One of my final jobs as an actress was playing in a Miller Beer commercial. I was paired with a ‘real’ live rodeo star, Steve? and we filmed in this honky tonk joint (which was really My Father’s Moustache on Montana Ave in Santa Monica.) I was the waitress (I nailed the audition because I knew exactly how to play this role from all my years in restaurants.) The scene is at the bar; I was serving rodeo rider, Steve his Rib-eye dinner. My big line was, “Here’s your steak, Steve” delivered with a Southern sassy flair. By then I was a hard-core foodie in the arena of veganism and macrobiotics. This was the perfect finale to my acting career.

A lot has happened since I served Steve his steak. My interest in healing foods and conscious eating has widened to include the connection to how our food choices effect the environment. In the past decade there has been so much information to digest. The facts about global climate change directly related to agriculture through the loss of wilderness to farmland, methane released from animals, energy-intensive fertilizers, polluting pesticides, and food processing and transportation were not lost on me.

And as a restaurateur, I’ve been noticing that my restaurants fill up with people who aren’t vegan or vegetarian full-time. These are people who are thinking about their health and their impact on the environment. With new knowledge, their interest in adding plant-based meals to their weekly repertoire seems to be growing. They have a hunch that driving a Prius but eating a steak dinner is missing the point on environmental responsibility.

These past few years has seen the launch of many awareness campaign like the one Sir Paul Mc Cartney and his daughter Stella have spearheaded. Meat Free Monday, aims to persuade people to go veggie once a week to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s livestock to the United Nations and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health echoing the connection between the consumption of meat and the deterioration of our environment. Vegetarianism is has moved into the mainstream.

When I opened RFD 17 years ago, I was way ahead of my time. The choices I made came out of a deep connection to the Earth and my own body as well as intuitively knowing that eating ‘real foods’ was sensible, do able and the right thing to do. I would have never dreamed I would own a restaurant much less one serving exclusively an organic vegan cuisine. And yet, here, I am at the helm of two successful, ground breaking, eating establishments that show people that eating lower on the food chain can be exciting, satisfying and can change not only you but the world.

I’ve always been a gal with a mission. I’m pumped up about these environmental issues. So, I thought what better way to express myself then to pull these thoughts together in a book. Of course, that would be a book with recipes.