Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Biography

Raised in Brooklyn, New York, and having dropped out of The High School of Music & Art, where she majored in fine art, Moskowitz found herself drawn toward the punk rock scene of the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the late 1980s, embracing first a vegetarian diet, then veganism. The experimentation and adaptation required for her new diet led to developing her skills as a cook and as an inventor of her own recipes. She volunteered with Food Not Bombs, an anarchist organization that provides free vegan meals to the homeless and needy.

The inspiration to create her own cooking show came while watching the Food Network and wondering to herself why there were no vegan shows. According to Moskowitz the show used the title The Post Punk Kitchen to signify the feeling of being "older and facing the conundrum of growing up and making compromises that their eighteen-year-old selves might hate them for". The show was popular for its laid-back approach and unscripted dialogue. Bands played on the show, and even helped out with the cooking. The Post Punk Kitchen was co-hosted by Terry Hope Romero and aired on community access television in both Manhattan and Brooklyn between 2003 and 2005.

The success of The Post Punk Kitchen led to the compilation of a cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance, in late 2005. The recipes, rather than relying on expensive and heavily processed meat substitutes, use readily available and inexpensive ingredients. The book also includes multiple references to the punk-rock subculture with Moskowitz visibly sporting a t-shirt from British anarcho-punk band Crass on the book's cover.

In 2006, Moskowitz and her former co-host, Romero, created a cookbook consisting entirely of vegan cupcake recipes, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which was named Cookbook Of The Year by VegNews magazine. 2007 saw the release of yet another book, Veganomicon, which bills itself as the "ultimate vegan cookbook." Moskowitz has since written five more books, Vegan Brunch (2009), Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar (2009), Appetite for Reduction (2010), Vegan Pie in the Sky (2011), and Isa Does It (2013).

In April 2008, she relocated from New York to Portland, Oregon, then to Omaha, Nebraska. In 2010, she was in the process of opening a restaurant.

Activism

Moskowitz is a vocal opponent of "humane meat", promoting animal rights through what she calls "Culinary Activism" or "Baketivism":

"I think that activism isn't what you decide to do but how it affects people. So if someone says, I'm going to become an activist! I'm going to stand on a street corner and preach about veganism! And then they go ahead and do that but no one listens and no one becomes vegan, then is that activism? On the other hand, maybe there's a girl in the middle of nowhere who loves animals and decided to bake vegan. And then people taste her cupcakes and are like “What the hell, I'll go vegan, too." Obviously I think the latter is more effective, but I guess people might not see it as activism".

In 2008 she founded the organization Apron Activists ("four courses for causes") to raise money for local animal rights organisations in Oregon; she also works with Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary to raise money through cooking. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake Moskowitz posted on her blog a call for vegans to host bake sales in their home cities to fundraise for relief which resulted in over $75,000 being raised.

In July 2011, Moskowitz, along with Anna Dorfman, Leigh Ellis and John McDevitt created The Teal Cat Project to raise money for cat rescue groups across the country that participate in Trap-Neuter-Return programs. Moskowitz and the crew collect old ceramic cat figurines, upcycle them with a coat of teal paint, and number them for authenticity. T-shirts are also sold to offset the cost of supplies.

Media

Moskowitz is currently a Bust magazine columnist, where she writes a column called "Nickel and Dined", which focuses on cooking on a limited budget and has written for Vegetarian Times, Time Out NY, Natural Health and VegNews. Moskowitz also starred in a short-lived podcast with Herbivore Publishing's Josh Hooten called Naked Vaygun in late 2007. In Omaha, she has appeared on KMTV in 2011 and 2012. She presented at the first Austin, Texas VegFest in 2012, and in 2013.