About Me

My name is Angela and I am a vegan foodie.

My passion for food has been driven by my love for animals. At a very young age, I realized that I no longer wanted to contribute to the cruelty and suffering endured by animals raised for food consumption. I also discovered through extensive research that the illnesses and conditions that plagued my family’s medical history, e.g., cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc., were all highly correlated with the consumption of animals. It was these two realizations that led me to first go vegetarian, then vegan. I’ve been veg for over 25 years now and I’m lovin’ every minute of it!

Although my path to becoming vegan is pretty typical, my path to creating this food blog is not. In addition to being a vegan foodie, I am also an extreme sports athlete. I was a racecar driver for six years competing in several sport compact drag racing series and I was sponsored by PETA.

After that, I took up skydiving, then BASE jumping (BASE is an acronym for jumping off of buildings, antennas, span (bridges), and earth (mountains)), and eventually wingsuiting (a discipline within skydiving and BASE jumping). 

In 2009, I suffered a serious BASE jumping injury in Norway that could have left me crippled for life. You can listen to my story here.

That was when I really got into nutrition and obsessed over how to supply my body with the fuel it needed to heal properly. I spent over a year recovering from a shattered calcaneus (heel bone), fractured fibula at the ankle, and compressed vertebrae. I’m proud to say that because of my plant-powered diet, incredible determination and dedication, and positive attitude, I had a miraculous recovery. Today I am actively engaged in all of the gravity-defying sports that I love...even with 19 screws and two plates in my foot and ankle.

After I recovered, in 2010, I completed a certificate program at the School of Natural Cookery in Boulder where I learned how to create spectacular meals using local, seasonal ingredients. In 2011, I became a certified Food for Life instructor for PCRM, which enables me to teach cooking and nutrition classes focused on cancer prevention, diabetes prevention, and weight loss. And, in May 2011, I started this blog.

On this blog, I review restaurants that serve vegan food, not just exclusively vegan restaurants. My favorite thing to do is to review top-rated (Michelin-starred) restaurants that typically do not serve vegan meals, but have prepared a special vegan tasting menu for me.

I also review vegan food products (lots of chocolate!) and create my own culinary masterpieces.

I consider myself a wine connoisseur and I take wine education classes on a regular basis. I have been on many wine tours in Napa Valley, Sonoma, Paso Robles (CA), Yakima (WA), and Willamette Valley (OR). And I'm proud to say that my wine collection keeps growing.

Thank you for taking the time to join me in my journey as I continue to share my love for healthy, healing food. It is the plant-powered way that I live that enables me to live life to its fullest. Today, I am an avid skydiver (mostly wingsuiting) and BASE jumper and to stay in shape for it all, I regularly practice yoga, barre, and trapeze. I am proof that with the right mindset, a healthy diet, and regular exercise, you can do anything. Please feel free to drop me a line to let me know what you think at any time! My email is angela [at] theveraciousvegan [dot] com. Bon appetit!