Yvonne's Vegan Kitchen

Yvonne Ardestani is a French-trained chef who has spent her career creating classic restaurant dishes alongside some of the most prestigious names in food. Now she is reinventing those meals and treats without the use of meat, dairy, eggs, honey, or gluten and sharing them via her mobile app, e-Book, celebration (wedding and birthdays) cakes business, and vegan treats wholesale business, Yvonne's Vegan Kitchen. To shop online and get YVK treats delivered to your door, click here.

In 2009, Yvonne Ardestani started her blog, My Eclectic Kitchen, when she enrolled in culinary school at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, California. She began chronicling her life in a culinary setting as an intern-turned-cook for world-renowned chef, Suzanne Goin. While working within the fast-paced kitchens of Chef Goin’s restaurants, Lucques and Tavern, Yvonne learned the importance of preparing foods farm-to-table while focusing on locally grown seasonal foods. She had an amazing experience working the line and preparing for service.  She was honored to prepare dessert for Barack Obama’s fundraiser dinner at Tavern and was fortunate to cater with Lucques at the SAG awards and Oscar parties for a few years.  It was exciting and Yvonne will always savor the memories.

Yvonne's Journey
Yvonne will be forever grateful for all the knowledge and experience she gained working in professional kitchens. However, concerned about her personal health condition—hypothyroidism—she felt compelled to exercise her culinary skills and creativity to harness a lifestyle that would allow her to maintain a good balance of healthy and delicious tasting foods. Yvonne knew that it was ever-important for her to eliminate butter, cream, sugar, and kosher salt in the foods that she cooked for herself because although she was an avid runner and physically thin, her LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglycerides were high for the very first time in her life. Yvonne attributed her suboptimal blood results on copious amounts of taste-testing at work, staff meals, and feasting on day-old pastries that would have otherwise been tossed.  Luckily, a great opportunity presented itself and Yvonne was prepared to leave her training ground to become a private chef for clients who wanted flavorful and satisfying food, but also low in caloric intake and high in nutrition.  In collaboration with a client’s fitness expert and self-care coach, Anna Price, Yvonne developed balanced meals to meet specific weight-loss goals, while still being able to satisfy her clients’ sophisticated palettes.

In early 2013, Yvonne read Kimberly Snyder’s The Beauty Detox Solution and it positively changed her life.  Since transitioning to a vegan and gluten-free lifestyle in early 2013, she is passionate about vegan cooking that not only looks and tastes good, but also caters to a healthy lifestyle.  Yvonne is compelled to share the goodness of recipes that she tests out, enjoys, and develops herself.

Yvonne’s inspiration for recipes comes from her multi-cultural background, her favorite ethnic restaurants and markets, devouring cookbooks, magazines, Instagram, blogs, and experimenting with exciting ingredients in her kitchen.

Yvonne invites you to come along in her journey as she creates healthy, nutritious, and decadent plant-based food that will ultimately lead to renewed energy, wellness and longevity.  And now, you can pick up healthier alternatives to sweet treats and cheese through her Yvonne's Vegan Kitchen line--currently offered in 40 locations across Los Angeles and Orange County, California.

Yvonne's Vegan Kitchen treats are not only for those with vegan and gluten-free diets, but for those who are looking to eat healthier without compromising on flavor.