Slutty Vegan's Pinky Cole Reveals Her Favorite Foods And One She Hates - Exclusive

Pinky Cole is passionate about her veganism. She is equally passionate about food. And she wants people to understand that following a vegan diet in no way means missing out on great eats. During a recent interview with Mashed, Cole explained that her restaurant, Slutty Vegan, isn't about the foods many less-than-well-informed people associate with a vegan diet — tofu and kale, e.g. — but makes its revenue "selling burgers, pies, and fries." 

Those are all vegan burgers, of course. And for the record, Cole loves kale as much as she loves a good vegan burger. "I love kale and mushrooms, I eat that every day now." Cole said, adding: "I love green juice. I love Impossible Burgers and Beyond Burgers. I love vegan macaroni and cheese. I love all the stuff that you love. I love all the things that the average meat eater likes. I just eat it vegan. So I'm a foodie, and I'll be the first to tell you I'm probably one of thickest vegans you going to meet, but I love to eat food. So I can recreate the food that everybody in the world loves and make it vegan and make it taste exactly the same. And you don't feel like you're missing anything."

So what's a fellow foodie who wants to eat vegan but not miss out on their favorite foods to do? Cole says not to worry — you're living at the right time, food-wise. "All you got to do is just switch out some options," she explains. "If you eat fried chicken for lunch, maybe have some vegan chicken for lunch. It's just choosing to make the right choices in your lifestyle, [and] it starts with your mindset."

Of course, there are lots of foods you'll never find Pinky Cole eating, and they are all what she calls "dead animal" foods, along with animal product foods like cheese. But there is also one type of food she just loathes, and it will come as a shock considering her vegan diet and fondness for most leafy greens. When asked during the interview: "What is one food you just hate?" Cole replied emphatically: "Lettuce!"

"And you know what? It was up until recently that I stopped eating lettuce," she went on. "I have a food aversion to lettuce now. Ever since I had the baby, I don't know, something happened with my taste buds, but lettuce just taste like chemicals to me. So I hate it. I cannot do lettuce. Don't put no lettuce on my sandwich. Don't put no lettuce in my plate. I don't want lettuce! I'll eat kale all day, but lettuce, just something about it. I just don't like it."

Cole is a new mom, having given birth in mid-2021, so she is hopeful her former affinity for romaine, butterhead, iceberg, and all the other lettuces will return. Science is on her side; according to the UT Southwestern Medical Center: "Dysgeusia, or a change in your sense of taste, during pregnancy likely is caused by pregnancy hormones. It may cause you to hate a food that you normally love, or enjoy foods you normally dislike... [and while] it may last until you give birth... don't worry. You won't hate foods you used to love forever."

Follow Pinky Cole on Instagram and check out Slutty Vegan if you're ever down in ATL.