Mayim Bialik has a PhD in neuroscience, but is much better known as an actress who played Blossom in the early 90s, and more recently as Sheldon Cooper’s girlfriend Amy Farrah Fowler from “The Big Bang Theory.”

However, offscreen, she focuses on her passions  one of which veganism. She explained how she’d always been an animal lover, and became vegetarian at age 19.  As she gradually cut out most dairy in college, she found that her health improved. But it wasn’t until she read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer that she became fully vegan, embracing all the environmental reasons, nutritional and health reasons, and the ethical reasons for staying clear of animal products.

As a busy working mom, raising two boys, she tries not to spend too much time in the kitchen, so she cooks food that can be frozen and reheated, or simple foods that can be assembled easily, such as burritos with beans and rice, with a little vegan cheese and sliced avocado on top.  She’s even found time to write her own cookbook, Mayim’s Vegan Table: More than 100 Great-Tasting and Healthy Recipes from My Family to Yours, in which she shares many ideas on how to eat as a vegan family.