Top Six in the 6: Best Vegan Chefs
We’ve rounded up our favourite vegan chefs and personalities that are pioneering plant-based dining in the city.
Ikeila Wright
One Love Vegetarian
Caribbean influence weighed heavily on Wright’s upbringing. Her parents are Jamaican and she’s also spent time in the British Virgin Isles, where meat and fish are prevalent in cuisine. Once she became vegetarian, she relearned how to cook her favourite meals and now prepares these recipes at her Annex restaurant One Love Vegetarian. The eatery sets itself apart for its callalloo. Which is prepared from fresh boxes of the leafy green shipped in from Jamaica instead of the canned varieties used by most Caribbean restaurants.
Maggie Skelton
Chase Hospitality Group
Skelton learned how to cook at the young age of 10 and by the time she was in high-school, she was in charge of the dinner table. Following a stint at chef Amanda Cohen’s Dirt Candy restaurant in New York, Skelton developed a love for veggies and was drawn to plant-based cooking. Today, Skelton is chef at one of the city’s hottest restaurants, Planta, where diners are introduced to new perspectives on plant-based cooking.
Kiran Bissoon
Ki's Kitchen
After preparing weekly vegetarian meals for a close friend with Multiple Sclerosis, Bissoon discovered the healing powers of her cooking and launched Ki’s Kitchen, her Durham-based meal prep and delivery service. Ki’s Kitchen focuses on restrictive diets, preparing vegan, anti-inflammatory, diabetes-friendly meals that are still flavourful and indulgent, such as her South Indian-inspired eggplant layered casserole and jackfruit tacos. Bissoon recently launched cooking workshops, hosted across the GTA, teaching guests how to prepare her favourite items.
Eric Chao
Parka Food Co.
Following a successful run in the vegan and vegetarian food fest circuit, Eric Chao found a permanent home for his plant-based comfort food with a recently-launched bricks-and-mortar spot on Queen West. Instead of mock meats, Chao puts veggies centre stage, marinating then grilling portobello caps and “fillets” of potato to create burgers that satiate vegans and omnivores eaters alike. Fried cauliflower and onion rings round out the comfort food-focused menu as well as Parka’s popular mac & cheeses made with a creamy dairy-free, nut-based sauce. Aside from the pasta and bread, everything on the menu is made in house.
Candice Hutchings
Edgy Veg
When Hutchings became vegan in 2010, she was disappointed by the lack of plant-based options available. So she taught herself how to cook vegan substitutions for her favourite meals, developing recipes and dishes from scratch. The concept evolved into a tutorial-based YouTube channel, the Edgy Veg video blog, which has amassed over 11 million views of Hutchings’ tongue-in-cheek food tutorials. Among the most popular is her Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich tutorial – deep-fried Seitan marinated in pickle juice and hot sauce.
Nathan Isberg
Awai
Isberg’s raison d’être as a chef, is to raise questions about the ethics and effects of consumption. While he isn’t vegan himself, Isberg has been studying vegan cuisine since his 20s and promotes the lifestyle through his vegan restaurant Awai. There, Isberg serves impressive, fine dining-worthy dishes without relying on meat substitutes. Following in the steps of his last restaurant, the Atlantic, guests pay based on what they believe the experience was worth.
