 And welcome to Lillian's Vegan World, I'm your host Lillian Cumick and this is the show where we talk about veganism and the plant-based diet. Awesome guest for you today, someone who is no stranger on the show and one of my dear friends here on the island, vegan chef Paul Onishi. Welcome. It could be back again. Aloha chef, how are you? Very good, very busy. Yes, I hear you're getting up to a lot of new and exciting things here on the island that we do really want to talk about, so what are you getting up to? Well, I'm teaching a lot of cooking classes for a kahi ornish down to earth. And also at this very moment we're doing a blind taste test for 200 people, somewhere on the island I can't say where, but I made a vegan, local style chicken curry. Okay, a vegan chicken curry, and there are people that are going to be passing around little questionnaires to see what mystery diners felt that they were going to be. Awesome, so this group of 200 people don't know that it's vegan? No. And you said chicken, vegan chicken curry, what is it that you're using to mimic the It's a soy base, it's called soy curls, and it is a product that's becoming very popular because it has that texture of chicken breast. Incredible, and are you dealing with some of these products? I believe that you're now affiliated with a distributor here. Another very interesting situation I got myself into. Very exciting really, but I'm a sales rep for a company called Vegco. Vegco. Vegco is a vegan distributor. We have quite a number of very interesting and innovative products. Great. So my job is to go around and try to veganize chefs that I worked with when I used to be on the other side. Okay, the other side being the... Before veganism. Before veganism came and slapped you in the face. More than slapped. Knocked me over. Knocked you over, yeah. And so how are they reacting when you talk to these chefs that you previously worked with in a different manner? It's not like approaching a vegetarian restaurant or a vegetarian grocery store. You're talking about people who are very used to making their money in animal-based protein menus. When you approach them about it, they're kind of skeptical because they only get a few bites here and there. Right. They're not from vegans that visit or local. And really a lot of my friends don't have a clue. There's still a lot of people that say vegan this or vegetarian this and they use chicken broth. But I think it's okay because they put it in vegetables. But I think people are more knowledgeable. They're even refusing to say, does that have regular mayonnaise or is that a vegan mayonnaise? My friends are going, well, what's a vegan mayonnaise? I didn't even know it was there. Is there vegan butters or vegan cheese? Right. And definitely there is and it tastes great. I know. It tastes like the real thing. We're very lucky here in Hawaii to have a lot of vegan products here in the supermarkets for anyone to try. In particular, what you just mentioned now, the cheese mayonnaise, the butters, vegan butters, the non-dairy milks. Honestly, if you don't tell people they're vegan, I find it hard to believe they would actually know. My favorite is the product that I got introduced about a month ago called NadaMu. NadaMu, okay. N-A-D-A, meaning in Spanish, no mu or cow. So no cow in this. Nice. And excellent product. It fooled me. I ate the whole pint by myself. I've done it several times. I would never do anything like that. The whole pint by yourself, like while you're watching a really good movie called Game Changer. Smiling the whole time I enjoyed it. Everybody. Yes. Kind of know how you feel. NadaMu, so that is available at Down to Earth. I believe they do have a range. I am always surprised when I go into Down to Earth and look at the ice cream section or when I'm buying it for other people. There's not just one. It's just humongous now. There's such a huge array of consumers. There's so many choices now. Just in the hot dog section. There are about 10 different hot dogs. It's incredible. Chef Paul, you have brought in some photos for us to take a look at. So let's have a look at a few that you have prepared. This is a very, very, I would say it's a great product. We demoed this for some of my people I called Hold On. And they were very surprised at the gluten-free bread. We did the hamburger buns. I made a vegan bacon and egg sandwich with vigenaise. And they couldn't tell the difference. The bread was soft. It didn't taste like what they call vegan bread, vegetarian type bread. So technology has really come a long way. Definitely. And it's awesome that they're also gluten-free because a lot of people are starting to become aware of the fact that they can't eat products with gluten. Amazing texture. And after you toast it, outside gets crispy, inside still soft. Still fluffy and soft. And it maintains that texture. Nice. Where can we get a hold of some of these products? Well, a lot of them are sold locally here. But the company I work for, Vegco, also has a warehouse you can visit during Kapa'a Kori. I don't have the address with me offhand. But you can call me on my cell number and we'll get you connected. Yeah, definitely. Sure. People can call you at your number, which is 808-722-9782. Exactly. And get a hold of you. Not only if they're interested in the products, but if they're interested in maybe taking one of your vegan cooking classes or demos or hooking up with you to do some fun stuff. I think that's where a lot of people, they need to be in control. You can't always go shopping at a vegan grocery store or eat at vegan restaurants. Right. You need to be able to do it at home and technology, as you know, allows us to do that now. Yes. With a lot more control. And the cooking classes are just to show people that it's very easy to use like a vegan egg, for example. Right. You can divide it out, pour it into a pan. You can use vegan butter if you want to flavor it a little more. And the bacon I've tried recently, this vegan bacon, you put it in the oven for 20 minutes. Okay. It comes crispy. It doesn't crinkle up. If you kind of back off on the time a little bit, you get that soft texture. And we put it in bacon and lettuce and tomato sandwiches. It has that crispy texture. It tastes just like bacon. People would love something like that. And all of that sort of stuff you can try here on the island, too, or in most countries. Let's take a look at another photo you have for us. This is exciting. This is a pretty wild product. It comes out of India. Now, the interesting thing out of it about this product is you can see on the right side, it says 25 minutes in hot soup. I know. Which means you can hold it in your hand and you can see on the above that it says peppercorn, Indian masala, chocolate. Obviously, the chocolate spoons are very interesting for people who do high-end desserts. Right. They're a little bit pricey, however, if you have a market that is into innovative things. And after you're done, you eat the spoon. Yes. Excellent idea. Fantastic. I definitely want to get a hold of some of those. I've been waiting for them to come to Hawaii. Are they a new product here? It just got previewed down to Earth last Friday, I believe. Right. And the other thing that's really a hot topic in town here is the ban on plastics that they're trying to push through at 2021, I believe. We also carry a product called birchwood cutlery. Okay. This is not a biodegradable product. This is a compostable product. So in 90 days, this product will disintegrate on its own, which is a very interesting thing. A lot of people don't know that Hawaii does not have a biodegradable facility, so you can't process that. So this compostable, if it goes on itself and just throw it in your yard and it turns into mold. Wow. That's very exciting and very important to share that kind of information. So definitely steer away from plastic when you can. And yeah, use some of these products. What else have we got, Paul? Oh, these ones are some bacon. The top two products are, once we carry them, the jerky is unbelievable. And they also sell these carne asada, which is a flavored soy meat that you can add to any kind of Mexican dish. They have about five different versions. Okay. The lower couple of products I found in Portland when I went there, the bacon I tried recently are quite a bit better than the coconut bacon that is on the left side. And the cheeses, as you know, you've been a cheese maker. They really come around. They have, yes. Chef Paul, actually you are obviously an amazing chef, but you veganize a lot of local dishes. So anyone who's interested in trying to work with vegan recipes, this should definitely give you a call and take one of your classes. Well, we had a good opportunity a couple of weeks ago before VegFest Oahu to actually go on TV. We went on TV three times on the morning shows and had people sample the vegan loco moco. Nice. That's your signature dish, isn't it? Well, it's become that. I didn't think it was really going to fly, but it's amazing that the gravy and the egg had people fooled. Local celebrities tried it and they said, I could eat this every day. So, you know, that was a pretty good testimony that a lot of people, given the right texture and the right taste, will follow through. You know, you don't have to convert to veganism right away. But a little bit here, a little bit there will kind of help you transition. Yeah, definitely agree. Yeah. How about another one, Paul? What else have you got here for us? All of this looks delicious. This is on my recent trip to Portland, the top. That is a vegan Thai curry. The bottom is a vegan Indian restaurant. Unbelievable food. And on the right side, this is the vegan ramen from Tane, here locally. And they actually have vegan pork curry in their ramen. Wow. It shows actual fat layers, but it's vegan. Interesting. Do you know that Portland was recently voted number one country of the best places to be living in if you're vegetarian or vegan? Hawaii was voted 35 out of 100 U.S. cities. Portland got number one. So definitely on my bucket list of places to go and visit. A lot of things happening on the mainland, even in Las Vegas. Unbelievable. I went to a vegan barbecue restaurant where they had ribs, fried chicken. What's the other one? Black-eyed peas. Okay. You know, all in a lunch, all vegan. And sky's the limit. I definitely agree. I mean, it's just incredible how far we've come. Making life easier to get onto a plant-based diet. And after the break, we are actually going to talk about some useful tips on how you can kickstart a vegan lifestyle and plant-based diet. So stay tuned and see you after the break. Thanks to our think-tech underwriters and grand tours. The Atherton Family Foundation. Carol Mun Lee and the Friends of ThinkTech. The Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education. Collateral Analytics. The Cook Foundation. Dwayne Kurisu. The Hawaii Community Foundation. The Hawaii Council of Associations of Abarbon Owners. Hawaii Energy. The Hawaii Energy Policy Forum. Hawaiian Electric Company. Integrated Security Technologies. Galen Ho of BAE Systems. Kamehameha Schools. MW Group. The Shidler Family Foundation. The Sydney Stern Memorial Trust. VOLO Foundation. Yuriko J. Sugimura. Thanks so much to you all. Welcome back everyone to Lillian's Vegan World. I'm your host Lillian Cumick and I'm with my awesome guest, the very famous vegan chef Paul Onishi. Thank you. Welcome back again Paul. We are talking about the vegan lifestyle today and what you've been getting up to on the island. A lot of people ask how do you start a vegan diet or start eating more plant-based. So when it came to your journey and you transitioning from the typical American diet I guess, how did you transition? What made life easier for you and what are some tips you could tell viewers to help them get started? I've tried several times in my life over the past years to get to where I'm now and I'm looking at two years that I've been doing this. It's been hard when you travel because many countries especially in Asia don't support a vegan lifestyle. So you have to compromise here and there. But the products that are available, for example a lot of vegans say, well why do you have to even expose people to meat like bacon and stuff like that because it only tempts you to go back. However these transition devices last year was a $650 million industry just in products for sale that way and it kind of made people wake up and obviously around the country I don't think it's really hit Hawaii yet but every place they've previewed the impossible burger and the alternative burgers people say hey this tastes good, the texture is good, I wonder what else is out there and then it's led to people going back to their favorite restaurants and saying do you have this or that and what I'm seeing and hearing from my coworkers constituents is that I think by spring next year if you're not in place to transition into that way of thinking or at least be open to it you're going to be buried because those that are doing a veganizing or being a little bit more sensitive will be ahead of the game and they'll be the ones people go to for alternative. Yes, I couldn't agree more I think we're at the stage where it's very visible that this is not some fad some fad that just is coming and is going to disappear, you know veganism and the plant-based diet is definitely alive and thriving and becoming you know just more and more people are turning to this diet as a lifestyle so you know you've got to get the options out there in restaurants, I definitely agree because there will come a point when people like myself will just refuse to go to regular restaurants, you know non-vegan restaurants if there are not options and more and more people are curious and ready to taste as you said some of these healthier dishes And you know personally a lot of what's been bothering me lately is the fake news that comes out against these animal alternatives you know plant-based alternatives because they're losing their dollar volume they're losing their hold on the market and just I saw the other day a Burger King took off their vegetarian burger I didn't even know they had a vegetarian burger because the sales of the impossible Whopper were so good that it just said well we don't need to do that anymore Wow that's and that shows that even within that burger industry they're seeing a new product come in there and actually push an old stand-by away because it's gaining so much popularity and then they followed that article with something that they're going to do adding two or three more products like a junior Whopper and an impossible Whopper with cheese of course the question is going to be do they put vegan cheese on there and are they using plant-based mayonnaise and do their buns have eggs in it so I think that's all going to happen eventually but you know they're taking their steps because they want to see who's going to respond to their offerings and so far the offerings are yielding an interest that I don't think a lot of people you know banked on so well said and you are absolutely right like just because for example just because it's an impossible burger doesn't mean the whole burger is vegan this is where you have to be really careful about whether the bread as you mentioned the cheese the mayonnaise you have to make sure all of that's vegan and more than often it is not fully vegan so that's maybe a good thing to remember if you are wanting to transition to a plant-based diet well you know in response to what you just said our company also has a couple of different vegan burgers that have already answered that question so if someone says well that impossible burgers to process you know I don't like all that manipulation we have alternative burgers that haven't hit the market yet visibly that are going to answer that question fantastic has the same texture, the same aroma and it will transition people into a healthier lifestyle and you know it's not like you are going to eat it every day but it's better than having all the fat all the cholesterol all the high blood pressure which I had and the other day I was in a situation where I was at a restaurant I ordered a mushroom burger which I thought was a portobello mushroom burger the waitress made a mistake and she gave me a regular burger with mushrooms on top of it and because I came late and I had to eat it in front of everybody I ate it and you know I didn't want to make a scene about it and you know draw attention to the fact well he's a vegan and all this kind of stuff however I went home last night that night and then the next day because my lifestyle has maintained itself pretty good my blood pressure was even lower than it usually is so it was 117 over 72 which is really good I would think it would spike just because of that because of that patty but you know if you maintain that lifestyle you have something in motion that has set you on a healthy track so even if you are forced to compromise and you know part of me is just like you know I kind of struggle with that socially and a lot of vegans do because of the pressure yeah certainly you know you can't really go into this lifestyle absolutely stress free there are going to be times where you're going to be put in a little bit of a rut and you know you're going to have to work it out that's why a lot of people fall off the wagon and in my classes everyone has a story like that New Year's Day they had to compromise because at the end of the Thanksgiving party everybody took home the sashimi that was sitting out there for four hours past its prime but they took it home and they probably ate it the next day too but she took home her falafel because nobody ate it and she put it back in her container that's kind of sad but you know with Thanksgiving coming up in the next couple of weeks I think this is where a lot of people are going to be tested they really you know really want to be on the vegan diet but then they're surrounded by all of these comfort foods that they were brought up eating and brought up to believe were perfectly okay for you to eat so you know don't stress out don't you know don't don't let it get to you if you fall off the wagon a bit it's okay jump back on and you know get back to what it is you really want to do eat healthier I guess and be a healthier you you just reminded me last Thanksgiving they ordered a full on meal from one of the best Turkish stuff in gravy the whole 9 yards they said oh my goodness what am I going to eat I made a little casserole dish I made a Thanksgiving shepherd's pie I made my own mashed potatoes from scratch used soy milk, vegan butter and I layered the inside with seitan that I marinated in sage but it tasted like turkey had the texture of turkey and I'm vegan gravy and I put it sandwiched in between my mashed potato I didn't say anything I thought well that's mine they're not going to eat it because they know where I'm coming from people started going through the line and dipped into mine and when I went through it was half gone nobody said anything basically didn't so I thought maybe it tasted good but they feel confident don't advertise don't go on about what's in it just leave it sit it there and watch people go for it alright let's have a look at some more photos that we have beautiful I'm guessing these are also from Portland and the next one have a look at another one vegan sushi where are these at Tane the Japanese the right side is a product that we carry called ahimi it is a plant based sashimi alternative and this picture appeared in Forbes magazine couple beautiful I think it was last year and before we even got a hold of it and I thought that's not too good everybody has it except us and once again it's how to introduce it to the public so you know it's not like walking in the door and saying hey chef I got a brand new product for you to try I have to literally make it up for them take them a sample and have them say hey this tastes pretty good you know and then I have to do a tasting where I go into their restaurant and I work in the kitchen with them the other day I had to make the chicken curry to be served for the 200 people for that line taste test it's really thank you for what you're doing it's going to be a while but I believe and I think it's worth it definitely worth it of course I appreciate everything that you're doing I want to show a couple more photos chef this is what I have been playing around with vegan spam and it's made with cauliflower some corn meal spices some celery onion and you put it in the little empty cans boil it for two hours slice fry stir fry a little bit and it's tastes exactly like the real stuff next one is my cauliflower buffalo wings I thought I was chicken and vegan ranch it looks like chicken crispy on the outside really delicious on the inside made from cauliflower or healthy stuff believe it or not there's no oil I like your girl marks yeah again vegan food can be delicious so if you are looking to start a vegan diet I did quickly have seven tips that I would like to mention so the first one you can agree transition slowly it's not going to happen overnight I mean some people do it overnight and have a lot of willpower but you know transition slowly try some vegan things and the second thing is find your motivation why is it that you want to start a plant based diet get motivated watch videos documentaries swap animal products for healthier vegan alternatives surround your kitchen with plenty of vegan foods and healthy foods ready to go slowly create new habits swap one meal a day make it vegan on a daily basis keep going and keep things fun and exciting go to down to earth try some of those vegan ice creams I do have another one to add to that community is very important too absolutely and I've seen that in the cooking classes where people who feel so lonely in their journey together with other lonely people and all of a sudden we have a group of people in the room that are excited to be with each other because they share the same frustration support is important Chef Paul we've come to the end of another show thank you so much for joining us good luck with everything and do contact Paul if you are interested in any of his vegan products I'll see you again next month have a wonderful Thanksgiving