BmoreArt

As a former vegan living in NYC, I remember the awe and enchantment of trudging out to Bushwick to the all-vegan diner Champs for a late-night vegan Reuben. The vegan pastrami shrouded in a tomb of melted Daiya vegan cheese and slathered in vegan thousand island dressing with a heap of sauerkraut was a wet, messy paradise. Vegan food was a destination. Inevitably, the stomachache that followed always made me rethink my choices, but it felt good in the moment. Overly processed vegan food has since become my least favorite cuisine. I shirk at a fast-food concept for my own gut health, but I see the power of conversion for meat eaters. 

Beef production is undeniably the worst carbon producer in our food supply. Cattle grazing leads to deforestation and excessive water consumption and produces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other protein we consume. The list of reasons to limit or cut beef consumption is long. Vegan burger alternatives, while not a perfect solution for environmental justice, can change eating patterns. Changing minds is a step in the right direction, but it’s important to keep perspective. “The Protein2Food project, identified that extruded plant-based meat substitutes in certain conditions could have a carbon footprint very similar to that of chicken meat, and in terms of resource demand (land, energy, and water), it could be even higher,” according to a National Institute of Health published essay. 

Pinky never outwardly claims that her restaurants solve environmental concerns, and the federally mandated calorie count for food service establishments with over 20 locations is still not required for her small-ish chain. She does say, “The more you eat vegan, the less chicken and meat you eat, the more it saves the planet.” A claim that is both true and not true. 

Regenerative cattle grazing farms like White Oaks Pastures, a Georgia-based farm, claims that with a regenerative lens cattle farms can become carbon sinks. Data shows that their farm model does sequester -3.5kg of carbon for 1kg of beef produced while Beyond Burgers produces 4kg of carbon for every 1kg of Beyond Meat. Traditional cattle farming produces 33kg of carbon or more, while chicken and pork are between 6-9kg. Claims that vegan meats are regenerative for the planet are simply not true, but a vegan diet does eliminate the consumption of carbon-heavy meat products. 

Cole says the potential of vegan restaurants is still unmet. “Vegan businesses close left and right, which is why the experience is so important. If I don’t capture you by way of the food, I capture you by way of the experience… then when you try the food it’ll lock you in and make you stay.”

Slutty Vegan is not Cole’s first foray into the restaurant world. Drawing on her childhood memories of her Rastafarian diet, or Ital, she opened Cole’s Jamaican and American restaurant in Harlem in 2014. The Ital diet is predominantly plant-based, with an emphasis on excluding processed foods. The successful restaurant closed in 2016 after a grease fire shuttered the location. 

The name and concept of Slutty Vegan was born a few years later. “I was actually smoking weed,” Cole says laughing. “I never imagined that it was gonna turn into this,” she says in disbelief. The Baltimore-born-and-raised entrepreneur is happy to be home and Baltimore is happy to have her.

The success of Slutty Vegan, now valued at 100 million dollars, is a stark contrast to Cole’s wholefood, ital-inspired Harlem restaurant. Juxtaposed, the success of Slutty Vegan says exactly what we already knew about the American diet and culture, it thrives in cultural appropriation. In other words, the concept is particularly seducing to people who may think: Slut = not me. Vegan = not me. 

In bell hooks’ essay, “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance” she says “To make one’s self vulnerable to the seduction of difference, to seek an encounter with the Other, does not require that one relinquish forever one’s mainstream positionality. When race and ethnicity become commodified as resources for pleasure, the culture of specific groups, as well as the bodies of individuals, can be seen as constituting an alternative playground where members of dominating races, genders, sexual practices affirm their power-over in intimate relations with the Other.” This analysis aligns with Cole’s observation that her audience is the meat eater, simply visiting to consume the Other before returning to their carnivorous lives.

Opening day brought crowds to the south Baltimore neighborhood and the newest development, the Baltimore Peninsula. The isolated slice of the city, formerly known as Port Covington, now boasts marinas, waterfront parks, and mixed-use developments with apartments, storefronts, distilleries, and Under Amour’s headquarters. 

“I didn’t pick the location. The location picked me,” Cole says. “I met with [MAG Partners] and Kevin Plank and we just really vibed out,” she shares of her initial meetings about opening her new location. 

“Not only do I have two locations here, I’m a partner on a project, which is really dope, because here I am. I come back home to be a part of a really big development,” she says proudly. 

The Baltimore Peninsula is one of the largest redevelopment sites in the United States with 235-acres of waterfront redevelopment. New construction in the mixed-use development includes a hotel, restaurants, offices, and apartments with 20% of the units assigned for affordable housing. The area of Baltimore feels a bit like a dystopian corporate campus on a winter day. 

Back in the kitchen, Cole shares a swelling of emotions in seeing the line out the door for her Baltimore Slutty Vegan opening. She hopes the Bar Vegan opening will be a replay of that success. 

“If I could describe [Bar Vegan], it’s like, Slutty Vegan’s, big sister. The more sophisticated version of Slutty,” Cole says of her new venture while she cooks. Baltimore is home to the second elevated version of Pinky’s new concept. 

“If Bar Vegan was a person,” she continues, “she went to Spelman College and just passed the bar. Drinks wine on the weekends, and loves hip hop, but also loves some country music. Got a little emo in there. Very versatile. She turns up with her friends but can lead the board meeting. Gluten-free, sometimes, always doing the challenge. Got a couple of girlfriends who have been her friends for the last 20 years, dating but nothing serious. She wants to get married and have kids but hasn’t had them yet. That’s who Bar Vegan is,” Pinky says in full laughter.

Pinky Cole is a hustle-culture entrepreneur through and through, but with five kids and a multi-city 100-million-dollar venture, she is nervous. “I’m praying that Bar Vegan will do what I think it will do. I pray that this is a safe space for people, and I pray that people will be proud of the fact that here I am, a Baltimore native.”

Cole splits her time between Atlanta and Baltimore with her family. Her husband has a chain of restaurants in the southeast and her mother is a nanny to their mixed family. 

“I want people to see that somebody from Baltimore left and came back. That really doesn’t happen often. But I actually came back so that people can be excited, and you know, the return is real.”