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World-renowned vegan chef Lillian Cumic discovers the utopia for healthy eating is right here in Hawai\u2018i.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Taking a look back at Lillian Cumic’s life story, it’s pretty tough to see where she had the opportunity to become a vegan, let alone the world-renowned vegan chef and advocate she is today.<\/p>\n Cumic grew up in Sydney, Australia, with her Serbian father bringing home the day’s meat \u2014 still waiting to be butchered.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a young age, I was repulsed,\u201d she says in her demure voice. But her parents were kind and understanding, and cooked her separate vegetarian dishes.<\/p>\n At age 18, she moved to Japan to be a model on a six-month contract and puttered around with all kinds of odd jobs before coming to a realization that cooking was the only way she’d survive in the country.<\/p>\n Some of it was practicality (Japan is not the most friendly country for vegans or vegetarians unless you can speak Japanese to inquire about ingredients or request special dishes), but some of it was simply destiny: Cumic and the kitchen, pulling together.<\/p>\n The author released her cookbook, Hawai\u2018i: A Vegan Paradise<\/em>, in October. PHOTO COURTESY LILLIAN CUMIC<\/strong> \u201cI opened my own dining bar, it was a high-end bar, and I served vegetarian five-course meals there,\u201d Cumic remembers. \u201cI was head chef at that little dining bar. It only seated 25 people.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I was cooking vegetarian food, I started delving into veganism. I tried to play around with recipes and didn’t include any dairy.<\/p>\n \u201cI started my career in my own establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n The pattern of Cumic’s life should be coming into focus now. One block builds on another, and another, and another.<\/p>\n \u201cI became vegan 14 years ago,\u201d she explains. \u201cI started teaching vegan classes in Japan \u2026 No one in Sendai was doing anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Her classes merrily went on for 12 years, and during that time, Cumic began to reach a different understanding of veganism. It was more than simply a kind of diet; it was a lifestyle, a new way of thinking.<\/p>\n \u201cI immediately saw the changes,\u201d Cumic describes. \u201cIt was very eye-opening to me how much the body, mind and soul \u2014 everything changes when you cut out all animal products. And, of course, the environment \u2014 when you become vegan, you become aware of so many things right away: animal rights issues, I never thought about climate change or man-made pollution until I started becoming vegan.\u201d<\/p>\n As she began this mental transformation, she took a fateful trip to Hawai‘i with students from her 10th anniversary class.<\/p>\n She found a love for Hawai‘i \u2014 and a second love in husband Dave Molinaro.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew somehow it was going to be a very important place and part of my life,\u201d she says, having moved here two years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cHawai‘i is a vegan paradise,\u201d Cumic declares of her current home. \u201cWhen you live in a place like Hawai‘i, you’re so blessed: fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh produce all year round. I’ve never seen farmers markets like this ever. We have all the tools, all the ingredients, everything we need to pull off a really nice lifestyle or diet, if we want to.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekhawaii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/mw-cover-121620-lillian-cumic-cookbook.jpg\")
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