Freshman Sophie Maki has a rather unique hobby: She runs a blog on Tumblr on vegan baking. When it comes to animal rights Maki isn’t particularly political; she instead prefers culinary expertise to activism.
“I’m not very confrontational,” Maki said. “I don’t have to comment on these other people who are like, ‘Bacon is the only way, vegans suck.’”
Despite her diplomatic disposition, Maki claims that it was her desire to challenge herself that led her to becoming a vegan. A vegetarian since middle school, Maki says that choosing to adopt veganism was not a sudden decision, but rather a gradual transition as she cut out more and more animal-product foods from her diet.
“Once vegetarianism wasn’t even a challenge anymore, I ... [thought], ‘Well, I could easily do more,’” she said.
According to the amateur chef, it is difficult to bake anything while living in a dorm; as many Tufts students know, dorm kitchens aren’t exactly equipped with Food Network-worthy appliances. But despite this difficulty, she has still managed to post some new recipes. In any case, for Maki, it’s the thrill of creating food from unconventional ingredients that really inspires her. Recently, she’s moved on to gluten-free recipes and enjoys having friends guess what ingredients have been replaced for seemingly typical food items. Her brownies, for example, feature black beans; her blondies boast chickpeas.
“I feel like [that element of baking is] kind of hard, because you follow the recipe more exactly,” she said. “You’re always using weird substitutes ... Some people are using mashed bananas, some people are using flax seed.”
The Artsy Jumbo | Sophie Maki puts culinary skills to test with vegan baking
