Jenny Carchman is the founder of The Plant Institute, an organization she founded to promote a plant-based diet. Carchman wrote The Plant-Based Restaurant Cookbook, just a few months after writing, and teaching, a vegetarian course at the Los Angeles School of Culinary Arts.
Her namesake cookbook, a 130-recipe directory for the 18 different plant-based restaurants around the world, including places like Aquafina, Cafe Guichard, Chop’n Double Dutch, B.R. Mendocino, Boulevard, Junot’s, Whole Foods, and Whey Café & Shop in Houston, Texas, showcases not only the versatility of plant-based recipes, but also some of the innovative techniques—like steaming and grilling—that make these menus a success.
Carchman describes her mission as a lifestyle, not a diet. “If we don’t involve ourselves in the everyday joy of cooking and eating, we lose the joy of our lives,” she tells us. “We are all born with a connection to the land and have to grow food to survive. Plants and people don’t have to be on opposite sides of the fence—we just have to open our eyes and minds to the connection. We all feed off of each other.”