Nicola Kagoro also known as Chef Cola, is a pioneering female Zimbabwean vegan chef at the helm of African Vegan-on-a-Budget (AVB) a company developed in 2016 to showcase Chef Cola’s cuisine, as well as to actively promote the reality that people can thrive on a healthy vegan or plant-based diet – all on a limited budget.
Chef Cola’s passion for food took her from being a home-based cook, to being on the culinary frontlines of personally presenting vegan food and lifestyle in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the world via social media, while also advocating for their great benefits, both nutritionally and environmentally.
She works with various national and international organisations who have the same passion for promoting a vegan lifestyle.
Briefly describe your organisation ‘African Vegan On A Budget’ and its objectives
African Vegan on A Budget is a plant-based brand based in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
It’s more of a lifestyle brand rather than merely just about vegan cooking. We teach people how to grow their own vegetables, we do talks, support vegan cosmetics and other products, and also participate in activism.
Our activities range from servicing clients in the anti-poaching industry where we develop and manage kitchens in rural Zimbabwe, to hosting private dinners in Cape Town. Our main aim is to expose veganism and plant based diets to all walks of life.
Your family is from Zimbabwe, but you grew up in New York City and trained in Cape Town, interning at PLANT restaurant. Tell us more about this journey.
We moved to New York when I was a young child, though we were back in Africa by my early teens and this juxtaposition of life experiences has come to define the way I look at food. At about the age of 16 I realised I wanted to be a chef, and then started to take school subjects that would work toward a qualification in hospitality.
During my third year of study I found a job at PLANT, and went from washing the dishes to being promoted to a commis chef. After an eventually five-year stint as their head chef I moved back to Zimbabwe and started African Vegan on a Budget. As my fame grew the BBC flew out to film our activities in a show called ‘Dinner with Chef Cola’, and more recently I’ve featured on another programme called ‘So Now I am Vegan’ on DSTV 288.
Before becoming a chef you were unaware of the plant-based lifestyle. What inspired the change?
I always wanted to be a private chef, not just a general commis chef. To do my own things instead of just following a menu. During my studies I noticed that being a private vegan chef in Africa was a niche market and fell in love with it. A lot of people in rural African communities are actually on vegan diets since they don’t have the same access as urban communities, so if you spend any time in that kind of setting it’s actually not that unfamiliar.
How would you describe the benefits of a plant-based diet to someone unfamiliar with it?
It’s a difficult and complicated question to answer, though suffice it to say it’s better for your health, and the environment due to a reduction in emissions that contribute to climate change.
As a chef, how have you seen the Southern African market change in the past few years and how responsive has your clientele been?
Today people have become more open to the vegan diet, especially after the pandemic, when people became more conscious of what they eat. There’s certainly been an uptick in brands available in the market and there are so many alternatives available, especially frozen plant-based foods. There’s a trend now where people order and try vegan meals at restaurants, even if they’ve not yet transitioned. That being said, not everyone seems to know the difference between being vegetarian and vegan, so there is still a need to educate.
A frequent question about plant-based cooking is the cost factor and there seems to be a misconception around vegan foods being more expensive. What do you tell people with these concerns?
There is a false yet popular notion that people seem to think that vegan food is expensive. It’s true that what we sometimes see in certain vegan recipes is the use of specialty products that may come at a premium price, but the same is true for any cuisine and animal products are still at a higher price point. African Vegan on a Budget is all about using natural, inexpensive ingredients that you can even grow in your garden. You can be a healthy vegan without any lavish expenses.
You’ve worked with the Akashinga Rangers in Zimbabwe which is an all-female anti-poaching organisation. Can you elaborate on your involvement?
I was involved with them for four years in their kitchen, developing recipes and serving meals that go back to the roots of African veganism. Of course, it’s a bit of a contradiction in terms if one works to protect certain animals during the day, only to go back to camp to eat other animals, so Akashinga lives their values. Today they have a full blown canteen and my responsibility during my time there was also to train chefs from rural communities who had no idea about veganism. I taught them everything that I was trained in and they are now City & Guilds qualified. We also started a local veggie garden, creating employment opportunities for others. Today my blueprint for the organisation’s feeding schemes still stands.
You’ve had a plant-based kitchen in Mashonaland Zimbabwe since 2011. Tell us how it’s been going there.
Things have been going well at this project. We’ve placed an emphasis on productivity at our gardens and greenhouses and it’s really more of an educational endeavour to teach people how to grow their own vegetables.
What is the status of the plant-based community in Zimbabwe?
There’s a huge plant-based community in Zimbabwe and these dishes are consumed popularly, yet there isn’t a widespread understanding of what it means to be vegan. Eating what’s available is entrenched in the culture and very often this leans towards plant-based eating.
Practicality and affordability seem to be the central themes of the new book. What would you say is the average price of a meal from your book?
The book contains mainly family-oriented meals with easily sourceable ingredients. The emphasis is on accessibility, avoiding specialty products that cost too much. On average the price per meal would be about 8 US Dollars or more.
Outside of African cuisines are there any other ethnic cuisines that inspire you?
I would love to explore more Caribbean and Mexican foods as these incorporate many plant-based ingredients and tend toward similar presentations of what I try to do with my own cooking.
When will a printed copy of the book be available?
We are trying to aim for publication in the next few months. It should be an expanded edition with up to 200 recipes.
Chef Cola’s Tips & Tricks On How To Maintain An Affordable Vegan Diet
- Grow your own vegetables, if you have the space. Start with a small kitchen or balcony plants.
- Source from local suppliers and farmers. Visit local fresh food markets, you will get more information about where fresh vegetables are available.
- Budget shop in the supermarket look for the budget and vegan sections in the supermarkets look for the best affordable deals on products, especially the dry ingredients which can be used as substitutes.
- Search for best affordable deals on products. Just because it is affordable does not make the quality less.
- Cook at home more than you eat out. Plan your meals for a week and prepare the food. For example, wash, dice, chop, boil and store in the fridge all the ingredients to be used during the week. It saves time and will encourage you to always prepare fresh meals – a good thing for your health.
- Find a vegan community near you – to share information and recipes and for support. Follow Vegan pages on social media for inspiration. We live in the 21st Century and we have access to technology such as social media applications that can lead us to so many inspiring ideas and information about veganism and plant-based diets in the form ofvisual and audio. This is an encouraging way to feel more relaxed when starting your vegan journey.
- Shop on a budget what you can afford, not what you think others expect of you. Your budget can be high end luxury vegan product lines or local affordable items either way it is ok. These days all local food outlets accommodate all shopping budgets.
