Conversation between my daughter and me this morning:
My daughter: “Mom, why are you vegan?“
Me: “Because I don’t like the way animals (where nearly all meat and animal dairy in the store come from) are treated.“
My daughter pauses thoughtfully: “Well, Mom, I love you just the way you are.“
Me: “I love you too, my love.“
My daughter: “I do really like eating chicken.“
Me: “Well, maybe one day we can raise chickens for you to eat. One of us has to kill them though.“
My daughter- wide-eyed: “Oh my gosh, no, I could never kill them. I don’t want to see their blood.“
Me: “Well, someone has to kill them for us to eat the meat, right?“
My daughter nodded, then began reflecting on living in warmer climates….
I find that kids are often more prepared to have really blunt and real conversations about meat and animals. Often, adults quickly get defensive, and a very cognitively dissonant argument can ensue in defense of their eating habits.
I did that too, and even with a healthy, whole foods plant-based diet, one still has a lot of issues to confront about food origin, labour, and more.
I feel the tide can really turn when we are simply willing to admit we didn’t know we were supporting something terrible and are willing to confront ourselves and our habits, as well as explore changing.
My ‘going vegan’ wasn’t overnight. It was a month-long process of change during which I gradually grew more comfortable facing the horror and discomfort of learning how animals are treated in industrialized ‘animal agriculture’.
‘Comfortable’ is not the right word. I was haunted by the reality that I was beginning to face but it was also the source of my change.
I sometimes share that I probably have more in common with ‘ethical hunters’ than I do with a lot of vegans. I don’t hunt, I don’t fish, and I don’t eat meat and don’t currently aspire to but I do perceive a difference between what can be viewed as sustainable hunting traditions versus the endless plastic-wrapped piles of meat from industrial sources that provide a wholly unsustainable, seemingly and grotesquely infinite supply of meat to consumers.
Some people react with really performative shock- “Oh, I could NEVER hunt! It’s not right!”, meanwhile buying meat and animal dairy regularly from sources they have no clue about the animal’s life, welfare, nothing.
I hope to one day grow the vast majority of the vegetables we consume in our home. I might in fact, alternatively have more in common with monastic traditions where everything is grown locally, and no animals are used for food (such as in inherently plant-based Buddhist temple cuisine).
My daughter might have a point about moving to warmer climates….
I will never go back to eating animal dairy.
This photo, and this dish, launched a chapter of my life several years back when I got into food photography. The divinely delicious ‘Living Lasagna’ at Greens & Vines Raw Vegan Gourmet.
The restaurant closed some years back, but I feel really lucky to have been able to dine there numerous times in my life, and to have photographed their entire menu in collaboration with the chef and owner, Sylvia.
I had only been vegan for a couple of months, and someone said, ‘You have to go eat at Greens and Vines! Eat the lasagna! It’s their signature dish.’
Upon learning that the restaurant was raw AND vegan, I think I probably rolled my eyes. ‘Seriously? I just went vegan!’ I thought. ‘Isn’t that enough????’ Raw AND vegan just seemed way too radical for me.
Well, I went anyway.
My (now 12-year-old) son was a very busy toddler at the time and snug asleep in his stroller when we arrived. If you are a parent, you know what this means (the potential for a rare, luxurious, peaceful meal!). I ordered a coffee, and when the waitress asked if I wanted cream, I started to specify that I was vegan, only if they had plant-based milk, and then caught myself, remembering where I was.
“We are an all-vegan restaurant,” she said, with a smile. “Our coffee creamer is made in house and macadamia nut-based.“
Macadamia nut-based coffee creamer???I think I probably swooned! Well, we were in Hawai’i after all….
I went on to order the ‘Living Lasanga’ dish (pictured above), which was made with: Layers of Seasoned Sliced Zucchini, Basil Pesto, Sun-dried Tomato Marinara, Mac Nut “Ricotta” (Big Isle Macadamia Nuts, Lemon Juice, Nutritional Yeast & Sea Salt), Spinach and Tomatoes with a side of Local Green Salad.
I most definitely swooned when I took a bite of this dish. Incredible. Absolutely incredible. This was my introduction to ‘raw vegan’ food, and I cannot imagine having had a more incredible, umami-rich, and delicious experience.
Chef and Owner Sylvia Thompson came out to talk with me while I dined. We chatted through my whole meal, and by the time I was done, we had agreed that I would photograph her whole menu (I was a freelance photographer at the time). Some photos from that vegan food photography gig, what would be my first in many, below.
The photos I took at Greens & Vines served the marketing needs of the restaurant and were also useful for a feature in the September 2015 issue of Vegan Health & Fitness Magazine, titled “Meet Chef Sylvia Thompson of Greens & Vines Honolulu, Hawai’i”- a Q & A I conducted with Chef Sylvia, along with photos I took over a few months collaboration.
When I posted the above photo, taken with Greens & Vines owner Chef Thompson, in March 2015 on my photo FB page I wrote:
“One of the best parts about working with people is having a moment for food, drink & talk story after the job is done. Mahalo Chef Sylvia of Greens & Vines for opening my mind & taste buds up to the beauty, nutrition & deliciousness of raw vegan! I am forever changed & honored to have been introduced to raw vegan gourmet through you. Mahalo.”
I would go on to have a really rich chapter of life with food photography and a focus on vegan establishments, and as a columnist for two magazines and featured in multiple others, such as with Vegan Italy (pictured above), who I loved being a columnist for.
Above: Seeing my first food and travel article on the shelves in the Food & Wine section at a bookstore (2015)
I am so glad that I did not let me own bias and response about ‘raw vegan’ food prevent me from going to Greens & Vines that day, which effectively not only opened my mind to the power and potential of centering vegetables as the ‘stars of the plate’ but also a new era of using my craft to explore and document the world of plant-based and vegan food and many rich collaborations with chefs and restaurant business owners in diverse locations.
February 2016: Sitting at the downtown location for Peacefood Cafe in NYC, about to dine and holding the Feburary 2016 issue of Vegan Health & Fitness magazine with my coverage on the same restaurant. This was my 8th published article on food.
In September 2015, I posted the above photo along with the caption:
“Yesterday morning in NYC at the 2nd of 6 food photo sessions on a recent trip to start my ‘Plant Based in NYC’ photo series. I feel enriched and heartwarmed from all these visits, as well as excited about the photo coverage. It was a good energetic start to the project and very inspiring to meet the people of these establishments, owners and managers, who run vegan restaurants and cafes because the food is delicious and people love it, but also because they believe deeply in veganism and live it through their work and service.”
With the Winter 2015 issue of the Berlin-based Nouveaux magazine, for which my Plant-based NYC coverage was published in.
Last year (2025), I went to 3 conferences, two of which had entirely vegan and vegetarian catering. I also went to an international project consortium meeting, for which the catering was 100% vegan. The tide has really turned in the span of our lives, in some places more than others. I hope to, through my food and life and work, continue to be able to inspire conversation as well as change- in my home, community, and the world.
Last month (December 2025) photographed by my daughter before enjoying one of the delicious vegan dishes at Lublin-based Zielone Talerzyk. Love the restaurant ethos and practice of sourcing from local and regional suppliers.
Atelier of Life Notes is a newsletter began in January 2026 by photographer, writer, advocate, and scholar Annika Lundkvist to share notes and thoughts on work, positionality, process, and craft.
