Women in Business: Artina Lindsey of Pink Salt Chef
Artina Lindsey says cooking is in her DNA, but her path to becoming a vegan chef and product creator was definitely not a direct route.
“I'm an Air Force brat, my dad was in the Air Force,” Lindsey says. “We lived in the Philippines, Germany, England, so I spent quite a bit of time overseas, in other cultures and experienced other food.”
Even as a preschooler, Lindsey joined her mother in the kitchen, but her career path started in the corporate world in project management.
“I actually left a very lucrative career to go to Johnson & Wales,” she says. “I knew that I didn't want to be in corporate my whole life.”
Even in college, the writing was on the wall.
“I used to cook meals and sell meals on campus,” she says. “I didn't really put two and two together until I figured out that was really where I felt safe, and where I felt like even if I had a hard day, I could cook and I would be so calm. I did not start originally cooking vegan. I am classically French trained – there is no vegan. They love butter and not the vegan kind either.”
Vegan? That was the next step in Lindsey’s culinary journey. She faced several health challenges, which improved as she changed her diet. The result was her book, “Pink Salt: An Eclectic Journey of Alkaline Veganism.”
“My family has a long standing history of heart disease, diabetes, which is very much cultural to African Americans, because we do have some of the leading numbers when it comes to diabetes and heart disease in the country,” she says. “I’m trying to change that narrative, not only for myself, but for my children as well. When you know better, you do better. My main mission right now is spreading that vegan love – and tasty vegan stuff. Culturally, especially in my community, we're not going to eat something that doesn't taste good. We have to have flavor.”
More Women in Business:Lauren Runion of Yellowbobbypins Art Camp
Currently, that mission comes in different forms. Lindsey is an executive chef in healthcare, where she has been able to showcase healthy fare. She also offers special occasion meals. And in 2020, she launched Pink Salt Chef, a line of vegan products, including spice mixes, ramen noodles, kimchi mayo, and more.
“It can be healthy and it can be tasty – and sometimes it may not be too healthy but it's not too bad,” she says. “I love making chicken fried oyster mushrooms with my kimchi mayo, with some fresh cut fries. You still like those things, but you also understand that there's a balance too – and that's true with everything.”
Learn more at pinksaltchef.com.