It's TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. If eating a plant-based diet feels a little

snobbish or stuffy to you, Alexis Nicole Nelson is here to change that. In her archive talk from

TED 2022, the foraging enthusiast helps all of us expand our palettes and forge a more sustainable future,

all while preparing a sweet and salty forged treat from the stage.

Stick around to hear her backstage chat with me following the talk.

Coming up after a break.

If a vegan falls in the forest,

and no one's there to hear them say,

I'm vegan.

Are they even really vegan?

Thank you. really vegan. I like to preface conversations about my dietary habits with jokes,

because brains love the ha-haz,

and because sometimes you say the word vegan

and people get a little afraid.

Their mind immediately conjures this non-existent super vegan,

who's an amalgam of every annoying thing they've ever heard a vegan say.

And at that point, they're checked out.

Now, if you've managed to somehow avoid the zeitgeist for the last 15 or 20 years,

one, tell me how. Two, I will tell you what vegan means, because I'm sure

you're dying to know. So, vegan is both a diet completely free of animal products and a person who follows that diet.

Often used interchangeably with plant-based, but like not necessarily done to decrease animal

suffering per se, but maybe to help one's health.

...