Vancouver’s To Live For bakery blasts away stereotypes of vegan food

Article content

To Live For Bakery and Cafe

Where: 1508 Nanaimo St., Vancouver
When:  Daily, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Info: 604-690-2720; tolivefor.ca

She has passed the ultimate test! When Erin Ireland went next-level, from vegan baked goods supplier to more than 200 retail outlets and vegan social media maven, to running a vegan bakery cafe, she worried about perceptions of vegan food.

Article content

In fact, she omitted the V-word in marketing To Live For Bakery and Cafe. A mural with two dewy-eyed cows at the entrance to the shop could read as I love cows, or I love dairy.  Her dream goal was to win over non-vegans and it was up to her food to do the talking.

When construction workers in hard-hats and steel-toed boots showed up and became repeat customers, worry lifted. “I love looking at our line-ups,” says Ireland, gentle-natured and a Jennifer Connelly look-alike. “It’s so mixed. There are the construction workers, families, young women, older Italian ladies and a lot of them don’t even know it’s vegan.”

When I’ve visited, the lineup at the counter was constant. There’s also an area for kids that invites young parents.

“We have a four and a seven-year-old. We know how it allows parents time to treat themselves,” she says. Her husband, Darren Yada, formerly managing partner and head of strategy at Rethink, a global creative agency, is now partner at To Live For.  About 18 months in, she credits her solid team for allowing her to step back and focus on being mom.

“We really exist for the non-vegans,” says Ireland. “Kindred spirits know we’re here. I didn’t really announce it (as vegan) because I knew the label would turn people off. I was really adamant that our food had to taste the same as conventional food and I knew it could. We’re here to show that you can have amazing plant-based food.”

Article content

Article content

I’m a fan because firstly, it ticks seriously important boxes: vegan businesses walk softly on this planet, promote health, and spread animal compassion. Secondly, the croissants spoke. I’m a croissant snob and can’t help but judge a bakery by them. I was surprised by this vegan contender. To Live For’s croissants have crisp shells that shatter, scattering messy pastry shards, have a structured inner maze of tunnels and taste great. I asked for jam and it, too, was fresh and first-rate.

Thirdly, the room is sunshine itself with its natural light, bright whites, and a food display laden with viennoiserie, cookies, bars, cinnamon buns, scones, cupcakes, palmiers, and a runway of simply decorated whole cakes.

The latter, surprisingly, are big sellers. “You would not believe how many people want to grab a cake for dinner or a party. We have a custom cake department,” Ireland says. You can catch the cake production going on behind a glass wall. Savouries, meanwhile, include spanakopita, sausage roll, cheese and onion scone, and pizzas.

Oh, there’s a fourth reason. Good quality, well-made coffee. Check! They do a bean rotation every four months, supporting local independent roasters. The default milk is Earth’s Own Barista Oat Milk, with soy, almond and coconut milk options. I noted the thoughtful latte art — so often, it’s a dissolving doodle.

Article content

Ireland wasn’t always a vegan. Ten years ago, at 30 and sporty, animal protein was her muscle. Her conventional baked goods wholesale business was about two years old and going places. Then a thunderbolt moment: she watched a documentary called Earthlings (narrated by Joaquin Phoenix) about the suffering endured by animals for human purposes.

“It was the final straw,” she says. “I went down a rabbit hole and I couldn’t believe what I discovered about animal products. I was so sickened and wanted zero part in contributing to it. I went vegan and transitioned my business over, two products at a time.” There are compelling environmental and health reasons to go vegan but for her, it’s the animals. She isn’t preachy. Her advocacy work is via food in a cheerful cafe with a subtle but powerful message.

The croissants I spoke of are the work of Thibault Champel, her pastry chef from Montpellier, France. The croissant breakfast sandwich with non-meat sausage patty, egg, cheddar, and arugula ($9.75) is the No. 1 seller. It’s available without the sausage for $7.75 and is a few dollars less if made with an English muffin. The secret to the croissant was the right plant-based butter.

Article content

“It took a while to find but we love it,” says Ireland. And instead of the conventional egg wash, Champel brushes on a mung bean-based product. “It’s funny,” Ireland says. “I learned that during the Second World War, even the French made croissants with a vegan butter because of butter shortages.”

She often turns to the miracle of aquafaba (chickpea water) to pinch-hit for egg whites with its emulsifying, foaming, binding, gelatinizing and thickening properties. “It makes for a lighter icing than butter cream and really allows us to adjust sugar content so it’s not too sweet. We’re thinking of doing a pavlova with it.”

New items are regularly introduced. Most recently — ta-da! — the cube croissant, which is selling “like bonkers and is the most popular thing ever made,” according to Ireland. Customers daily snap up 50 of the square croissants filled with a vegan Nutella and glazed with chocolate. They also introduced the crookie as a feature one week — a croissant with cookie dough baked inside and on top. To me, it’s messing with the sacred but Ireland’s a fan. “It was very popular and I was surprised at how good it was.”

Article content

There’s also soft-serve ice cream, made with a rice powder mix standing in for dairy, overseen by an Italian gelateria school graduate who’s worked at Bella Gelateria. “Rice powder doesn’t have the aftertaste of soy or coconut milk,” Ireland says. “It’s creamy and white and thick. We’ve experimented with flavours like pumpkin pie.”

She’s buoyed by the lineups, the positive feedback and the growing acceptance of plant-based food but globally, as some developing countries have got wealthier, meat consumption’s been increasing, she says.

“I think the single-biggest thing we can do as individuals is with our meal choices three times a day,” Ireland says. “There’s been a lot of progress, but there’s still a long way to go. Our mission is to prove the future of baking is plant-based and inspire others to follow.”

The impact would be enormous. Plants are nowhere near as greedy for land and water as meat-based food and are less harmful for the environment. And of course, for Ireland, fewer animals would suffer.

“They experience joy and pain and fear like we do.”

miastainsby@gmail.com 

x.com/miastainsby

instagram.com/miastainsby

vancouversun.com/tag/word-of-mouth-blog

Article content