meet Ayindé
Ayindé Howell has been a lifelong vegan and a force in plant-based cooking for nearly three decades, long before either of those things was easy or fashionable.
Howell wanted to start The Mac Truck in 2013, when the owner first moved to Los Angeles. The GoFundMe didn't work out, but 13 years later, here they are.
In between, he had my Mac & Yease on the hot bar at Whole Foods and on the shelves at Costco. The pandemic took all of that, but once a chef, always a chef. The owner wanted to get back to feeding the people who love the food.
The name and the genre, which was California Soul Food, came naturally. The cooking is rooted in Alabama soul food and Caribbean flavors, and everyone knows the one true test of a soul food cook is the mac & cheese. For real, this has stood the test of time across almost 30 years in the kitchen.
California Soul Food is the fusion that emerged from all of it. It's fresh vegetables, fruits, and the international flair California is known for, infused with the cuisine from where the owner grew up.
Born in Tacoma, Washington, into a family already rooted in the food business, Howell ran from the kitchen before he ran back to it. At 20, he opened Hillside Quickies Vegan Sandwich Shop in Seattle, a plant-based lunch spot that became a neighborhood institution and a go-to stop for touring artists like The Roots, Common, and Erykah Badu. He then traded the Pacific Northwest for New York City, where he served as Executive Chef of the Jivamuktea Café at the world-renowned Jivamukti Yoga School in Manhattan's Union Square, all while studying acting and honing the creative restlessness that would define his career.
From there, the road took him further, literally. Howell spent over a year on tour as the personal chef for Grammy-winning singer India. Arie, and has worked alongside Alicia Silverstone. He curated a multi-course vegan dinner at Coachella. His recipes landed in the New York Times Food & Wine section. He built iEatGrass, a platform and brand that grew from a food blog into a full culinary and lifestyle company, and eventually into a product: Mac & Yease, his signature vegan mac & cheese, which found its way onto the hot bar at Whole Foods and the shelves at Costco.
The Mac Truck in Los Angeles highlights were Mac & Yease three ways (Classic, Jalapeño Cheddar, Buffalo Broccoli), Mesquite BBQ Tofu, Crispy Fried Oyster Mushrooms with Scotch Bonnet Ranch, Catfish-Style Tempeh, signature blend of Collards, Cabbage & Kale, Hush Puppies, Smoky Jalapeño Mac Quesadilla, Crazy Jamaican Burger (you just have to try it), Cucumber Ginger Salad, and all of it plant-based, because the owner has been a lifelong vegan. It's an experience built around everyone's favorite foods, and it's been a long time coming.
The pandemic disrupted that chapter, but it couldn't quiet the cook. Now based in Los Angeles, Howell is back on the street with The Mac Truck — a food truck rooted in the genre he created: California Soul Food. It's the intersection of Alabama soul, Caribbean flavor, and California's abundance, filtered through nearly 30 years in the kitchen and a lifelong commitment to plant-based eating.
The Mac & Yease is still the one. It always has been.
