72 Hours With The Big Bang Theory’s Mayim Bialik

Vegan renaissance woman Mayim Bialik has enjoyed a successful career on- and off-screen, starring in seminal ‘90s sitcom Blossom and scoring an Emmy nomination for her role as Amy Farrah Fowler in the nerd-centric comedy The Big Bang Theory. While Bialik plays a bespectacled neurobiologist on television, her doctoral status is far from fictional—she is a neuroscientist with a PhD in real life. We recently caught up with Bailik, to see what cruelty-free food the actress, scientist, author, and mother of two enjoys.

During the eight days of Passover, I adhered to the Jewish dietary restrictions that forbid oats, barley, rye, spelt, wheat, and kitniyot (this means no corn, beans, legumes, rice, or peas). I also didn’t go out to eat, the next three days were a bit of a party. I don’t tend to eat out a lot, and I usually make my own food at home, but since I had nothing in the fridge or freezer, I was at the mercy of restaurants and work. That being said …

Wednesday, April 3

Breakfast: We had a gigantic The Big Bang Theory photo shoot, so I had an early call-time to get into hair and makeup. For breakfast, I ate some leftover matzoh with my fancy assistant Brandon’s awesome first attempt at homemade hummus, made from dried garbanzos, spices, and a little oil. Yum. Since I was starting to feel a cold coming on, when I got to work I made myself a green juice, heavy on kale, ginger, and lemon. There’s not a lot of vegan stuff on set besides fruit and veggies, but there is often delicious guacamole that is meant to be a topping for omelettes. I ate some in a bowl as part of my breakfast.

I don’t usually eat a lot of bread products, but since it had been Passover, later in the morning I had half a bagel (onion!) with nothing spread on it, and it was awesome. I also had a handful of pretzels (junky, I know, but I had been deprived for eight days!) and a slice of fresh pineapple.

Lunch: My cold was in full effect, and all I ate was maybe eight pieces of vegetable roll sushi. The photo shoot ended up taking about nine hours, and I had an Uncle Eddy’s peanut butter cookie, some more pretzels, and a few packaged kale chips throughout the afternoon. I found them too salty and decided the ones I make in my oven with a little nutritional yeast are better.

Dinner: I was craving Vegan Plate’s wonton soup, but there was a 30 minute wait for pick-up, so I started to cry in exhaustion and cold-ness and ate a few more pieces of leftover sushi and went straight to bed.

Thursday, April 4

Breakfast: I was feeling better, but I made myself some herbal tea and miso soup (from the paste), and ate a banana.

Lunch: At work, I delighted in eating two hash brown triangles with ketchup and some cantaloupe as a late morning snack—trashy, but good. For lunch, I ordered in vegetable/tofu soup made with water instead of chicken broth and two veggie egg rolls. I also went bonkers and had a fit over the fact that it was burger bar day at work! I had a veggie burger with the works, including Vegenaise, which I keep in my dressing room fridge. I ate three small onion rings and decided that was enough fried food for the month.

Dinner: I was performing in an improv show at the Groundlings at night, so I went out with some friends for dinner to a hip bar/restaurant that I discovered has Daiya cheese! I had a Jack and Coke (naughty, I know) and a vegan pizza with fresh basil and light tomato sauce. Yum. The improv show didn’t go as well as I hoped, so I had no problem eating half a Reuben sandwich from Native Foods before I went to bed. I am not proud of that, but I also enjoyed every blessed bite of it.

Friday, April 5

Breakfast: Sometimes the craft service goddess at work has vegan fun stuff for me to try. She offered me a sausage shaped like a tiny hamburger and I enjoyed it very much. Not too meaty (I hate the taste of meat). It needed a croissant and some vegan cheese to make it fully trashy delicious, but it was a good experiment even on its own. I also ate the rest of that Native Foods Reuben.

Lunch: There was a pho bar at work (I know, so exciting!) with miso soup as the base and veggies to add in. There was also my favorite noodle dish, which has sesame oil dressing, fresh basil, red peppers, and mandarin oranges. Again, I don’t tend to eat a lot of pasta, but I made the exception that day! I may have had two servings, but who’s keeping track?

Dinner: Before Shabbat started, I made myself and my boys vegan quesadillas from tortillas, a can of black beans, some frozen corn, a little Daiya, a little vegan sour cream, a little salsa, and some diced tomatoes. They loved it and so did I! I had the last glass of Passover Coke (corn syrup-free—no corn allowed, remember?!).

Considering I lost weight during Passover from eating so simply and healthily, it seems I may have gained it all back in these three days. Alas, to be vegan in Hollywood is no small feat!