We are delighted to interview vegan author and photographer Celine Steen of Have Cake, Will Travel.
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VTC: How long have you been vegan? How was your transition from traditional food to vegan food?
Celine: I went vegan in 2005, and it’s hard for me to believe it’s already been a decade! I had been an on-and-off vegetarian for over a decade before that, so the transition wasn’t too difficult. It was mostly a matter of finding out which ingredients and brands aren’t vegan-friendly and getting used to checking out labels to recognize what’s what. A step I thought would be really difficult to accomplish was to give up cheese. It turns out that, even for this hardcore cheese fiend, it went smoothly. The good news for anyone who fears their transition might be a little trickier – there are amazing vegan cheese substitutes available on the market now. My favorite cheese used to be Swiss cheese, and I find the Follow Your Heart slices are an absolute dead ringer for it. It’s probably a good thing I have a hard time finding them locally, otherwise I would be tempted to splurge at every meal. |
VTC: Did your transition to veganism inspire your cooking?
Celine: Oh, absolutely, 100%. I’ll be the first to admit to not necessarily being extremely well-versed in the kitchen or enthused about cooking before going vegan. The lack of availability of vegan food here in town kind of forced me into getting far more knowledgeable about cooking and eventually to loving it. I couldn’t be more thankful about that. At the risk of sounding cheesy, going vegan is the best decision I’ve ever made in more ways than one.
VTC: What made you decide to become a cookbook author?
Celine: I was frequently updating my website with recipes for a few years when a publisher contacted me to see if I’d be interested in writing a cookbook. Needless to say, it didn’t take much convincing – it felt like the right time, even though it was never something I imagined for myself before.
VTC: When did you start your website?
Celine: I created my first vegan food blog in 2005 and kept it for two years until I felt like a name change. Blogs were just beginning to be popular at the time, and I was already keeping a personal online journal over at Live Journal, so I figured creating something that would be completely food-centric and vegan-centric was a good idea. Then came Have Cake, Will Travel in 2007, until present day. I don't update quite as frequently as I used to, but constantly plan on getting back into it "soon." Hopefully "soon" will happen soon!
VTC: Why did you first decide to start a blog?
Celine: I was posting food pictures and tweaked recipes on the aforementioned personal Live Journal account I had, and these posts were always especially well received. I realized I absolutely loved writing about vegan food and decided to join in on the slowly growing collection of vegan food blogs available online back in the day.
VTC: What was your first book?
Celine: The first book I co-wrote (with Joni Newman) was 500 Vegan Recipes. It's basically a collection of all kinds of vegan recipes – breakfast, mains, sides, snacks, desserts, and drinks, too.
VTC: Were the topics of your first and subsequent books suggested by the publisher?
Celine: Yes, most of the themes were suggested by the publisher. There are also a few themes that weren't (for example, Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! was Tami Noyes' idea), and a few others we suggested that didn't make the cut.
VTC: How much autonomy do you have in choosing the theme and content of your books?
Celine: I'd say, understandably, somewhat limited as far as the theme goes. It has to get the approval of quite a few team members over at the publisher's before a decision is made. As far as content, we discuss ideas and present a list of recipes and general concepts to be sure we're all on the same page (bad pun intended) before getting started.
VTC: You have written several cookbooks. How do you keep the ideas fresh?
Celine: I have worked with co-authors on all cookbooks. Working in tandem obviously helps bring a lot of variety and fresh ideas when writing cookbooks, especially those with a specific, more limited subject. Each author has their own favorite spices, ingredients, and even cooking style, so it makes for a great melting point of interest.
VTC: Why did you decide to co-author with Tami [Noyes] and Joni [Marie Newman], as opposed to writing your books on your own?
Celine: The first book I wrote with Joni (500 Vegan Recipes) was actually first presented to me to write alone. Considering the timeline (I believe I was given only 3 months) and the overwhelming number of recipes, I felt I needed someone to co-write with in order to meet the deadline. Joni and I had been blogging friends for a while before the opportunity came up, so I invited her to join me and the rest, as they say, is history. I love writing in partnership – we keep one another motivated and inspired, and complement each other in so many ways.
VTC: How do you divvy up the recipes for the books between you and your co-author?
Celine: We usually start by making a chapter list, and then both start to fill each chapter with the recipes we want to include – paying close attention to what the other plans on making so that we don't create repeats or recipes that are too similar. The chapter list and recipe list both go through several changes during the whole process, but it always goes smoothly and naturally.
VTC: How do you know Tami?
Celine: Tami and I also know each other from the blogging world and the Post Punk Kitchen forums. She invited me to co-write Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! with her, I invited her to join me for Whole Grain Vegan Baking, and we followed up on that successful partnership with a few more books after that.
VTC: Have you had to modify your focus due to the large volume of cookbooks?
Celine: Absolutely. In the first couple of years I co-wrote cookbooks, there were far fewer options on the vegan cookbook market. These days, you have to be a little more creative so as not to write “yet another book” about a subject that has already been explored. I do enjoy the challenge though!
VTC: Are you ever concerned about someone copying your recipe and saying that it is his/her own creation?
Celine: The idea used to cross my mind more often in the early days than it does now, but I’m confident most people realize that giving credit where credit is due makes for good karma anyway.
VTC: You are a photographer. Do you take your own pictures, or do you work with a food photographer?
Celine: I take the pictures for our books. I usually wait until the recipes get all thumbs-up from our testers before proceeding to taking the pictures, while also jumping on the chance to have a taste of my co-authors’ creations in one fell swoop. I usually am in charge of the preparation and styling in my tiny apartment, working with natural light. All this while being micromanaged by a couple of bossy cats.
VTC: Who tests your recipes?
Celine: We placed a few calls on our websites when we first got started and built quite a strong, reliable team of testers who have become friends over the years. It's great to have people from all over the world give a try to our recipes – that way we know if everything will work despite the inevitable variations in ingredients. We also get to find out how readily available ingredients are depending on the location and what to replace them with if they're too hard to find.
VTC: How many incarnations do your recipes go through before they are ready to be published?
Celine: The majority of the recipes are winners from the first try (yay!), but quite a few others need a little more TLC following our own feedback and/or our testers' before they make it through.
VTC: How do you develop your recipes? Do you create your own recipes "from scratch," or do you modify existing recipes and tweak them to your taste, or do you veganize standard recipes, or all of the above?
Celine: When I started cooking vegan, I modified and tweaked recipes to get better acquainted with vegan ingredients and to become more self-confident about the process. Nowadays, I do create my recipes from scratch since I have much better knowledge of vegan ingredients and a far wider range of cooking skills.
VTC: How do you think vegan cooking has evolved?
Celine: I think that now more than ever, due, for example, to the smashing popularity of Aquafaba (the discovery from mastermind Goose Wohlt that the liquid from a can of cooked beans can be whipped into fluffy, stiff peaks like egg whites), there are virtually no limits to the amount of traditional dishes that can be replicated in vegan form.
So many cooks, bakers, and chefs are coming up with daring recipes that can match and often surpass non-vegan foods. It simply is an amazing time to be (or to go) vegan.
VTC: What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in vegan food?
Celine: At the moment, definitely the aforementioned Aquafaba! Joni developed a few recipes for our upcoming book (The Great Vegan Nut Book) putting it to great use in cookies, macarons, and even ice cream. There are also a lot of recipes available online (Seitan Is My Motor has excellent ones), as well as a Facebook group dedicated to the successes and failures of various Aquafaba-based experiments.
VTC: Do you like to cook with faux foods, or do you prefer to cook from scratch and create your own replacements?
Celine: In my early vegan days, I used faux foods more than I do now. Nowadays, it’s more a matter of convenience (as in, if there’s really nothing else available to eat, and I’m in a rush) than complete interest. Not that there’s anything wrong with occasionally using faux foods in my opinion. I just prefer having control over the ingredients by making food from scratch, and it usually is far more affordable as well.
Of course there are days here and there when I get a craving for something delicious and ready-made, like vegan peanut butter cups, ice cream, or cheese slices.
VTC: Do you have a favorite recipe or creation?
Celine: Quite a few! That’s the downside of writing a lot of cookbooks. I rarely get a chance to re-visit old favorites. Otherwise, my husband and I would never manage to keep up with leftovers in the fridge. Now that I have a tiny break, I’m enjoying cooking things like Pad Tahini (The Great Vegan Nut Book, to be released in 2016), Split Pea and Rice Artichoke Mujaddara (The Great Vegan Grains Book, to be released in November 2015), Vietnamese Peanut Tacos (The Great Vegan Nut Book), and many more.
VTC: Are there any new ingredients that you haven't worked with but are excited to try?
Celine: I’m sure there are plenty, but I can’t think of any right now. I almost always find new-to-me ingredients to play around with in each new cookbook. For instance, the following are the two newest favorite ingredients I’ve started to incorporate in my recipes – sumac (a ground Middle Eastern berry with a tart, subtly salty flavor) and pomegranate molasses. Sometimes, I kind of have to scold myself into not overusing newly found favorite ingredients, keeping in mind that variety is just as vital in cookbooks as it is in life in general.
VTC: Do you have any advice or suggestions for people looking to diversify their diet or to become vegan?
Celine: I’m obviously a little biased, but I think the best way to open yourself up to working with new foods in new, exciting ways, looking for diversification, or to completely overhaul your diet is to browse cookbooks and get creative in the kitchen. Starting with cooking blogs and websites is a fun and great alternative as well.
For people who are looking to become vegan but want to learn more about nutrition and how to properly make the switch, I always highly recommend visiting Ginny Messina’s site (The Vegan RD) and reading her books (the books are listed on the site). My friend and frequent partner-in-writing, Joni Newman, co-penned a book called Going Vegan. It’s also at the top of my go-to list for newbie vegans.
VTC: Do you have any upcoming projects that you would like people to be aware of?
Celine: Joni and I just finished co-penning a new volume in the Great Vegan cookbook collection – this one will be all about nuts and seeds. I’ve always loved, loved, loved including these ingredients in almost all the vegan foods I prepare, so it felt like quite the reward to get to work on this book. I can’t wait for it to hit the shelves in 2016!
VTC: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me, Celine. Personally, as a fan of your books and recipes, it is great to hear that you have a new book coming out. I can't wait to read it!
Celine: Oh, absolutely, 100%. I’ll be the first to admit to not necessarily being extremely well-versed in the kitchen or enthused about cooking before going vegan. The lack of availability of vegan food here in town kind of forced me into getting far more knowledgeable about cooking and eventually to loving it. I couldn’t be more thankful about that. At the risk of sounding cheesy, going vegan is the best decision I’ve ever made in more ways than one.
VTC: What made you decide to become a cookbook author?
Celine: I was frequently updating my website with recipes for a few years when a publisher contacted me to see if I’d be interested in writing a cookbook. Needless to say, it didn’t take much convincing – it felt like the right time, even though it was never something I imagined for myself before.
VTC: When did you start your website?
Celine: I created my first vegan food blog in 2005 and kept it for two years until I felt like a name change. Blogs were just beginning to be popular at the time, and I was already keeping a personal online journal over at Live Journal, so I figured creating something that would be completely food-centric and vegan-centric was a good idea. Then came Have Cake, Will Travel in 2007, until present day. I don't update quite as frequently as I used to, but constantly plan on getting back into it "soon." Hopefully "soon" will happen soon!
VTC: Why did you first decide to start a blog?
Celine: I was posting food pictures and tweaked recipes on the aforementioned personal Live Journal account I had, and these posts were always especially well received. I realized I absolutely loved writing about vegan food and decided to join in on the slowly growing collection of vegan food blogs available online back in the day.
VTC: What was your first book?
Celine: The first book I co-wrote (with Joni Newman) was 500 Vegan Recipes. It's basically a collection of all kinds of vegan recipes – breakfast, mains, sides, snacks, desserts, and drinks, too.
VTC: Were the topics of your first and subsequent books suggested by the publisher?
Celine: Yes, most of the themes were suggested by the publisher. There are also a few themes that weren't (for example, Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! was Tami Noyes' idea), and a few others we suggested that didn't make the cut.
VTC: How much autonomy do you have in choosing the theme and content of your books?
Celine: I'd say, understandably, somewhat limited as far as the theme goes. It has to get the approval of quite a few team members over at the publisher's before a decision is made. As far as content, we discuss ideas and present a list of recipes and general concepts to be sure we're all on the same page (bad pun intended) before getting started.
VTC: You have written several cookbooks. How do you keep the ideas fresh?
Celine: I have worked with co-authors on all cookbooks. Working in tandem obviously helps bring a lot of variety and fresh ideas when writing cookbooks, especially those with a specific, more limited subject. Each author has their own favorite spices, ingredients, and even cooking style, so it makes for a great melting point of interest.
VTC: Why did you decide to co-author with Tami [Noyes] and Joni [Marie Newman], as opposed to writing your books on your own?
Celine: The first book I wrote with Joni (500 Vegan Recipes) was actually first presented to me to write alone. Considering the timeline (I believe I was given only 3 months) and the overwhelming number of recipes, I felt I needed someone to co-write with in order to meet the deadline. Joni and I had been blogging friends for a while before the opportunity came up, so I invited her to join me and the rest, as they say, is history. I love writing in partnership – we keep one another motivated and inspired, and complement each other in so many ways.
VTC: How do you divvy up the recipes for the books between you and your co-author?
Celine: We usually start by making a chapter list, and then both start to fill each chapter with the recipes we want to include – paying close attention to what the other plans on making so that we don't create repeats or recipes that are too similar. The chapter list and recipe list both go through several changes during the whole process, but it always goes smoothly and naturally.
VTC: How do you know Tami?
Celine: Tami and I also know each other from the blogging world and the Post Punk Kitchen forums. She invited me to co-write Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! with her, I invited her to join me for Whole Grain Vegan Baking, and we followed up on that successful partnership with a few more books after that.
VTC: Have you had to modify your focus due to the large volume of cookbooks?
Celine: Absolutely. In the first couple of years I co-wrote cookbooks, there were far fewer options on the vegan cookbook market. These days, you have to be a little more creative so as not to write “yet another book” about a subject that has already been explored. I do enjoy the challenge though!
VTC: Are you ever concerned about someone copying your recipe and saying that it is his/her own creation?
Celine: The idea used to cross my mind more often in the early days than it does now, but I’m confident most people realize that giving credit where credit is due makes for good karma anyway.
VTC: You are a photographer. Do you take your own pictures, or do you work with a food photographer?
Celine: I take the pictures for our books. I usually wait until the recipes get all thumbs-up from our testers before proceeding to taking the pictures, while also jumping on the chance to have a taste of my co-authors’ creations in one fell swoop. I usually am in charge of the preparation and styling in my tiny apartment, working with natural light. All this while being micromanaged by a couple of bossy cats.
VTC: Who tests your recipes?
Celine: We placed a few calls on our websites when we first got started and built quite a strong, reliable team of testers who have become friends over the years. It's great to have people from all over the world give a try to our recipes – that way we know if everything will work despite the inevitable variations in ingredients. We also get to find out how readily available ingredients are depending on the location and what to replace them with if they're too hard to find.
VTC: How many incarnations do your recipes go through before they are ready to be published?
Celine: The majority of the recipes are winners from the first try (yay!), but quite a few others need a little more TLC following our own feedback and/or our testers' before they make it through.
VTC: How do you develop your recipes? Do you create your own recipes "from scratch," or do you modify existing recipes and tweak them to your taste, or do you veganize standard recipes, or all of the above?
Celine: When I started cooking vegan, I modified and tweaked recipes to get better acquainted with vegan ingredients and to become more self-confident about the process. Nowadays, I do create my recipes from scratch since I have much better knowledge of vegan ingredients and a far wider range of cooking skills.
VTC: How do you think vegan cooking has evolved?
Celine: I think that now more than ever, due, for example, to the smashing popularity of Aquafaba (the discovery from mastermind Goose Wohlt that the liquid from a can of cooked beans can be whipped into fluffy, stiff peaks like egg whites), there are virtually no limits to the amount of traditional dishes that can be replicated in vegan form.
So many cooks, bakers, and chefs are coming up with daring recipes that can match and often surpass non-vegan foods. It simply is an amazing time to be (or to go) vegan.
VTC: What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in vegan food?
Celine: At the moment, definitely the aforementioned Aquafaba! Joni developed a few recipes for our upcoming book (The Great Vegan Nut Book) putting it to great use in cookies, macarons, and even ice cream. There are also a lot of recipes available online (Seitan Is My Motor has excellent ones), as well as a Facebook group dedicated to the successes and failures of various Aquafaba-based experiments.
VTC: Do you like to cook with faux foods, or do you prefer to cook from scratch and create your own replacements?
Celine: In my early vegan days, I used faux foods more than I do now. Nowadays, it’s more a matter of convenience (as in, if there’s really nothing else available to eat, and I’m in a rush) than complete interest. Not that there’s anything wrong with occasionally using faux foods in my opinion. I just prefer having control over the ingredients by making food from scratch, and it usually is far more affordable as well.
Of course there are days here and there when I get a craving for something delicious and ready-made, like vegan peanut butter cups, ice cream, or cheese slices.
VTC: Do you have a favorite recipe or creation?
Celine: Quite a few! That’s the downside of writing a lot of cookbooks. I rarely get a chance to re-visit old favorites. Otherwise, my husband and I would never manage to keep up with leftovers in the fridge. Now that I have a tiny break, I’m enjoying cooking things like Pad Tahini (The Great Vegan Nut Book, to be released in 2016), Split Pea and Rice Artichoke Mujaddara (The Great Vegan Grains Book, to be released in November 2015), Vietnamese Peanut Tacos (The Great Vegan Nut Book), and many more.
VTC: Are there any new ingredients that you haven't worked with but are excited to try?
Celine: I’m sure there are plenty, but I can’t think of any right now. I almost always find new-to-me ingredients to play around with in each new cookbook. For instance, the following are the two newest favorite ingredients I’ve started to incorporate in my recipes – sumac (a ground Middle Eastern berry with a tart, subtly salty flavor) and pomegranate molasses. Sometimes, I kind of have to scold myself into not overusing newly found favorite ingredients, keeping in mind that variety is just as vital in cookbooks as it is in life in general.
VTC: Do you have any advice or suggestions for people looking to diversify their diet or to become vegan?
Celine: I’m obviously a little biased, but I think the best way to open yourself up to working with new foods in new, exciting ways, looking for diversification, or to completely overhaul your diet is to browse cookbooks and get creative in the kitchen. Starting with cooking blogs and websites is a fun and great alternative as well.
For people who are looking to become vegan but want to learn more about nutrition and how to properly make the switch, I always highly recommend visiting Ginny Messina’s site (The Vegan RD) and reading her books (the books are listed on the site). My friend and frequent partner-in-writing, Joni Newman, co-penned a book called Going Vegan. It’s also at the top of my go-to list for newbie vegans.
VTC: Do you have any upcoming projects that you would like people to be aware of?
Celine: Joni and I just finished co-penning a new volume in the Great Vegan cookbook collection – this one will be all about nuts and seeds. I’ve always loved, loved, loved including these ingredients in almost all the vegan foods I prepare, so it felt like quite the reward to get to work on this book. I can’t wait for it to hit the shelves in 2016!
VTC: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me, Celine. Personally, as a fan of your books and recipes, it is great to hear that you have a new book coming out. I can't wait to read it!