Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (born March 8, 1970 in Westfield, New Jersey) is an American writer, activist, public speaker, and cooking instructor. Having earned a master’s degree in English Literature from Seton Hall University, Colleen uses her writing and communication skills to raise awareness of the animal issues about which so many people are unaware. She is a sought-after and inspiring public speaker on the spiritual, social, and practical aspects of a vegan lifestyle.
Raised on a typical American diet of meat, dairy, and eggs, Colleen was shocked by what she learned when she read John Robbins' Diet for a New America at 19. No longer able to justify eating mammals, Colleen began a journey of discovery that continues to this day. Eventually she included fish in her circle of compassion, and after reading Slaughterhouse, it became clear to her that no animal raised for human consumption - whether for their flesh, milk, or eggs - escapes the horrors and cruelties of slaughter. Determined to raise awareness about animal suffering, she founded Compassionate Cooks to be a voice for the over 45 billion land and sea animals killed every year in the U.S. for human consumption. She dedicates the work she does through her cooking classes, cookbooks, podcast, writings, and cooking DVD to them.
Colleen is celebrating her 10th year teaching classes in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her classes are incredibly popular and attract both locals as well as fans from all over the world. People travel thousands of miles just to hear Colleen speak and to attend her cooking classes. (Recently voted Best Cooking Classes in the Bay Area by San Francisco Chronicle readers.) She is also a long-time instructor for Dr. John McDougall’s Wellness Program and an instructor for Dr. Neal Barnard’s Cancer Project.
With the intention of providing others with the tools and resources needed to inspire people to cook healthfully and compassionately, Colleen has embarked on her Compassionate Cooks Instructor Training Program and is teaching others to do what she does so effectively.
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is the author of two very popular cookbooks, The Joy of Vegan Baking, which won VegNews Magazine’s “Cookbook of the Year” Award, and The Vegan Table, which is taking the veg world by storm in the 2 months it’s been out. (On Amazon.com, a popular place for reviews, both books have 200 5-star reviews between the two of them.) Colleen is currently working on a third, called Color Me Vegan.
Colleen’s podcast, Vegetarian Food for Thought, is the most popular vegetarian, vegan, and animal rights podcast on iTunes. She has testimonials from thousands of people (many of which are posted on iTunes) about how this podcast changed their lives. (There are 20,000 downloads a month of her podcast.)
Her cooking DVD, Vegetarian Cooking with Compassionate Cooks grew out of her Oakland, CA-based cooking classes.
5,000 people subscribe to Colleen’s popular monthly newsletters, Food for Thought and Soup to Nuts. Colleen has been a long-time columnist for VegNews Magazine with her popular column VegGuru. She is also a contributing writer for Satya Magazine, a contributor to KQED Radio, has appeared on The Food Network, and is a contributor to KQED Radio’s editorial program, Perspectives.