Kittee Berns loves food. She especially loves sharing food with friends, learning about new recipes and techniques, and talking about food with anyone who cares to chat. She’s the author of the vegan cookzine Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian Food and the creative force behind the blog Cake Maker to the Stars.
Kittee has been an ethical vegan for over twenty-four years and a gluten-free vegan since 2008. Besides obsessing over vegan cooking and food, Kittee enjoys thrifting, digging through estate sales, gardening, collecting vintage dishware and fabrics, and making things by hand.
Her new book Teff Love demystifies Ethiopian food so you can savor authentic cuisine without ever leaving home.
Chic Vegan: What motivated you to become vegan? Was it an overnight switch or more gradual shift?
Kittee Berns: When I was in college, one of my best friends got a copy of John Robbin’s Diet for a New America from her mom who had stopped eating meat. The book opened our eyes, and I became vegetarian, but new deep down that veganism was the way to go. After graduating, we traveled around Europe subsisting mostly on cheese, but it made me feel gross knowing I was contributing to the meat industry. I went vegan as soon as I got home from that trip and haven’t looked back.
CV: You’ve been vegan for over 24 years. What changes have you noticed in the vegan community over the years?
KB: The biggest change hands down has been the internet and the way it can provide instant community and access to resources and information.
CV: Tell me a little bit about your new book Teff Love and what inspired you write it.
KB: Teff Love is a vegan and mostly gluten-free cookbook I wrote to share my love of delicious Ethiopian and Ethiopian-inspired food. Most of the recipes are made from whole, unprocessed, easy-to-find ingredients like beans and lentils, vegetables like onions and potatoes, whole grains and spices. One of my favorite recipes in the book is an uncultured cheese that’s made from a whole fat soymilk, lemon juice and salt.
Teff Love is an off-shoot of a self-published ‘zine I wrote a few years ago called Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian Food. Originally, the zine was going to be a collection of my favorite recipes with each chapter being a different cuisine or genre. But, when I began working on the Ethiopian chapter it kept growing and growing until I realized it needed to become its own thing. I shared the ‘zine with a friend who had just published a cookbook with Book Publishing Company, and she put me in touch with them, because they wanted to publish a vegan Ethiopian cookbook.
CV: How sparked your love of Ethiopian food?
KB: I think Ethiopian food is really delicious and fun to share with friends. I grew up in the DC area, which is home to the largest Ethiopian community in the U.S., and when I first went vegan in the early 90s, my friends shared my love of this cuisine, and we dined out for it frequently. When I moved to New Orleans in the early 2000s, Ethiopian food was hard to find, so I began cooking it regularly as a special way to celebrate with my husband and friends.
CV: Do you have a favorite Ethiopian dish?
KB: One of the things I love about Ethiopian food is how so many different flavors, spice levels, and textures marry together in one place.The tangy fermented, and spongy injera bread is a great backdrop against the saucy dishes; especially the spicier ones made with berbere, which is a red chile based spice blend that is mandatory in many of the dishes.
CV: Do you have any advice for aspiring cookbook authors?
KB: My advice to aspiring authors would be to find a niche that hasn’t been done before.
CV: What’s the best vegan meal you’ve ever eaten?
KB: One of my friends in New Orleans once made me a green packed gumbo z’herbes topped with cornmeal dumplings that was a true delight.
CV: What is your favorite vegan indulgence?
KB: One of my favorite restaurants in Portland, Departure, has an insanely delicious dessert that I adore. It’s a tempura battered banana covered in house made ice cream with a miso-peanut butter sauce on top.
CV: What vegan product could you not live without?
KB: I’ve developed a pretty intense kombucha addiction.
CV: In your wildest dreams what will your life look like in 5 years?
KB: It would be pretty amazing if there was zero pain and suffering in our world in 5 years, or at least a vegan pizza parlor on every corner with an all you can eat sundae bar.
