When Noa Banks first embraced veganism, she wasn’t exactly confident in the kitchen. “I could barely boil rice,” she jokes. But a desire to eat more consciously and improve her digestion pushed her to try. What she discovered wasn’t just a new way of eating—but a new sense of empowerment through simple, wholesome food.
“I didn’t go vegan overnight,” Noa recalls. “It started with dinners. I figured if I could get one meal right each day, I could build from there.” With no pressure to be perfect, she focused on creating plant-based dinners that didn’t require fancy ingredients or hours of prep.
Her first success? A chickpea and spinach curry made in under 30 minutes. “It was cheap, filling, and surprisingly flavorful,” she says. That experience gave her confidence to keep experimenting—lentil soups, roasted veggie tacos, and stir-fried tofu with brown rice quickly became weeknight staples.
Noa believes the key for beginners is keeping meals flexible and forgiving. “You don’t need to follow a recipe to the letter. Just learn what flavors work together—like garlic, lemon, and tahini—or how to balance textures,” she explains.
A turning point came when her non-vegan friends started asking for dinner invites. “They expected bland food, but they were always surprised at how satisfying it was,” she smiles. That reinforced her belief that vegan meals don’t have to be complicated to be delicious.
Now, she encourages others to start where they are—maybe with a lentil chili, a creamy coconut veggie stew, or a hearty rice bowl with roasted sweet potatoes. The beauty of vegan cooking, she says, is that it’s adaptable. “You’re not stuck with one way of doing things. You get to play.”
For Noa, simplicity doesn’t mean boring. It means ingredients you can pronounce, steps you won’t dread after work, and food that makes you feel good. “If dinner feels like a burden, you won’t stick with it,” she says. “But if it becomes something comforting, even fun—you’re already halfway there.”
