When I founded Herban Eats in 2007, I believed I was doing what I loved and doing it well. I was feeding people, bringing them together and creating flavorful meals using ingredients I understood to be healthy. Organic, fresh and natural were words I trusted. Like so many of us, I didn't yet understand how little those labels actually told me about the nutritional value of the food on our plates.

 

Then my husband, Anthony, experienced a health scare that changed how I looked at everything I was putting on those plates, including my family's.

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I began asking questions that went well beyond the ingredients in my kitchen. Why were so many of us living with chronic illnesses, often despite believing we were making healthy choices? What did the science actually tell us about food, lifestyle and disease? The more I researched, the more I realized that much of what I'd been taught about nutrition was incomplete, misleading or simply wrong. I discovered the extraordinary role whole food, plant-based nutrition and other lifestyle factors can play in preventing and managing many of the chronic illnesses disproportionately impacting our families and communities.

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That discovery changed my life and the direction of Herban Eats. I pursued formal education in whole food, plant-based nutrition and began bringing what I learned into my culinary work. I wasn't interested in trading flavor for health or abandoning the cultural foodways that had shaped my love of cooking. I wanted to understand how we could preserve what we love about food while making informed choices that better support our health.

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The Vegucator was born from that commitment to connect the science to the plate. What began as a catering business evolved into a platform for culinary education, writing, speaking and advocacy. Through my Flava My Plate™ books, Vegucator columns, cooking demonstrations and community programs, I share practical, evidence-based guidance that helps people navigate the noise surrounding nutrition and discover what a whole food, plant-based lifestyle can offer.

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Today, my work extends beyond the kitchen because optimal wellness does too. What we eat matters enormously, but so do physical activity, hydration, sleep, stress management and the other daily choices that influence our long-term health. Just as importantly, where we live, the resources available to us and the inequities embedded in our food and health systems influence our ability to make those choices. We can't meaningfully address chronic disease without acknowledging both personal practices and the conditions that shape them.

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As a certified whole food, plant-based nutrition professional, award-winning culinarian, author and columnist, I've made it my work to translate what the evidence tells us into information people can understand and put into practice. Whether I'm speaking to an audience, developing a recipe or working alongside community partners, my purpose is to help people recognize that better health isn't about chasing another diet. It's about gaining the knowledge, tools and support to make sustainable changes.

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I believe we deserve more than conflicting nutrition advice and a health care system that too often responds after illness has taken hold. We deserve access to education that empowers us to make informed choices and opportunities to experience what optimal wellness can look like in our own lives. That's the work I bring to Herban Eats and everything I do as The Vegucator.™

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