Meet PCG Member – Julia Simon: Vegan Encourager, Educator, & Promoter

An experience at Grand St. Settlement in New York City changed the trajectory for PCG Professional Member Julia Simon.

After graduating in 2005 from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, she took a job teaching graphic, sound and website design in an after school program for at-risk youth 10 to 16 years old.

Julia noticed what her students were eating in the community center’s cafeteria.

“The food they were putting out was abysmally bad,” she says. “No fresh vegetables. It looked like prison food to me. As a person who has always loved food, I said, ‘We’ve got to do something about this.’”

That something came in the form of donated cheese, French bread, and apples from a local cheese shop. Julia took the opportunity to talk to her students about eating better food for body and brain.

This theme of introducing people to fresh foods would become a force in Julia’s life. After moving to Charlotte in 2008 with her husband Erik Berns, Julia became a personal chef; her success was immediate.

“There wasn’t anyone here working in the vegetarian, vegan, farm-to-table space. I picked up a bunch of clients and got busier than I ever expected.”

Nourish Charlotte opened in 2012 as a partnership between Julia and Laura Neff. In 2014, Julia assumed full ownership of the meal delivery and catering company. The company’s mission is “to prepare and deliver delicious, gluten-free, culturally diverse vegan food that will sustain you throughout your day and fuel your life, while supporting our planet and community.”

The menus are vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free, nearly 100% organic. Julia sources her ingredients locally, including Boy and Girl Farm, Bell’s Best Berries, and Freshlist (headed by PCG Professional Member, Jesse Leadbetter).

“Recipes are health-first influenced,” Julia says.

Ingredients such as tamari, miso, roasted garlic, and nutritional yeast or “nooch” are in much of the dishes. Julia has taken classes locally as well as at The Natural Gourmet Institute in New York. Nourish clients have weaned themselves off cholesterol medication, reversed arterial heart disease and diabetes by changing their eating habits.

PCG Pro Member Hiram Ramirez is the owner of Urban Gourmet Farms. He delivers mushrooms to Nourish’s kitchen weekly and provides special orders on request. Hiram appreciates how Julia showcases her plant-based menu, but he saw another side to her when he was going through a tough time.

“She’s awesome and a wonderful person,” Hiram says. “When my father passed, she reached out and then sent me a care package to my house with a ton of tasty food. It was super sweet, there is a lot of love in that one.”

Julia and Hiram will be teaming up this year for the second annual Farm-to-Fork Picnic in the Garden at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden on October 6 – a joint event by PCG and Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS). Julia participated last year as well.

She joined PCG in 2016 because she wanted the community it provided and believed in its mission. “I feel like I take more from the guild than I give,” Julia says. “The Guild’s vibe is progressive. That’s important to me.”

Educating Nourish clients is part of Julia’s business model. Classes about advanced vegan technique, wok cooking, and foods that cool are offered throughout the year. Blog posts share information about recipes, recycling and incorporating local products such as UpDog Kombucha, owned by PCG Pro Member Olivia Wolff.

Clients may build a custom meal plan based on needs and tastes. Food is delivered or shipped in a biodegradable cooler. Nourish meals are also available at several local retail partners.

Julia became a vegetarian at the age of 13 and dropped cheese, eggs, and honey at 30. She encourages others to learn about foods and what they do to your body and the environment.

“We (Vegan City Charlotte) have this rule about no vegan shaming,” she explains. “Everyone is in different places in their journey.”

Matthew Martin is Freshlist’s head of culinary operations and a PCG Professional Member for five years. He met Julia four years ago through Charlotte’s vegan food community. Now, he delivers fresh local produce to Julia’s kitchen once or twice a week and helps her plan vegan-focused events throughout Charlotte.

“Julia is a true culinary, vegan and professional bad ass,” Matthew explains.

The company’s culture is deliberate. Julia insists on a safe space work environment for its 14 employees. There’s no tolerance for racism, sexism or genderism. “Julia makes it a point to take care of her staff,” Matthew says. “Julia has taken the time to account for her staffs’ physical, mental and emotional well-being, which with various pressures from the industry can be something that is very difficult to do.”

Nourish supports community building by donating food to organizations such as Time Out Youth, Goodyear Arts, Cotton Branch, and Food Not Bombs. The company’s environmentally conscious methods earned them a Three Green Crowns award from the City of Charlotte.

“We compost all food waste and unbleached paper. We sort, clean, and re-home glass and plastic containers, as they aren’t being recycled industrially. We support food rescue services in the area with both prepared food (The Bulb) and unprepared food (Food Not Bombs). We educate our customers on how they can conserve and keep them up to date on changes to local recycling requirements. We use compact LED bulbs in many applications in our kitchen and warehouse.”

Last year, Julia’s mom, Meg Stiles started working remotely in Nourish’s customer service. It’s been a bigger success than Julia could have imagined. “She eats this way and it’s helped her health bloom,” Julia says. “She’s a true believer in the way that the food works and makes your body feel good.”

Julia volunteers in several food-themed organizations, such as the Facebook group Vegan City Charlotte and the Charlotte chapter of Food Not Bombs. She’s been part of the VegFest event for three years, and appointed to its Board last year. It’s an annual event that started in 2012. Julia participates in events and food rescue to share resources and educate people. She’s passionate about the term, “intersectional vegan.”

“It means not being all of one way of thinking and opening your mind to other movements and trying to broaden who you are as a human,” Julia explains.

“It means thinking more deliberately about who you are as a consumer and intersecting ideas to do the best we can.”

Profile written by Vanessa Infanzon