Meet LeAnn Lewis of Vegan Farm Stand in Amesbury

Today we’d like to introduce you to LeAnn Lewis.

LeAnn, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Loving and valuing all cultures, empowering people to make choices that support a vibrant, energy-filled lifestyle, and educating others on how to nourish themselves in a manner that also protects the planet are all values at the heart of my company Vegan Farm Stand. In our cooking and coaching classes we focus on global/hybrid recipes with a plant-based twist and supporting people’s efforts to revamp their lifestyle and eating choices…and having fun while doing it!

When something is meant to be, you reflect and realize that you had been developing the skill-set base naturally via your interests over the years: that’s basically how, looking back, I realized that this was the right path. It started out early with a love for travel and cooking: I went to 6 different high schools and my parents had also lived abroad and travelled and changed careers so maybe this helped me take on challenges and be flexible. Moving to New England from my native Southern California as a child awakened my nascent love of food exploration and leading a healthy lifestyle. Our family was the crunchy-granola one shipping in tortillas, making yogurt, and eating low-sugar at a time when it was not chic: nobody wanted to trade at the school lunch table! I was the nerdy kid frying squash blossoms at camp and cutting out awkwardly shaped homemade ravioli pre-Food Network. Looking back it is not surprising that I gravitated towards a plant-based lifestyle. As a child I was always an animal lover; I started a Save the Seals club in 5th grade. Today still my cats are such “humans” to me that they are named Douglas and Marlow.

When I moved to NYC at 19 I was seriously interested in cooking for at least part of my living. A stint as a short-order cook at a famous punk rock club with a record canteen called CBGBs and volunteering at God’s Love We Deliver-the first food delivery non-profit for AIDS patients-solidified my understanding that, through lovingly, well-prepared food, I could express myself creatively and give others enjoyment.

The opportunity to live abroad for 5 years in Spain, Japan, Argentina, and finally France introduced me to a world of fresh produce and endless farmers’ markets where I could buy homemade tofu and potimarron (the world’s best pumpkin, courtesy of France). The French word terroir somewhat encapsulates what attracts me to cooking with seasonal, local whole-food ingredients. This is the idea that the actual land of a place deeply infuses the comestible offerings which result from that region. Call terroir the product’s “culinary spirit” created from a combination of factors including soil, climate, and sunlight. I wanted my company’s name-Vegan Farm Stand- to resonate with that same idea.

After many years as a teacher of English as a Second Language and French (and a tad of Spanish!) due to my undergraduate and Master’s degree in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies at UC Berkeley and the University of New Mexico respectively I realized that I had a knack for communicating ideas, especially regarding subjects that I was passionate about. My love of culture also inspired me to experiment with global, plant-based recipes.

Ultimately, enrolling in a plant-based culinary program, and getting certified as a Vegan Lifestyle Coach and Educator (VLCE) in August 2017 through well-known vegan pioneer Victoria Moran’s Main Street Vegan Academy hooked me up with other VLCEs from all over the world from Europe, to Africa, to Asia who were not only foodies but who cared about the environment and animals. I met amazing people there who had such different backgrounds: classically trained pastry chefs like Fran Costigan who created the Rouxbe online cooking school’s Essential Vegan Desserts program and is the author of my favorite cookbook on vegan chocolate, former lawyers, current doctors, and a major fashion designer who has a beautiful vegan clothing line called Vaute. We went to see all the different unique businesses that advocated for a vegan lifestyle that were created by alumna such as an artisanal vegan cheese store called Riverdel Cheese in lovely Prospect Park, Brooklyn. When I left I was on fire to do something and it was fate: I had made dinner for my neighbor (vegan Turkish!) and I was telling her that I wished that I could create a vegan global cuisine restaurant but I was not up for that and she said “There is this adorable loft around the corner that has a kitchen where people teach cooking classes, maybe you should check that out.” It was literally a half mile for my home. I walked in, saw it, and fell in love with the space and met the owner and she told me that I could also do my coaching there. And two months later I had my first class

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
All in all it has been a surprisingly smooth road: my classes rolled out with very little hitches, good student feedback, and each class has had enough new students, plus former, to start to build a community. I was really lucky in that the work space I found is beautiful and very affordable, so it was my ego on the line more than my finances. I teach at this amazing locale: http://www.kitchenlocal.com

My struggles have all been about occasional self-doubt and lack of balance in my life. My concern when I started VFS was still trying to maintain a social life, healthy exercise habits, and sleep while building a business and getting last-minute opportunities and developing whole new menus. Although I have a teaching background, creating a curriculum for teaching cooking classes is so different: tons of recipe creation (everyone I know around me got lots of free dinners from my constant feedings), timing things in the classes so that the students are engaged, not overwhelmed, and adjusting for different levels of student skill and anticipating problems (I must recheck my instructions for each station of students 30 times!).

This all feels a little crazy-making, and I know myself: at least for me, I need a personal life and a solid base of health. What I realized is that scheduling exercise with friends, and not being perfectionistic is/are the key… and also stocking magnesium powder! Additionally, I did what I encourage my coaching clients to do; I started a gratitude journey and reframed every stressful moment as a learning opportunity and asked myself “What can I appreciate about this situation, what can I learn from it, how can I forgive myself if I need to, and how could I use it to move forward?” You have to adjust your attitude to “an attitude of gratitude” in life: traveling a lot taught me how lucky I am to be in a country with running water and food and a decent standard of living. I also tried to incorporate my work into my social life. I love dancing tango as a social event, but if I have a recipe to work on I can either a) make it for a tango event or b) find someone who I want to share it with, so I can get that socializing in and not be stuck alone in my kitchen.

Vegan Farm Stand – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Vegan Farm Stand is a full service vegan cooking, coaching, and pop-up catering company that offers group plant-based cooking classes in a beautifully restored mill in downtown Amesbury, MA on the lovely north shore near Newburyport. We also offer private home-based vegan cooking classes and wine dinners, personal coaching for vegan lifestyle transition, kitchen resets- this would be help with creating a custom plant-based kitchen and pantry to address medical crisis diets that have been advised by your doctor or nutritionist- and also parental coaching (Kids in the Kitchen) to assist you in getting your kiddos to eat vegetables!

I think what makes us special is not only our great location-the commercial kitchen is so stylish and the loft ambience makes it a great date night, evening out with friends, solo night out to meet new people to cook with (I have repeat students who have met so many new friends through the classes)-but also (not bragging here!) I am really experienced from all my years of teaching languages and working with other cultures, in tailoring my approach to each student. I have been described in reviews as “warm” and “fun” and someone who makes everyone feel important and involved. I really pride myself on being proactive in asking questions to help my students and coaching clients get the most out of my classes. We have created a community. My goal is that you leave feeling like you can’t wait to tell your friends about your great time with us, and that you come back with them in tow.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
VFS is still a very new business, but it is starting to get a following so it is not really “a moment” but small moments. One was that I had a client approach me for coaching all the way from Utah which surprised me (we skype) as I had originally just been focusing on my local New England market.

Another was when recently I had two different classes- one public and one private- and in both I was watching my students connect and exchange numbers after. I felt really excited that I was able to help them find new friends and build their own sense of a culinary enclave. It makes me feel like the “connector” in the book The Tipping Point.

I love that my students are often activists: I recently was asked to contribute to an event in Newburyport that was an animal rights film documentary night when my student asked me to join *her* world. It was wonderful witnessing her be the master of her own sphere of vegan influence.

I am proud when my out-of-the-box-ideas take flight: so, as far as my *next* proudest moment I am predicting VFS entering the corporate realm. I want to branch out into corporate classes and also do a vegan team building event. So I am affirming that now: that will happen in 2018-19. It see it as being a kind of plant-based Iron Chef event in a corporate kitchen with a cook off challenge with a bunch of ingredients and a time limit with the workers being assigned as the judges. I plan events that I wish someone had offered me. What’s great about vegan food is that it automatically addresses most food issues so this would be easy to incorporate in a large diverse corporate environment: nondairy, you can easily do GF…there is even an easy way to create vegan paleo.

Finally, I was at a local health food store the other day talking to the cashier about my plans for some beets and when I told her that I do vegan cooking and coaching she said “Oh! Are you the woman who runs those classes in the mill building? My friend took one and she loved it and I have been meaning to take one.” So that felt great.

Pricing:

• Monthly thematic public cooking classes out of a commercial kitchen with a sit down dinner: groups of up to 16/approximately 3-5 hours. $70 (general cooking class)-$100 (for wine flight cooking class/dinner with additional wine class led by wine expert) per person
• 3 hour private cooking classes of up to 5 adults (see website for specific details) $195.00
• Coaching sessions (start at $65 per session, packages vary), kitchen resets (from $120), medical crisis package (kitchen reset, plus assisted visit to grocery store, plus one coaching session) $245.00
• Kids in the Kitchen private home-based 2 1/2 hour class with up to 3 children accompanied by two adults (email me for details) $195.00
• Gift certificates are available for any of the above products

Contact Info:

• Website: www.veganfarmstand.com
• Phone: 214-605-0033
• Email: leann@veganfarmstand.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veganfarmstand/
• Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/veganfarmstand/

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