Hail Seitan: Behind the Mask of the Vegan Black Metal Chef
An interview with one of the earliest and most popular vegan YouTube icons
Veganism has enjoyed a rise in popularity over the past few years. The number of YouTube channels devoted to vegan cooking, fashion, and culture has steadily grown, and more plant-based options are available in many consumer markets. One of the earliest and most popular vegan YouTube icons is Brian Manowitz, better known by his alter ego: The Vegan Black Metal Chef.
Manowitz’s YouTube celebrity has helped dish up a large amount of success for his most recent project, The Seitanic Spellbook: Recipes and Rantings of the Vegan Black Metal Chef, which is now in its second printing. In my interview with Manowitz, he and I discuss his black metal influences, his views on vegan activism, and his take on the surge in popularity of vegan food and veganism in general. We also talk about his own music career and recent foray into acting and voice-over work.
But first, I was curious about his degrees in neuroscience and computer science:
B.A. Durham: Did you want to do neuroscience right away? Or did you take a few classes — maybe bio — and decide that was the route? Or have you always been interested in the brain?
