Chef Adrain, known as “The Culinary Alchemist,” was born and raised in the heart of Cajun country, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So you already know he is well versed in spicy, tasty, unique food. Cajun food certainly played a large role in forming his taste palette. But the regional food largely reliant on meats, like sausage, chicken, shrimp, crab and crawfish, did not end up being his central inspiration. In fact Adrain went a whole different way, to the other end of the spectrum. He became a champion of vegan food and vegan lifestyle.
Chef Adrain explains his transformation this way:
“I went vegan in 2015 because my spirits were going through a bad transformation and I did not like how it was affecting my relationship with people in general. I remember this day in particular, I moved to New York with nothing and I just went through a terrible break up which affected me to the point that I wasn’t speaking to anyone. It messed up my relationship with my daughter and that’s my baby girl. I don’t like to disappoint baby girl. She’s my soul and she has seen all my ups and downs and been there for me. As I stated earlier, in 2015 I decide to evolve to a higher realm and in doing so i had to take on certain responsibilities that I needed in order to cultivate a CLEAR MIND love myself again. So I separated myself from every one for about nine months and I healed myself internally. I went from praying, to meditating on a raw alkaline vegan diet, to fasting, to only just being on a water diet and this process took two months to mastered and make it a routine. From there on I just kept up with my routine.”
Adrain says at the end of the day he is vegan because of its health and lifestyle benefits.
The vegan choice is by no means an easy one. Bring vegan is stricter than brewing vegetarian, the primary difference is vegans not only avoid meat, poultry and fish, but they add the avoidance of any dairy products. Adrain is one of those vegans who believe all vegetarians should take the leap to vegan status.
“I suggest full vegan because dairy is high with uncontrollable hormone chemicals and that there isn’t healthy for kids nor adults” he explained.
The commitment to vegan choices led Chef Adrain to go all in with his business. He created a business based on healthy, vegan recipes. And the result has been a taste sensation. So much for those who think eating vegan means eating bland food.
Chef Adrain shared a couple of his favorites as an example.
“I make this mean ass Spaghetti Squash with charred tomatoes, onions, mint, peppers, and white truffle salt. MMMMMMMMMMMM,” he said. “And I love my roasted sweet potato soup made with roasted peppers, coconut milk, cilantro, roasted sweet potatoes, and roasted sweet potatoes.”
Taking his vegan commitment a step forward, Chef Adrain created a vegan chocolate brand, De-Licieux Chocolate.
“I was in the lab one day like literally and I was trying to come up with a recipe to use chocolate for energy,” he explained. “So me and my daughter one day start testing out different ways to do this and we came up with a cool French concept that will not only be satisfying for the palate, but it will be a benefit to the soul.”
de-licieux Chocolate is floral infused, bean to bar vegan Chocolate Co grown in Haiti and made in Haiti. What makes it vegan is all of the essential properties which includes unrefined alakaline sugar, no GMO, organic herbs, organic spices, and Haiti Cacao. The holistic intent was to create an everyday affordable luxury product. They succeeded on every level.
Chef Adrain also added a tasty and healthy line of vegan syrups to his product mix. When asked to explain how he came up with the idea of vegan syrups of all things, his answer shows how free-thinking he is, a key to his success.
“I used to work for an Italian chef and he would allow me to do brunch every Saturday morning for his restaurant. I started making all of these different pancakes (because I’m a pancake lover) and I made special syrups for special pancakes. One day a friend was at my house and she tasted the syrups and told me that I should start selling them at the farmers market, but I had a different idea and that was to learn about the beverage industry and incorporate them into that field but with a healthy conscious by creating low calorie cocktails under 200 calories made with my syrups.”
Now how is that for thinking outside the box? The box doesn’t even exist for Chef Adrain.
Which makes it really exciting to think what’s next for this culinary artist. Chef Adrain isn’t saying right now. He will only say that he has a lot in the works. He added that you shouldn’t be surprised that he is branching outside of food. He says his portfolio will range from food to beauty and medical.
A true creative genius. We’ll all have to just stay posted.
