Photo by Paul Rogers

 

Jeff was born and raised in the green mountains of Vermont. His hometown was Stowe, VT. Jeff attended Southern New Hampshire University, majoring in Hotel and Restaurant Management, graduating Cum Laude and was a member of the Hotel Honor Society. Jeff spent some time in Colorado Springs, CO, working at the world class Broadmoor Hotel, then moved to Hawaii.

Jeff lived in Hawaii for almost 14 years. During that time, he really noticed the cause and effect relationship of the food he ate and his health. He noticed how he felt after eating different "foods," as well as how his health was affected. This is what lead to transitions in his diet. Before moving to Hawaii, he had given up milk as it seemed to cause extra gas. He then noticed he had fewer headaches and felt better in general. This started his journey towards a vegan diet and eventually a vegan raw food diet. Over the years he did try different milk products, such as those with reduced lactose. He gradually cut back on other dairy products, as well as various meat products. As with most people, there were some food addictions. However, eventually the realization that health was more important prevailed over any addictions! In 1991 he had his last "meat" products, noticing he felt much better without it. For many years he still ate fish a few times a year. In early 1997 he had his last fish, feeling no more need for the "food." One dairy product he had continued with, on occasion, was Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Having grown up in Vermont, having met Ben & Jerry, and having enjoyed the rich flavors and textures their ice cream offered, this was the one non-vegan food addiction that lasted the longest. As much as he loved the richness and flavors of these famous pints, he did not love the feeling he had after consuming them. Even though he was never tested as lactose intolerant, in the hours after eating them he would feel "blah," sometimes lousy, experiencing lower energy and increased mucous. Eventually, he sided with health and at the end of 1997 he gave up pints of the bovine milk product to become vegan! On his journey to becoming vegan, colds and flues had become less and less frequent, the severity of them had decreased, and the durations had also decreased. When sticking to a strict live food diet, he experiences no colds or flues!

Jeff has long been a terrific cook and often experimented with creating new foods. He calls it "intuitive cooking!" Now vegan and still living in Hawaii he was focusing on vegan cooking. He had been given a recipe for vegan corn chowder. He lost it before ever trying it, but did remember it used cashew milk, made from raw cashews. He made up his own wonderful recipe for "Vegan Corn Chowder," which became one of his favorites. Through this he became quite familiar with using cashews in food preparation. He still had a taste for frozen deserts and tried the various vegan "ice creams" on the market. While they were very good and quite tasty, there was something missing to Jeff. They just didn't have the richness he desired. He then had an inspiration. "I should use cashews to make gourmet vegan 'ice cream.'" Not having an "ice cream" maker, he kept his idea in his mind. In early 1999, with a passion to promote a plant-based diet, Jeff and his friend Bill Amey created the SoyStache project and created an online presence with SoyStache.com (and CelebritiesForHealth.com) The site offers a lot of information to help people in their decision to move to a plant-based diet. The site offers, perhaps, the most extensive "links" page to help people find more information on the web. The site also helps people connect with vegetarian groups in their area. In 1999 Jeff was guided to move to Seattle. In this transition he decided that once in Seattle and once he found a new job he would buy an "ice cream" maker and begin making the creations he had in his mind. He moved, he found a job, he bought the "ice cream" maker and began his journey as a creator of the richest vegan "ice cream" around. He had never come across any other cashew-based vegan deserts, and knew cashew-based deserts needed to be available because of their rich texture and flavor. Soon after moving to Seattle, Jeff joined up with EarthSave Seattle becoming a member and a key volunteer of the group, doing his part to help the group educate people about a plant-based diet.

Of the people who have tried Jeff's creations, the general perception is that they are wonderful and better than anything on the market. Soon after beginning his vegan "ice cream" venture he shared his deserts with friends. One friend, who was a physician, said that in a world where people are focussing on low fat foods and less sweets and Jeff was creating decadent high fat sweet deserts that he was naughty, he was a "naughty vegan!" The name stuck! He continued making his creations and debated over producing his products for consumers or doing a recipe book. He realized it was important for national (and international) health to help get people off dairy and leaned towards the recipe book. This would make the recipes available to a much larger audience than the product would, at least initially. Since the deserts are expensive to make and would be far more expensive to sell ($10 or even more per pint retail), making the recipes available would make the deserts affordable. Even though some friends insisted he make and sell his product he decided to produce the recipe book. Jeff also realized that he would have much more fun doing the book rather than focussing on the manufacturing business. He may have turned his back on a "million dollar business," as some friends told him, but he knew he was making the right decision! He says "we have to do our part to improve the health of people, as well as the welfare of the animals, and the health of the environment and planet. Getting off dairy is one way to help these goals. We as a people are destroying this planet. In addition to the obvious health benefits of moving to a plant-based diet, both the animals and planet benefit."

Jeff is glad to finally have his book available. Please click on the link below to order a signed copy (or unsigned.) It should now also be available in stores.

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