Beyond the Diet | The Original Vegan on Food & Travel | Original Simmons

Link for the show notes

In today’s episode, we’re chatting with The Original Vegan — a vegan travel filmmaker, content creator, and the founder of Bay Heart Media. He spent years exploring how veganism shows up across food, culture, travel, and everyday life, and he brings a refreshing, grounded perspective to what it really means to live and travel consciously.

He shares his  journey growing up in California’s Bay Area, how family and culture shaped his relationship with food, and how that eventually led him to a plant-based lifestyle rooted in natural, whole foods. We also talk about navigating travel, relationships, and community as a vegan, challenging stereotypes, and what he looks for when discovering meaningful vegan food experiences on the road.

This conversation goes beyond what’s on the plate — it’s about curiosity, openness, and connection, whether you’re traveling across the world or rethinking how you show up in your everyday life.

There are lots of places, ideas, and resources mentioned in this episode, so be sure to check out the show notes and the blog post for all the details.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello, Original and welcome to The World Vegan Travel Podcast. I'm thrilled to have you here. 

Thank you so much. I'm well appreciative of the day and I appreciate your introduction for me. 

I'm so pleased to have you on, and talk about vegan travel, and how this has played such a big part in who you are and what you are doing. I'm so thrilled for you to share your journey with our audience. Before we get started, would you mind telling us what you do in the vegan and the vegan travel space? 

Yes. So for 

this last six years I've 

been vegan. And so in this space I have 

created my own meals, and with that, I 

wanted to create a platform where people could get natural vegan meals 

and also 

learn what it is to really be vegan, beyond just the content that they see. I 

decided to become a content [00:01:00] creator via YouTube, and travel and find real vegan food that's made naturally with vegetables, just pure vegetables. 

 I came across many different people 

that enjoy the 

same things that 

I do. 

And so, as 

I continue on this journey, 

I am just relinquishing whatever comes to me, and allowing the space of the content creation to evolve me and involve others around me. I've been 

doing this for six years now. 

In the 

content creation space 

for about the last three years but beyond that journey, 

like I said, it is 

just amazing to continue to go beyond just the things that we see on TV. We want find our vegan food right in our 

backyard. Nice 

approach. Nice approach. And your handles on social media are The Original Vegan, right? 

 [00:02:00] That's correct. 

The Original Vegan on TikTok, the, underscore, original vegan, underscore, on Instagram. And, oh, I'm sorry. The Original Vegan on YouTube, that's the main one. That's where we take all our travels, and we find vegan food in the midst of it all. So yes. 

Fabulous. Fabulous. Okay, so let's start from the beginning. Where were you born and where are you from? 

Okay, so I'm from California. I was born in Antioch, California,raised in the Bay Area. Yes, a beautiful place, and so much beautiful spaces that holds a place in my heart that's deep to me. Because there's such a big, conscious community there from all walks of life, all cultures. Just building a substance of love without a doubt, and then just keep on building. And so that's the strong part about where I'm [00:03:00] from. 

Beautiful. It's such a lovely part of the world. I've spent a little bit of time there, but it is so lovely. Do you still consider yourself as that being your home base? 

Absolutely. Absolutely. When I think about the Bay Area, I think about the love that I have for my grandmother. I think about the love that I have for my mother, because those are the strengths in my family, and beyond those measures, the Bay Area is such a cultural place, that in the diaspora of just, all the things that it brings to you. And you leave there feeling like you don't want to leave. 

So how did growing up in this part of the world influence your love for food? 

I don't even know where to start. I mean, from barbecue to soul food, to Thai food, to Indian food. All these things structured a manner of great [00:04:00] cuisine. And the great cuisine that builds so many different dishes. Even my grandmother, just seeing her cook all these different dishes inspired by her mother that brought these dishes down onto me. There's so much culture that builds in the Bay Area. Like I said, Thai food, red curry, green curry, Pad Thai, woosun noodles, like all these things, I seen at an early age, and I loved them because my palette was so open, you know. 

Right. 

So it's just, it's amazing to see where I have been from all these cultural standards of backgrounds because they just opened everything for me. I'm not opposed to trying something different, but actually interested to see where it's going to take me.  

I love that. I mean, being open-minded is a [00:05:00] great quality of a really great personality trait. So that's awesome. So you mentioned your grandmother, by the sounds of it, you have a very close family. Tell us about this family, and what role did she play in your life as you were raised, and how did that connect with your love of food? 

Because I know she's going to watch this, I'm going to call her Nana because she says she doesn't like to be called grandmother. She says she's too young for that. So Nana, as we going to call her for the rest of this duration. My nana, she grew up in Texas, and they moved to bay Area when she was five years old. 

When she was probably 10 or 

11 

years old, it might have been earlier 

than that. And when she started 

cooking, she was cooking for her 

sisters. She was 

in the kitchen with her mom, 

learning how to bake, cook all these different pies. So she had all 

these things that inspired her. And that trickled down to her nieces, my [00:06:00] mother, her other daughter. I call it the sisters, because her sisters, everybody knew how to cook a different dish. One person would cook this dish, macaroni and cheese, somebody will cook lemon condensed pie. Someone would cook the ham, somebody would cook the turkey, but each person knew how to cook this distinct dish to the best of their ability. Okay? And when I tell you, you better get in line to get you a plate before it's too late. For real though, because, ooh wee! 

Wow. It sounds like family gatherings were a lot of fun for you. 

Amazing. Amazing. So the biggest family gathering was at my Auntie Pat's. Everybody wanted to be at my Auntie Pat. It was like the Grammys, like literally. Like everybody get dressed up. All the kids would be there. She had a big backyard and she loved to entertain. That's what my Auntie Pat loved to do. But on top of that, we had all this [00:07:00] amazing food. Like I said, I just was open from a young age to try all these different things. I was that kid that sat there and watched them and see the things that they cooked with, so that I can learn something. I didn't know how I was going to implement it, but I knew that one day, this would be my following. 

 Fabulous. I love it. I know this is a topic that means a lot to you and I know a lot of non-vegans wonder about if you are vegan, like you must be skinny and et cetera. What's your take on that sort of, stereotype? 

It's really funny because when you think about it, one of the largest animals is an elephant, right? 

True. Yeah. 

And the elephant only eats vegetables. Pretty much, that's it. 

When it comes to that stereotype, stereotypically, that is just 

what we envision as a 

society, 

as being super [00:08:00] skinny. But that doesn't envision healthy because 

you can be skinny and be very unhealthy. 

So, 

I think 

that 

as a society, not 

just vegans, we need to cut that paradigm 

because it's not true. Being healthy is a journey, a lifelong one, that you have to continue to educate yourself, building every single day. 

I absolutely agree. I've read an article recently, how that sort of like, thin is in, is now come back into fashion after 20 years ago. It's just so sad to me that being thin is like a fashion trend that comes back every 20 years or so. It's kind of, a little bit depressing that it's that way, but I love your attitude and this idea of, you know, you can be different sizes and be very healthy, and also different sizes and being unhealthy as well. Why do you think [00:09:00] people have such a negative reaction when they hear the word vegan? Maybe they don't want to eat something because it's vegan. 

I've had people literally say, oh my gosh, that's vegan? I don't want that vegan. Like it's person. They're describing it as a person, literally. But when I hear people that have not tried vegan food, but then have tried it, they say, oh,I can't tell the difference. So it's really, what are you cultivating by saying those words? Because now you're taking your mind to a place where it is scarcity, is to not try something new, you know? 

Yeah. 

And it's okay if your mind is not open. It's not to say that you have to be open, but in the aspect of wanting to be better, it's good to try different things. 

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. It's really [00:10:00] being very pessimistic or judgmental about how it should be? And just having this negative mindset can spread to many areas of our life, not just in the food area, I think. 

Yes. Just take a try. Don't make it seem like it's so bad, because it's not. 

So something you mentioned earlier on in the conversation was like natural food. So what do you mean when you say natural food? 

Okay. Natural food for me, is raw. Not so much cooked because when we cook stuff, we know that we change the molecular balance of it. When it comes to preparing food and being natural, seasonings that have no salt in them, seasonings that come from the ground, again, and that can naturally coat the food with texture and taste. So to me, that is the most [00:11:00] natural state. Of course, in this vegan world that we're in now, everybody is cooking certain foods to appease people that still want the type of texture from other different sources. 

Right. So I'm guessing, you are not a huge fan of the more processed vegan meats, like Beyond Burgers, and things like that, am I understanding you well? Correct. 

If you catch me somewhere, and I got a Beyond Burger, don't hassle me, don't get in my comments. Get in my inbox because it's not very often that I eat it, but in the world that we live in, that is so fast paced, and we're still learning to slow down in this rat race, right? Everybody is, no matter what side of the world you live in, no matter if you got a million dollars or you got $1, we're still learning. But I don't 

often indulge. But 

what I'm saying is that, those type of things are unnatural to our bodies. They [00:12:00] do alter our bodies in many different ways. One being specific, 

 our 

body setup, if I'm saying the right word. Our form of our bodies, is being altered by eating these things. I had a lady tell me a while ago that if you stick to the produce side, we don't go into the middle house, period. So we 

don't even go to the frozen section. Stay away from the frozen section. Even if that thing said, got lion's mane and mushrooms all in there in the frozen section, leave it alone. Go make your own. That's the natural ability of being vegan.  

Love it. Love it. You've traveled a lot and it's something that I know we wanted to talk about, was your perspective on finding love and maintaining relationships while traveling as a vegan. And, I know a lot of people say that it's really hard to find and maintain relationships, like romantic relationships while traveling. 

[00:13:00] And then if you add into that being vegan as well. Do you have anything to say to comment on this topic? 

The relationship part, because that's something that is really important. I experienced so many different people when it comes to talking about dating and being vegan, and they automatically say, I would never date someone that eat meat. And it's like, well, you might not find nobody because you have to sometimes meet people where they are. Not saying alter what you do, but don't alter what they do. And then, as you lead by example, they could very well change. And this is not overnight. It didn't happen for you overnight. So don't expect it for them to be overnight. Now when it comes to finding love, sometimes finding love are in the deeps of the depths of other places. So, we don't know where we're going to find it, but when true love does [00:14:00] come, you'll know it and you'll see it. Because love is an action. It's not something we talk about. And so, from that start, then you can get to learn that person. And if it gravitates to something better, then that's when you will find true love, in my opinion. Beyond that, traveling and finding love is another intricate part because now we're traveling, we might find somebody that we might fall for in that moment, right? And they might be vegetarian, and they might love some of the things you love, but at the same time, you're traveling and you're going to different aspects and different cultures. So you don't know, I mean, you might be a 'rolling stone'. I don't know. What I'm saying, as you're traveling, being vegan, you don't know. You don't know. So just continue to love yourself, love thyself, and find what's inside of you and continue to build on that. 

And then when that [00:15:00] person sees that, they're going to love it about you enough, and they might want to change. And if they don't, then you're vegan and they eat meat. And then you guys can cook separate meals and still love each other. 

I love it. And I'm curious, have you, in your travels, have you been able to like, just make friends and be vegan together and not have it be like a serious, monogamous relationship? 

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I like that you said monogamous because I want to comment on that. A lot of vegans, unless they've been together for 20, 30 years, a lot of them are not monogamous. I'm just going to be completely honest like  

that. 

Oh, really? That's been your experience? 

I've seen it time and time again. Like an open relationship. Because a lot of people are spiritual, so they're realizing that monogamy is not the way to go because [00:16:00] people are here to procreate. And so a lot of people are not satisfied with that one person. Not saying that they don't still love that person, but to be experiential in love on others. That's what it causes them to do. When you learn your true love for yourself, some people are not to be attached to you for a long time. My grandmother always say, that basically, some people are just for a certain moment of the journey, and some people are there for a long time, 

and you have to regulate those too. So, it's important. 

Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. I think if you're vegan, you've generally been very open-minded in your life to change the way you eat, so maybe, if you're vegan, you are more likely to question like, how relationships can be as well. Maybe... it's just a theory. 

May I ask, where are you right now?[00:17:00]  

I am in Panama City, Florida. 

Very nice. Very nice. I love it. Oh, lovely. Beautiful. Florida is so beautiful. So how do you navigate dating and connections, maybe, with your people at home and also building and nurturing connections you've made in previous travels when you are constantly on the move? 

That is an intricate part that sometimes, I'm not able to because I'm on my journey and in my journey I'm meeting more and more people. When I tell you I know a lot of people. I know a lot. I know of a lot of people, let me say that. And then the people that I know, those people are somewhat involved in my life. 

And then the people that I'm connected with, those people are similar to that as well. So, maybe, one day, we'll be [00:18:00] able to have a party, but in this moment, I just talk to them when I can. And if I don't have time, they know where to find me. My YouTube, my TikTok, an event that I'm doing. 

Those are the best places to find me because I'm always making moves and just building more. I love it. I love it. You've traveled to many different places, and of course, you love food, so you're always finding amazing vegan food. Can you tell us about some of your adventures? Where have you been? 

Oh my gosh, I have been to 14 different states. I want to start off talking about New Orleans, NOLA Baby.  

I've not been. Tell me about it. 

Oh my gosh, y'all, let me tell you now, when you go to NOLA, you got to eat the local eats. You can't go to no Popeye's, none of that. You gotta go eat the local eats. And one of my favorite places is Vegan AF. [00:19:00] So I came to this gym, literally, looking it up on Google and I was like, I want a good Po'. What New Orleans is known for, is Po' Boy. 

It's like a sandwich, right? 

It is. 

I'm sorry,I've heard of it before, but I can't remember what it is. 

So the regular Po' Boy is a fried, either they use fish or they use shrimp. And they make a good hefty batter, and they season it with Cajun seasoning, pepper, salt, maybe some other savory seasonings. And then they do that wet batter and they do that dry batter, and they fry it up, put some tomatoes, lettuce, and maybe like a remoulade sauce, and that's how they serve it up. But at Vegan AF, which is a vegan spot, they use eggplant. And 

Oh, fun. 

their eggplant was amazing. They seasoned it well. It was crunchy. [00:20:00] The sourdough bread that they used, they make it themself. And it was, woo! It was watering. Literally. Amazing. And when I tell you, they had a sauce, and I don't know if it was a remoulade sauce, but y'all can go on my YouTube and see where I tried it, in 'OMG'. Like, it was amazing, amazing. Also,I was able to find some vegan beignets at Loretta's, and my goodness, those things are amazing. And my favorite thing to do is put honey on them. So I like ginger tea with lemon. And so that combination right there is good. You sit outside, you look at the people moving, the music going because it's always a party in New Orleans. My favorite area to go to is Frenchmen Street. They have a place, and don't quote me on this, I believe it's [00:21:00] called,That Dog, and it's on Frenchmen Street, and they got vegan hot dogs out of this world. I'm talking out of world. Now again, don't y'all comment because I don't know if it was an 'Impossible' hotdog or not. Because I didn't check it that time because I was in the moment. I really was. They had the second line band going down the street. They had motorcycles, ATVs playing the music, playing the New Orleans bounce. It was amazing. I was in my element, and then they had a little street art, tons of street art. 

They had a man making suits where he painted the suits, hand painted them. It was amazing!  

Oh, wow! 

They even had a man that took pictures of your retina, zoomed into it, made coloration to it, and then he frames it for you, and then make it available for you to purchase. 

Oh, cool. That's [00:22:00] fun. 

Beautiful. Beautiful. I spent almost three or four days there, and every moment in New Orleans, was amazing. You don't have to drink, you don't have to party. You can just Enjoy the atmosphere and the people, because there's so much culture there. Respectfully, they're going to show you so much love. 

Oh, that's nice. That's really nice. Well, thanks for sharing that. And you've also spent time in South Florida too, where you are now. 

Yes. 

What stood out to you with the vegan food scene there? 

Oh my gosh, Tampa. I went down there for an artist named Free Soul, and I went down there for his concert and I'm looking for the concert, right? And I run across this place called House of Vegano. I walked in this place and this man was playing a saxophone, and there was a beautiful lady at a mirror. And I was like, this is my kind of place. Jazz music, food, [00:23:00] good people, good smells. Yes, this is the 'Original Vegan'. This is what I live for, right? I'm talking to the lady that introduces herself, and I'm one of those people that live in the moment, so I'm like, well, you're offering me all these things. I need two. So I got one of one thing, and then I got something of the other. A volcano roll and then I got the ramen bowl. When I tell you, this woman, and mind you, I didn't know I was even talking to the owner. The whole time, i'm looking at her, I'm looking at the mirror, I'm looking at her and I'm looking at the mirror. I say, you look very familiar, to that lady that's on the mirror, and she just started cracking up. 

She said, that's me. And I said, oh my God. I said, you can be on there looking like an avatar. I was like, that's crazy. But back to the food. House of Vegano, best food in that area to me that I have tried because it's [00:24:00] natural. It's well seasoned. It's vegan. I believe that she doesn't use a lot of salt and sugar because I could taste it. I could taste that these are just natural blends of seasoning. And she's Caribbean, and so the fact that she took her Caribbean side and was able to intricate this values into sushi, into ramen, is amazing. It was so beautiful. The textures, the colors. Oh my gosh. 

Wow. 

Amazing. 

So you mentioned that you've also spent some time in Dallas and you have some really great recommendations to make for that city. 

Yes. So there is a place in Dallas called Hopeboy's Kitchen. Somebody told me like, if you want to find vegan food somewhere, look it up on TikTok. So I found this guy, I don't remember his name right now, so forgive me, but I found him and he was at a little brewery slash like bakery [00:25:00] place, and right outside, he had this little nice setting. There was a guy out there singing and performing, and it was just really an intimate setting. And then on top of that, I smelled the beauty of his food. So his famous thing to me was his wings, and I always look for some good vegan wings, besides cauliflower wings. To me, those are just so average, but he did oyster mushrooms, if I'm not mistaken. And these wings were rocking. They were so good. I got three flavors I believe. Barbecue, some type of Thai chili and some other sweet flavor. But they were amazing. And then he had his own house ranch. 

He 

had these seasoned fries. I love ranch. I love to put ranch on everything. 

Like, 

when you got ranch? [00:26:00] Yes. When you have ranch and you're sold on it. That's like the best thing. So, dipping these flavorful wings into this ranch, and listening to this down South music and country music, and just laying the vibes. They also let me try some of their cookies, and their cookies were so warm and delicious and soft. It was just, it was such a beautiful experience being back home. Texas is one of my homes, and just 

being there and feeling the vibes was amazing. I was really appreciative of the time. 

I love it. I love it. Are there any other, sort of, surprising or unexpected vegan dishes that you found on your travels or maybe destinations that surprised you? 

Yes. 

I've been to 

Tallahassee 

numerous times. And one of these times in Tallahassee, Florida, I went to a place called [00:27:00] Railroad Square, and they have a place called 

Halisi Africa. And this is natural African food, and 

I wanted to try something called fufu. 

I know that this particular restaurant was African, so it could very much well be, and if I remember, so it was West African Food. 

I had the fufu, which is I believe like a flower ball of some sort. I'm not sure exactly what it's made of, but you dip the fufu and they had this jackfruit kind of stew. Amazing. 

Too good huh? 

Amazing. Like when I tell you that this jackfruit stew was just, oh my gosh. Oh, it was so good. And going in there and just catching the vibes. Good music, again. The flavors, you can smell them and I felt so welcome in that place. So if y'all ever get a chance to go to [00:28:00] Tallahassee, Halisi Africa. 

Halisi Africa. Thanks for the recommendation. That's awesome. So obviously, you've got a bit of a radar for fantastic vegan eateries. How do you find the diamonds in the rough. How do you find like the real standout places to try out? 

I'm a big person on reviews, and then once we do reviews and we go to the place, now I'm on vibes. Very high on vibes and feelings. If I walk into a place and you don't speak to me or you don't acknowledge me, then that's an automatic red flag because if you're not acknowledging me, I would hate to see how you treat my food. 

That's a very intricate part. And then reviews. I look at reviews, I read them, and I take heed to them because they're 

not there for nothing. And so using 

those two things with my [00:29:00] discernment, I'm able to find beautiful places. But most places I 

go to,I find them and I love them. There's been very few places that I don't love. 

I love it. I love it. So we are coming towards the end of our conversation. I would love to know if you have any upcoming travel plans next, like where is your YouTube channel going to take you? Do you have plans? 

We just left the Garden of Eden. That is in Bristol, Florida. My next plans is to probably go to another country. 

Okay. 

I don't know where yet, because we never intentionally just say we're going to go one place. We just let the spirit lead us, and then until the next place, it shall be. 

Nice. Well, maybe we can have you back on the podcast after that trip, and I'd love to [00:30:00] hear how that trip went for you and where you ended up choosing to go. Awesome. 

I might turn around and go on a trip tomorrow. That optimistic side of me, allows me to just be adventurous. So who knows? 

I love it. So Original, I want to thank you so much for taking time to be on the podcast and sharing all of your recommendations, and I find it very inspiring. It's just so lovely to get to know you a little bit more. I'm sure listeners to this podcast are also interested in following you. 

Would you mind letting us know your Instagram handles again, and all of your social media handles? So people can connect with you and drop you a DM or something. 

Absolutely. So the best way to reach me right now is on TikTok, The Original Vegan. And then also, to follow my full story is going to be The Original Vegan on YouTube. [00:31:00] That's the full story. You get everything, and you'll see all my travels, and be able to love on me and comment, and we can interact. And then also on Instagram, @the_original_vegan. Thank you. Thank you so much. 

You're welcome.