Meet Teresa! She’s a home chef that learned the value of “from-scratch” cooking from her grandmothers and mother. After adopting a vegetarian diet in the 1980s in college, she, together with her husband, transitioned to a vegan lifestyle in the 1990s. Through travel, as well as collecting scores of cookbooks, she broadened her cooking repertoire beyond the American Midwestern traditions of her childhood. She particularly enjoys veganizing international dishes. Rather than relying on processed, store-bought ingredients, she prefers to prepare her own breads, nut milks, cheeses, and jams/chutneys. Whenever possible, she incorporates produce from her garden into her dishes. A few years ago, she won the People’s Choice Award at the Annual Chili Cook-off at Park + Vine, Cincinnati’s former vegan general store. More recently, one of her recipes was featured in the cookbook, Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen. She’s currently in the process of compiling family-favorite recipes for her two vegan college-age children. When she’s not in the kitchen, she can be found indulging in her other passions: photography, piano, travel, Scrabble, and hiking. “Competing in a reality TV cooking show was definitely a bucket list item for me, but something I never actually thought I would be able to do as a vegan. I am grateful for this experience! It really stretched me, and I was so inspired by the other competitors.” Teresa is new to Instagram so give her a follow at Vegan Fooding and Shooting to check out her cooking and photography adventures!