Lauren Wildbolz, is a Swiss food activist and a former art student. She wrote the book Vegan Kitchen and Friends, which was published in 2014.
Early life
Lauren Wildbolz, was a model long before the age of 18 and worked in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as a model. Her father had been a notable Swiss fashion photographer, and so Lauren entered the fashion industry at a very young age. She became a diving instructor at 23, to fulfil a childhood dream. She was hired as a vegetarian cook for a ship after finishing her scuba diving training. At the age of 14, Lauren read a brochure on animal sufferings resulting in her becoming a vegetarian. She opted for the vegan lifestyle at the age of 27, claiming that she felt more energetic with the change in diet. Soon after she became a vegan, Lauren increasingly became involved in the political and ethical aspects of the community too, turning herself to a welfarist.
Career
Lauren Wildbolz graduated with a master's degree from the Zurich University of the Arts. While she was at the university, she came up with the idea to promote vegan food via her eatery "Vegan Kitchen and Bakery" in December, 2010. It was the first vegan restaurant in Zurich, Switzerland, which closed down after nine months due to legal issues. The food offered was claimed to be organic and transported in the most environment friendly way, since Lauren is also an environment activist and "dreams about a Vegan-tour through Europe in a solar-powered car". She gives cooking classes, exclusively vegan, writes a blog and runs a catering company. Apart from being an animal altruist, she is reported to have condemned any wastage of food. For her thesis in university, Wildbolz made food for a thousand people using most of the leftover or "garbage" food. The food, still fresh and thoroughly washed, was prepared into a meal and given out for free, and promoted the importance of vegan food, too. After the closure of her restaurant she went on, with the help of her 43, both vegan and non-vegan friends, to contribute 63 recipes for her book. Her book caters to an audience of people who are vegan by choice or by constraints of health and even people who like to experiment with different recipes. The restaurant venture, the first of its kind in Zurich was sold to the company, Soyana. Lauren believes that via her cooking and catering, blogging and an exclusively vegan published book, Vegan Kitchen and Friends, she has discovered the vegan appetite in Switzerland.
