Meet the Man Changing the Future of Food
There are many reasons to sing the praises of vegan chef Matthew Kenney. As a leader of the plant-based food movement, his company, PlantLab, educates by any means necessary. He operates multiple culinary academies, wellness getaway programs, restaurants, and more. On a more intimate level, there are the food events, speaking engagements, and guest-chef appearances. There’s nothing that this man can’t do.
His namesake culinary academy has graduated thousands of students and focuses on creating a new generation of vegan and raw chefs, as well as teaching curious novice cooks how to take their knowledge of plant-based cooking to a new level. The school—which has physical locations as well as online classrooms—focuses on individual creativity. Post-graduation, the academy helps to place chefs in restaurants or with private clients.
In a video interview for PETA, Kenney explains that, for him, cooking animals was never an option. “I had always loved animals passionately,” he says. “As a chef, creatively, cooking animals wasn’t a challenge and interesting to me. I always loved the work I could do with vegetables.” Watch the entire interview here:
His eight plant-based restaurants across the country include the popular Plant Food + Wine restaurants in Venice, California, and Miami, along with Arata in his home state of Maine.
Through his 13 (and counting) raw and vegan cookbooks, he’s giving the world access to the valuable tools that he’s developed over the course of his career. “I think a lot of that is what’s been holding plant-based food back,” he explains. “People just didn’t know what to do with it, that it’s more than just salads. That’s all changing.”
We were lucky enough to get Kenney to show us one of his gorgeous recipes, California-Style Heart of Palm Ceviche. Using fresh, local ingredients, this refreshing dish is a must-try:
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