If You’re A Veggie Vigilante Then You Need To Be Following These Health Conscious Latinx Foodies

credit: Instagram / @wokefoods

Latin culture is rich. Especially our food, which is getting back to its roots thanks to the growing trend of health conscious Latinxs. Here, some of our favorite veggie vigilantes you should consider following if you want to keep colonization out of your kitchen.

1. Gabriela Alvarez

Chef Gabriela Alvarez is the founder of Liberation Cuisine, a catering service that feeds the bellies of individuals and organizations working for social change. This Brooklyn-based puertorriqueña is using her culinary skills to effectively combat inequalities in the food system. When Alvarez isn’t creating memorable and sustainable food experiences for an impressive arsenal of organizations and events, she’s teaching cooking classes that highlight food as resiliency and honoring traditional preparation and practices.

Follow her Instagram: @chefgabrielaalvarez

2. Luz Calvo

Mexican author Luz Calvo, PhD, is a foodie force to be reckoned with. They co-wrote the hit cookbook “Decolonize Your Diet” with their partner, Catriona Rueda Esquibel. However, if that wasn’t enough to make them the patron saint of this current foodie movement, they are also a professor of ethnic studies at Cal State, teaching a course titled “Decolonize Your Diet: Food Justice in Communities of Color.”

Follow them on Instagram: @decolonizeyourdiet

3. Amy Quichiz & Mariah Bermeo

yeeeeeerrrrrr, was good yall. so this is Mariah & Amy from Brooklyn/Queens ?? mariah is currently a pescatarian and going through the journey of eating less fish but still maintaining a very heavy plant-biased lifestyle & amy is hella vegan. We decided to make this page because we both come from a working class environment where eating healthy was never taught to us. Throughout our separate journies, Mariah learned a lot about cooking and eating healthy through an internship in El Puente, where she dedicated her time to teach young students how to cook and a lot about food injustice. Overall, we became passionate about teaching our parents and communities about that variety of fruits and vegetables–to point where amy has influenced her parents to eat less meat in the house. This page is for us. For the ones that dont know how to tell their latinx parents they're gonna stop eating meats. For those that didn't know an eggplant exist (amy!). For those that want to make a difference and don't know how. Expect recipes, videos, and a lot of social justice work. So we heaaaaa–veggie mijas ?✨ #HealthyFood #Veganism #Vegetarianism #pescatarian #LatinxVegans #POCVegan #wocvoices #LatinasVegetarianas #ItsLit

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Veggie Mijas began with activist Amy Quichiz, who is Colombian-Peruvian, and Mariah, who is Ecuadorian. However, it is a rapidly growing community of other comida conscience mujerxs. Bringing food knowledge to the ‘hood is at the heart of this collective, which also just hosted a major vegan potluck in the Bronx, New York. Slide into their DMs to find out how you can contribute to the mijas’ mission. Trust us: this is the girl gang you want to be a part of.

Follow them on Instagram: @veggiemijas

4. Alexis Montoya

Alexis Montoya is the Puerto Rican-Peruvian creator of The Bronx Vegan, a page dedicated to showcasing vegan food and resources in the Bronx. Montoya offers up restaurant suggestions as well as recipes. She has also recently started collaborating with Veggie Mijas for a segment titled “Everybody Eats,” which features vegan fare from around the ‘hood.

Follow her on Instagram: @thebronxvegan

5. Jocelyn Ramirez

When Mexican-South American chef and founder of Todo Verde, Jocelyn Ramirez, noticed the inaccessibility to healthy food options in East LA, she was inspired to change that. From that inspiration, her catering and pop-up business serving plant-based Mexican favorites was born. The Todo Verde IG page is a rainbow of beautifully created dishes that leave us pining for a sunny weekend in East LA, enjoying one of her divine agua frescas.

Follow her on Instagram: @todoverde

6. Ysanet Batista & Merelis Catalina Ortiz

*cues* Estoy aquí, pero mi mente está allá ? Nostalgia cooks ya'll. Missing my homeland right now and grandmas espaguetis so found her recipe in an old journal. Made some replacements to make it gluten and dairy free, added some greens dique to have balance, and made a vegan Morir Soñando (a drink made of OJ, milk, and sugar). During those moments of cooking and eating this meal, the flavors transport me to warmth and love. || La nostalgia cocina. Extrañando mi isla en este momento y los espaguetis de mamá. Encontré su receta y me puse a inventar para hacerla vegana por qué la receta lleva queso y cubitos de sopita. La pasta es sin gluten de la marca @barilla. El cocinar y el comer te transporta a momentos llenos de calidez y amor. #wokefoods #alimentosconscientes #dominicanvegan

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Ysanet and Merelis are the Dominican “nutrition brujas” behind Woke Foods, a culinary cooperative focused on plant-based Dominican cuisine that is fighting for food justice in New York. Woke Foods provides catering and cooking classes that link the ancestral connection with the food we eat. Their page is filled with delectable Caribbean classics with a woke twist, like plant-based sancocho and vegan chicharron de pollo.

Follow them on Instagram: @wokefoods

7. Claudia Serrato

Claudia Serrato is the Indigenous Xicana behind Cocina Manakurhini, a catering company focused on preparing culturally memorable plant-based meals. Not only offering workshops and ancestral-themed dinners to the public, they also offer them to already established restaurant owners and chefs, with the intention to inspire more plant-based options in the wider community. If that doesn’t make Cocina Manakurhini impressive enough, they’re also known for crafting up some bomb tamales de cacao. Save us a plate, please!

Follow her on Instagram: @cocina_manakurhini

8. Valeria Velazquez Duenas

Valeria Velazquez Duenas is the chef behind Cocina House, a project that nourishes community with an emphasis on local California produce, native Mexican cuisine and traditional superfoods. She offers an array of community-based educational workshops, wellness retreats and specially catered events. Her IG page is bursting with photos of Mex-iconic staples, like plant-based pazole and purple potato huaraches.

Follow her on Instagram: @cocinahouse

9. Samantha Otero

Samantha Otero is a Puerto Rican plant-based nutrition consultant in New York. After years of battling health issues, she grew tired of playing the runaround with doctors and decided to switch to a raw, plant-based diet. Since then, Otero has continued to educate herself on nutrition and diet. She offers meal plans, diet resets and personal development coaching on her website, holisticsamantha.com.

Follow her on Instagram: @holisticsamantha

10. Cecilia Flores

Here’s a closer look at my dinner from last night, swipe for the full effect ?? I’ve been very into bowls lately Bowl 1: crispy rosemary, garlic, and turmeric potatoes, black beans with cumin and garlic, and sliced avocado Bowl 2: simple salad with mixed greens, tomato, and cucumber with a balsamic vinaigrette What are you all eating tonight?! _______________ Un vistazo de la cena de ayer! Desliza para ver los dos platos ?? estamos comiendo muchos “Buddha bowls” recientemente, nos encantan! Primer plato: papas crujientes hecho con romero, ajo, y cúrcuma, habichuela negra con comino y ajo, y aguacate Segundo plato: ensalada sencilla con lechuga, tomate, y pepino (el aderezo es vinagre balsámico) Y ustedes que comen hoy?!

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Cecilia, and her husband Ivannoe, are the plant-based power couple behind Coco Verde Vegan. With the birth of their unbelievably adorable baby girl, Ivanna, the couple became more conscious about the food they were consuming as a family. Not wanting to miss out on the Dominican favorites they grew up on, they decided to veg-ify the classic recipes and share them with the world. Their blog offers recipes, fitness and wellness advice, as well as meal plans. We also love that their site has the option to be viewed in English or Espanol. Viva la vegana!

Follow her on Instagram: @cocoverdevegan

Read: From Enfrijoladas To Conchas, This Mexicana Is Giving These Mexican Comfort Foods A Vegan Twist

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