Pamela Anderson's Vegan Life: Why She Switched, What She Cooks, and Her Cookbook

Pamela Anderson went vegan young, for compassionate reasons, and has stayed vegan for decades, which puts her in a small group of celebrities who never went back. What's changed recently is that she's stopped being just an advocate and become a cook: a plant-based cookbook, I Love You: Recipes from the Heart, in 2024, a cooking show, Cooking with Love, in 2025, and a homestead on Vancouver Island where she grows what she cooks. Here's her story, what she actually eats, and why her approach is a useful model if you're trying to eat less meat.

Why she went vegan

Anderson has said she became vegan "for compassionate reasons in my youth" and has been one of PETA's most visible supporters for over thirty years. Her reason was the animals, and it still is. She's also said she "always felt a little left out of the food scene" as a vegan, which is the problem the cookbook set out to fix: vegan food that's about pleasure rather than restriction.

That's consistent with the pattern in our guide to vegan celebrities: the ones who stay tend to have a reason that isn't about themselves. The ones who leave, in celebrities who quit being vegan, mostly left over energy, logistics or food that crept back in.

What she cooks

I Love You started as a box of recipe cards Anderson wrote for her two sons, and it has 80 recipes, co-written with the food writer Maria Zizka. The food is homely rather than fancy. Three recipes the book is known for:

• Buddha bowls with crispy sesame tofu
• Crispy saffron-spinach rice cake, a take on Persian tahdig
• Stone fruit clafoutis for dessert

She cooks from scratch, keeps a sourdough starter she's named Astrid, cans and preserves produce from her garden, and grows much of her own fruit and vegetables on the Vancouver Island property that belonged to her grandmother. The cooking show, Cooking with Love on Canada's Flavour Network, has her cooking with chefs including Nancy Silverton, Michael Solomonov and Gregory Gourdet, most of whom aren't vegan, which is the point: plant-based food made by people who cook for a living.

Her advice to sceptics is simple: "just try it once and see what they think of the taste."

What her approach gets right

Start from the food, not the rules. Anderson's cookbook doesn't open with what you can't eat. It's a recipe collection that happens to have no animal products. That framing matters more than it sounds, because people who think of plant-based eating as a list of restrictions tend to quit, and people who think of it as food they like tend to stay.

Make it good enough to serve to meat-eaters. Her show pairs her with non-vegan chefs and feeds non-vegan guests. If your food only works for people who've already decided, it won't survive a family dinner. Our guide to being vegan at family dinners and restaurants covers that exact situation.

Tofu is a technique problem, not an ingredient problem. "Crispy sesame tofu" is the recipe people single out from the book, and crispy is the word that matters. Most people who hate tofu have only had it soft and bland. See how to make tofu taste good.

Grow or buy things you're excited to cook. Anderson's version of this is a homestead. Yours can be a farmers' market or a decent greengrocer. The principle is the same: it's easier to not miss meat when the vegetables are the best thing on the plate.

If you're starting

You don't need a cookbook deal or an island. You need a handful of plant-based meals you'll actually make on a weeknight, and a plan for the ten minutes when a meat craving hits. Our guide to going vegetarian without going cold turkey covers the first part. The second part is what the Spared app is for: you open it instead of the fridge, ride the craving out, and watch the count of cravings beaten, days and animals spared go up.

Common questions

Is Pamela Anderson vegan?

Yes, and has been since her youth. She's said she went vegan for compassionate reasons and has been a PETA honorary director for years.

Does Pamela Anderson have a cookbook?

Yes. I Love You: Recipes from the Heart, published in 2024 and co-written with Maria Zizka, has 80 plant-based recipes. It began as recipe cards she wrote for her sons.

What is Pamela Anderson's cooking show?

Cooking with Love, which launched in 2025 on Flavour Network in Canada. She cooks plant-based dishes with guest chefs including Nancy Silverton and Michael Solomonov.

What does Pamela Anderson eat?

Home-cooked plant-based food: tofu bowls, rice dishes, sourdough bread from her own starter, fruit desserts, and vegetables she grows on her Vancouver Island homestead.