A Personal Note from Anything Vegan
Hi, we are sisters Jasmine and Marji, international chefs and nutritional experts who parlayed our entrepreneurial spirits into Anything Vegan International, a successful plant-based lifestyle transition company. We are a vegan health and wellness team specializing in helping people. We’ve also created “O’So Cheesy”, an artisanal line of vegan cheese alternatives.
Our mission is to help the world be healthy, happy and whole. As Co-Owners, we live very busy yet holistic lifestyles in the EnerGyCENTER.
We pride ourselves on creating the perfect balance between preparing meals that are healthy and enjoying meals that are packed with amazing flavor.
Our culinary creativeness honors our heritage. Our mother Geneva, a New York native with southern culinary flair, and our father Clive, from the Caribbean island of Trinidad, passed on their bold, flavorful cooking styles. What developed was a love of cooking that has made us passionate and dedicated to bringing creativity to vegan cuisine. We are so excited to share this information with you!
We love living in the EnerGyCENTER! - enjoying the benefits of amazing, delectable vegan meals and living a lifestyle that supports us in every way. We are aligned with our higher purpose, and we are fully CENTERed in our bodies, minds and spirits. But it was not always this way …
Why We Eat Plants
We are sisters Marji and Jasmine are chefs, certified nutritionists, food justice advocates and public speakers, affectionately known by our clients as the Anything Vegan Girls. We owe this path to all the healthy eating seeds which were planted within us very early-on.
Looking back on our childhoods, family reunions hold a special place in our heart. These were the times when our huge family would come from all over, celebrate family, laugh and cook amazingly delicious food. The deep love our family shares overflowed. In celebration, we ate southern-style soul food and Caribbean food because this is our heritage. Every meat went on the BBQ grill from beef sausages to curry goat and at the time it all tasted great.
But as early as age 9 we recall noticing that too many of our relatives suffered with diet-related illnesses like high-blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. We began to form a connection between the very food we loved eating and the adults around us with chronically low energy and many illnesses. Our family meant well with the food, but the results were literally killing many of them.
One of the adults in our family however, seemed to stand out from the rest - our Uncle Judge. Uncle Judge became vegetarian at age 17. He then transitioned to vegan/raw eating. He stood out because he was in his late 40's and was full of energy and life. His skin glowed. He was in such great shape that he would play basketball with our teenage cousins. Uncle Judge is now 75 years old and still amazing.
We remember Uncle Judge bringing his own plant-based food to family gatherings. He was so nice when we ran up to him asking what it was. He answered all of our curious little questions and never made us or our family feel bad for eating differently than he chose to eat. He talked with us about how eating plant-based gave him health, energy, mental sharpness, and peace. He was non-judgmental, open and relaxed about his amazing way of living. This stayed with us, even into adulthood.
We didn't know it then but Uncle Judge’s commitment to a plant based lifestyle and compassion towards us planted the seeds for us to become plant based chefs, certified nutritionists, and build our company Anything Vegan. Now, we have the privilege of helping people eat healthy and transition to a plant based lifestyle.
The Journey Continues...
In 2010, Jasmine had been vegan for many years and Marji was transitioning into a plant-based lifestyle. They decided to throw a dinner party where half the guests were animal-based eaters and the other half were vegan or vegetarian. Our animal-based eating friends were anxious about being at a party with no meat, thinking we’d just serve a big bowl of lettuce. Understanding their misconceptions about plant-based eating, we agreed to have meat as they requested and ordered animal-based dishes and made the vegan version of every single dish. The guests went back for 2nd and 3rd helpings - of the plant-based dishes! It was only when it was all gone did we revealed to our meat-eating friends that they were actually eating vegan versions, not just duplicate pans of food.
One guest, a fellow attorney and co-worker (of Marji's) who ironically spent the entire evening talking about how she must have her meat and potatoes, and how “it just isn’t a meal without meat”, was scarfing down her third plant-based plate. She couldn’t believe she was eating vegan, because the food was so delicious. She actually went through our garbage can to see what we used, read ingredients, and couldn’t wait to learn more about eating plant-based.
Like Uncle Judge did for us so many years before, we created a safe place at the party, opening up a dialogue about the benefits of plant-based eating. Many of the guests wanted to learn about the benefits of plant-based eating, get cooking lessons, guidance and support. And when they asked how was it possible to make such delicious plant-based foods we told the guests... “Anything You Can Make, I Can Make Vegan”. This sparked the beginning of Anything Vegan and our chance to change the balance of the world.
You have picked up this book because you, too, are ready for a change. You are ready to experience your EnergyCENTER.
What is the EnerGyCENTER?
The EnergyCENTER is an empowerment vehicle to reconnect your emotions and physical body with eating. This will begin the process of creating positive, long-lasting results in every area of your life by examining and cultivating:
● Self/Spirit Work
● Family/ Relationships
● Career/Ambitions
● Fun/Passions
● Financial Peace
● Health/Wellness
● All the Other Great Life Stuff!
It is your birthright to enjoy your best life, with energy, enjoyment, and yes, eating delicious food! Welcome to change…it looks GREAT on you!