Photo Credit: P.S. Kitchen
Going vegan, vegetarian, or even just eating a healthier, cleaner and planet-friendlier diet is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions of 2018. We spoke with the team behind the plant-based NYC restaurant P.S. Kitchen in New York City who combined have over 20 years of eating vegan and vegetarian.
The restaurant was created as a social business with the mission of donating all profits (after operating costs) to charity and is overseen by partners Craig Cochran and Jeffrey LaPadula, who are also co-owners of Terri, NYC’s first plant-based fast casual restaurant group.
Here are three simple tips to ease your way into a less meat centered diet:
Tip #1: Go Meatless Monday or Weekday Vegan
Photo Credit: Michael Tulipan
Start off slow and ease yourself into a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle by giving up meat for one or more days a week. Partner Craig Cochran, who also owns fast-casual vegan chain Terri, suggests joining popular movements like “Meatless Mondays” and “Weekday Vegan” to get your foot in the door while also giving yourself time to prepare.
Tip #2: Replace meat with vegetables when cooking at home
Photo Credit: P.S. Kitchen
“One of the best things for me personally was taking dishes that I already loved and knew how to cook and veganizing them,” says Timothy Carberry, General Manager of P.S. Kitchen. “It is a great way to apply already familiar recipes and skills in the kitchen to make something that is meat-free. And using new vegetables that I had never cooked or ever eaten, for me, added new excitement to food and cooking.”
Many of the menu items at P.S. Kitchen are vegan and but a new twist on traditionally meat and dairy classics like the P.S. Burger made with a Beyond Meat patty, the Buffalo Hen of the Woods, which uses mushrooms instead of chicken wings, and the Orzo Alfredo that subs a cashew sauce in place of the cream, butter and cheese.
Tip #3: Educate yourself
Photo Credit: P.S. Kitchen
Outside of the kitchen, a good way to go meat-free is to educate yourself about the food industry. Carberry says, “The more I learned about food in general, the more I knew I didn’t want to be a part of something that was not only harmful to me but also to animals and the environment. The knowledge of such things is what helped me eliminate cravings from foods I thought I would have a hard time giving up.”
Location: P.S. Kitchen 246 W. 48th Street, NYC
