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Cheryl, 25-year-old Mperceived enemies. Wn wild considering the woman who plays dramatic send-up of the Archie Comics (which recently wrapped its fourth sea-son), the character Cheryl Blossom is known for being extremely stylish and incredibly vindictive. Though in some respects she’s a misunderstood survi-vor of trauma, Cheryl is also a revenge mastermind capable of torturing her Riverdaleadelaine Petsch, is a notably gentle , the CW’s moody and melo-hich is especially
cherry-red gas mask in order to roach-bomb her own mother principal. Petsch would never hurt a bee. See? Very different. and then lock her in a makeshift bunker (to be fair, her mom pretty much deserved it). Petsch, on the other hand, is a life-long vegan who wants to help others shift to a plant-based diet in a way that’s inspiring and approachable. Cheryl Blossom once dropped an active beehive on the desk of the school soul. Points of comparison: Cheryl Blossom once donned a of her family’s garden. Wtally aware parents, who ingrained these thoughts in me,” says Petsch, who grew up in W“I was lucky to grow up with two incredibly environmen-hen she was three, her dad taught ashington State, eating out
which to avoid. In grade school, she was teased for bringing she says. “It’s not that hard to just bring your own utensils in her lunch in a reusable container instead of a plastic baggie. Today, she still tries to use as little plastic as she can, taking simple steps like not using the vegetable bags at the grocery store. “It’s crazy to me that people still use plastic utensils,” her “about the little numbers on the bottom of plastics” and your purse!” And yes, she has strong opinions about plastic straws, too: “Just drink out of the glass—it’s very easy. Ware you worried about? Smudging your lipstick? It’ll be fine.” never translate into preachiness toward her fans—no small But Petsch wants to make sure that her strong opinions hat
consideration, considering she has more than 18 million In-stagram followers and over 5 million subscribers to her You-Tube channel. And with great social media reach comes great responsibility. That’s why she’s a board member of the Envi-ronmental Mentertainment industry to encourage eco-friendly practices. “They give you the tools you need to be able to talk about any and every issue involving the environment,” Petsch says. “If you use that messaging, you can have such a positive reach.” edia Association, a nonprofit that works with theI want to spread a message about the environment or about stuck with me through my adult life,” she says. “Now when says that some of her religious peers would try to sway her to their way of thinking, and the conversations would leave her feeling like she’d done something wrong. “That’s really your beliefs down someone’s throat isn’t going to bring them around to your point of view. Growing up nonreligious, she veganism, I try to do it with positivity and by giving people the information to make a decision for themselves.” Tube videos, she and boyfriend Travis MShe also wants to make veganism fun. In one of her You-Petsch knows from her own childhood that pushing ills attend a vegan
another, she gleefully prepares vegan cinnamon rolls. “Peo-who wouldn’t, with all that butter.) But she makes it work by ple make it seem like it’s so difficult,” Petsch says. “I want to teach people how positive and easy it is to be vegan—I don’t want to make it seem like it’s this big feat.” Sure, there are downsides. It can sometimes be hard to eat vegan while trav-eling. “I had a really hard time eating in Paris,” she says. (And food festival, which she says is her version of Coachella; in packing protein bars and green powder in her suitcase, and she always manages to find you can go that doesn’t have a plate of steamed vegetables,” she says, laughing. something. “There’s nowhere
going animal-free in their own lives would be nearly impossi-convince as many people as possible to join the vegan move-ble, and others are turned off by the militant attitude of some members of the vegan community. “It’s a movement that can be a little bit radical at times,” she says. “And yes, I believe we should be radical, but I also believe we should be trying to vegan meal a day, why wouldn’t we be trying to incorporate ment.” She’s said she’s even occasionally felt “shunned” by her fellow vegans for attending fashion shows of brands that use animal products. “It’s things like that that make people afraid of being vegan,” she explains. “And even if it’s just one Of course, Petsch acknowledges that some people think
more people and make them feel comfortable?” about the extinction of certain species and ballooning car-bon footprints. “I get scared about what my children and grandchildren are going to see,” she says. That’s why she’s doing her part to get more people to adopt environmentally aware habits. But still, there’s one character who may never be convinced: “I think Cheryl is probably a carnivore, unfor-tunately.”—c a d y Aside from not eating animals, Petsch says she worries drellCONSC
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EATERRiverdaletakes us inside her ’s resident baddie plant-based lifestyle.MADELAINE PETSCH