About me, about you, about Planticize

From my photo, I guess that you’ve guessed I’m not your average food blogger. My name is Chris and I’m a middle-aged guy who loves to eat, cook, and take photos. I grew up in Connecticut, in the U.S., eating a lot of things that most other New Englanders eat, and like most Americans, my ancestors came from all over the place. So everything from pizza, pirogis, stuffed peppers, Chinese and baklava was “normal” food for me. When I was 26, I moved to Brighton, England (where my plant-based journey started) and stayed for four years before landing in Stockholm, Sweden – the place I now call home. When you throw all of that into the mix, to say that my taste in food is eclectic would be an understatement!

I stopped eating red meat nearly 20 years ago in 1996, while living in Brighton. I’d always felt so tired and lethargic after eating meat, and when the big mad cow disease scare broke out, I didn’t need any more reasons to eliminate meat from my diet. Then little by little, other things started disappearing from my plate. For many years I was a 96% vegetarian, occasionally eating fish at restaurants or at other people’s homes. About 7 years ago, I had my first flirt with a plant-based diet, but it wasn’t until October 2014 that I went all in – and now I’m in for life!

I studied linguistics and journalism at university, am a certified teacher, have done all kinds of writing and have been taking photos my whole life – the last 10 years, mostly of people. And now, I’m putting all my time and energy into Planticize.

So enough about me, let’s talk about you and Planticize in general. What’s up with the name you ask? Planticize is about showing the world how fun, easy and tasty it is to eat plant-based foods. It’s about food and imagination. It’s taking classic dishes and turning them into plant-based yumminess, as well as creating totally new ones.

Different people decide to follow plant-based diets, either partially or wholly, for different reasons. And why you’re here is your own individual story. Maybe you’re thinking about your health, the animals or the environment, or all three. Maybe you’re not ready to give up meat, eggs and dairy just yet, but you’d like to cut down a little. Or maybe you’re planning on trying a recipe or two out of curiosity. Any reason is a good reason to planticize!

There’s one more, very important reason to go plant-based – all the food tastes fantastic! That’s right. Please don’t think for a second that if you take away animal products, you take away the fun – not a chance! We are going to make so many awesome things together! Things you never even thought of before – things that are going to make you go,  “Wow!” So, once again, welcome to Planticize and welcome to the future!