You mentioned your granny and those recipes, which I'm sure have had a huge impact on you. Have there been any other people in the food world or mentors who have helped you along the way to get to where you are now?

Honestly, no, other than my family, my mama, my aunts, and my granny, who taught me how to cook over the phone over 20 years ago. I would have to call, and they would walk me through certain things when me and my husband first moved in together, because I did not know my way around a kitchen. I grew up in the country, and I was a tomboy; I was always outside. I didn't think I would ever have to cook when I grew up. I thought I was going to be famous and have a chef at home. I didn't know I was going to turn into the person doing all the cooking.

They are where all of my creativity came from. Then it became trial and error in the kitchen. I would make it up as I go, and I still cook that way now. I don't like to watch other people cook because I never want to be influenced, like I'm taking somebody's recipe. I want to do it my own way.

Where did you draw inspiration for the recipes that you featured in "Cooking from the Spirit"?

All from growing up. A lot of them are Southern favorites, how I grew up in my childhood. You'll see my Mama's Meatloaf, which is one of my favorite things, and Sloppy Joes things that are traditional all across America and are your normal non-vegan items. My goal was to show people that you could still have your favorites the vegan way.

That's how I started my journey. When we first went vegan in my house for 30 days, the whole family was vegan. My husband's a real Southern man, so I was like, "Lord, I got to figure out how to make his favorites and mine, but I got to make sure he likes it so that he'll eat it, so I [don't have] to keep cooking two meals every day." That's really what it is; it's a lot of those.

It's also inspired by some of my first jobs. I worked at Taco Bell, and some of the things that I used to love to make were Nachos BellGrande or Mexican pizza. I created those the vegan way to show people, "If this is something that you like, I can show you how to do that at home the vegan way." I draw from that. What my family favorites are now is ... My family loves my lasagna. My son loves the cheesecake cups that we make. It's all family, and it's all personal.

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Tabitha Brown On The Delicious Vegan Food You Can Find In Her New Cookbook - Exclusive Interview - Tasting Table