Plant – The Vegan Student cookbook

Alumna Britt ten Bergen (MSc Global Business and Sustainability 2022) and business partner Wiek Hubers have created Plant, a vegan cookbook for students containing quick, easy and low-budget recipes that they devised and tested themselves.

Can you provide a little introduction of yourselves, your connection to RSM and the book?

We are Britt ten Bergen and Wiek Huibers, co-authors of the cookbook Plant – The Vegan Student. [JW1] 
Britt: “I completed my studies at RSM last year, graduating with an MSc in Global Business and Sustainability. Following that, I started working at RSM as a part-time research assistant.” 

Wiek: “I graduated two years ago from the Hogeschool Utrecht, where I currently work as a lecturer and coach.” 

Together, we conceived and created Plant, a cookbook aimed at students, showing 50 vegan recipes that are quick, easy, and budget-proof. The idea of collaborating on this book as a couple excited us, and the experience has been incredibly rewarding. We did everything ourselves: developing the recipes, taking photographs, designing the pages, and as icing on the cake, we are publishing the book ourselves.  

How did you come up with this idea of the book?

During our own time as students, we started cooking more vegan dishes. We often heard fellow students say they would like to eat more vegan food too, but they found cooking to be too complicated, expensive or difficult We thought that it didn't have to be that way, and decided to write a vegan student cookbook with 50 recipes that are all quick, easy, and budget-proof. This means that the recipes can be made under 30 minutes, can be made without specialised kitchen equipment and using ingredients you can get in supermarkets – and for under four euros per serving.

Could you elaborate on the target audience for the book?

As the title says, it’s tailored for students! Of course, a lot of people like to cook uncomplicated vegan dishes that are not expensive and don’t take up a lot of time – it’s not just for students. So, we like to interpret the term ‘student’ a bit more broadly and use it to define people who like to learn more, or those who want to study a vegan lifestyle.

What is it about your effort that makes a positive change?

We hope to show people how easy and delicious vegan meals are. With that, we hope that people will be inspired to cook more vegan food! The first print run has actually sold out so we’re now in the process of making a second print, hoping to inspire even more students. 

Why do you do it?

The idea of writing a cookbook together combined so many of our passions: sustainability, cooking, and entrepreneurship. So the funding we received from the Hummingbird Fund was that last push we needed to just do it. We want to inspire others with the cookbook and show that it is not difficult to cook vegan food when you’re a student. We see that there are so many benefits to eating vegan: it is more sustainable for the world, it is better for animal well-being, and we also experienced health benefits. 

Britt: “For me, when I started eating vegan, I had way more energy to get out of bed for example.”

Where can students find the book?

Plant is already available from our website www.plant-cookbook.com and in some bookstores[JW2] , and we intend to broaden its availability. It’s also on bol.com.