Whole Goodness : behing the vegan scene with Jessica Prescott

On a sunny afternoon we were invited to meet the renowned vegan food blogger, Jessica Prescott, in her kitchen for a chat and a bite. From her New Zealand childhood, to her Berlin life, we talked about food and culture, and also about how she became a respected vegan food writer. In her latest book, “Vegan Goodness”, Jessica offers over 60 recipes that fit all needs and moods. A very tasty afternoon for us talking about our common passion : FOOD.

Since her childhood near the city of Napier, Jessica Prescott grew up in the middle of wild nature, surrounded by plants and animals. She decided to become vegetarian when she was about 12 years old. At the time, there were few vegetarian options and little understanding of this particular political state of mind and way of living. During her Sunday family dinners, she was always made to feel different due to the way she ate, and people weren’t really understanding about her choices. She smiles about it now, but she really had to stand up for herself in a rather backwards society, where people were big meat eaters and had no clue about ecological issues.

Five years ago, when she arrived in Berlin, Jessica did more and more research into veganism and vegan recipes. She wanted to cook with more complexity and yet with less impact on the planet. She started to look into new techniques, with a focus on texture and colour to replace what was coming from animal production. In particular, spices really helped her to create new flavours and to form a bridge between traditional, meat focused meals, and what she eats now. When we were there we had beautiful chickpea flour cookies made with many ingredients such as walnuts, nuts, raisins and chocolate chips, and with a touch of cinnamon: a funky blend that really did the job.

Jessica Prescott

Jessica is also a photographer and she started her blog combining her two passions : food and picture making. Scenography is really important when it comes to Food Blogs and she was willing to push the ingredients’ forms and colours. She tries to market and promote what nature has to offer. This is why we love her book so much: the images are beautiful and the flavours are just as lovely. We really met a gourmet vegan chef that day. There are also beautiful self-made pictures of nature on her blog that really make you want to get in touch with a plant-based way of life. Free from typical vegan cliches, Jessica spends hours in her kitchen to prepare her food with a love of love and innovation.

She is such a lovely person and a great sharer, and she was rapidly offered the opportunity to be published by a British publishing house. Her book is now sold worldwide : London, Berlin, U.S.A., Australia. Trust in humanity and the earth is something vital for Jessica, and she tries to follow the mantra: “Be the change you want to see in the world”. This is also what we like about her informative book : we can learn to cook differently with a diverse choice of ingredients that we would never otherwise think of, and that greatly reduce environmental impact, as well as animal cruelty.

Jessica is now working on new book projects and we are really keen on discovering her future work, as it was truly inspirational to meet her, and to be able to witness her work and the passion from which it comes. You can buy her book on her website.

© Jessica Prescott