Welcome to The Vegan Harvest! My name is Marieke and I am very happy that you’ve decided to stop by. I am the recipe developer and amateur food photographer behind the blog. I’m a passionate wannabe foodie who likes to think, make, and talk about food.
I started this blog in 2016. I love cooking and sharing food, whether that be by eating together, cooking together, or interacting with folks I have never met about various food related things on the internet. It was more than that, though. I also needed a personal project to commit to, something that held me accountable (to myself) and pushed me to work on something that I love doing. It’s so easy for hobbies and passions to get sidelined as life get complicated and busy. This was increasingly becoming my reality–I wasn’t doing anything creative for fun.
Another motivator for starting this blog is my passion for making vegan food more accessible while also acting in direct opposition to the dominance of the “clean eating” movement so prominent within the vegan and gluten-free blogger communities. You’ll find that I use all different kinds of ingredients, in all different kinds of quantities, to create a variety of different recipes. To me, no food is dirty unless it’s fallen on the floor, and even then, no judgments!
That being said, you’ll only find recipes that are vegan and gluten-free on this blog. The recipes are without gluten due to necessity (I am celiac), but they’re vegan out of a sincere passion and commitment to both animals and the environment. Most of us know by now the horrors of factory farming and being vegan is one way I protest this horrific violence. Recent reports are now showing that a plant-based diet is one of–if not the best–thing we as individuals can do for the environment. And so, to me, being vegan is also part of a larger effort to live my life with compassion.
If you know me, you know that I talk about food A LOT. But, this blog is about more than just food. It’s become a platform where I feel comfortable to talk openly about my struggles as someone with bipolar disorder while simultaneously acting as a space where I get to share with others my love for cooking, a passion that has become one of the most important forms of self-care in my life.
