Makini Howell

Makini Howell is a vegan chef and restaurateur in Seattle, Washington. Her flagship restaurant, Plum Bistro, is a vegan fine-dining restaurant in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Makini Howell
Culinary career
Cooking styleVegan fine dining
Current restaurant(s)
    • Plum Bistro
    • Plum Burgers
    • Plum Pantry
    • Sugar Plum
Websiteplumbistro.com

History

Howell was raised vegan.[1] Her parents have since the 1990s owned vegan sandwich shops and sold vegan sandwiches through co-ops in the region, and Howell grew up working in her family's sandwich shops.[1][2]: 64 

Howell worked in New York City as a graphic designer and a clothing designer, including for Jay-Z's Rocawear, then moved back to the Northwest to pursue a renewed interest in the culinary world.[1][3]

She opened Plum Bistro in 2009.[4] In 2013 Howell published Plum.[5] In 2014 she appeared on the Queen Latifah Show.[1] In 2015 Stevie Wonder hired her as personal chef during his yearlong, 44-city Songs In The Key Of Life tour.[1][6] In addition to Plum Bistro, Howell also operates a catering company, food truck Plum Burgers, casual eatery Plum Pantry in Seattle Center’s Armory, and dessert shop Sugar Plum.[1] According to vegan lifestyle magazine Laika, Plum Burgers, which launched in 2013, was the first vegan burger food truck in the United States.[3]

Howell supported Seattle's 2012 required paid sick leave law and 2015 $15 minimum wage hike.[7][8] She spoke at the 2014 White House Summit on Working Families about her support of the minimum wage increase.[7]

Reception

In 2019 Julia Moskin and John Eligon, writing in the New York Times, named her to their list of "16 Black Chefs Changing Food in America".[9] In 2017 Tasting Table named Plum Bistro one of the eight best vegan restaurants in the U.S and called them "the OG of Pacific Northwestern vegan dining."[4] James Beard award-winning food writer Karen Page featured Howell in her Kitchen Creativity (2017).[1]

Page and fellow Beard winner Andrew Dornenburg featured Howell in their Vegetarian Flavor Bible (2014).[1][10]

Selected publications
  • Plum: Gratifying Vegan Dishes from Seattle's Plum Bistro (2013)

See also

References
  1. Denn, Rebekah (2017-11-21). "Chef Makini Howell: 'I've worked really hard to make veganism something delicious'". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  2. Page, Karen (2014-10-14). The Vegetarian Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity with Vegetables, Fruits, Grains, Legumes, Nuts, Seeds, and More, Based on the Wisdom of Leading American Chefs. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-24417-6.
  3. "The Intrepid Chef: Makini Howell". Laika Magazine. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  4. Saladino, Emily (19 January 2017). "The 8 Best Vegan Restaurants in America". Tasting Table. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  5. Howell, Makini (2013-04-23). Plum: Gratifying Vegan Dishes from Seattle's Plum Bistro. Sasquatch Books. ISBN 978-1-57061-837-6.
  6. "I Cooked for Stevie Wonder: Makini Howell Redefines Vegan". Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  7. Quittner, Jeremy (2014-07-01). "Why One Seattle Employer Thinks Paying Workers $15 an Hour Is a Good Idea". Inc.com. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  8. Dinh, Elizabeth (2012-09-01). "New law requires paid sick leave at Seattle businesses". KOMO. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  9. Eligon, John; Moskin, Julia (2019-07-16). "16 Black Chefs Changing Food in America". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  10. Page, Karen (2014-10-14). The Vegetarian Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity with Vegetables, Fruits, Grains, Legumes, Nuts, Seeds, and More, Based on the Wisdom of Leading American Chefs. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-24417-6.
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