Tofu Rancheros from Celesta, a recently opened Vegan restaurant on Milwaukee's East Side
It wasn’t long ago that the only menu choices for vegans were French fries or a basic garden salad. Today, Milwaukee’s culinary repertoire has grown along with rest of the nation’s desire for vegan food options. Three vegan chefs who started new ventures this past year share their thoughts on how Milwaukee’s palate is embracing vegan cuisine.
Chef Rain Truth offers meal plans, event catering, personal chef services and culinary classes through her business, The Cultured Vegan. She prepares the vegan brunch and dinner specials at Mi Casa Su Café and is founder of Midwest Vegan Fest. The inaugural event this past April drew more than 4,100 people, despite taking place during a spring snowstorm. Truth sees this as testament to Milwaukee’s interest in vegan diets.
Truth became a vegan more than 20 years ago for animal welfare, environmental and health reasons. “I tell people that vegan is not a scary word; apples and bananas are vegan, and even Oreo cookies or Cracker Jack is vegan. It changes their whole perspective once I start going to down the list,” she said.
When she caters weddings and events throughout Milwaukee and other parts of the state, people don’t even seem to miss the meat in her vegan offerings. She’s gotten rave compliments from everyone, including burly hunters. She finds dishes like spaghetti or tacos made with meatless crumbles have been good icebreakers to introduce people to vegan foods. Her Asian or Caribbean themed dishes also go over well.
Building off the success of the Midwest Vegan Expo, Truth organized the Vegan Sol Food and Drink Expo, to be held on Saturday, Sept. 22, at Nicolet High School.
Melanie Manuel has transformed her vegan catering business, Beatrix Foods, to Celesta, a vegan restaurant that opened this summer. Manuel said Celesta provides a welcoming environment for people who follow a vegan diet or who are just curious about vegan food, like her vegan lasagna.
Manuel observed that vegan food has now found its way to menus all over Milwaukee, and not just at vegetarian or vegan-specific eateries. Choices such as the Impossible Burger, a vegan burger formulated to closely mimic a meat burger, is now on menus at casual restaurants and suburban sports bars, Manuel noted. “That’s representative of how the food world is changing, and I think it’s really exciting. People are more educated about the reasons why people are choosing a vegan lifestyle, and there are options people didn’t even realize are vegan but just aren’t called vegan, like hummus and Tabbouleh. You don’t miss anything when you follow a compassionate and more healthful diet.”
Manuel is incorporating more dinner and appetizer specials at Celesta and adding choices like as cheesecake with homemade coconut caramel. “We’re going to focus on bringing really interesting but fun dishes to the restaurant,” she said.
While running The Green Kitchen inside Milwaukee Public Market, Emily Ware noticed how their vegan offerings went over well. When vendor space became available in the market, she had a clever idea: convert her old Volkswagen bus into a space to serve all-vegan fare. On The Bus, her vegan eatery, debuted last summer.
Ware said she and her staff have been extremely busy serving both vegans and non-vegans. “I think the population as a whole is paying more attention to what they eat. As you do that, you become more aware of the fact that what you put into your body affects how you feel.”
On the Bus makes its own seitan, vegan meat made from vital wheat gluten, used on their sandwiches. They also make their own ice cream, which is a hit with vegans and non-vegans, and people with dairy allergies. Also popular are the acai bowls, with add-ins like protein powder, berries or nuts.
“It’s exciting to see the vegan world exploding in Milwaukee, and each vegan chef is in harmony with each other,” Ware commented. “We’re each serving a different need in the vegan world.”
