Description:

Bryanna is the author of  8 popular vegan cookbooks, including vegan bestseller "Nonna's Italian Kitchen", and is co-author of several others.   She wrote and published the popular subscription newsletter, the Vegan Feast, for 5 years, and maintains a vegan cooking blog.

Bryanna has devoted over 40 years to the study of cooking and nutrition, the last 22 to vegan cooking.  Eighteen of her (pre-vegetarian) recipes appeared in The Harrowsmith Cookbook, Vol. I and some in The Harrowsmith Pasta Cookbook, as well. She wrote newspaper cooking columns for over 20 years, wrote and edited a newsletter on bread and sourdough, and was a frequent contributor and reviewer for Vegetarian Times magazine for 5 years.  In 2001 she became a “resident expert” and moderator of the Vegsource New Vegetarian discussion board. 

She has conducted cooking workshops and classes in her local area and at numerous health and vegetarian conferences and gatherings in North America over the years (including several NAVS Summerfests) .  In February 2002 she was a guest speaker at the International Scientific Conference on Chinese Plant Based Nutrition and Cuisine in Philadelphia, hosted by the American Vegan Societyand the Institute for Plant Based Nutrition.  Over several years, Bryanna has demonstrated some of her recipes and signed books at the Vegetarians of Washington 2-day "Vegfest" in Seattle, and has also appeared at the Portland, Oregon's VegFest.  Some of her recipes appear in the Seattle VegFest cookbook, The Veg-Feasting Cookbook .  In April of 2006 and 2007, Bryanna was the only Canadian presenting, alongside many reknowned vegan chefs and restauranteurs, at the Vegetarian Awakening vegan chefs' conference in Grand Rapids, MI.  Bryanna has also presented at the McDougall Celebrity Chef Weekend in Santa Rosa, CA.

Her recipes also appear on Dr. Andrew Weil's website, and his new HealthyAging site, and in Howard Lyman's ("the Mad Cowboy", a former cattle rancher turned vegan activist) book, No More Bull!.  Some of her recipes also appear in Cooking with PETA.

Clinical researcher Dr. Neal Barnard of  Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine asked Bryanna to develop recipes for his ground-breaking book on diabetes, "Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes Without Drugs".  Bryanna appears in the new vegan cooking DVD "Everyday Dish" with authors Julie Hasson and Dreena Burton.  She is currently working on recipes and research for an exciting new book with David Lee, founder of the Fieldroast company in Seattle, WA, and  a new book on international vegan cooking for Vegan Heritage Press.  She is also working on a book on making homemade seitan in a number of ways, to be self-published.

Bryanna was born in California, but has resided in British Columbia, Canada for many years.  She raised a family of four children, two foster sons, and also has two stepsons, and 9 grandchildren.  She was a La Leche League leader (mother-to-mother breastfeeding support) for several years and  taught cooking and baking at LLL International conferences in Chicago, Kansas City, Washington, DC and Anaheim, as well as serving as an Associate Editor for the LLL official cookbook, Whole Foods for the Whole Family, still in print (NAL Books). She was also instrumental in opening the first vegetarian restaurant in Courtenay, BC.

Bryanna loves experimenting and learning.  The main focus of her cooking is low-fat vegan cooking, particularly ethnic cooking.  She is considered an expert at making tofu appealing to die-hard “soyaphobes”,  but in her books 20 Minutes to Dinner, Nonna’s Italian Kitchen, she has addressed the needs of vegans allergic to soy by providing non-soy alternatives to most of the soy-based recipes.  With each book she learns more about the processes of cooking—how and why things work.  Her great joy is sharing what she’s learned with others, and she delights in helping vegans keep true to their heritage through "veganizing" their family and national recipes.

Bryanna plans to write a mystery novel someday with a vegan detective, combining two of her life interests!  She also loves dancing, particularly Middle Eastern and Latin, and danced with the Melissae Dance Company of Denman Island, BC for over 5 years.