Camri McNary originally wanted to make a living concentrating on people’s faces, not their stomachs.
“I wanted to be a makeup artist growing up,” McNary says. “That was my passion.”
She had second thoughts after she graduated from beauty school. “I said, ‘I can’t imagine doing this my entire life. Touching people’s faces and doing their hair. Maybe this isn’t what I want to do.’ It just didn’t feel like fun. It felt more like work. And I don’t like the feeling of work.”
But now, McNary, owner of The Vegan Goddess, probably works harder than she would have as a beautician. “I cook huge portions of things. It’s definitely work, but it’s still fun,” she says.
In addition to holding Sunday pop-ups of her vegan creations, McNary teaches cooking classes and makes and sells her packaged dishes at Memphis Kitchen Co-Op & Marketplace.
She began “experimenting” in the kitchen when she was 8 years old. “I made a Mexican pizza,” she remembers. “Back in the day I ate meat. I didn’t grow up vegan.”
McNary helped her grandmother, veteran professional cook Donna Carr, in the kitchen. McNary marveled at Carr’s expertise. “She flowed so naturally. Like it was instinctual.”
Two years later, McNary began cooking family breakfasts. “I was a chunky kid growing up. That’s why I transitioned to vegan. I loved cooking, loved eating,” she says.
After beauty school, McNary worked in a Kroger organic foods section, where she learned about holistic and natural herbs and gluten-free products. “My grandmother used to cook nothing healthy. I wasn’t familiar with any of those things.”
McNary became a pescatarian after she got a job at the old Stash Home Furniture store. She met a lot of customers from India who had relocated to Memphis to work at FedEx.“[They] were big on vegan. They introduced me to things they ate and their lifestyles, and it intrigued me. And I did my own research,” she says.
When she stopped eating beef and dairy and ate only seafood, she says, “I noticed a huge change in my energy, my body, my skin.”
McNary began creating vegan dishes, which she posted on Facebook. “I would make enchiladas, tacos, burritos, everything vegan,” she says.
People began sharing her posts, and she built on that momentum. “It was like a chain effect. It happened so quickly.”
McNary, who was selling health insurance from home, officially began her vegan food business in June 2021.
She started out simple, with a few items, including a Cheesy Gordita Crunch, patterned after the Taco Bell item. “Completely vegan. I put beans, rice, chipotle sauce, mushrooms and walnuts, and vegan flatbread, and I covered it in cheese and wrapped it in a crunchy taco shell.”
McNary made vegan versions of familiar fast food items. In addition to “veganizing the entire Taco Bell menu,” McNary made a vegan version of McDonald’s McRib and chicken sandwiches.
People can be skeptical about vegan food. “They think it’s rabbit or bird food.”
McNary quit her health insurance job after The Vegan Goddess “blew up.”
On March 6th, McNary and her business partner Rebecca Devlin will feature a “vegan Taco Bell menu” from noon to 4 p.m. at her pop-up at Memphis Kitchen Co-Op. Previous pop-ups include one that featured her “barbecue tacos” made of jackfruit, which has the texture of pulled pork, with black beans and pico de gallo.
In addition to her ever-increasing menu, McNary makes her own sauces. “I use chickpeas and northern beans — white beans — to make the base of the sauce, and I infuse it with chili peppers and wine, lime, and cilantro. All the good flavors.”
McNary eventually wants to open a food truck and, perhaps, a brick-and-mortar restaurant. “I want to go nationwide,” she says.
McNary wants people to experience vegan food. “I don’t necessarily want to push people to be vegan. It’s more, ‘Listen to your body and how it reacts when you eat certain things.’ That’s what I promote.”
Memphis Kitchen Co-Op & Marketplace is at 7942 Fischer Steel Road in Cordova; (901) 674-2541.
