Talking Raw. Vegan. Not Gross. with Laura Miller

If you’ve passed through San Francisco on market day, you may have already tucked into Laura Miller’s luscious Lavender Cheesecake, served up at her previous “Sidesaddle Kitchen” market food stall. More recently, Miller has been charming the internet with her easygoing ways of making meals with raw, vegan and not gross food — with an emphasis on nourishing, vibrant ingredients as well as body positivity. After the success of three series’ of recipe videos for Tastemade, no doubt due to Miller’s refreshing take on raw and vegan recipes — like the bento box, beet lasagne or vegan tacos – “Raw. Vegan. Not Gross.” recipes stand out brightly in the endless realm of green smoothies, smoothie bowls and smoothie smoothies. Miller now updates her own Youtube channel regularly with the likes of cinnamon rolls, cheese and peppermint patties — all raw and vegan, none gross. Over on her highly entertaining Instagram, Miller has developed a “froob” following — her body positivity campaign includes froob t-shirts, with all proceeds going to the Movement Foundation, a non-profit that empowers young women to feel confident in their bodies.

In her first cookbook out now, “Raw. Vegan. Not Gross.”, Miller not only shares accessible recipes which you will actually make, instead of just flicking through like a kitchen fairytale (I’ve made the sea veggie salad twice in the last week), but also describes a wide range of experiences that led up to the cookbook, including how she overcomes her own problems with body image, and learning about self care. We caught up with Laura at her new base in Los Angeles:

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Paste: How are you? I hear there’s been a heat wave in L.A?

Laura Miller: Good! How are you? Yes we definitely are having a heat wave, it’s pretty crazy. I’ve only been living in L.A for a year so this is the first beginning of summer I’ve experienced so, I don’t know if this is normal or not. But it’s very hot!

Paste: What’s it like compared to living in San Francisco now that you’ve spent a year in L.A?

LM: I really like L.A way more than I thought I would. I think I had an image of what I thought it would be like to be here, and it’s not like that at all. I had this made-for- tv image of West Hollywood clubs, but it’s not that at all! My husband’s a musician and was already living down here, we’re just around a lot of hardworking creative people all the time. I don’t come in contact with big egos, or the stereotypical Hollywood/L.A stuff very often — which is great. For some reason, people in L.A are always down to hang out, we have people over all the time. Whereas in San Francisco, I think it’s the weather or something, but people don’t wanna leave their house!

Paste: Congratulations on your first cookbook, “Raw. Vegan. Not Gross.”, it’s really wonderful. You just had your first ever book tour, how did it go?

LM: It was great, I was so nervous about it because there was going to be a lot of public speaking. But it was also really surprising, because it turned into Q&A’s at each event and so many people wanted to talk about the stuff in the intro of the book — which was a lot about mental health, taking care of yourself, and body image — that was what the majority of the questions were about. I found that really inspiring, and thought it was really cool and unexpected.

Paste: Would that encourage you to go more in that direction — of that relationship between food and your mental health and how you feel in your body?

LM: Yes absolutely, I’m planning new Youtube videos and I think I’ll do one series on that stuff — I found myself answering the same questions and decided I have to make a video on this. The internet is oversaturated with recipes so I think it means something to people when you talk about the how and why of keeping healthy.

Paste: I thought it was really revolutionary what you said in the beginning of the book about the trend of before/after pictures, how people tend to talk badly about their ‘before’ self. You said, the “before” person should be the real hero in the story because, “That person was you too! That version of you was the one smart enough and strong enough to realize you could be happier and healthier.” I sent that passage to a lot of people because I hadn’t ever come across that message before.

LM: The before/after trend is such an instagram phenomenon, it’s everywhere and I get it. Not that you shouldn’t be proud of changes you made, I just really feel strongly that you have to be proud of every version of where you were, where you are, where you’re going to be. You have to have a deeper sense of self care.

Paste: When you’re on the road, now you have the experience of doing a book tour, is it easy to keep up your usual eating habits, how do you manage when traveling?

LM: I did the best I could do, I got stuck sometimes at the airport. One of my go-to’s is to have lemons and avocados in my bag, which sounds insane, but it means I can always make lemon water. When you’re traveling I feel like you end up consuming a lot of acidic things like coffee, alcohol, and sweets. Lemons really help with that. If you can’t find anything that’s gluten free and vegan, you can always add avocado to a boring salad and at least feel like you’re eating a real thing instead of just translucent paper lettuce in an airport salad that has no nutritional value.

Paste: Would you have any advice for beginner vegans?

LM: Even though I did the opposite of this – I like to say that I did everything wrong so I try to give advice in the opposite direction. I think it’s more important to incorporate things into your diet, than to push things out. And to do it slowly so it fits into your life, and your family life. Find out what things your family is also excited about and wants to eat. If you’re trying to become fully vegan that’s the smartest way because by adding things in, you’re inherently pushing stuff out – junk or meat-heavy stuff. There’s just less room for it, the more you incorporate the good stuff in. I wish I had done it like that! I became vegan overnight, and I was just not eating well, I was eating cheerios and soy milk every day and feeling terrible.

Paste: What foods can vegans eat to make sure they’re getting enough nutrients?

LM: Chia seeds are great for omega, fibre and protein. Pumpkin seeds for iron — I worry about iron a lot. I think those are things people worry about the most — B vitamins, iron and protein. Find the least expensive version of it as an ingredient, rather than having to buy expensive supplements. Nutritional yeast and things like that are great for clearing you on those nutrients, rather than supplements for them.

Paste: Do you end up taking supplements yourself?

LM: I do, I take an iron supplement on top of food-based stuff as I’m paranoid about it, and I take a probiotic. I sometimes take a B vitamin if I’m traveling and not getting all the stuff that I should be getting.

Paste: Your recipe videos are really fun — do you try to share different styles of recipes than you have in your book? Like the videos of pop tarts and peppermint patties — is it a way of enticing people in with traditional sweets, to show that you can make them raw?

LM: People definitely like watching videos of sweets more than anything else. I just did a new series on my Youtube channel. When you buy a cookbook, you want breakfast ideas, weeknight meals and more practical ideas. For a video, you want to see the fun stuff, I think. People are looking for different things. The series I did previously for the Tastemade channel, I did 40 recipes with them, so I learned a lot about what people wanted because I was reading all the comments. I got real time feedback — for better or worse — about everything I put up when it’s video. This was really good because I had all that feedback in my brain while I was making the cookbook, and also now while I’m making new video content on my own, it’s really helpful.

Paste: Are you always switched on when making food now, thinking ‘This could be a video!’, or ‘This could be in my next book!’ — can you switch off?

LM: The thing that I’ve found lately is that I’ve been traveling so much that I haven’t been making food! I’ve been more throwing simple things together, which is interesting and I might do a series on that kind of thing — recipes that require two steps. More ideas than recipes, like “These few things together will be a thing you can have as a meal and will be delicious and satisfying.” I mean, it’s not anything you would serve to anyone who came over, but you’re trying to survive! I will do a bit of that moving forward, in a practical sense I find that a lot of people are looking for that. And personally I’m trying to think all the time, what can I make in three minutes and eat in six minutes, and be out the door.

Paste: I haven’t tried your “Bowl of frozen berries with milk” yet, I’m afraid of it hurting my teeth!

LM: I know, it doesn’t hurt my teeth, but maybe for people with sensitive teeth. I thought it was too simple to put in the book because it doesn’t seem like a recipe. But then it turns out to be the one that most people email me about that they’ve done. It’s a good starter recipe if you’re feeling overwhelmed. I love that people actually do it.

“Raw. Vegan. Not Gross.” is out now via Flatiron books.