Stacey Propst and her family initially tried veganism for their health, but now it has blossomed into a thriving business.
It all started as an attempt to get her husband’s cholesterol down so he could be off medications.
“We had tried everything in the world to reduce his blood pressure and cholesterol and we did everything the doctors told us to do,” Propst said. “My husband had been on medication for years and the last thing I wanted him on was medications forever. We tried everything that we could possibly think of and to do, and nothing ever worked.”
They had tried cutting out lunchmeats, cheeses, upping their exercise and even with medication, her husband’s numbers weren’t looking good.
“I stumbled across plant-based eating in all my research of trying to find a natural way to get him off medication,” Propst said. “He came home from work one day and I said, ‘well, honey,’ I said, ‘we’re just going to try this.’”
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She said they did a juice fast with just fruits and vegetables for three weeks. Twenty-one days later, his cholesterol had dropped by 100 points.
They cut out heavier meats and decided to stick to fish and boneless, skinless chicken breasts while upping their fruits and vegetables.
But Propst said they felt horrible within a week.
“It literally took one week,” Propst said. “We woke up, we looked at each other, and I said, ‘I feel like crap.’ He said, ‘I do, too.’”
They didn’t want to spend their entire lives juicing, but Propst said they wanted to continue to experience the benefits of it. She said they had felt less pain from arthritis, less heartburn and they had more energy.
She ended up doing more research on nutrition, and eventually went back to school to get a degree in it. They cut out all of their animal intake and Propst said her husband no longer takes cholesterol medicine.
Once they made the switch, Propst said it snowballed into being beneficial for the environment and animals.
She said she knows a lot of people are hesitant to try vegan food, but as former restaurant owners, they wanted to change that perception.
Their food truck, Wicked Vegans, boasts a variety of menu items from the Carolina Boss Burger, a take on the traditional Carolina burger with slaw and chili, or their award-winning Hawaiian burger, which has fried onions, pineapple, smoked, vegan gouda cheese, slaw and barbecue sauce on it.
“We have so many nonvegans that come out to our truck and they’ll turn around, come back and they go, ‘are you sure this is vegan?’” Propst said.
Their foods are mock meats made out of plant products.
In the buffalo sandwich and barbecue sandwich they offer, Propst said they use soy curls to mimic the texture of meat. It’s dehydrated soybean that she said has no flavor on its own. Once it’s seasoned and reheated, its texture is comparable to pulled chicken.
Another style of burger uses two different plant meats, black beans and textured vegetable protein. She said TVP is kind of like soy curls, and gives the burger patty a similar texture to its meat counterpart. They also serve a kelp patty, a soy-free, gluten free, non-GMO burger made from kelp, mushrooms and beans. She said it’s more of a veggie patty than a meat replacement patty.
Beyond the patties, they serve soup and bowls of chili in the colder months. Propst said their macaroni and cheese is one of their most popular items.
“We’re known for our mac and cheese,” Propst said. “We call it Crack Mac because it’s addicting. It’s so good it’s addicting.”
Propst and her daughter, Cassie Benjamin, said they love seeing people who have never tried veganism give it a chance at their food truck.
“All the time we get non-vegans saying that we’ve opened their eyes to veganism because they were never going to try it before because they just think it’s all salads and vegetables, but now we’ve opened people’s eyes to it,” Benjamin said. “I think that’s the real deal about it.”
Anyone interested in trying Wicked Vegans can find them parked outside of Fonta Flora Brewery in downtown Morganton every Wednesday. Their schedule and contact information can be found on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheWickedVegans.
Chrissy Murphy is a staff writer and can be reached at [email protected] or at 828-432-8941. Follow @cmurphyMNH on Twitter.