The Toronto native and Hot for Food star touched down in Vancouver town to talk pleather, vegan beer and how she came to publish her first cookbook.

In case you aren’t one of the half-a-million people who subscribe to her YouTube channel already, allow me to give you a brief intro to Lauren Toyota.Who: Former MuchMusic VJ and current host of her vegan home-cooking channel Hot for Food (and now cookbook author).Known For: Not being a know-it-all. What a lot of people love about Toyota’s videos and recipes is that she isn’t a preachy stickler and simply invites her viewers to learn from her cooking experiments—many of which are deep-fried—because vegan cuisine need not be boring.What You’re About to See: Toyota just released her first cookbook, Vegan Comfort Classics, which is a compilation of 101 scrumptious, deep-fried and ooey gooey vegan recipes. It seemed only fitting to interview Toyota between bites of Vancouver’s favourite vegan comfort classics, so we hit the road (specifically Main Street in East Vancouver) to pepper the vlogger with questions about her culinary adventures. Thanks again to Virtuous Pie, the Arbor and Chickpea for hosting us!https://youtu.be/8ne5pt4QJIo

Julia Dilworth

Julia Dilworth