Vegan Kitchen Notes Blog from New World Kitchen in Des Moines, Iowa
12 Years of Eating Vegan
June marks my 12 year vegan anniversary! This old selfie is from when I lived in NC & volunteered at an animal sanctuary ❤️The reason I’m vegan is simple - it has never resonated with me to commodify & consume other animals. It’s a privilege to make this choice, and I’m grateful I live this way.Over these years, I’ve eaten lots of processed frozen vegan food & accidentally vegan snacks and candy. I’ve also been a green juice, high raw food vegan, and have gone through periods of being restrictive with the foods I eat. And everything in between. I’m...
12 Years of Eating Vegan
June marks my 12 year vegan anniversary! This old selfie is from when I lived in NC & volunteered at an animal sanctuary ❤️The reason I’m vegan is simple -...
12/12/12 - Reflecting on a Decade
The café opened 10 years ago - on 12/12/12, and closed in the summer of 2015. If you weren’t here last year, New World Café Day is a holiday I made up to celebrate how far we’ve all come.I was the co-owner, chef & recipe developer, and I worked in the restaurant daily, among many other things outside our open hours. I was under such intense stress at the restaurant and outside of it that I look back and feel it’s a miracle I could get out of bed. I could feel how loved the restaurant was, but I couldn’t...
12/12/12 - Reflecting on a Decade
The café opened 10 years ago - on 12/12/12, and closed in the summer of 2015. If you weren’t here last year, New World Café Day is a holiday I...
Our Six-Person Prep Team
Our prep days have been a total whirlwind lately and I keep forgetting to snap any photos. I asked Justin Norman to stop by today to take a few of us working on your food!For NWK’s first pick up back in Nov 2020, I worked in the kitchen for 15 hours straight. By myself, on my weekend from the full time job I worked at the time. It was clear right away that I needed help with the labor intensive food I love to make. Fast forward & now there are six awesome people who join me in the kitchen...
Our Six-Person Prep Team
Our prep days have been a total whirlwind lately and I keep forgetting to snap any photos. I asked Justin Norman to stop by today to take a few of...
A Belated Introduction
Hi! I’m Madeline. I’m the one behind NWK, & I used to own a vegan café from 2012-2015. Here’s a photo of me yesterday, outside my mom’s garage with the old New World Café sign, + a photo of the sign coming down after we closed. Almost exactly 7 years ago. 🥺I relaunched this business on my own out of a shared kitchen in 2020, & have spent a lot of time since then feeling like I need to hurry up, “figure it out,” and move onto something bigger.I want NWK to have its own space again - yet I’ve...
A Belated Introduction
Hi! I’m Madeline. I’m the one behind NWK, & I used to own a vegan café from 2012-2015. Here’s a photo of me yesterday, outside my mom’s garage with the...
Our pop-up at The Collective was great!
THANK YOU for showing up for our first pop-up at The Collective!! The weather could not have been more beautiful and you all could not have been sweeter. We had so much fun! In the past, I was the kind of person who just wanted to develop the recipes, make the food, and hide out in the kitchen to keep cooking the day away. With New World Kitchen, I’ve stepped into a new place that’s all about connecting and knowing who’s enjoying the food we work so hard on ❤️ And yesterday, it felt perfect to be outside one of my...
Our pop-up at The Collective was great!
THANK YOU for showing up for our first pop-up at The Collective!! The weather could not have been more beautiful and you all could not have been sweeter. We had...
How a Burger Bowl Is Made
Burger Bowls with their little vegan cheeseburgers 😍We make everything from scratch with a focus on whole plant ingredients, & a lot of recipe development goes into each component of our dishes before they make their way to our menu!To make the burgers, ingredients are cooked, cooled, combined in the food processor, formed into patties and baked. The cheezy spread is made of cashews and vegetables, which are boiled, blended, cooked to thicken, & cooled - before spreading it on the patties one by one.The full Burger Bowl would easily take 4+ hours to prep at home - cooking this...
How a Burger Bowl Is Made
Burger Bowls with their little vegan cheeseburgers 😍We make everything from scratch with a focus on whole plant ingredients, & a lot of recipe development goes into each component of...