Ep. 205: Chef Vegan Vicki - Lung Cancer Survivor to Vegan Chef

Chef Vegan Vicki is a proud Cleveland native who, in 2008, was diagnosed with non-smoking lung cancer.



After surgery, she started researching ways to get healthy and avoid a recurrence of this or any form of cancer. No surprise, her homework led her to a whole foods, plant-based diet and she ended up losing almost 100 lbs!

This transformation changed everything in her life and she went from working in the insurance industry to becoming an iconic chef.

In this inspiring conversation, she shared how she started her cooking journey at the Cleveland Veg Fest and Taste of Black Cleveland events, offering mouthwatering vegan soul food that no one else was making at the time. 

As you can imagine, she faced initial resistance and skepticism towards vegan food; however, she persisted, gained recognition, and eventually became the first vegan to be in a major sports arena at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland!

Today, as founder of Koncious Kuisine, she’s also a private vegan chef to several families and members of the NBA and NFL, and continues to run pop-ups in the arena and all over the Cleveland area.


Episode Highlights

10:10 Her surprising diagnosis and Medical journey in 2008

15:00 How she went from the Queen of Longhorn Steakhouse to a plant-based diet, thanks to a stranger in a grocery store

22:15 From insurance to iconic chef?!

35:00 From initial skepticism and reluctance, to all-out stardom with her vegan soul food

38:00 Where does she find her inspiration and what's it like cooking for the stars?

41:36 Vicki’s favorite mouth-watering sandwich

45:00 More rapid fire questions with Vicki - her best scrambled egg substitute, sweet potato pie, risotto and more

50:00 Vegan Vicki’s favorite cookware

Episode Resources

Watch the Episode on YouTube

Follow Vegan Vicki on Instagram - @koncious_kuisine

Article on Vegan Vicki in VegNews

Koncious Kuisine Website

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