#184: Camryn Clements - The Plant-Based Cajun Embraces Her Culture
Bonjour Mes Amis!
This week, we’re heading to the bayou to celebrate Mardi Gras with Camryn Clements, The Plant-Based Cajun! Dan Buettner from the Blue Zones first introduced me to Camryn because she’s featured in his new book, The Blue Zones American Kitchen.
Now, I get to introduce her to all of you! Camryn is a busy Mom and when her young family moved from Louisiana to Texas for her husband’s medical residency, she found herself desperately missing her cajun culture.
At the same time, she and her family were also trying to improve their health so she started putting the plant-based treatment on her favorite cajun dishes. We’re talking about mushroom etouffee, jambalaya, tofu shrimp, red beans and rice, and even king cake. The Plant-Based Cajun was born!
If you think eating plants is boring and tasteless, think again! Camryn is here to kick up your taste buds and help you celebrate the start of Mardi Gras, on Tuesday, February 21st.
So, no matter where you are on your PLANTSTRONG journey, let the good times roll, or as they say down there in Louisiana - “Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Episode Resources
The Plant-Based Cajun Instagram: @theplantbasedcajun
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Full YouTube Transcript
Rip Esselstyn:
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Camryn Clements:
Like everyone's doing a curry, everyone's doing lentil loaf. Everyone's doing some kind of super stew. That's nothing original. And who's going to trust me, some random lady to give them a good curry recipe? That's not my culture. And then it was like, ding, and I was like, oh my gosh, my culture, like Camryn, hello, you know Cajun culture, you know Cajun food. You know how to cook it. And so why don't you offer something different in this space?
Rip Esselstyn:
I'm Rip Esselstyn and welcome to the PLANTSTRONG Podcast. The mission at PLANTSTRONG is to further the advancement of all things within the plant-based movement. We advocate for the scientifically proven benefits of plant-based living. And envision a world that universally understands, promotes and prescribes plants as a solution to empowering your health.
Enhancing your performance, restoring the environment. And becoming better guardians to the animals we share this planet with. We welcome you wherever you are on your plant strong journey, and I hope that you enjoy this shelf. Yeah, Mesa me. This week we're heading down to the Bayou to celebrate Mardi Gras with Camryn Clements.
She is the plant-based Cajun. Dan Buettner from the Blue Zones first introduced me to Camryn because she's one of the chefs featured in his new book, the Blue Zones American Kitchen. And if you didn't listen to that interview that I did with Dan about the American Kitchen, I highly recommend you listen to it. It was just a few weeks back now.
Now, I did a little digging and knew I wanted to get to know Camryn better. And now I get to introduce her to all of you. She is a busy mom. And when her young family moved from Louisiana to Texas for her husband's medical residency, she found herself dearly missing her Cajun culture. But she and her family were also trying to improve their own health.
So, she started taking some of her favorite Cajun dishes and making them plant strong. We're talking about mushroom, etouffee, jambalaya, tofu shrimp, red beans and rice, and even king cake. The plant-based Cajun was born. And if you think that eating plants is boring and tasteless, think again. The plant-based Cajun is here to kick up your taste buds and help you celebrate the start of Mardi Gras, which is right around the corner, Tuesday, February 21st.
So, no matter where you are on your plant strong journey, let's let the Good Times roll. Or as they say down there in Louisiana, laissez les bons temps rouler. Welcome, Camryn Clements. Camryn Clements, welcome to the PLANTSTRONG Podcast.
Camryn Clements:
Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, you know what? I am just as excited because you are the plant-based Cajun. And man, do we ever need a dose of Cajun on the PLANTSTRONG podcast.
Camryn Clements:
Yay. Well, I'm happy to oblige. I'm sort of fangirling like that gif, freaking out a little bit. Always been a fan, so it's kind of surreal to be here.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well deserved. So, tell me this, your name is Camryn, spelled C-A-M-R-Y-N. Where in the world does that name come from? It's a great name. I love it.
Camryn Clements:
Oh, thanks. It does not have any family significance. It's just what my mom likes. So, I'm actually a twin, fraternal twin. And so my name is Camryn, and my brother's name is Colton. And then I have an older sister, Caressa and a younger sister, Candace. We are all Cs. So, it's just what my mom decided she liked.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. And what are your mom and dad's names?
Camryn Clements:
My mom's name is Ivana, and my dad's name is Chris or Christopher. So, went with the Cs, I guess, for the whole family.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, my wife's name is Jill, her sister's Julie, her brother's John, her dad Jerry, and her mother Carol. So, why is it that somehow or another of the women, the mothers get thrown to the wayside here? I don't get this.
Camryn Clements:
I know. I don't know. Who knows? Maybe it's because there's more C names out there than A names. I'm not really sure for our family. I don't know. Yeah, that's crazy.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right. I love to find out a little bit about your roots and what it is that inspired you to become the plant-based Cajun. So, where did you grow up? Do you come by the plant-based Cajun authentically?
Camryn Clements:
Yeah, so actually I grew up here. So, I grew up in, I'm here in Lake Charles, Louisiana, born and raised. And my family is Cajun. And so my dad has some Cajun roots on his side. They were farmers in Lacassine, which is about 20 minutes away. They farmed rice and soybean, sugar cane, all that kind of stuff. And my dad when he-
Rip Esselstyn:
Now, Camryn, so when you say that your dad was Cajun, what does that mean? I mean, is it a culture? Is it a lifestyle? What is it?
Camryn Clements:
It's a little bit of both culture and heritage. And speaking from an ancestral point, the Cajuns were basically French people that had migrated to Nova Scotia and then were exiled from Nova Scotia and ended up in Louisiana. And they all just kind of settled here, and they became known as the Cajuns. And so we kind of had our family settlement actually all along the same road.
It was called Millerville because all the Millers lived down that road. And so for us, it comes from a true historical background, but also from just how a way of life and through a cultural music standpoint. My dad is a Cajun musician, and so he's always played the music and we grew up hearing the music and singing a little bit of it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Does he play the gut bucket or what does he play?
Camryn Clements:
Oh, no, it's right there. So, actually-
Rip Esselstyn:
What? That piano there?
Camryn Clements:
No. So, hold on. So, here it is, the accordion. So, this is a Cajun accordion right here.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, you got to give us a little bit. Do you know how to play it?
Camryn Clements:
My dad grew up playing, and it's more like a German accordion. But this is a typical Cajun instrument. But my dad played this, but he also plays piano and guitar and bass and whatever else. He's multi-talented.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow.
Camryn Clements:
But yeah, we kind of grew up singing the music. Unfortunately, I learned one song on the accordion and it was like, okay. I kind of took on the guitar and piano, the cool things when you're in middle school to play. And I'm a singer. Vocal music was kind of my study and everything, but we grew up with that.
And so that was kind of my Cajun culture. And then also cuisine was also a big part of it. And around here in Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana really, there's just a lot of Cajun culture surrounding food. So, from tailgate parties to Mardi Gras, showers, tons of things.
Rip Esselstyn:
Showers? What do you mean by showers?
Camryn Clements:
Well, like wedding shower, or baby shower, whatever. Food is always a center point in that, Cajun food.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now how far is St. Charles from New Orleans?
Camryn Clements:
So, Lake Charles is about three hours, so it's not bad.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right. I don't know if I've been to St. Charles or not. Maybe I have, but just trying to get my bearings on the map there.
Camryn Clements:
Yeah, so Lake Charles is at the corner of the heel of the boot. So, you know how Louisiana's a boot?
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Camryn Clements:
We're right there at the heel. And so we're just about 35 minutes away from Texas. You could cross over real quick here in Lake Charles. So, we're all the way towards the Texas side.
Rip Esselstyn:
Got it. And so you met your husband, what? In high school? Is that right?
Camryn Clements:
Yes. So, my husband and I are high school sweethearts. I admired from afar for a while. And then senior year we actually were seeking out each other crazy.
Rip Esselstyn:
Nice.
Camryn Clements:
It was kind of just like, oh, well, we think we both found our person. And then we decided, you know what? We're going to college. Let's get a far away from each other as possible. And I ended up going to school in Shreveport and he went to school in New Orleans.
And so, we did a long distance relationship for a couple years through undergraduate school, which is not fun. But we did that. And actually when my husband was in college for undergraduate, he was still my boyfriend at the time. But when he was there for undergraduate, it was the first time that he actually started hearing about the plant-based diet. And he heard about it because he had these friends from all over the world, but specifically he had some friends from Nepal.
And they were just talking like, "Gosh, you Americans are so weird. Y'all always talk about things like, oh, what are you craving? What do you want to eat? What are you craving?" And he's like, "That's never been a thought to me craving food. It's like you just eat because it's time to eat." And that was kind of eye-opening for him.
He was like, "Oh gosh, I've never thought about that." And so he actually ordered and read Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman. And he started eating beans and rice at the college cafeteria, and he lost 20 pounds. He lost his freshman 15, 20, which was crazy. So, that was kind of our first introduction to that. And then after undergraduate, we married and then moved to Shreveport, Louisiana for medical school. He went to medical school, not me.
Rip Esselstyn:
Because in reading your story on your website, the plantbasedcajun.com, you mentioned that I think it was your husband that had the beginnings of fatty liver disease.
Camryn Clements:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, was that what prompted him to purchase Eat to Live, and then go down that path with rice and beans, or was it after that?
Camryn Clements:
No, so Eat to Live was like 2012.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, wow.
Camryn Clements:
Fatty liver disease was not on the radar at all. That was just specifically a spontaneous thing from a friend talking about food and cravings and things like that. So, the fatty liver disease thing was something that was encroaching that was kind of developing, I guess through medical school. So, I was teaching full-time.
I was busy. He was in medical school. I was also working on Sunday six to eight hours. And so we were super busy. Cooking was just not our thing. We didn't cook. I didn't know how to cook. Hamburger helper was kind of our jam. And I was like, oh, I'm cooking now. I browned some meat and put everything in there, and I feel pretty good.
So, I didn't cook. And our health kind of started to reflect that. We both were gaining weight. We had our first son when we were in medical school. And from there, so we were four years there in Shreveport, we moved to Temple Texas, not far from you, not far from Austin. I used to go to Austin all the time. But we moved to Temple, Texas for residency.
And he was getting established with a physician there. And when he got his blood work back, he looked at it and was like, "No, this is not good." And we also had known through just explaining to his dad what was going on. His dad is also a physician, internal medicine. His dad was like, "Well, fatty liver disease, it kind of runs in the family, so you got to kind of watch for that, blah, blah, blah."
Rip Esselstyn:
And for the audience, this is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease?
Camryn Clements:
Yes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. And so from that point on, when he got that blood work, this was in 2018, he just looked at me, he was like, "I know what I have to do." He's like, "I have to start really eating healthy. I can't keep doing this." And I was like, "Okay, well, let's do it." And he's like, "Well, it's going to be like plant-based."
And I was like, "Okay, let's do it." And he's like, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want you to feel like you have to do things like this is on you because it's not on you." And I was like, "Well, that doesn't make sense to me because why in the world would you start to eat healthy and we're going to take a seat back and eat fried food all the time? That doesn't make sense."
And so, I decided that night we were going to do it. And I put out some music, rearranged the pantry, kind of threw out some of the junk food, and we ordered some plant-based cookbooks. And our specific goal for this time in 2018, strictly going plant-based, was for health. So, we were looking for no oil, no salt, whole food, plant-based.
And so, we started off with simple things, just like burrito bowls. And then started doing some recipes in these cookbooks. And after a couple of weeks, I'm not going to lie, I was in tears. I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is hard." This is a lot when you don't know how to cook and you're trying to cook. And there are some things that are just a whole new world.
I had decided to start documenting what I was doing on Snapchat, which was my only social media at the time. I was like, "Okay, you guys, if we're going to be on social media, let's learn a little something." So, I was kind of showing me cooking, not really knowing how to cook, me cooking plant-based meals. And I'll never forget my first one used tofu.
And I remember looking at tofu and being like, "We're using tofu today and tofu is curdled soybeans. Okay, yeah, we're going to do this, it's going to be fine. It's going to be great." But after a couple weeks, I was like, "Okay, I need to take a little bit of a step back." It was so much all at one time. I felt overwhelmed.
And for some of the recipes, it took a long time to cook. And I hadn't thought about serving size, so I would spend an hour and a half working on a recipe. And all the food was gone between me, my husband, and my son, and I'm still hungry. I'm like, oh, I was getting so frustrated with it. So, I was like, "I need to take a step back. I need to figure out what I'm doing here."
And so, what I started to do was to Google vegan recipes, kind of bulk recipes. And one of the first ones that I mean, worked extremely well for us was a lentil lasagna with tofu ricotta, which no one could tell. It was made out of tofu and had spinach in it. But my son ate all of it, which was a happy tear moment. Like, "Oh my gosh, my three-year-old just ate up plant-based meal."
Rip Esselstyn:
It's truly remarkable the versatility in what you can do with tofu. And we're going to talk about some of that. So, let me ask you this. I mean, at first when you first were launching into this, you said you had to at some point take a step back, kind of relaunch yourself. Because there was such a maybe level of frustration, the learning curve and whatnot.
So, what advice would you give now that you've been in this for five years, for somebody that is back where you were in 2018? They're starting out, they're trying to figure out how to make this lifestyle work without getting overwhelmed. What would you say?
Camryn Clements:
No, that's an excellent question because what I'm trying to do right now is this. So, my advice is to, oh, first off, kind of take it slow. You don't have to do everything at one time. Because if you try to do everything at one time, you might drive yourself insane, kind of like I did. And I was very hard on myself.
I felt like if I didn't do things exactly 100% whole foods plant-based that I was a failure or I was failing my husband for his health or I wasn't good enough. I couldn't necessarily say I was eating healthy if it wasn't 100% like whole foods plant-based. And it can put you in a really bad mental state. And so my advice is to just take one thing at a time. If you're eating cereal for breakfast every day, let's trade that out for something healthier. Let's try some whole oats. And let's-
Rip Esselstyn:
Speaking of which, do you remember your first post ever on Instagram?
Camryn Clements:
Yes, but I didn't know anything. I think I did what I was eating for breakfast, which was...
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, it was oats.
Camryn Clements:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
It was oats, it was a sliced banana. And it was, I think a plant-based milk on there.
Camryn Clements:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, but that was your first ever.
Camryn Clements:
Yeah, and chia, flax and hemp, which I'm like-
Rip Esselstyn:
That's right. Yes.
Camryn Clements:
Yeah. So, just starting with something small like that and making it that your change and that your norm. So, instead of throughout the week, instead of constantly grabbing for the cereal, you have your oatmeal. I mean, that is a huge place to start. That's great if you've eliminated one mule that was not plant-based and made it plant-based.
Rip Esselstyn:
And let me add to that, I concur with you 100% on that. Because I tell people the absolute linchpin to my success in doing this now for almost 35 years has undeniably been my breakfast. And I basically keep it the exact same. It's the rips big bowl with plant-based milk with different fruits on top. Some chia, some hemp, some ground flax seeded meal. And the variety is endless, just depending upon what fruits in season, what I feel like.
Camryn Clements:
Exactly.
Rip Esselstyn:
And it fills me up well. If I have it at eight in the morning, I'm good to go until 12:30, 1:00 when I'm like, then I'm ready for lunch.
Camryn Clements:
Right. No, exactly. And that's the thing, it's so customizable. And some people say, "Oh, you eat oats every day or oatmeal every day?" And I'm like, "Yeah, I do." But it's also really easy to change it up. Right now I'm on a cinnamon kick, and cinnamon is thrown in every single day.
In the summertime I like my strawberries and blueberries and blackberries and mix that in with banana. It's very fruit heavy. But I love that it. You can just do so many things with it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Have you ever tried grapefruit in your breakfast cereal?
Camryn Clements:
No.
Rip Esselstyn:
I'm telling right you now-
Camryn Clements:
I have a grapefruit on my counter right now, so I'm like, "Oh, maybe I should try that tomorrow. Some grapefruit in my oatmeal cereal."
Rip Esselstyn:
Do it. Don't squeeze the juice in there, but just put the grapefruit wedges in there. Especially if it's a ruby red or one of those that's not too tart. Oh, you'll be in heaven.
Camryn Clements:
That's good to know. Really, I'm going to do it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, do it and then DM me and let me know how it went.
Camryn Clements:
Yeah. So, that's what I would recommend and also just batch cooking. Batch cooking is a big thing.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, what do you like to batch cook? What would you recommend people if they're starting to batch cook? What? Tofu, potatoes, rice, lentils, what?
Camryn Clements:
So, we batch cook beans pretty much every week. And I know that's not exciting, so I don't post all the time on social media.
Rip Esselstyn:
That's super exciting if you're Dan Buettner.
Camryn Clements:
I know right. But we really do, we eat beans. That's our meal prep pretty much every week is some kind of beans or stew a soup. My kids though, right now, they're kind of like, "We don't want soup." And so we've been more on the rice and beans kind of thing. They love rice. Most of the time beans.
Sometimes they'll be like, "Oh my gosh, I love this." In on second. And then sometimes they're like, "I don't want it." I'm like, "Great." So, you just take what you can get. But yeah, so beans and stews and things that you can just make a whole bunch of and really maximize your time in the kitchen. Because that's something to consider too.
If you're trying to become plant-based or eat more plants, there is a learning curve to doing that. If all you've cooked are meat centered dishes. And it's like, I've never cooked lentils before. Oh, how do you cook dry beans? You know I'm saying? So, there is a little bit of learning how to do it.
And if you kind of maximize that by batch cooking, then you're set for lunches for the week. And you spent 40 minutes in the kitchen for lunch for the week, which is a big deal. And for us, we're so busy with sports and after school things, and I teach workouts. It's crazy. And so the batch cooking is the thing that saves us.
Rip Esselstyn:
And how many kids do you have now?
Camryn Clements:
I have three.
Rip Esselstyn:
Three? What are their sexes and what are their ages?
Camryn Clements:
So, I have a son who's seven, a daughter who's four, and a baby who just turned 10 months, a baby boy.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh my gosh. Well, you definitely have your hands full then.
Camryn Clements:
Yeah, we're running around all the time. It's good though. It's a fun stage in life to be.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right. So, let's level set for a second. So, you're trying to get your husband healthy. You're embarking on this lifestyle. You're feeling a lot of pressure to make it work. At what point did you decide that, you know what? I want to try and veganize all these traditional Cajun dishes that I grew up with and were part of my culture because I missed them. How long into the journey did that begin?
Camryn Clements:
About a year. So, we were kind of isolated out in Texas and no friends, no really anything. I was just kind of like, okay, I'm just going to be here in my kitchen. I'm going to cook. And was cooking plant-based stuff and just cooking a lot of things that I found online. And then when 2020 hit, so the pandemic started and the isolation of course was taken to a whole new level.
And I was like, "I have to have something else. I have to do something to try to have some kind of connection." And so I joined Instagram. And so once I was on Instagram, I was like, "Oh my gosh." And I'd resisted it for so long. I was like, "Actually Instagram, is that really plant positive place. There are so many people here doing plant-based." I was like, "Oh my gosh." I mean, I kind of went crazy.
Follow, follow, follow, follow all these different people and all these different chefs and stuff. And I was just so intrigued. Man, look at these people go doing all this plant-based stuff. And the real profiles of these websites I had been kind of screenshotting their recipes from. But something else that I was realizing was, well, dang, what I'm doing is a carbon copy of what everyone else is doing.
I'm just white noise in this space. Everyone's doing a curry. Everyone's doing lentil loaf. Everyone's doing some kind of super stew. That's nothing original. And who's going to trust me, some random lady to give them a good curry recipe? That's not my culture. And then it was like, ding. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, my culture. Like Camryn, hello, you know Cajun culture, you know Cajun food, you know how to cook it. And so why don't you offer something different in this space?"
Rip Esselstyn:
Did you run it this past your husband where you're like, "Hey, what do you think of this?"
Camryn Clements:
Oh, I was pumped. Yeah, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I had a great idea." I was like, "I'm going to start doing plant-based Cajun recipes and vegan stuff." He was like, "Oh yeah, that'd be great. Because we miss gumbo, we miss jambalaya." And when you Google and look at some of these recipes online for vegan jambalaya and vegan gumbo, oh, it just kind of makes you squirm a little bit.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Camryn Clements:
That's not some spices we would use, but okay. Oh, we don't really put beans in our jambalaya, but okay. Just different little things that people from around here would be, that is-
Rip Esselstyn:
You said those aren't some spices we would use. What are the vintage Cajun spices?
Camryn Clements:
So, typically a lot of the flavor from Cajun dishes are from the "Holy Trinity" of Cajun cooking, which is onion, celery, and bell pepper. And that base flavors most every Cajun dish. And then added to that for some standard authentic things would be like garlic, thyme is used a little bit. Let's see, cayenne was used a lot.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Camryn Clements:
Cayenne and black pepper. A lot of it is just very, very simple things. Citrus was used a good bit as it was found around here. And I'm not some historian, but from all the standard Cajun recipes and stuff that I've read through and done and that our family's done, it's all very simple stuff. It's not that complicated.
And so it's just when those things all melt together with the centerpiece of the dish, which a lot of times now is meat, then the dish was done. So, yeah, I was like, "I want to do these Cajun meals and do them plant-based." And so I changed my handle to the plant-based Cajun.
Rip Esselstyn:
What'd you change it from? What was it before that?
Camryn Clements:
It used to be Camryn's kitchen and stuff.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Camryn Clements:
Because I wanted to talk about a little bit more than just kitchen things. I was like, we were really getting into composting. We were getting into gardening and sustainability, those kinds of things. I didn't want to be limited to just the kitchen.
Rip Esselstyn:
No.
Camryn Clements:
So, I was Camryn's kitchen and stuff. And on YouTube I had to put, yeah, because they had to have a last name. And I had put that all as one name. And then I had yeah my last name. So, Camryn's kitchen and stuff yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
In Cajun culture what do you call the kitchen?
Camryn Clements:
Oh gosh.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, the reason I asked you that is because I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I think I read somewhere that you call it your crib.
Camryn Clements:
Oh, that's funny. No, I mean, it was just kind of called the kitchen. I mean, at least for us. But I guess it could be called crib. I haven't really heard of that. But we just called-
Rip Esselstyn:
My Cajun crib right here.
Camryn Clements:
Yes. We just always called it the kitchen. Yeah, I mean, that's just kind of how it came about. And I started really delving into traditional Cajun dishes and stuff. And by this point, I was a year and a half into plant-based cooking. I knew enough about techniques, I knew enough about how kind of the chemistry and science of the plant-based cooking realm.
I knew enough to be able to say, "Okay, I'm going to try to do this to replace this. And I need to add this to try to replace." So, I was starting to be able to, honestly, to create, kind of create my own recipes, which is something I never thought I would've been able to do. But it was kind of fun in a way too. It's like a jigsaw puzzle, and I was all about it.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, Camryn, what do your mom and dad think of this leap that you've taken?
Camryn Clements:
I mean, they're supportive for the most part. So, my mom actually, whenever I went, when I called her the day we were going plant-based or the morning after. I was like, "Yeah, we're going to go plant-based." Back in 2018. And my mom was like, "See, y'all aren't going to eat meat or anything?
That's vegan." And I was like, "Oh, really?" I never heard the term vegan. I really didn't know. So, I was like, "I guess we're vegan." And she decided that a couple weeks later she was going to go plant-based too of her accord.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh yeah.
Camryn Clements:
And vegan and stuff. She's also at a soft heart for the animals too. So, she still to this day is plant-based as well.
Rip Esselstyn:
How about your pop?
Camryn Clements:
No, he is more of the meat and potatoes kind of guy. But he will try some things and kind of get me feedback. And especially when I'm recipe testing, I'll be like, "Here, try this."
Rip Esselstyn:
Are your mom and dad still together?
Camryn Clements:
Oh yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, they're together. But does your dad cook as well? So, your mom cooks for herself and your dad?
Camryn Clements:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Bless her. Oh my goodness.
Camryn Clements:
I know. So, she cooks for herself and she cooks her plant-based stuff. And then she does all of his kind of traditional meat and potatoes kind of thing. But she says, she's like, "I don't have to be that complicated." She's like, "I can grab a bag salad from Walmart and that can be my lunch with some beans on top."
Rip Esselstyn:
How about your twin? How about your twin, your brother?
Camryn Clements:
He eats whatever. But honestly, for the most part, the family though has been really excited about it and is willing to try things. And I kind of use them as guinea pigs and tell them, "Hey, I want you to tell me your honest opinions about this. What do you think about this? Tell me about texture. Tell me about taste, so that I can really try to nail some of these and try to make them as plant-based as possible and them still taste Cajun." So, people that are from around here and that grew up eating the food.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, there's only a few people that I've had on this podcast three times, and one of them is Dan Buettner. And I recently had them on literally just a couple weeks ago for his newest book, the Blue Zones American Kitchen. And don't ask me how, because I don't know, but I'd like to ask you, you're in that book. And so how in the world did you get hooked up with Dan Buettner and some of your Cajun recipes?
Camryn Clements:
Life is crazy. And for someone that was so against social media. I joined and then kind of realized kind of what my thing was going to be within this new social space. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to not be doing what everyone else is doing, but then maybe a little change here and there.
I knew it was a niche thing. Not everyone's going to be looking for a plant-based or vegan nakadish meat pie or something like that. But I was like, that's what I want to do. I miss that food. I want to make it plant-based form. So, I was doing this a little bit just kind of getting my footing. I started following, like I said, all these plant-based people.
I started following Dan because I'd heard about Blue Zones and he did his first Instagram Live. And I was watching and just started direct messaged him about something that he said and didn't think much of it. I was just direct messaging and chatting was kind of like my thing. I tried to be a more personal connection when I'm on social media.
I don't necessarily all the commenting blah out for everybody. So, I direct messaged him and he direct messaged me back two days later. And was like, "I'm so glad you messaged me. I'm writing a new cookbook, and if we're going to be around where you are in two and a half weeks, we would love to come and see you and cook with you." And my jaw dropped. I was like.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, did he come to your home there with that amazing photographer buddy of his?
Camryn Clements:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yes?
Camryn Clements:
They came. And I really was shocked. I was so shocked. Taylor was like, "Hold on, Camryn, let's make sure this isn't a scam." I don't have many followers. I'm just this random person. I was like, "No, it's him. He's got the blue check." And I told-
Rip Esselstyn:
He's got the blue check.
Camryn Clements:
He's got the blue check. He's real. He's verified. So, I told Dan, I said, "Are you sure that you want to come see me?" I was like, "I just want to be completely transparent. I'm just a person trying." I am not a chef. I am not trained. I'm just like a mom here in her kitchen cooking.
Rip Esselstyn:
That's the American kitchen right there.
Camryn Clements:
And he was so sweet about it. He was like, "No, we do. We want to come see you. We want to include you. And as long as the food tastes good, yes, absolutely." And so I was like, "Oh my gosh." I loaded the kids up. We went to HEB and I wanted to make sure it got on my stuff and really tested out some recipes. And he and David McClain came and they're so funny together. And it was fun. And I still can't believe it.
Rip Esselstyn:
They wanted to see your Cajun crib.
Camryn Clements:
Yeah, I know. So, then it was the Texan crib. We were out in, like he said, the tumbleweeds of nowhere. We lived on the outskirts of Temple, Texas. We were out by some corn fields. And I loved living out there. It was great though.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, since then you've moved back to St. Charles? Got it.
Camryn Clements:
Yeah, to Lake Charles.
Rip Esselstyn:
Lake Charles, yes. Lake Charles.
Camryn Clements:
So, we moved back-
Rip Esselstyn:
I was thinking St. Charles from Monopoly.
Camryn Clements:
Do what now?
Rip Esselstyn:
There's a St. Charles place in Monopoly. The game Monopoly.
Camryn Clements:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Forget it. That just went over everybody's heads. Lake Charles.
Camryn Clements:
No, I got it. Yeah, but we were there for residency. And so Dan actually came there to do the, not filming, but the pictures and all that kind of stuff, and cooking in the kitchen. And it's kind of hard to leave that house because I was like, man, I spent so long in this house and in this kitchen. And so much came of it.
Who would've thought within the three years of us being there that everything would've happened the way it did? And now we're here in Charles and trying to make a difference here with plant-based eating and with kind of flipping the script on Cajun food and that kind of thing.
Rip Esselstyn:
What recipe or recipes of yours did Dan put in his book?
Camryn Clements:
He put the mushroom etouffee, which I called it the crawfish list etouffee. Specifically, because-
Rip Esselstyn:
What is an etouffee? That's a crazy word. Etouffee sounds like et tu brute.
Camryn Clements:
Right, et tu brute. But no, etouffee just kind of means smothered. So, a crawfish etouffee is just like crawfish that's been smothered in a rue with vegetables and a lot of times a tomatoes too. Tomatoes are included in an etouffee lot of times in spices served over rice. So, that's what a basic etouffee is. One of the things that people think about when they think about Louisiana is crawfish as a Cajun staple.
And I worked a while on that spice blend that's in that cookbook. In order to get the meat out of crawfish it has to be cooked first. And so whatever you cook the crawfish in is going to be the flavor that it is. And so the staples for a crawfish boil are, you have a lot of lemon, and now they're like pre-made crawfish boil stuff.
And I did a lot of research to dissect and figure out what was going to be like, what's really in that crawfish boil seasoning mix. And kind of broke it down to the bare bones of, there's a little bit of salt, there's pepper, there's like white pepper and cayenne. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I kind of based it all in lemon and zest.
And reworked it a bunch of different times to where whenever I seasoned those mushrooms like it, it tasted like crawfish. And that was one of those high knees running in the kitchen moment. Ah, I got it, I got it. It's here. I got it. But that recipe's included in the Blue Zones American kitchen.
Rip Esselstyn:
What kind of mushrooms did you use in that? Do you know?
Camryn Clements:
Portobello.
Rip Esselstyn:
Portobello?
Camryn Clements:
Yeah. Oh, and that's another thing for recipes. I try to choose things that are going to be really accessible to people, like they can find any kind of mushroom. And I think I might even said that in there, you can use any mushroom. Or maybe I used the little white ones.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, the buttons, yeah.
Camryn Clements:
But anyway, you can use whatever one that you want. I know a lot of people and vegan influencers and stuff use oyster mushrooms for meat alternatives. But that's not something that we can find here. And so that's not something that I experiment with. But that mushroom one, the mushroom etouffee is included in the cookbook.
And then also my cornbread. And that's made without dairy and without eggs. And so it's more of a drier kind of crumbly cornbread that you can eat with red beans and rice or whatever.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, congratulations on that. That's really phenomenal. That's really huge. I want to go through some recipes that kind of struck me when I was going through your website.
Camryn Clements:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I want to make this." So, the first one is, and you say in your culture, you get everybody in the kitchen and you are dancing, you've got the music blaring, and you are just going to town in that crib, but it's the plant-based jambalaya. And you say it took you years to perfect this.
Camryn Clements:
Yes, I'm so proud of that recipe because I did. And I spent three years, I think it was for developing that plant-based jambalaya because I wanted to make it plant-based. And it's like a whole foods plant-based, because our meat alternative is tofu. A normal Cajun jambalaya, the way it's usually made is a lot of times in a very social setting, because it takes a long time to make.
And that's something that's kind of traditional of Cajun culture. Cajun cooking is not a lot of quick cooking. It's not a 15-minute meal. We let things simmer. We let flavors really incorporate. We have a rue lot of times that helps things get flavored, and then we eat. And a lot of times the second day it's even better.
So, that is very, very center within Cajun culture and Cajun cooking. And so for your jambalaya, a lot of times that was kind of saved for bigger events. Currently, it's tailgates or showers, wedding showers, couple showers, Mardi Gras, birthdays. I actually have a kettle in my garage right now. It's not mine, it's my brother-in-law's.
But it's a huge cast iron kettle, and you throw in all the vegetables and stuff, and you cook it over a single heat source for a while. And then you would throw in traditionally sausage and chicken. Sometimes it would be dredged in flour to kind of create a rue once it hits the oil. So, you kind of get a browning effect with that.
And then you'd pour in liquid, you'd pour in your rice, you'd put a lid on it, let it simmer. But then stir like every five minutes so it doesn't stick. And everyone kind of stands around. You take turns stirring, people play music or currently, you just get a little speaker and people are listening to music, beer in hand, whatever kids are playing around in the yard. It's a good old time.
Rip Esselstyn:
Because I watched your video on your website and you have videos of all your recipes. Explain to everybody how you made your sausage and your chicken out of the tofu.
Camryn Clements:
So, we make it, first of all, with a extremely firm tofu. You get the best results with the least amount of effort using a vacuum packed tofu. So, finding a vacuum packed tofu, which you can find at Walmart, very excited that Walmart carries that. But we take it and we slice it into quarter inch slices.
And then for our sausage, we literally take any kind of little circle cutout that you could have. Whether it be a shot glass or a little medicine cup, a tablespoon. And you cut out little circles and that's your sausage. And then the leftover is your shredded chicken. And then with that, we create a seasoning mix with extra virgin olive oil. We do some soy sauce, low sodium.
You could do tamari, pepper, garlic, and cayenne. Very simple, black pepper, garlic powder and cayenne. And you can't do whole garlic because it'll burn. You have to do the garlic powder. But you dip each side of that in the marinade. Place it on a baking sheet, and you bake it. Flip it, and then bake it for a little more. And it comes out to be pretty tough, very crispy around the edges, and it really starts to look like sausage.
Rip Esselstyn:
It totally did.
Camryn Clements:
And then from there, you take that and you throw it into your holy trinity of onion, celery, bell pepper, throw in a broth or water, throw in your rice. And then I actually over the years have found that putting your pot of jambalaya in the oven is the easiest and best way to make a jambalaya. Because there is heat surrounding the entire pot. You don't have to worry about anything burning where you do if you're cooking on a stovetop from a specific heat source.
So, putting in the oven for the rice to cook and absorb all the liquid. We kind of infused our tofu sausage and chicken with a whole lot of spice. When you make that marinade, it's a very powdery kind of, and that's on purpose. Because once you actually throw everything together, that spice infuses into the rice and it flavors the entire dish. After, you can kind of taste test, you're going to adjust however you want.
You can throw in some Tabasco, you could add a little bit more standard Cajun seasoning if you'd like. But yeah, that's how we make it. And honestly, it's kind of crazy that it took so long to develop because it's pretty simple once I kind of explain how to do it. But I tried so many different things to try to get it to look and taste like and have be the texture of a Cajun jambalaya from here. And it's that simple.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Well, I think you've definitely mastered it. I can't wait to make that recipe for my family as soon as possible.
Camryn Clements:
Oh my gosh.
Rip Esselstyn:
You love Kristen Wigg from Saturday Night Live.
Camryn Clements:
Oh my God.
Rip Esselstyn:
And so, how would she react to this Cajun jambalaya dish? What would she say?
Camryn Clements:
Oh my gosh. I'm so freaking excited. Sorry, that's my best impression. It may not be good.
Rip Esselstyn:
No, listen, I appreciate you doing that. That was awesome. So, I want to go through a couple other recipes here. Let's just pick up the pace a little bit. So, one of the things whenever I've been to New Orleans I just can't believe it are these praline king cakes that are just everywhere. And you've made a vegan version, right?
Camryn Clements:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
I mean, is that something that your kids adore, you adore? I mean, just you had to have it?
Camryn Clements:
Yeah. Whenever I eat sweets, I try to make them from scratch myself, and I want them to be vegan. So, in order to have that around here, you got to make it yourself. And a king cake is typically starts the Mardi Gras season, which starts on epiphany. So, it's just become a tradition of mine to make one.
Rip Esselstyn:
Are you making one for this Mardi Gras?
Camryn Clements:
I made one for Epiphany. I'm going to try to make one for Mardi Gras, but what has cut ahead of that is my daughter's school is having in Louisiana Day. And they want me to make my vegan beignets for that. And so I have been tapped in to make vegan beignets for the little preschool.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now what's that?
Camryn Clements:
So, beignets is a fried donut. And that's typically what you would see in New Orleans, more like a funnel cake kind of consistency with powdered sugar on top. Think Cafe Du Monde, people go into the French Quarter, that kind of thing.
Rip Esselstyn:
You mentioned Mardi Gras and you mentioned another day. Epiphany?
Camryn Clements:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
What's that?
Camryn Clements:
So, epiphany is the 12th day after Christmas. It celebrates the three wise men finally meeting baby Jesus. They got to baby Jesus.
Rip Esselstyn:
Baby Jesus.
Camryn Clements:
Baby Jesus. Well, they meet baby Jesus and everything. And so king cakes would start being served on Epiphany because that's the day. And so the king cake is a circle to signify the fact that the three kings went to Jesus. But then they had to go another way around King Herod, so it's a circle.
And inside the king cake you would put traditionally a nut or bean or something to signify the baby Jesus. And it was kind of like a game. Whoever got the peace with the bean or the nut was like, that was the baby Jesus. And you were responsible for making the next cake for the next party or whatever. So, now what you find plastic babies that you can put inside.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, so one of the things I love about in looking at your recipes that you have is just have a lot of these very clean, whole food, plant-based, no oil and then you run the gambit. I mean, then you go crazy on some of these incredible desserts as well. So, aside from the king cake, you also love your chocolate cake.
Camryn Clements:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
And would you say, is chocolate your favorite, favorite dessert ever?
Camryn Clements:
All time. It rained supreme.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, me too.
Camryn Clements:
But yeah, I do. Even though we're plant-based and we're like 80% plant-based, 20% whatever else, and I think it's important for people to understand it's okay to have sweets sometimes. It's okay to do that. It's okay to enjoy baking. You can still do that kind of stuff. And I set out to make a really good chocolate cake, and I did it.
And I really do love that chocolate cake recipe. Anyone can go online and make it for themselves. And if you do, go ahead and leave a comment, leave a rating. I just made it literally five days ago for my son's birthday party. And she won't be my sister-in-law.
The sister of my brother-in-law was like, "You have to make my daughter's birthday cake. These are amazing. This is the best cake I've ever had." And I'm like, "Thank you. It's my own recipe."
Rip Esselstyn:
Another thing that you make that has chocolate in it and marshmallows is you do a s'more cupcake.
Camryn Clements:
Oh yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
What in the world is that and how do I get one?
Camryn Clements:
Well, it's just so basically like a s'more or a s'more. I say s'more and they tell me that's not the way to say it.
Rip Esselstyn:
The first thing I ever said, the first words out of my mouth were more s'more. I love them that much.
Camryn Clements:
Yes, but it's just a graham cracker base that you pack into cupcake. Then I do my chocolate cake on top, and then the icing is an aquafaba based icing. Which is the juice from beans, which has a lot of protein that when you whip it's kind of the consistency of a meringue. But you add sugar to that and it becomes marshmallowy.
And you just put that on top and it actually toasts and everything like a marshmallow. And so me and the kids did that this past summer to be like, okay, summer's over. We've really enjoyed that.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, that sounds delicious. Cajun red beans and rice, this seems like an absolute staple.
Camryn Clements:
Absolutely.
Rip Esselstyn:
What are the spices or what makes red beans and rice so vintage Cajun? What do you need to do to it?
Camryn Clements:
Well, I mean, basically cook it for a long time. A lot of times the red beans for our red beans and rice is almost completely broken down into a gravy. And a lot of times it's very blue zoney, what Cajuns used to do. We didn't have a lot of meat a lot of times traditionally 100 years ago.
And so they would flavor with just a little bit of meat. Or they would make a rue with a little bit of meat flavoring and then cook the red beans and stuff in that. And so for my red beans, I think one of the recipes that I have up, I do a dry rue of whole wheat flour where we bake it and we toast it to that traditional Cajun flavor.
And then that way, you can have a red beans and rice meal that has a rue, which tastes very traditional to Cajun cooking. It's very distinct, yet it's also oil free. And so that's kind of where I was hitting with that.
Rip Esselstyn:
I'm a bean and rice kind of guy. And yesterday that's what I had for lunch. Are you superstitious?
Camryn Clements:
No, but I'm a little stitious. That's a quote from the office.
Rip Esselstyn:
I know some other people down there, Cajuns, and it seems to be a little bit in their blood, be a little superstitious about stuff.
Camryn Clements:
Yes, it's true.
Rip Esselstyn:
What about French? Do you speak French?
Camryn Clements:
[foreign language 00:57:50] A little bit, but it's not good. I study for a long time all through elementary, middle, high school. But when you don't speak it, you lose it. So, unfortunately I've lost a lot of it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, the only thing I really know, I was taught this by my parents a long time ago was [foreign language 00:58:14].
Camryn Clements:
Something, something, the cheese.
Rip Esselstyn:
That's right. Who cut the cheese? Yeah.
Camryn Clements:
That's funny.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Camryn, tell me this, so you're putting together all these really phenomenal recipes. You are the plant-based Cajun. Can we see maybe a cookbook in the future? You think that's something that you're eyeballing?
Camryn Clements:
I am a dreamer and I have dreamed about possibly releasing a cookbook. And I have a lot of recipes and things that I haven't released. Kind of like maybe I releasing something at some point. I also have dreams of possibly having a restaurant one day or a food truck or selling at the farmer's market or maybe doing a separate club.
Because I don't know. I feel like one of the ways that we can really, I don't know, catalyze people being more open-minded to plant-based eating around here is to get people to try it. And some people have straight up told me, "You don't want me cooking plant-based. I'm not cooking." I'm like, "Oh, okay."
So, I've taken it upon myself to bring one to every family function, a plant-based, something so that they can try different things. And hopefully start to be a little more open-minded about plant-based eating and cooking.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Do you have the menu yet for Mardi Gras in a couple days?
Camryn Clements:
Oh, not necessarily. It's kind of been crazy, but that's one of the things we kind of look at over the weekend. What we doing? What parades are we going to? Who's doing? What do you need me to bring? I know that I am making chickpea salad sandwiches.
Because that's something that anybody, whether they are meat eater or not, chickpea salad sandwiches, people would eat. And a lot of times they have no idea. So, that's something that I like to do. My plant-based chili or the plant-based jambalaya, which I'll probably do that because that's a very standard thing to do.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yummy.
Camryn Clements:
Get ready.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yummy, yummy. Where, Camryn, can people find you? What are all are your handles and websites and stuff?
Camryn Clements:
You can find me on Instagram at the plant-based Cajun. I also have a website, theplantbasedcajun.com. And I also have a YouTube channel, the plant-based Cajun. So, you can find me there and send a shout-out. Every now and then I try to respond to those messages and stuff that I get.
Yeah, so that's where you can find me. You can find printable recipes on the website, which I'm proud of. That was one of the things I wanted to do this year was make recipes printable for you guys to be able to have and have in your kitchen for whenever you're ready to cook.
Rip Esselstyn:
I love your consistency with the plant-based Cajun. I think it's a step up from Camryn's kitchen and stuff.
Camryn Clements:
Right.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, nice going there. You know what? This is so exciting what you've done, what you've created. Cajun recipes that everybody just can get their heart and their mouths and their stomachs around. Like I said, this weekend for my kids, for the family, I'm going to make this plant-based jambalaya and I'll let you know how it turns out.
Camryn Clements:
Oh my gosh. Please do my. Hey, my week will be made if you do that.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh yeah. All right, I'll take photos and I'll tag you and we'll have a day of it.
Camryn Clements:
That'd be awesome.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. All right, so man, this has been great. Thank you, Camryn. Will you give me a little fist bump on the way out? Plant strong. Boom.
Camryn Clements:
Thank you so much for having me.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yes, thank you. Thank you so much, Camryn, for setting a shining example for your kids and for staying authentic to your Cajun roots. You can follow Camryn at her website, theplantbasedcajun.com, and on Instagram at the plant-based Cajun. We'll be sure to link that up in the show notes. Thanks so much for listening. And until next week, keep it plant strong.
Thank you for listening to the PLANTSTRONG podcast. You can support the show by taking a quick minute to follow us wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Leaving us a positive review and sharing the show with your network is another great way to help us reach as many people as possible with the exciting news about plants. Thank you in advance for your support. It means everything.
The PLANTSTRONG podcast team includes Carrie Barrett, Lori Kortowich, Ami Mackey, Patrick Gavin, and Wade Clark. This season is dedicated to all of those courageous, true seekers who weren't afraid to look through the lens with clear vision and hold firm to a higher truth. Most notably my parents, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. And Anne Crile Esselstyn. Thanks for listening.
