1. Who is Sarah Kramer and what makes her tick?
I am woman. Hear me roar. What makes me tick? Life. Everything around me inspires me to get up and be creative in some way.
2. As a multi-tasking Indie Artist, who writes for Herbivore, Broken Pencil, runs a tattoo shop and writes kick ass Vegan cookbooks, what do you find are some of your biggest challenges?
My biggest challenge is myself. I can be lazy and will procrastinate. Being self employed you really have to have steely eyed focus on what you’re doing because you don’t have a “Boss man” breathing down your neck to get things done. I have to breath down my own neck and let me tell you… it’s not an easy thing to do.
3. How do you find the Indie Scene in BC. Do you find there is a lot of support for independent artists?
Yes. Absolutely. But not just from people I know in BC but from all over the world. I get e-mails from readers who “face” the books in bookstores so that all my books are facing cover out (for better exposure) or who tell their friends, or blog about recipes or even give my cookbooks away to people as gifts. I have a wonderful network of friends out there who believe in the books and push them any way they can. I am eternally grateful and try to reciprocate whenever I can.
4. You cookbooks are chalk full of amazing recipes, tips and fun extra's, how much fun do you have writing them and where do you get your inspiration?
I try do to have fun no matter what I’m creating but writing cookbooks can be a tedious and lonely job. I spend MANY hours alone in my kitchen testing and re-testing recipes over and over again until they’re perfect.
Inspiration comes from everywhere, an odd ingredient in a store that I want to figure out how to make palatable, or eating out at restaurants or friends houses, a conventional carnivore recipe in a magazine that I want to “veganized” … And don’t forget that all three of my cookbooks are full of reader submitted recipes as well. I get e-mails from all over the world from friends who want to share their favourite recipes.
5. For your most recent cookbook you went solo, how did you find writing the book on your own?
It was scary at first. I wasn’t sure I could do all the work involved in writing a cookbook on my own. Plus my confidence was pretty low after my partnership with my co-author dissolved. I had also poured my heart and soul into the first two cookbooks and I wasn’t sure I had anything left to say…
I asked my readers if they had recipes to share and they graciously filled my inbox… once I started testing their recipes the book started to take form. I also had been very busy with The Tattoo Zoo (tattoozoo.net). We had just taken over ownership of the shop and even though my husband had been an artist/manager there for 5 years already, the take-over of the business was exhausting. It took up most of my free time so I started writing recipes for La Dolce Vegan that could be made with minimal ingredients, maximum taste and be on the table in under 30 minutes because I had NO TIME to mess around in the kitchen.
6. What type of support group do you currently have around you and when you first became Vegan how did you friends and family accept it?
I was raised vegetarian since birth. My Mum had been very real about where meat came from when I was a kid. My Dad didn’t eat meat in the house, but when we were out he always had a steak or something equally as bloody. I would ask what it was he was eating and my Mum was very frank about it. She would tell me he was eating a steak and that a steak was meat from a cow. My Dad would ask me if I wanted to try it, but I loved animals and didn’t want to eat them.
It wasn’t until high school that I started questioning my choices and did a little “experimenting” to see if I liked it. I vividly remember chomping down on a drumstick at KFC and pulling on a vein with my teeth. I almost threw up in my mouth and I realized that eating meat truly was not for me. I loved animals too much to eat them.
I never really got any hassles from anyone growing up. The usual jokes and hassles at dinner parties etc etc but for the most part friends/family were respectful and generally curious about my reasons for being vegetarian and then later my veganism.
7. Do you find that friends and family expect you to do all the cooking when you have get togethers?
No, but they very kindly tell me what it is they are making and then I fill in the blanks for myself and bring what I need to have a good well balanced meal.
8. Some advice for new or seasoned Vegan's. How do you deal with pig headed meat eaters (excuse the pun)?
I don’t. I don’t enjoy arguing with people about my beliefs. I don’t mind having a heart to heart conversation about my choices but if someone wants to get into a heated debate with me … I walk away. It’s almost always pointless and the conversation inevitably turns ugly and I don’t see the point.
I’d rather make a meal, have them freak out about how great it is and talk about how excited they are that vegan food can taste amazing and then sell them a cookbook. *laugh*
9. Being Vegan, I know that it would be so much easier if the rest of the world was too. What would you do to turn the world Vegan?
Oh my. Can you imagine going into a restaurant and being able to choose absolutely everything on the menu? Or being able to go into a shoe store and every pair of shoes is vegan? Or not ever having to read another label to check for animal ingredients? I think I might explode with excitement if that ever happened.
10. If someone wanted to put 'The Life and Times of Sarah Kramer' on the big screen, what actress would you pick to play Sarah Kramer?
I would like Natalie Portman to play me. She’s veg right?? She’s such an amazing talented actress and I’ve loved her work since I saw her in The Professional. She makes great film choices (with the exception of the Star Wars Trilogy). Ooooh. Or Pamela Anderson. She should play me. We have the same body type… so it’s a no brainer. *laugh*
11. If a teenager walked up to you right now and asked you to tell them the most important piece of advice you know, what would it be?
I would tell them that life gets easier the older you get and that while it feels like sometimes your life is fucked up and people are shitty to remember that you are in charge of what happens to you. You are the captain of your ship so take charge and full steam ahead!!
12. What's happening next in the world of Sarah Kramer?
I’ll probably get out of my pajamas and take my dog for a walk. *laugh*
I’m taking a breather from writing the cookbooks for a while. I am pretty burnt out and need to reacharge my creative batteries for a while. So I’m working on other projects that I have put on the back burner (ha ha) so I could write the cookbooks.
I’ve gotten back into photography again (www.sarahkramerphotography.com) and have been working hard at that. I am taking some much needed time for myself and I haven’t decided what my next big project will be, but I’m sure it will be something fun.
Visit www.GoVegan.net for regular updates or sign up to my mailing list: mailinglist@govegan.net for all the latest hub-bub.
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comments
Sarah, you don't know me but, having just read your interview, I hope that we will soon meet! Thank you for being so honest and insightful.
I can't wait for this to go up. There is such a misunderstanding between carnivores, omnivores and herbivores, and I hope this helps to clear things up.
Anna.
he