Anna Lees – Vegan & Sustainable Food Consultant
In this interview, Anna Lees describes her role as a Vegan & Sustainable Food Consultant and shares some surprising stories.
What do you do?
I’m a culinary consultant specialising in plant-based menu development and hospitality training. I work with restaurants, hotels, and food service operations to successfully integrate profitable plant-based offerings into their business models. This includes training for both kitchen and wait teams, strategic menu design, and marketing collaboration. My approach helps businesses attract diverse dining groups while meeting sustainability and health goals through plant-based innovation.
How did you get into the industry?
I entered the industry through a combination of personal passion and professional evolution. As a vegan, I was driven by the desire to expand plant-based options in the market—I wanted to see more choices not just for myself but for everyone interested in plant-based eating.
While my work as a plant-based nutritionist was rewarding, I realised I could only impact one client at a time. Moving into food consultancy allowed me to scale that impact significantly. Now, I could help develop products and solutions that would reach countless people. This transition let me combine my nutritional expertise with broader food industry innovation, ultimately creating more accessibility to plant-based options while growing professionally.
Share a story from behind the scenes.
I worked with a café that wanted to add some vegan options. During one of our menu testing sessions, the owner kept complaining about how expensive vegan ingredients are, especially meat alternatives. After going through their expenses, I explained to him how a dish made with local mushrooms gave them a better profit margin than their chicken dishes – they’d just never calculated it before.
The interesting part? Two months later, they called to tell me they’d quietly increased their plant-based options from two to six items because the profit margins were consistently better. There were no big announcements, no marketing push—just a simple business decision based on numbers. Sometimes, the best success stories aren’t about dramatic transformations but about those small, practical realisations that make good business sense.
What food memory from your childhood or travels stands out?
My childhood food memories are quite traumatic, actually. Growing up in communist Poland, meat was only available through government rations, making it extremely precious. From being a little girl, I had a strong aversion to meat, although neither my parents nor I knew anything about vegetarianism at that time.
My parents strongly believed meat was crucial for my development like many others did back then. I vividly remember one particularly distressing incident when my mother had to be called from work to pick me up from kindergarten because I was crying uncontrollably after being forced to eat meat. Nobody could calm me down.
Since meat was so hard to get in those days, my parents would try to bribe me to eat it, which only made the situation more difficult. These early experiences definitely shaped my journey and led me to where I am today in the plant-based industry. I truly understand now how deeply personal our food choices are, and I’m passionate about creating more options for everyone, regardless of their dietary preferences.
What’s the best/ worst part of your job?
The best part is simple – I get to be surrounded by food all day! I absolutely love food in all its forms – from spending hours browsing supermarket aisles and reading labels (yes, I’m that person!) to discovering new products and experimenting with recipes. It’s like being a kid in a candy store, except it’s my actual job to try new things and push culinary boundaries.
The worst part, though, is repeatedly bumping up against outdated perceptions of vegan food in the industry. I still encounter chefs and restaurants who are stuck in the old-school mindset that fine dining must revolve around meat. They seem to think only ingredients such as lobster, wagyu beef, or caviar are worthy of their attention and culinary expertise. It’s frustrating sometimes!
Anna Lees’ favourite food and beverage pairing?
One of my absolute favourite food and beverage pairings combines my love for Persian cuisine – which I think is one of the most underrated cuisines in the world – with a creative cocktail twist. I’m particularly passionate about how Persian cooking celebrates herbs in such abundant, creative ways. Just imagine mountains of fresh parsley, coriander, dill, spring onions, and fenugreek in dishes like Ghormeh Sabzi or Ash Reshteh – these are dishes where herbs are the star, not just a garnish!
And I need to mention eggplant! It’s one of my favourite vegetables, and the Persians know exactly how to make it shine. My absolute favourite dish is Mirza Ghasemi, where eggplant is combined with generous amounts of garlic, tomatoes, and turmeric. I love pairing this with a saffron-infused Negroni – the bitter-sweet notes of the cocktail complement the rich, smoky flavours of the eggplant perfectly. It’s also beautiful how easily Persian dishes can be veganized without losing their authentic character.
The perfect day off would …
… start (and usually does!) with a lazy breakfast, often enjoyed in bed. Then I’d head out for what my husband calls a ‘ridiculously’ slow food shopping trip – I can spend hours carefully selecting ingredients for the evening’s dinner party.
I love spending the rest of my day in the kitchen, always with MasterChef playing in the background (from any country – I’m not picky!). There’s something so engaging about watching people cook on TV while I’m experimenting with my own creations.
The day would wrap up with a dinner party, at which my friends would become willing guinea pigs for my latest recipes. Then, we would just have a long dinner together.
A day in the life of Anna Lees is…
It’s never the same! One day I might be in a restaurant kitchen working with chefs to veganise their menu items (and yes, convincing them that removing just the cream and butter isn’t enough!). The next day I could be searching for the perfect ingredients for a creamy pasta sauce in different supermarkets.
I spend a lot of my time on research and staying up to date with new ingredients, innovations, and trends in the plant-based sector. I’m constantly reading food tech news, scanning new product launches, and testing competitor products. There’s always something new happening in this industry!
Client meetings take up a big chunk of time, whether I’m presenting new recipe concepts, conducting tastings, or discussing sustainability strategies. Sometimes, I’m training kitchen staff on plant-based cooking techniques, and other times, I’m helping businesses understand their environmental impact and how to reduce it.
And, of course, there’s always plenty of time I spend eating.
What does Anna Lees do for fun?
I know… I am boring: cooking and eating! Whether I’m experimenting with a new recipe or discovering new restaurants, my life revolves around food. Even my idea of fun is spending hours in supermarkets reading labels, much to my husband’s amusement!
What would you like guests to know about Culinova Consulting?
At Culinova Consulting, I want to make one thing clear. While I’m vegan myself, my goal isn’t to convert every establishment to be entirely vegan. Instead, I’m here to help businesses create exciting and profitable plant-based options that complement their existing menus.
My approach is comprehensive: from developing delicious vegan dishes that even non-vegans will love to training staff on how to serve and communicate about these options to working with marketing teams to promote them effectively. It’s about adding value, not taking anything away.
I firmly believe every food establishment should offer genuinely delicious vegan options—not just for health or environmental reasons but also because it makes good business sense.
How have you grown in your profession? What have you learned from your start in the industry until now? Are there any misconceptions?
My growth in this industry has been quite a journey! When I first started, I was primarily focused on the nutritional aspects of plant-based eating, coming from my background as a nutritionist. But I quickly learned that while health benefits are important, they’re not always the main driver for businesses or consumers. The key is creating food that people genuinely want to eat, regardless of whether it’s vegan or not.
One of my biggest learnings has been about communication. Initially, I was probably too passionate, too focused on pushing the vegan agenda. Now I understand that gradual change is more effective than trying to revolutionise everything overnight. It’s better to have a restaurant successfully maintain three excellent vegan options than to push them to go fully plant-based and see them struggle.
As for misconceptions – oh, there are plenty! The biggest one I keep encountering is that vegan food is just salads or bland tofu. Another is that plant-based options won’t be profitable enough. I’ve seen firsthand how well-executed vegan dishes can become bestsellers, even among non-vegan customers. There’s also this persistent myth that plant-based has to mean ‘healthy’ – sometimes people just want a decadent, indulgent vegan burger!
The most valuable lesson is the realisation that plant-based options can boost profits by acting as a lead magnet. Let me give you a real example – when I’m going out with my girlfriends (who are regular meat eaters), guess who chooses the restaurant? That’s right – they let me choose because they know I have dietary restrictions. I recently had a client who shared a perfect example of this: they got a catering order for 60 people, where only two vegan options were ordered, but the company chose this particular restaurant specifically because they had vegan options available.
This is what I mean by plant-based options driving business – they might not be your biggest seller, but they can be the deciding factor in whether a group chooses your venue over another. One vegan in a group can influence where 10 non-vegans end up dining!
What would you like people to know about being a plant-based nutritionist as a profession?
As a vegan and sustainability food consultant, people must understand this isn’t just about pushing a personal agenda or lifestyle choice. It’s a serious business role that requires a unique blend of skills – from deep culinary knowledge and recipe development to understanding food science, market trends, and business operations.
People might not realise how much technical knowledge is involved. You need to understand ingredient functionality, supply chains, kitchen operations, food safety, costings, and marketing. It’s not enough to just know how to cook great vegan food—you need to understand how to make it work within existing kitchen systems and make it profitable for businesses.
Anna Lees‘ view on the vegan scene in Kuala Lumpur?
The vegan and sustainable scene in Kuala Lumpur is just in its infancy. There’s still a perception that plant-based eating is either just for religious purposes or is a Western-only concept. However, I’m particularly encouraged by how some modern Malaysian restaurants are starting to embrace creative plant-based options that move beyond basic vegetable curry. We’re seeing more local chefs experimenting with traditional flavours in plant-based formats – like rendang made with mushrooms or jackfruit. However, there’s still significant work to be done, especially in hotels and higher-end establishments where there’s this persistent belief that luxury dining must centre around meat.
The sustainable food movement here is still in its early stages compared to some other countries, but I’m seeing promising signs. More restaurants and hotels are starting to source locally, reduce food waste, and consider their environmental impact. The challenge is balancing these sustainability goals with the cost-sensitive nature of our market – but I believe as awareness grows, so will the demand for more sustainable options.
What practices do you currently implement or hope to implement to work towards social responsibility and sustainability in the future?
When I work with chefs, I teach them how to calculate the carbon footprint emissions of the dishes they prepare. I firmly believe that sustainability in F&B should be measurable—just as you count calories or fat in food, you can calculate its carbon footprint.
Chefs need to understand that sustainability isn’t just a buzzword—it’s something we can quantify and track. When they learn to measure the carbon footprint of their dishes, from ingredient sourcing to preparation methods, they start to see concrete ways to make improvements. Watching their perspective shift when they realise that simple changes in ingredients or cooking methods can significantly reduce their environmental impact is amazing.
Just like nutritional information helps diners make informed choices about their health, carbon footprint data can help them make environmentally conscious decisions. This data-driven approach also helps businesses track progress and set meaningful sustainability goals. Making sustainability measurable makes it manageable.
What can guests look forward to from Anna Lees in the upcoming months?
I’m really excited about two major projects right now. I’m collaborating with Vegan Hospitality Consulting – an organisation that provides vegan-friendly certification for hotels. I’ll be working with them to help hotels navigate the certification process, ensuring they meet all the requirements for truly vegan-friendly service.
I’m also expanding my workshop offerings, focusing specifically on the practical implementation of sustainability values in professional kitchens. This is really hands-on stuff—teaching chefs and hotel teams how to implement sustainable practices in their daily operations. It’s not just theory—we work with real numbers and real situations and find practical solutions that work in their specific kitchen environments.
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