Sarma Melngailis, owner of the Manhattan raw restaurant Pure Food and Wine and co-author, with Matthew Kenney, of the book Raw Food Real World. Because the book is big, glossy and sexy. By far the most sophisticated Vegan cookbook published to date, raw or otherwise. And because Sarma's just devastatingly beautiful.
Colleen Patrick Goudreau, founder of Compassionate Cooks. Because she's fearless and really really smart. I go through withdrawal if I don't hear her latest podcast.
EriK Marcus, author and tireless animal rights activist. Because he's a real iconoclast, smart and unapologetic. He can be awkward and obtuse, but always endearing. His podcasts can somehow simultaneously piss me off and make me laugh out loud.
Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Isa's cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance was the first Vegan cookbook I ever bought. A book, by the way that's as fun to read for its narrative as for its recipes. When I read Isa I said to myself, say, here's something for me. Creative, fun, and political. Discovering a new way to piss off neo-cons is right up my alley.
