Photo Credit: Dove Shore
As “The Big Bang Theory” comes to its end tomorrow night\, May 16, with its series finale, star Mayim Bialik, who plays Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler on the hit series, is already embarking on a new venture. Her latest gig isn’t an acting one: Bialik has partnered with Chef Ali Cruddas on Bodhi Bowl, a new vegan eatery in downtown Los Angeles, with a mission to inspire people to choose a healthier, greener and more compassionate lifestyle. We chatted with the longtime actress (who formerly starred on another hit series, “Blossom”) on the end of “Big Bang,” her new venture, eating green, releasing her “New York Times” best-selling book, “Boying Up: How to Be Bold, Brave and Brilliant” and her next chapter.
Tell us how and why your partnership Chef Allison Cruddas for the Los Angeles based restaurant, Bodhi Bowl came to be?
Allie and I have known each other for about 20 years. We have been friends and co-vegans, dreaming of a world where we would not just eat salad and pasta and french fries. She always dreamed of a fast food vegan place and throughout the years, we worked on my cookbook together (Mayim’s Vegan Table) and she has catered events in my life and has taught me so much as a chef. When she was ready to open Bodhi Bowl I was so thrilled. I had been testing out her seitans and dressings for years, and now we can enjoy them in what’s essentially a vegan healthy Subway sandwich restaurant at reasonable prices in Downtown LA. It’s so exciting and my kids and I wish she lived in our house so we could eat this food daily!
Can you tell us more about the restaurant and its menu? What makes it stand out from other quick-service restaurants? How does it fit into LA’s amazing food space?
It’s a casual and low priced place with bowls, salads, sandwiches and wraps. You can customize things however you want or go with her menu items. The Gautama is our favorite because it has pickles and cabbage salad and the seitan is so delicious. I like it as a wrap and my kids like it in a sandwich. I also love the bowls which I can have any way I feel on any day. Some days I want more of a Tex-Mex flavor, sometimes I want spicy Thai; the possibilities are endless. LA as so many gourmet places and fancy places where you need a reservation; Bodhi Bowl is a breath of fresh vegan air!
What is a popular misconception about vegans and vegan food that you’d like to dispel?
That we don’t get enough protein! We get plenty as do most Americans!! Americans tend to not know how much is even recommended and we eat way more than we need to which has been linked to health concerns. We get enough!
You were recently honored with the cast of “The Big Bang Theory” with the TCL Chinese Theater Handprint Ceremony. How does it feel to be immortalized in Hollywood?
Surreal. Truly. I grew up walking distance from there as a second generation American. It’s all so surreal.
Photo Credit: Bodhi Bowl
How does it feel to have “Big Bang” come to an end? Is it a chapter you’re happy to close or one that you wish could have kept going?
I loved my job and had nowhere else to be…but it’s not as simple as what I want! One door closes, another opens. We will all see what’s next.
What is your fondest memory from the set?
Tender scenes with Jim Parsons. Coitus for the first time for Shamy. Our first kiss. That stuff stays with me.
Photo Credit: Dove Shore
Do you hang out with any of the cast when you aren’t working? Who, if so?
I gravitate towards Jim and Melissa I think socially, but I also think Simon is afraid of me because for nine years I have told him pretty much daily that I am his BIGGEST FAN – lol.
With “Big Bang” coming to an end, what can we expect from you this year? More books? Do you have other projects in the works? What, if so?
Can’t say anything now. I wrote a screenplay I plan to direct. Based on a variety of families I know rolled into one story. That’s all I can say. More YouTube videos for sure. And my website, Groknation.com, has a newsletter I work on weekly!
Tell us the truth: When people see you on the street, are they more apt to call you “Blossom” or “Amy”? And how do you feel when you’re referred to as your characters, instead of by your name?
I understand that’s how people know me; it’s more Amy now I think. But there are still a lot of people who say, “I’ve never seen TBBT but you’ll always be Blossom to me!”
From “Boying Up”, what is the most important takeaway for others on how to be bold, brave and brilliant?
Boys – like girls – can be sensitive and tough, decisive and contemplative, and anything they want to be. There’s not one way to be!
Photo Credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
