‘This Is the Future,’ Says Mena Massoud, Who is Planting His Flag with EVOLVING VEGAN

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Change is not only a good thing, but also an inevitable thing, through the lens of EVOLVING VEGAN. And according to Mena Massoud, whose new series debuts Thursday, March 30, at 8 p.m. ET on CTV Life Channel and Crave, big attitudinal adjustments are already occurring all around the globe, one delicious bite at a time. “The world is evolving in this direction,” said Massoud, the multi-talented Canadian actor (Aladdin) and author who is the host and executive producer of EVOLVING VEGAN. “I just truly think this is the future.” In six one-hour episodes, Massoud investigates the plant-based food scene in Los Angeles, Austin, Mexico City, Vancouver, Portland, and Toronto. How did he decide which places to go? “Some of it was wanting to go to places that people don’t associate veganism with, like Austin, Texas, for example,” Massoud said. “Not a lot of people would think Texas would be vegan-friendly, but Austin had some incredible food. And there’s an incredibly large percentage of people in Mexico that are vegan or vegetarian, I think over 20% of people, which is kind of unheard of anywhere else. So it’s a mixture of things. Yes, L.A. is often referred to as the mecca of vegan food, but we also wanted to show people that it’s really expanding everywhere.” While part of that expansion is due to better education and more information, Massoud said there have been definite food and flavour innovations that have helped push populations in vegan directions in recent years. “We talk about this in the Portland episode with one of the restaurateurs, where, you know, he makes me a dirty, gnarly burger, and it tastes exactly like a real burger,” Massoud said. “And he says, that’s his way of convincing meat eaters that you don’t have to sacrifice anything to be vegan. And I don’t think he would have been able to do that without the rise of plant-based alternatives. They just perfected their recipes so well that it actually tastes like meat, for the most part. So next time you go to, like, an A&W, get their Beyond Meat Burger, and just taste how close it is to real meat. It’s getting pretty darn good.” And there are other benefits as well. “I grew up Egyptian, so I grew up eating a ton of meat – I’ve eaten every part of an animal you can think of,” Massoud recalled. “I remember having burgers that tasted so delicious, but I would kind of fall into a coma afterward, right? Like, man that was heavy, I need to take a nap. That doesn’t really happen when you have a vegan burger. So you kind of get 90% of the taste, but none of the feeling lethargic afterwards.” Of course, not everything in vegan cuisine is based on trying to make something “taste like meat.” Vegan food can also be enjoyed simply for what it is, on its own merits. “There are two ways to look at it, and we touch on that in the show as well,” Massoud said. “I think both are relevant as a full-time vegan.” Notice that Massoud described himself as a “full-time vegan” rather than a “French fry vegan.” The latter is a term he used to remind viewers of EVOLVING VEGAN that even certain types of vegan food shouldn’t be consumed in the wrong proportions. “That is 1,000% true,” Massoud said. “You hear the term ‘French fry vegans,’ and those are vegans that essentially just eat French fries and lettuce. And if you do that, it’s obviously not healthy. So we want to kind of disassociate those two things from each other. But it’s the same with every type of cuisine.” Certainly some of the mouth-watering vegan pastries featured in the first episode of EVOLVING VEGAN probably should fall into the “special occasion” category, rather than being a diet staple! “Yeah, exactly – I watch my weight,” Massoud said. “Again, I think the biggest thing people will notice between a non-vegan croissant and a plant-based croissant is that you tend not to feel as heavy afterward, because you’re not digesting the same kinds of proteins and things on a molecular level. But, it’s like, one croissant and I’m done, and even that’s a treat!” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv