About Laura Theodore and Jazzy Vegetarian

LAURA’S MISSION: Making the world a better place, one recipe at a time, by creating and sharing modern, mindful, and compassionate vegan recipes that are easy and delicious!

Welcome to the Jazzy Vegetarian website, where I share delectable 100% vegan recipes, our newest news, and inspirational thoughts. All of the dishes I share on this website are prepared with easily accessible ingredients, or can be adapted to use items from your pantry or freezer. My mission is to share nutritiously dense, plant-based recipes to prepare for yourself, your family, and your friends in your own home kitchen! Please read more about me and about Jazzy Vegetarian below. With Love, Light, and Gratitude – Laura

Be Happy, Be Healthy, and Be Well.

Why Jazzy Vegetarian? A Message from Laura:

Since I am totally vegan, and all of my recipes are vegan, people ask me why I am the Jazzy Vegetarian and not the Jazzy Vegan. Well, many years ago, when we were thinking of names for the show and brand, we wondered if most people even knew what a vegan was. Back then it wasn’t part of the common vernacular. Recently I did a little online research about the histories and origins of the words vegetarian and vegan.

According to the Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom, the practice of vegetarianism was more commonly known as “the vegetable diet” before the word vegetarian was officially coined in conjunction with the formation of the society in 1847. It comes from the Latin word vegetus, meaning invigorating, lively, vivid, active, or energetic. The members of the Vegetarian Society who adapted the word emphasized and sought to spread a message of good health and moral responsibility through vegetarianism, so the original meaning of the word implies a lot more than just a diet of vegetables and fruit. 

The term “vegan” did not exist independently of vegetarianism for another 100 years, when Donald Watson, cofounder of the Vegan Society, coined it in 1944. According to Watson, he wanted a concise word to replace “nondairy vegetarian,” so he derived “vegan” from the first three and last two letters of “vegetarian”— “the beginning and end of vegetarian.”  

So, in fact, the Jazzy Vegetarian is vegan! 

ABOUT LAURA THEODORE

Laura Theodore is a recognized public television personality, vegan PBS celebrity chef, nationally renowned jazz singer and award-winning cookbook author. She is co-creator of the highly successful Jazzy Vegetarian vegan cooking series on national public television. Ms. Theodore is author of six vegan cookbooks, including Jazzy Vegetarian, Jazzy Vegetarian Classics, Laura Theodore’s Vegan-Ease, Deliciously Vegan (which won silver medals at the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards, Midwest Book Awards and the Living Now Book Awards) and her double-bronze award-winning cookbook, Vegan for Everyone. Her newest release – Easy Vegan Home Cooking takes the guesswork out of eating healthier by sharing shopping lists, pantry “must-haves,” quick cooking tips, flavor enhancers, and effective plant-based substitutions.

Laura and Jazzy Vegetarian are recipients of the Taste Award for Best Health and Fitness Television Program (Food and Diet), and the Jazzy Vegetarian series was inducted into the Taste Hall of Fame. In addition, Ms. Theodore was a recent winner of the Top 100 Vegetarian Blog Awards.

As a globally recognized award-winning jazz singer and songwriter, Laura has recorded six solo CDs, including her award-winning disc, “Tonight’s the Night,” which received a Musician Magazine Award. Her CD release with the late, great Joe Beck entitled “Golden Earrings,” (on the Whaling City Sound label) was on the GRAMMY® list in the category of “Best Jazz Vocal Album.” Laura has toured throughout the country, performing at numerous major events, such as Night of 100 Stars, Fire and Ice Ball and The American Film Awards.

Laura has been featured on the cover of three prestigious magazines; American Vegan, Jazzin’, and La Fashionista Compassionista. She has been featured in the New York Times, New York Daily News, Mother Earth Living, VegNews, Family Circle, Readers Digest and PBS Food,among other highly respected news, food, music and lifestyle-related journals. Theodore is featured on Netflix, in the documentary film, Food Choices and she has made guest appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX, The Talk on CBS, Insider/Entertainment Tonight and the WCBS News Radio Health & Wellbeing Report.

On the acting side of things, Laura has appeared in over sixty plays and musicals including Off-Broadway for two years in the hit show “Beehive,” which earned her a coveted Backstage Bistro Award. She was honored with the Denver Critics Drama Circle Award as “Best Actress in a Musical,” for her starring role as Janis Joplin in the world premiere production of “Love, Janis.”

With her love for good food, compassion for animals and enthusiasm for great music, multi-talented personality, Laura Theodore truly is the Jazzy Vegetarian.

About the JAZZY VEGETARIAN series:

Jazzy Vegetarian is a three time, Taste award-winning vegan cooking series. The series premiered nationally on public television in 2011, and has been available on stations reaching over 90% of US Households. Laura Theodore is a recognized public television food personality, vegan chef, popular cookbook author and award-winning recording artist.

Laura’s step-by-step instructions show viewers an easy way to cook and delight the taste buds while making healthy, vegan and earth-friendly choices.  She uses no dairy, meat, eggs or animal products. These dishes are so tempting you’ll even win over the ‘meat and potatoes’ crowd! Each themed program serves up a menu of mouth-watering treats that are designed to please vegans, vegetarians and omnivores, alike!. 

JAZZY VEGETARIAN fans can watch Laura on television as well as on the web, listen to her podcast radio shows online, download her recipes by tapping into her plant-based, culinary wisdom from their computers and in her companion cookbooks.

 

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