Greetings!

Hi! My name is Jessica Downs and I’m a high school senior in Georgia. I look forward to compiling my experiences learning about baking, veganism, and entrepreneurship on this blog! I hope you’ll join me on this voyage! Here are some Q and A’s that you might be wondering about:

Vegan Baking?! What’s the point of this site?

At my high school, each senior is charged with coming up with a project that relates to a career that they might consider pursuing, so I decided the project would be the perfect opportunity to learn more about vegan baking. My interest in baking dates bake to my earliest memories in the kitchen with my friends and family cooking up sweet holiday treats. My interest in veganism is a little bit more recent. In October of 2008 I stopped eating any animal products. This ranges from the more obvious meats and fish to the more conspicuous eggs and dairy. Needless to say, these two passions did not seem to mesh together very well.

While I’m not sure what I will ultimately do with my life, I can easily imagine myself opening a business of my own. I also see myself baking vegan goods for friends and family. Although I don’t necessarily see myself owning my own bakery, my project addresses two of my interests simultaneously.

What makes vegan baking so different from regular baking?

Most baked products (cakes, cookies, breads, etc.) have at least one of the following

· Butter

· Eggs

· Milk

None of these is vegan, and they play a role that goes beyond taste. Eggs in particular serve a vital structural role in most baking. Imagine meringue which is made entirely from eggs; it has a structure all by itself. The same concept applies to cakes and cookies. Eggs hold the ingredients together and change the texture into a lighter more enjoyable treat. The challenge exists not in replacing non-vegan flavors but in replacing the roles of these ingredients without adding new and unpleasant flavors.

Why are you recording this into a blog, though?

My mother, a journalism major, actually turned me onto the idea. Since my project appeals to such a niche market, I decided to use the internet as a means of connecting with the outside world. If I did open a vegan bakery, an extraordinary amount of advertising would probably be necessary to reach enough people interested in buying vegan to support the business. Blogging, specifically, is such an exciting new medium for communicating because it allows for two way communication. I can post information about my journey, and I hope you will post comments asking to learn more about an entry, offering constructive criticism, or just asking for clarification on something I have written.