Carleigh Bodrug

Carleigh Bodrug
Carleigh Bodrug
Occupation	Cookbook author and blogger
Alma mater	University of Western Ontario
Subject	Vegan/plant-based cookbooks
Notable works	PlantYou cookbooks
Website
	plantyou.com

Carleigh Bodrug is a Canadian vegan/plant-based author, known for her PlantYou cookbooks and advocacy of waste minimisation.

Early life

Bodrug grew up on a farm in Ontario, Canada.^[1] She was a journalism major at University of Western Ontario,^[2] where she also served as a student health reporter for the campus news channel.^[3] Bodrug started her PlantYou food blog after her father was diagnosed with colon cancer.^[4]^[2]

Career

Bodrug's first job was at a radio station.^[2] She also created her PlantYou Instagram account in 2016 to document plant-based cooking, eventually becoming a full-time food blogger.^[2] She published her first cookbook PlantYou: 140+ Ridiculously Easy, Amazingly Delicious Plant-Based Oil-Free Recipes in 2022,^[2] and a follow-up cookbook in 2024.^[5] This second cookbook, PlantYou: Scrappy Cooking focuses on plant-based low-waste recipes, and includes a lemon peel pasta recipe. Bodrug has stated that one of the largest reasons she went plant-based is because of the environmental implications of animal agriculture.^[6]

Bodrug's Instagram video of her turning discarded orange peels into candy obtained 1 million views.^[7]

Cookbooks

PlantYou: 140+ Ridiculously Easy, Amazingly Delicious Plant-Based Oil-Free Recipes (2022) won first place in the 2023 IVFF awards,^[8] and was shortlisted for the 2023 Taste Canada Awards Health or Special Diet Cookbooks.^[9]^[4] In addition, Woman's Day named it the “Best New Vegetarian Cookbook of 2022,”^[10] Runner's World included it in its list of the "6 Best Vegan Cookbooks to Get More Plants in Your Diet" in 2022,^[11] Food & Wine named it one of "the 20 Best Vegan Cookbooks for Every Type of Meal" in 2024.^[12]

In 2024, columnist Avery Yale Kamila lists her next cookbook, PlantYou: Scrappy Cooking (2024) among "The year’s best vegan cookbooks" in the Portland Press Herald,^[13] Chowhound lists it as one of the "15 Best Vegetarian Cookbooks Of 2024,"^[14] VegNews lists it as both one of the "Top 100 Vegan Cookbooks of All Time,"^[5] and as one of "The Best Vegan Cookbooks of 2024."^[15]

Bibliography

PlantYou: Scrappy Cooking: 140+ Plant-Based Zero-Waste Recipes That Are Good for You, Your Wallet, and the Planet. Hachette Book Group, 2024. ISBN 978-0306832420.
PlantYou: 140+ Ridiculously Easy, Amazingly Delicious Plant-Based Oil-Free Recipes. Hachette Book Group, 2022. ISBN 978-0306923043 (with an introduction by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz).