Vegans of Color

Veggie Mijas Founder Amy Quichiz Is Decolonizing Her Lifestyle

The founder of a collective for women and non-binary POC reflects on how she found her community when she looked beyond white veganism

Tenderly
Published in
9 min readJul 16, 2020

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Amy Quichiz posing with her fingers held to her left temple in front of a backdrop of iridescent fabric.
Photo: Bridget Badore

We all come to veganism differently — and we should all challenge ourselves to question, learn, and think critically at every turn. For Amy Quichiz, the journey began with passionate advocacy against animal abuse, but turned into more as she began to question the overwhelmingly white spaces she encountered.

“I started to be more passionate about veganism through my experiences, and the experiences of other folks of color. I think that’s when I truly became more food justice oriented, rather than just supporting veganism.”

That passion for intersectional food justice eventually led Quichiz to co-found Veggie Mijas, a collective by and for women and non-binary POC. Originally, the site was meant to be a platform for sharing recipes, but as the site was shared, interest for a meetup grew. “I thought that was amazing — I really didn’t know any of these people, and they all wanted to come together. To talk about veganism in our communities, and how that affects us.” The collective now has chapters based in 12 different US…

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