Montrealer Lloyd Rose brings Jamaican-Canadian twist to vegan cuisine

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Growing up in Montreal as the son of Jamaican immigrants, Lloyd Rose was not exposed to anything remotely vegan. 

“The majority of our meals had meat in them; it was all I knew,” Rose said. “I was a big meat lover.” 

In the seven years since he turned vegan, Rose has become a cookbook author and social media personality whose 800,000 Instagram followers include Snoop Dogg, SZA and Gwyneth Paltrow. 

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Everything changed in 2017. Living in Toronto at the time, he and a group of friends would gather regularly around a meal and a movie. On one occasion, someone suggested a documentary called What the Health, about the bodily and societal consequences of eating meat. 

“The more we watched, we became super focused,” said Rose, who is co-spokesperson for the 11th Montreal Vegan Festival, this Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Quay in the Old Port. “We were learning about how food impacts the body and how our thoughts depend on what we eat, how it affects our energy and sleep.” 

Intrigued, he and a few friends embarked on a 14-day challenge to eat vegan, which turned into 30 days, which turned into seven years.  

“After 14 days, the majority of us were feeling good, sleeping better, we had less cloudy thoughts,” he said. “Our energy was up because we were giving our digestive system a break.” 

As Rose got more into preparing and eating vegan meals, he started posting the results on social media under the handle Plant Crazii. His following skyrocketed when he began posting videos early in the pandemic. 

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“It really took off,” Rose said. “I started getting attention in different magazines, book deals started coming in. I got opportunities to fly to different countries.” 

Rose’s debut cookbook Crazy Good Vegan was published in 2022. Described on the cover as a collection of 60 “simple, frugal recipes for flavour-packed home cooking,” the book features instructions on making vegan versions of comfort foods ranging from pastas to sliders, corn fritters, submarines, pizzas and mac ‘n’ cheese – “things I grew up eating in Montreal,” Rose explained. 

His second cookbook, Island Vegan, is due Dec. 10. It contains more than 75 recipes for vegan versions of Caribbean favourites, “not just from Jamaica,” Rose said, “but from Trinidad, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Saint Vincent. All these beautiful, sunny countries have iconic foods, and I wanted to put those authentic recipes inside a book.” 

Rose sought out the “most authentic” recipes for everything from Jamaican rice peas, Jamaican patties, dumplings, sweet plantain loaf and black rum cake to a Trinidadian street food called doubles. 

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The concept is already taking off. Though only available on pre-order, the book recently reached No. 1 on Amazon’s vegan and Caribbean cookbooks lists, Rose noted.  

He admits his recipes are not what most people think of when they think of vegan cuisine — and that’s the point. 

“Quinoa salad is easy to make,” Rose said. “So is whole-wheat pasta. Let me show you how to make things you crave. I’ve received countless emails from people saying: ‘Thank you, you opened the door for me. I thought eating vegan was this or that.’ 

“Day to day, I’m not eating deep-fried stuff. I train a lot, and eat high-protein, leafy greens and healthy fats. But when it comes time not to have those things, I will have a gyro pita, a burger or deep-fried mushrooms. Those are things I post the most, and the things that draw people in. Veganism doesn’t mean you can’t have those things anymore.” 

Rose’s next project is the launch of a line of bottled sauces: an Original Jerk Sauce and a Pure Maple Jerk Sauce, which he says will be launched soon. 

He and his Montreal Vegan festival co-spokesperson, Marie-Michelle Chouinard, will be doing a cooking demonstration to close out the event, Sunday at 4 p.m. Rose sees the weekend as an opportunity for vegans and the vegan-curious to learn about new products and meet other people with similar culinary interests. 

“When you come to an event like this, you discover everything you’re looking for,” he said. “You can sample foods, see what you love. These events are a way for people to connect.” 

The 11th Montreal Vegan Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Quay in the Old Port. Admission is free. For more information, visit festivalveganedemontreal.com/2024en/

tdunlevy@postmedia.com

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