44 VegNews HOLIDAYS 2019
a year and a half after its launch, Slutty
Vegan is the undisputed darling of the
Atlanta food scene, with an ardent fan
base that includes mayor Kassim Reed
and singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. Although
Cole is known far and wide for her
saucy burgers with even saucier
names (Ménage à Trois and One Night
Stand, to name a few), it’s her mission
to make quality vegan food accessible
to underserved communities of color
that will be her legacy. And with two
cross-country pop-up tours, a lease for
a second and third Metro Atlanta-area
location, and her brilliant, multimillion-
dollar business plan all under her belt,
Cole is well on her way to a mission
accomplished and beyond.
THE FOOD INNOVATOR
Pat Brown
³Odds are good that when Pat Brown,
CEO and Founder of Impossible
Foods, launched the uncannily meat-
like Impossible Burger in 2016, he had
no idea he was kick-starting a food
revolution. In his early days, the former
Stanford professor and PhD helped
develop DNA microarrays to monitor
gene activity patterns that would
better classify and predict the course
of different cancers—no big deal.
And with the debut of the Impossible
Burger, he inadvertently created
one of the most successful tools for
animal and environmental activism.With an unprecedented number of
omnivores opting for its plant-based
burgers, Impossible Foods had to
navigate a nationwide shortage of
its flagship product in 2019, but that’s
nothing Brown couldn’t handle. And
2019 proved to be his biggest yearT
his isn’t Miyoko
Schinner’s first vegan
rodeo. The Japanese-
born entrepreneur
opened her first
business in the ‘80s,
baking and hand-delivering vegan
pound cakes and other desserts all
over Tokyo. By the mid-’90s, Schinner
found herself in San Francisco as
an acclaimed cookbook author, the
owner of a fine-dining plant-based
restaurant, and the creator of a line of
revolutionary vegan meat products,
including the smash-hit UnTurkey.
Fast-forward to today, and the tireless
businesswoman is sitting atop her most
successful venture yet: the dairy-free
empire that is Miyoko’s Kitchen. The
five-year-old company has become
an indispensable fixture in the current
vegan food boom, not just because of
its high-quality, cashew-based cheeses
and butters, but because of Schinner’s
fearlessness. Case in point: this year,
she found herself center-stage in a
national discussion about food labeling
when she made headlines for going
toe-to-toe with the powerful Big Dairy
lobby. When Wisconsin’s Department of
Agriculture issued a directive to remove
vegan products labeled with words like
“milk” and “butter” from store shelves,
Schinner sprang into action. She led
the fight for the rights of plant-based
brands (and won—her butter is back
in “America’s Dairyland”) and set out
to shine a spotlight on the exploding
vegan market—a market she intends to
help grow even bigger with a line of
allergen- and nut-free cultured cheeses
that will lower the price point andwiden the audience to compassionate
food choices. For more than 30 years,
Schinner has laid the groundwork for
vegan food to be what it is today, and
thanks to her vision, the next 30 years
are looking bright, too.PAT
BROWNTHE LEGEND
MIYOKO
SCHINNER