Zineb "Zizi" Hattab set out to open a restaurant, not make history. A month before signing the lease, the trained chef had a change of heart and decided her new venture, KLE, would be fully plant-based. Today KLE holds both a green and a red Michelin star, making it the first vegan restaurant in Switzerland to do so. Zizi has since opened two more concepts on the same Zurich street: DAR, inspired by her Moroccan and Spanish roots, and COR, a wine and pinchos bar.

In this episode, I speak with Zizi about the engineering background that led her to veganism, how her team builds trust with skeptical guests, and why she refuses to let go of dishes like traditional harira soup just because they're now plant-based. We dig into food and identity, the industry-driven stereotypes around vegan food, and the many traditional cuisines around the world that are plant-based by default. Zizi also shares a preview of her new cookbook, Vegan Vegan!, out in September.

Kaylin Foisy has been part of the K.I. team for five years — podcast production, social media, and now stepping into a bigger coaching role. In this Coaches' Corner chat, we get into Coach Kaylin's 20-year vegan journey (which started with ethics at age twelve, long before she'd heard the word "vegan"), what it's actually like coaching clients online versus in person, and how a chronic illness diagnosis three years ago forced her to rethink training entirely, including why she'd rather "level out" than "level up."

We also cover raising vegan kids, the senior fitness class she teaches, and the vegan bakery she founded that's fooled more than a few farmers market skeptics.

Growing up in a farming community in Southwestern Uganda eventually led Nabaasa Innocent to animal welfare work, and to organizing the country's first vegan festival. Founder of Uganda Vegan Society (now transitioning into Humane Shift Alliance Africa) and senior co-manager of Thrive Africa at Thrive Philanthropy, Nabaasa joins me to talk about why veganism gets dismissed as "a Western concept" in Uganda even though plant-based eating has always been the norm there.

We also discuss how her organization is shifting its language from "vegan" to "plant-based" to reach more people, getting kids excited about tofu and beans in school lunch programs, and why she's rebranding to build a pan-African alliance. Plus: her favourite vegan meal, beans and matoke (starchy East African cooking bananas), and how you can support her work.