The Woman Behind the Veggies

Hey, thanks for stopping by! I'm Sara, the food lover behind Veggies for Real. I'm originally from Madrid, Spain but moved to Worcester, MA to get my B.S. at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I graduated a few years ago and now I'm a PhD student at Duke University's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.  By day, I do research on speech processing for cochlear implants and by night I whiz through the kitchen like a tornado (quite literally, if you ask Austin) whipping up vegan food stuffs.


Giving my diet a single label would be tricky. The food I eat at home, and write about here, is always vegan. However, I very rarely eat fish, dairy or eggs when I go out. These occasional non-vegan meals are either consumed when the vegan options are very limited or, quite honestly, when I'm having a hankering for something I don't eat normally. I realize this might horrify some of you but I ask you to please understand that everyone's journey to veganism is different.

For me, it started about ten years ago when I stopped eating red meat and then eliminated poultry from my diet a few years leater. More recently, in December of 2010, I had minor heart surgery --a radio frequency ablation to fix a supraventricular tachycardia. While my ticker issues weren't lifestyle related at all, they scared me into stacking the deck in my favor and I believe a plant-based diet is the way to do so that works best for me. That said, I understand that not everyone feels the same way. That's why Veggies for Real will always be a judgment-free zone, a place to share vegan meals with anyone who loves any and all types of food.

Speaking of food lovers, you'll see I mention Austin every now and then. He's my very handsome boyfriend, best friend, recipe tester, dishwasher and occasional food stylist. We share our home with an extremely cute kitty named Lira, whom we adopted from our local shelter. She has turned out to be such a wonderful, loving pet that I have to encourage you to consider adoption first if you're looking into getting a pet of your own. It's a pretty sweet way to save a life.



If you try out any of the recipes I post, I would love to hear any feedback you have. Just leave it in the comments section and I'll make sure to respond as quickly as possible. Actually, any comment love, emails (sdurank at gmail dot com), questions or suggestions you send my way will be read, responded to and very much appreciated. Also, if you'd like to keep up with all the posts, you can follow the blog and/or subscribe to it using the gadgets on the right side bar.

I hope reading this blog brings you a fraction of the enjoyment writing it brings me. I love being able to give you all a window into my little kitchen. So, if you like what you see why don't you pull up a chair and stay a while.

Love and veggies,
~ Sara