Laura Ramírez, an activist for animal rights, always wanted to be vegan, but she resisted because she thought it was not part of her Mexican culture until 2017, decided that it should be congruent and converted to veganism.
A year later he opened his restaurant “Veggie y qué “, Specializing in vegan Mexican food in the city of Whittier in southern Los Angeles County.
” Before going vegan, I had many doubts. I used to say, how am I going to miss tacos, enchiladas, tamales and everything that I like. ”
In addition, his memories revolve around a table of Mexican food around which his family and friends met. How am I going to remove that from my world? .. I am going to lose my culture ”, she repeated to herself for 7 years.
To those thoughts were added her belief that being vegan was for people of another socioeconomic level who they can afford to eat a meatless diet. “I thought that my community could not have access to this type of food because it was very expensive.”
However, it bothered him to be an activist against animal abuse, but at the same time consuming meat. “You are very hypocritical, I told myself.”
Until she couldn’t put it off any longer and became vegan. “I cried because I didn’t even know where to start. I thought I was going to eat pure lettuce and carrots. ”
When she decided to go vegan, she went to the market and bought all the vegetables she could find. “I wondered what I would eat today if it were with meat… enchiladas. Well, I made some potato and pumpkin enchiladas, I accompanied them with rice and beans and a vegan cream; and my family liked them. ”
And so he was preparing different typical dishes of Mexican food only with different vegetables. “I started posting them on my social networks. Many Latin people began to follow me and ask me how you did that. ”
Then she created a page on her social networks exclusively to publish photos with her recipes, which she called “ Veggie and what ”. “I took the phrase ‘so what’ from the strong masculine energy of our culture.”
As he started eating vegan, he says he noticed a change in his health. “ He improved to the point that the asthma he suffered disappeared without medicine “.
Daughter of parents from Chihuahua, Mexico, Laura was born in Los Angeles, grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood. And when she became vegan, she had 20 years working in corporations and very good economically.
So he did not imagine that his life was about to take a turn. When people started asking him where they could try his recipes, the idea of preparing and selling them came to mind.
“I started on Sundays in a cafe in Whittier, then when they offered me a deli that was right away, I had to make a serious decision because that meant selling vegan food all the days”.
Dedicating himself to a vegan restaurant, was going to force him to quit his job and give up the tranquility of a job where he earned good money and from which he planned to retire one day.
“ How am I going to do this every day? I can’t quit my career. I have no experience in a restaurant. At the same time, I thought that many people wanted to do business and the universe was giving me the opportunity to follow my passion ”.
So he took the risk. “If I go down, I wipe my knees and start over.”
But almost three years after opening her restaurant ‘Veggie y qué’, specializing in traditional vegan Mexican food, she is happy with the results.
“People come and go. And they are not just vegans but people from the community. It’s a restaurant for everyone. ”
On a personal level, he shares that since he left meat for veganism, he feels younger, with a lot of stamina and lighter. “I can think more clearly and my spiritual mood improved. I even opened a second business of crystals, teas and candles for the health of the spirit, next to ‘Veggie and what’. Being vegan is like a love for oneself. ”
Laura opens ‘Veggie y qué’, from Tuesday to Friday, from 11 am to 3 pm, and from 6: 30 pm until 9: 30 pm Saturdays and Sundays from 9 am to 6 pm
You can learn more about ‘Veggie y qué’ on her site: www.veggieyque.com
“ I am the cook of the food, I make the sauces, the cream. When they taste my food, a lot of people tell me that they can’t believe it’s not meat. Instead of meat I use textured soy; and sometimes mushrooms ”.
‘Veggie and what’ is located in the 12924 of Baley street in Whittier, California, 90601.
Laura is the creator of the La Vida Verde festival, the first vegan festival in East Los Angeles. Before the pandemic, it was held three times a year in Whittier and Covina.