meat-eater, I hope that my books, DVDs, blog, videos, classes, and recipes can inspire you to step into your kitchen, roll up your sleeves, and embrace the joy of cooking real food, slow food, beautiful food – vegan food. Here you’ll find new ideas, new spins on old takes, and new flavors that make you say, “Wow!” Let me know what’s going on in your kitchen!
I converted to vegetarianism at 12, against my parents’ will(!). At age 15, I fell in love with my parents’ collection of the now-classic Time-Life series “The Good Cook,” reading every page of every edition, whether about pastries or meat, learning the difference between sauté, braise, and stir-fry. I cooked for my family and held bake-offs at my house. My spare time has always been about food, glorious food.
In my 20s, I lived in Japan, which prides itself in adopting–then improving upon–the best of other cultures. Within a three-block radius of my house were French restaurants, pastry shops, and Indian food exceeding anything I’d experienced in the U.S.: a taster’s heaven. When I started to transition to veganism in my mid-20s, I had to find a way to capture all of those rich, complex flavors I had learned to love. I began to experiment, inviting friends every Friday night to enjoy and comment on 10- to 15- course tasting menus.
I started to teach cooking, wrote articles for Japanese magazines, and even wrote a vegan cookbook in Japanese. That book was never published, but back in the U.S. I translated it myself into English, and produced my first cookbook, The Now and Zen Epicure (Book Publishing Company, 1991). I’ve owned a vegan restaurant, natural food company, and even produced vegan cookies for United Airlines. I’ve written for numerous publications, including Vegetarian Times and VegNews, and have given talks and demos around the country to thousands of people.
Miyoko’s latest book, The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples, published in June 2015.