Mia Richards on plant-based eating: “It’s important to have community”
A lot of people who follow a plant-based style of eating end up falling into it without even realizing it. They walk into a restaurant, order something that seems tasty, and all of sudden, they realized everything was made out of plants!
That’s what happend to 30 Day PBA leader Mia Richards when she was a college student living in D.C. 12 years ago. One day, she went into a restaurant with her mom, ate delicious vegan ice cream and a mushroom salad. She loved it. A few weeks later she started working there.
Since then, Mia has become a yoga instructor and loves eating plant-based as a way to be more spiritually connected with the world. I got a chance to speak with Mia and we talked about how the world became more vibrant when she started eating plant-based, her favorite things to cook and how much community means to her on this journey.
You must have learned a lot when you were working at that restaurant, huh?
Yeah. I learned mad stuff about how to season and tenderize and do all of these wonderful things with ingredients and make dishes taste good. They had raw food and soul food and so it was always busy and I just got to learn a lot about it. Since then, I’ve just been cooking that way and eating that way.
Have you always been a cook before this?
I’ve always liked to cook, but I’ve definitely have cooked more and more my style since I’ve been vegetarian.
What is you favorite thing to cook?
The last thing I really liked was what I made for Thanksgiving. I made glazed brussel sprouts and cashew mac and cheese. And before that I made something with yucca.
Oooo…
I love all sorts of foods. And I love cut up fruit. It’s probably my favorite thing to eat.
When you first started out, was it an easy transition? Now eating more plant-based has become more of a trend, but did people question you 12 years ago?
Yeah, my family would ask the same questions. People asking about things on your behalf sometimes feels like a lot. And there’s been plenty of times where I responded to the environment … Like sometimes when I went out with my friends I didn’t want to go out of my way to get a salad. I knew if I thought of it differently, there would have been other options. But there were plenty of times when I got pizza or ate a cookie.
Yeah it can be challenging when you are doing something like that by yourself.
That’s why I think it’s important for us to do this together and have events where you don’t have to ask those questions. You don’t have to compromise when it feels great to be committed to something. I think that was probably the first real commitment I really made.
Why do you think people are skeptical of completely eliminating animal-based products?
I think taste is a big thing. Habit. Definitely your surroundings, your community, your family. But actually, there’s a lot of interest in moving away from animal-based products. There are so many more ways to not eat animals now more than ever. Ultimately more plant-based options are here because of interest. There’s still a lot that needs to be done to pivot towards eating well. And I really want to make wellness a part of what we are doing.
Have you experienced health benefits from plant-based eating?
Definitely. Definitely. At different stages, I’ve felt different ways. You are what you eat. You feel what you eat. When I would eat only raw food for a prolonged amount of time, I would feel like everything was so in focus. So colorful. It was like my thoughts were ahead of themselves. Everything was so sharp and clear and I definitely know that the food was nourishing me. I want us to all just live in that place.
To your point about eating nourishing foods, I think when a lot of people transition to vegetarianism or veganism they end up supplementing meat with processed products like Tofurky or soy-based mock meat. I think one common critique of these “-isms” is that some people are moving away from real food.
Yeah. Those sorts of products are marketed in a way that makes them attractive based upon the fact that they are vegetarian. They are not real…But they taste good! Haha. I’ve joked before that I’m a “full fat vegan,” meaning I like my fruit fresh and decadent. Not canned in light syrup. I really love bread and vegan butter, bagels with concord grapes. But we can’t forget that it’s important to eat more green things because of the way they make you feel. It’s about balance, but I still really feel strongly about the truth.
