Chef Tara Thomas Falls Asleep with Alter Rituals and No Pajamas

In Going to Bed with..., we talk to the people we're crushing on about how they wind down before going to sleep.

Tara Thomas is shaping the vegan landscape of Brooklyn. The 21-year-old Oregon native is the executive chef of Che, an upcoming plant-based all-day café on the ground floor of Bed-Stuy’s first small-scale boutique hostel: Sincerely, Tommy’s Eat & Stay. Scheduled to open in early 2020, it will be the second project from Sincerely, Tommy, a Brooklyn-based lifestyle store and coffee bar by Kai Avent-deLeon. (Sincerely, Tommy Well, a wellness retreat space focused on women of color attached to Sankofa Sanctuary in Grenada, is slated for later in 2020.)

Thomas began using cooking as a creative outlet while attending engineering school in Portland, but quickly realized she felt more passionate about cooking than studying civil and environmental engineering. When a friend introduced her to vegan cuisine, she fell in love with the simplicity and beauty of plant-based cooking—and how good eating vegan made her feel. She began working in restaurants, plus as a private chef and event caterer, but felt out of place in Portland’s vegan community.

“It wasn’t very diverse, and that environment wasn’t supporting me for me,” she says. “It felt like the [vegan] community was using [chefs of color] as tokens and all my clientele was white.”

Seeking a more diverse community, Thomas moved to NYC over a year ago planning to enroll into PlantLab, a vegan cooking school. When it closed before she started classes, Thomas started producing private dinners and events without missing a beat. A mutual friend connected her with Avent-deLeon, who invited the chef to produce a private dinner called Mothers Who Create. Soon, Sincerely, Tommy offered her a full-time position conceptualizing the food for their upcoming restaurant.

“I have had restaurant experience, but it didn’t sustain me well due to the negative and male-focused environment,” she says. “Now, my clientele are people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women. I feel that the food industry here has just been the opposite [of Portland]. Living in Brooklyn, I’ve felt so inspired by people like me making change simply by opening up shop in their neighborhood.”

While shifting from chaotic freelance life into a staff position, Tara looks forward to working with a team and exploring intuitive cooking with a minimalist mindset and maximalist experience. For the end of the year, she’s focusing Che’s menu on root vegetables and warm spices, like autumn rolls stuffed with mulato peppers and cumin-glazed eggplant, served with plum chutney and roasted peanut-ginger dipping sauce. After work, Thomas carries her culinary inspirations into her nightly routine, using a mindful dinner experience and all-natural shower products to wind down amidst the city frenzy in her Bushwick apartment.

Lounging with ginger root tea

I love lounging and just hanging out, drinking tea (right now I’m really into making ginger root tea), and intentionally ignoring reality. I like to have time to imagine and dream, and lounging is a great excuse for that. I love being cozy and comfortable—being present with myself. It’s giving the luxury of time to yourself.