A clever and very funny man, Chef Brian Patton – AKA The Sexy Vegan – has become a YouTube sensation with his webisode cooking videos full of sassy talk and tasty food.

His videos have wide appeal, charming vegans and non-vegans alike. Online and in The Sexy Vegan Cookbook, Brian simplifies complicated cuisine, creating easy vegan recipes from everyday foods.  Cooking with Brian is fast, fun, and funny.

About six years ago Brian became a vegan to lose weight.  Within ten months he had lost 60 pounds and felt so good he decided to stick with the program.  Lucky us!

When Brian’s not creating his hilarious cooking demonstrations on video or writing cookbooks, he serves as executive chef of Vegin’Out (www.veginout.com ), an organic vegan meal delivery service in Los Angeles.   Brian learned how to be a chef the old-fashioned way:  hands-on, on-the -job training in restaurants.  His first job was at a little café/catering company.

Asked why he didn’t go to a culinary school for training, Brian said, “I didn’t know whether or not I was going to like the work.  Sure, I liked cooking at home, but I didn’t have to slice 40 lbs. of onions in one shot when I was making a fajita for myself.  I thought trying out the work was more sensible.”

Brian’s advice for aspiring chefs is this:  “If you’re thinking about cheffing for a living, before you drop a ton of coin on a culinary school, go work in a restaurant or catering company for a while.”

Brian learned how to be a video producer, writer, and editor, the same way he learned to be a chef:  he taught himself.  He doesn’t use a script for the videos, just a little outline to make sure he doesn’t forget anything important.  Before making a video, Brian lets ideas roll around in his head for a day or two and then he goes on camera and improvises.  He keeps his videos – and his humor fresh – by “making sure I don’t do anything I’ve done before.  For each video I use different camera angles, different settings,  different music.  I think there is something funny about everything, so I just find what I think is funny about a certain food and I go from there.”

I had a great time cooking with Brian at his home in CA. We made a few recipes from his cookbook, Happy Hour at Home.

Brian was kind enough to share a few of the recipes from The Sexy Vegan cookbook!  Check out these super yummy vegan recipes for Bourbon Tempeh Sliders and Curry Fried Tofu Salad.

And make sure to watch Brian’s videos on YouTube.   They’ll put you in the mood – FOR FOOD.