Florida Foodie: Dharma Southern Kitchen looks to bring vegan food to the masses

ORLANDO, Fla. – A previous girlfriend first launched Shaun Noonan to the concept of switching to a vegan food regimen, but it surely’s a life-style that has come to outline his work.

“That (relationship) was younger in my teenagers, so I had by no means actually shaped that traditional unfavorable opinion of vegetarianism,” Noonan recalled. “I grew up taking part in ice hockey and martial arts and issues like that — and I used to be additionally consuming greens. So I by no means actually bought that traditional masculine factor that greens equal weak spot or something like that.”

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Noonan now owns and operates Dharma Southern Kitchen, a vegan restaurant chain aimed toward turning Southern-inspired meals into utterly plant-based meals.

“One-hundred p.c plant-based and Southern delicacies was probably the most ridiculous factor that I may sort out,” Noonan mentioned. “Plant-based meals on the time — everybody was making an attempt to promote you these like, carrot sticks and hummus dip and convincing you that these collard wraps have been meals, and I’m like, ‘Man, come on. Nobody has to eat that rubbish.’”

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Noonan needed to convey folks vegan meals that hit all of the excessive notes of delicacies — candy, savory, salty, spicy and umami. He factors out that many dishes generally related to Southern meals are already vegan at their core.

“A number of it’s by chance vegan within the first place, like mashed potatoes are mashed potatoes till you pour cheese and milk into it,” Noonan mentioned. “You already know, that’s simply one thing that the dairy business pressured us to do. Fifty years in the past, all of us have been instructed that if we didn’t devour dairy, by some means our bones have been going to liquefy or we weren’t going to develop up correctly or some nonsense like that.”

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Noonan mentioned he additionally naturally gravitated towards Southern delicacies for it “heartiness.” The chef lived world wide and the nation by means of his work within the culinary world and even earlier than that as a self-described “Military brat,” together with stints in Central Florida.

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“I used to be raised principally in an Italian family and so and I like Italian delicacies. I simply thought that Southern delicacies was gaining such a fame of being meat-focused that I needed to be a disruptor model,” he mentioned.

Finally, Noonan mentioned he doesn’t count on to show the lots into vegans. He additionally mentioned he doesn’t wish to disgrace folks for consuming and having fun with meat.

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His actual aim is to make vegan meals part of the dialog.

“I simply need it to be a part of that dialogue, the place it’s like, ‘Man, I haven’t had good vegan meals in like two weeks, let’s go get vegan,’” he mentioned.

As he seems to develop that dialogue, Noonan lately secured funding to develop Dharma’s footprint throughout Florida. Noonan hopes to have three new places open up by the tip of 2022.

On the newest episode of Florida Foodie, Noonan talks about his enlargement plans and his aim of franchising Dharma. He additionally shares his love of Bulgarian delicacies and why he’s inspired by fast-food chains including plant-based choices to their menu.

Please comply with our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You could find Candace Campos on Twitter and Fb. Lisa Bell can also be on Fb and Twitter and you’ll take a look at her kids’s guide, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.”

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Florida Foodie is a bi-weekly podcast from WKMG and Graham Media that takes a better have a look at what we eat, how we eat it and the influence that has on us right here in Florida and for everybody, all over the place. Discover new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you obtain your favourite podcasts.