Evolving Vegan

Mena restaurant-hops with friends Lilly Singh and Laura Marano, indulging in elevated plant-based French pastries, pastrami sammies, Thai chicken wings, and unbelievable carne asada.

In the Capital of Weird, a diverse group of chefs create mouth-watering plant-based dumplings, fried “chik’n” sandwiches, and Vietnamese “catfish”. Mena forages for lobster mushrooms, and visits the oldest tofu factory in America.

Mountain, land and sea – Mena explores his Canadian backyard, discovering delicious plant-based sushi, pistachio cannolis, and pizza. He gets hands-on at a vegan cheese factory with comedian Bassem Youssef and catches a floatplane to forage for sea-asparagus.

In a frenzy of mezcal and spice, Mena devours a host of local delicacies – plant-based seafood, aguachile, and classic enfrijoladas. He joins a local abuela to make traditional moles, and visits the legendary floating chinampas.

Deep in the heart of Texas is a vegan oasis. Mena explores the off-beat Texan Capitol’s surprising plant-based bounty: fried “chicken”, larger-than-life biscuits, “short rib” baos and mouth-watering vegan brisket. Plus, he straps on his boots and two-steps his way through a classic honky-tonk.

Mena returns to his hometown and dives into the multicultural food scene that is The Six: Oaxacan tetelas, jerked jackfruit sammies, and foraged wild mushroom risotto. He makes vegan ice cream with musician Tesher, then swings home to get a taste of Mom’s irreplaceable Egyptian cooking.