Chris Tucker (vegan) - Vegan Baker of Goodness, Part 2 of 2

In our previous episode, we learned about Chef Tucker’s many successes. Today, we will discover more about his philanthropic undertakings, such as the Cake Initiative that began during the COVID lockdowns. “And cakes are very expensive here in Los Angeles. Even if you were to go to a grocery store and grab just a normal cake, it's still expensive, especially if times are really tough.” “And so that's how we launched the ‘Cake Initiative.’ And we gave away a cake every single week to a deserving family that reached out to us over Instagram, and told us that they were on hard times. And they were going to be celebrating one of their child's birthdays. And we corralled bakers from not only all over the (United) States, but we had people from all over the world that got involved.” “We do a lot of stuff with a local charity here called the ‘Alexis Project.’ And so, every year, we will do a toy drive for them. We are always involved with animal rights people and other vegan charities and different people in the vegan space just to see how we can be impactful on the sidelines.”

Serving affordable vegan food to people can be done in many different ways and is not limited to running a full-time restaurant. There are various alternatives to serving plant-based food, such as vegan “pop-ups,” food carts, and stalls like those at farmers' markets. “I did a pop-up in Detroit not long ago in Hazel Park, which is just outside of Detroit. And there, I served people (vegan) macaroni and cheese and southern greens and (vegan) fried chicken and corn casserole.”

To that end, Chef Tucker had some wise words to share with our viewers. “I would assume most people that are watching this are going to be vegan. And so, I would just say, keep up the good work! You're making an impact. You're doing something to lower the emissions that are being put out into our environment; you're saving animals; you are living a better lifestyle for yourself. So, just continue to do what you're doing. Make sure that you're doing things for other people too. We're compassionate towards animals. Make sure that we're being compassionate towards people as well, because that's really important, especially in the days that we live in.”