BuzzFeed producers try vegan for a week and the outcome may surprise you

Six producers from BuzzFeed’s food channel Tasty took on a seven-day vegan challenge in a YouTube video released this week. Their reactions may surprise you.

Posed by another of the channel’s producers, the challenge was framed as an experiment with more sustainable, environmentally friendly eating. Enthusiasm varied. Producer Matthew Johnson, who prepared the colorful vegan meal below, certainly took the (vegan) cake in that respect.

“I love that with vegan cuisine, you’re highlighting the vegetables and fruit, and grains, and legumes, and usually those ingredients are pushed to the side, but they’re so good,” he said.

“I just wanna push myself to cook impressive, beautiful food, that just happens to be vegan.”

We know we’re not supposed to choose a favorite but…

Working surrounded by food, including that made from animals, the six participants were faced with “temptation” throughout the week — but they stuck to it, sampling a number of tasty dishes and having shifts in perspective along the way. Brenda Blanco even went so far as to call meat-industry advertising “propaganda”. Her words, not ours.

In the closing segment, four of the Tasty staffers even said they’d be making a conscious effort to reduce their meat consumption in the future. So maybe we have four favorites.

Header image: @matthewfrancisj/@millennialcleopatra/Living Vegan
Body image: @matthewfrancisj