Charlise Rookwood releases debut cookbook 'Vegan Soulicious'

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Vegan Chef Charlise Rookwood, 51, began cooking at a very young age, learning traditional dishes rooted in her island heritage.

Born and raised in London, England, Rookwood credits her Mauritian mother, Danielle Etheve, and Jamaican father, Whylie Rookwood, for inspiring many of her vegan “soulicious” recipes. Other family members also played a key role in shaping her rich and flavorful palate.

In 2011, Rookwood embraced a plant-based lifestyle and began creating bold, vibrant Caribbean and African dishes—flavors that are often underrepresented in the vegan culinary world.

Over a decade in the industry, she has educated people about the versatility in vegan meals through her digital platforms, at food festivals and while hosting MadameNoire’s “The Black Vegan Cooking Show.”

Chef Rookwood has decided to expand her vegan food expertise by crafting her recipes into a cookbook, titled “Vegan Soulicious: Plant-Based Island Cooking.”

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VEGAN SOULICIOUS: PLANT-BASED ISLAND COOKING

The vegan Chef embarked on curating her Caribbean and African fusion dishes with the intention of showcasing to the world who she is, based on the meals she has grown to love throughout her life, from childhood to adulthood, marriage, motherhood, and moving across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City.

“I wanted people to understand that there’s a journey here and it goes right back to my ancestors. So it was really important for me to put every single recipe with a little history into it,” Rookwood told MadameNoire.

Although ecstatic to share her Jamaican and Creole Mauritian vegan dishes with readers, Rookwood admits she wasn’t enthused about curating a cookbook.

“I didn’t realize how much of a challenge it was gonna be for the simple fact that I don’t measure. I just kind of make things; some things are just second nature, some things are just wing it,” Rookwood confessed.

In her book “Vegan Soulicious: Plant-Based Island Cooking, she elaborates on how she was taught to cook based on feeling a dance, a rhythm, and a connection to past generations.

“We cook by feel, by taste, by whispers of our ancestors guiding our hands saying, ‘That’s enough, child,'” the book read. “I’ve tried to keep the spirit of ‘just a sprinkle of this and a dash of that’ alive in every recipe.”

She knew it would be an obstacle, but with time and patience, she was able to nail her measurements down, perfecting each vegan dish shared in the book to embody her cultural roots.

“One of the main things I really wanted to do was to get my story out there. I want everyone to have great recipes and create beautiful vegan comfort food, but I really wanted my mission to be really, really clear. I wanted everyone to see where it came from, Rookwood said.

RECIPES CRAFTED WITH LOVE

Rookwood incorporated her favorite dishes from her Mauritian and Jamaican roots, which she learned from her parents and grandparents. She reminisces about Jamaican meals she would enjoy as a child, such as the bread pudding and her grandma’s famous Fried Chicken, which she has learned to convert into a delicious ‘Vegan Fried Chicken.’

“I started to watch what she was doing with the coating, and that’s when I found out the secret; well, it’s no longer a secret now because it’s in the cookbook,” Rookwood laughed. She noted the chicken is substituted with mushrooms.

Rookwood encourages people who aren’t familiar with the kitchen and vegan dishes to try ‘Jamaican “No Saltfish” Fritters,’ ‘Green Banana Porridge,’ and ‘No Shrimp Curry’ if they want a taste of the Caribbean. And if they want something with a southern twist, the “Vegan Mac n Cheese” is the way to go, she gleefully shared.

The vegan Chef confessed she looks forward to readers learning about Mauritian dishes such as ‘Mine Frire,’ ‘Butter Bean Soup,’ and ‘Aloudas’ because it’s very uncommon to find this cuisine in America.

“Mauritian food is an area of food that is just not explored in the United States. There isn’t a Mauritian community of people that live here,” Rookwood revealed. “There’s not one single Mauritian restaurant in the United States. It’s just not on the radar.”

Charlise Rockwood — The Vegan chef incorporated her family roots inside the book showing people how delicious eating healthy can be.
Source: iOne Digital

Rookwood wants her readers to not only cook up some delicious dishes but to make it an experience with cocktails and a curated ‘Vegan Soulicious’-approved playlist.

The cookbook features a list of cocktails, juices, and smoothies that embody her Jamaican cultural roots, including Sorrel, Carrot Juice, and Guinness Punch.

However, the experience isn’t complete without a Spotify playlist that Rookwood curated for readers and beginner cooks to enjoy while preparing a dish. The playlist features a diverse range of genres, including old-school reggae, dancehall, Mauritian music, and R&B classics.

“I had to try and incorporate as much of that as I could in flat pages, which is why I did things like creating a playlist,” she added. “Sunday morning Beres Hammond’s [Tempted to Touch] playing, a little bit of spliff, turned up the music, set out the utensils, and Ackee, saltfish, and fried dumpling. That is the standard setup.”

WHAT INSPIRED THE COOKBOOK?

Charlise (left) pictured with her father Whylie Rookwood (right).
Source: Handout

Although Rookwood’s cookbook encompasses all the cultures that have shaped her into the woman she is today, the Chef dedicates the book to her father, Whylie Rookwood, who passed away in 2011.

“Every page is dedicated to my dad because, without him, there was no ‘Vegan Soulicious.’ There was no ‘Black Vegan Cooking Show.’ You know, there is no me,” Rookwood said.

Rookwood’s father was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer and died shortly after his discovery. Following his passing 18 months later, three of his siblings also died of a similar illness.

“Our family had hereditary cancer, which is a Lynch syndrome, and the doctors were saying that if you have Lynch syndrome and it’s below the waist,” Rookwood explained. “Daughters of the deceased are really at high risk of ovarian cancer. That’s when I was like, ‘Oh my goodness gracious.'”

The sudden loss of her dear family members convinced Rookwood to make a major change in her life.

“That’s when I literally just did cold turkey, went from one day to still consuming cheese, fish, to just going right, it’s out, it’s gone,” Rookwood added.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

Despite what many people think, transitioning to a plant-based diet was not a difficult challenge for Rookwood. She grew up consuming many meals that didn’t have meat.

Some of her family members are Rastafarians, who adhere to a strict vegetarian diet. Her Mauritian grandmother is a Seventh-day Adventist, a vegetarian who often encouraged eating fish and soy. Because of these influences, Rookwood found the transition to veganism to be a walk in the park.

“My situation is a little bit unique because my mom’s from Mauritius, [an Island off East Africa] and they naturally are not vegans, but they naturally eat a lot of lentils and a lot of okra and pumpkin,” Rookwood unveiled.

Rookwood adds that she also grew up eating a plate full of vegetables from her father’s family in Jamaica.

“I was eating soy mock chicken when I was four or five years old, so I’ve been eating those substitutes already for a long time. So the transition, it really didn’t feel like a big jump in regards to recreating meals from my culture,” Rookman shared.

In her cookbook, Rookwood shares how her family “has been practicing this beautiful, natural way of eating since the 1930s. So for me, living off the land and cherishing every bit of natural goodness isn’t new. It’s a legacy.”

MISCONCEPTIONS AROUND VEGAN DISHES

Chef Rookwood believes that vegan cuisine has evolved immensely over the last decade. She has witnessed this change firsthand since beginning her journey.

She admits that becoming a vegan in today’s society is easier compared to what it was like for someone who changed their diet ten years ago.

“Cheese was really bad back then, but cheese has come a long, long way,” she chuckled.

When it came to transforming her cultural dishes into vegan versions, she focused on maintaining their iconic flavors. Rookwood had to find the best alternatives. After some experimentation, she discovered that meat wasn’t what made the meals soulicious—it was all in the seasoning.

Rookwood added that vegan Mauritian dishes were easier to create. Jamaican dishes, however—like Guinness punch and bread pudding—were more challenging due to their heavy use of creams and dairy.

Thankfully, plant-based supplements have expanded over time. That has made it easier to recreate meals that closely match their non-vegan counterparts.

As her vegan lifestyle flourished, Rookwood encouraged her Mauritian and Jamaican relatives to adopt healthier eating habits.

At first, it took time for them to let go of traditional Island dishes. But eventually, she saw them begin to ease into plant-based meals. Some even started asking her to cook for holidays.

“Every Christmas, I go back to London, and every Christmas, everybody wants me to cook now, which is absolutely fine by me,” she gushed. “I think once I decided that my aggressive approach of you’re gonna die is not working, I was like, okay, I’m gonna have to be a lot more gentle.”

A FAMILY LEGACY

Chef Rookwood actively supports her family’s evolving lifestyle by embracing healthier eating habits herself.

She introduced a plant-based diet to her daughter during pregnancy and continued after she was born. Now twelve years old, her daughter, Emmy, has chosen to remain vegan—even though Rookwood allowed her the freedom to try foods outside the plant-based diet.

Rookwood told Emmy, “I feel it’s definitely time for me to give you a choice to decide what you want to do. So if you decide tomorrow, you know what, Mom, I think I want to eat some fish or whatever it is, do not feel guilty. I will not be disappointed. I love you the same. It makes no difference. Your journey now is your journey.”

Rookwood points out that Emmy’s reasons for staying committed to veganism differ from her own.

“Her mission as a 12-year-old in 2025 is about the planets [and] the ozone layer, her ethical reasons are like, she’s like a plant-based warrior,” Rookwood said.

Throughout the cookbook, Emmy appears sharing her favorite recipes to cook with her mother. She also cooks with her Japanese grandmother from her father’s side.

“There’s a beautiful picture of her in the book with me, her and Emi in the kitchen and there’s another one with all our hands in the flour,” Rookwood said. “It was just really important for me to just to capture that because that is, it’s Emi’s grandma and she is big in the kitchen.”

Despite being divorced, Rookwood made a point to include her former in-laws’ recipes—like those from her mother-in-law Shizuko and father-in-law, Edgar. She gave them a vegan twist because those meals had become part of her life story.

“Edgar nervously pulled out this pot of goulash for my wedding [to feed my Jamaican family]. Up until today, 13 years later, my Jamaican family members still reminisce about this goulash.

I said, you know what? We’re going to put the goulash in the book. We’re going to do a vegan version of it. So we put that in there just to mark that moment,” Rookwood blushed.

THE FUTURE OF VEGAN SOULICIOUS

Chef Rookwood continues to inspire others to explore veganism and plans to bring her recipes into a restaurant setting.

“It’s always been a dream, but I just felt like I was a million years away from anything like that because it takes time, money, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears,” Rookwood admits.

That dream, however, is arriving sooner than expected. She plans to open a Mauritian-Jamaican takeout restaurant in Brooklyn, New York called Vegan Soulicious by the beginning of 2026.

The space will include a takeout area upstairs where customers can pick up their orders. Downstairs, there will be a speakeasy-style lounge called Purple Haze.

Rookwood says she never imagined all of this would unfold from something born out of personal grief—the loss of her father.

“I managed to create something really positive out of something, quite tragic. But it was definitely my mission to just make a point,” Rookwood concluded.