We sat down with one our favorite vegan bloggers Remy Park to chat about living a vegan lifestyle, social media, and Freja.
Tell us about you! Who is Remy Park, aka Veggiekins?
“I guess I call myself a vegan recipe developer, food photographer, health and wellness blogger that all comes together as one. I feel like I wear a lot of hats but the goal of my content and my presence is to share helpful information and to empower other people to live more kindly through food, wellness and sustainability.”
Where did the name Veggiekins come from?
“No real reason haha but a lot of my friends would call me Remykins so on the spot I just needed something and I thought I would change it later but it just kind of stuck!”
Why did you go vegan? And what was that journey like?
“A lot of my lifestyle change happened at once. It all kind of makes sense together. The big switch was recovering from a lot of mental health issues; addicition, anxiety, depression and an eating disorder. It wasn’t until I decided I was interested in healing that and working on my relationship with myself that I was able to think about more than just myself. A big part of my healing was going vegan and I think the biggest takeaway for me was the compassionate aspect of living. I was doing all these things to kind of live more compassionately like eating better, making good food choices, being a little bit more sustainable too and I realized that I was so concerned with living compassionately that I still didn’t have compassion for myself and that was the missing piece of the puzzle for me. Healing my relationship with food was life-changing and the first time I really became interested in it (veganism). There’s so much more to food than just you know, food, nutrition and calories. It’s political, it’s socio-economical, there’s just so much that goes into it. Then I realized that even beyond just veganism, and looking at wellness as a whole people are missing that piece of just being able to love themselves. [Long story short] It all kind of happened at once and everything else fell into place for me after I found veganism because it forces you to stop thinking so much about yourself (personal gain) and care more about you and your impact on the world."
What does veganism as a lifestyle mean to you? How is it different from just consuming plant-based food?
“When you are vegan for the food or health aspect, you’re missing the ethical component. For me that’s the part where I feel like I can really connect to the ‘why.’ Why I’m doing it. When the why becomes more than just yourself and your wellbeing, its harder to step away from things like vegan leather because you know what goes into it. When I went vegan it was initially health focused but the more that I learned and connected to the animal rights component, the ethics, the sustainability, I mean it just kind of made sense to me like I could never really go back. Beyond just food there are so many ways in life that we use animals I didn’t realize that until I went vegan and I had to start looking at the leather in car seats, handbags, honey, wool, everything. It’s definitely difficult to live this way but it’s do-able and more easy now than it was back then. Part of it is being willing to go against the grain. Obviously a lof of designer brands you can’t really shop from and there are a lot of brands that use wool and leather and all these things but if you’re willing to part with that, you realize that it’s not really that important."
There are a lot of vegan leather handbag companies and brands, what made Freja stand out to you?
“I think with vegan leather it’s tricky because you can go the plastic route which a lot of brands do. So you might find a vegan bag at like Shien but it’s not necessarily sustainable by any means it’s just plastic leather. Although I guess it solves one problem which is the whole vegan aspect, there is also the environmental aspect that is important to. For me personally, I think veganism comes first but I am still mindful of the impact on the environment where I focus on it. It’s the perfect combination of both with Freja. And also the quality you really can feel it. It actually holds up, it has a shape, which you don’t often get with vegan bags. I’ve had so many that are pretty cheap and they kind of fall apart and then you end up just buying another bag which in some cases can be worse than buying leather which lasts a lifetime. So for people like me who don’t want to compromise, I feel like finding a quality vegan leather bag is the way to go and honestly a lof of the styles are not so cute with some of the vegan handbags. I think something that’s classic, goes with everything and is well made is the way to go.”
Why did you pick the Lafayette, Tall Tote and Shoulder bags in Oat?
“I keep a pretty neutral palette, I think it’s easier for putting together outfits especially when you’re not super fashion forward like I am. It just simplifies my life and I just love all things really light and bright and neutral.
Lafayette: The first bag I ever got from Freja and I think it’s a good every day bag and I even take it with me when I travel. For someone like me that is always carrying a million things I feel like it’s important that my water bottle fits in it, my camera, my laptop and then some. That is like the perfect bag for me and it still looks good! In my opinion it’s like a tote bag but way more good looking and actually looks like it’s part of the outfit.
Tall Tote: Great for just like casual quick grocery shops even, I just run out the door and just throw things in there.
Mini Shoulder: Great for nights out, more of a put together outfit, or like when you don’t need anything really except your phone and your wallet.
So I like having a good variety, it feels like different family members! I know they will fit perfectly with the palette of my wardrobe.”
Favorite social media accounts to follow?
-A lot of cat and rescue cat tiktok accounts
https://www.tiktok.com/@friendly.noodles?lang=en
-”People that really inspire me and are aspirational I feel like people talk about the way that social media can be toxic but I think it can actually be really helpful and add value to your life”
-Positive affirmation accounts, yoga accounts, etc
https://www.instagram.com/marthastewart/?hl=en
light hearted and fun stuff that makes you feel good!
Favorite platform to post, and favorite platform to consume?
Post: Instagram
Consume: Youtube & TikTok
Favorite spots in NYC and LA?
NYC: ABCV, Matchaful & Ketl for Matcha, walk in central park, Union Square farmers market, flower district
LA: Erewhon, Maru & Farmcup for Matcha, Hollywood Farmers market, Runyon Canyon, Courage Bagels
Go to outfit to match your Freja bags?
White highwaisted jeans, white or neutral pair of sneakers, white cropped t-shirt, gold jewlery
Plug yourself & book!
@veggiekins on IG, TikTok, Pinterest & Youtube
You can find my recipes on my blog veggiekinsblog.com
And my book will be out in spring 2024!
