Vegan Mac and Cheese Debuts at 44 Whole Foods Hot Bars

Today, vegan Mac & Yease (mac and cheese) will be available in the hot-food bar at 44 Whole Foods Market (WFM) locations in the Northern California region. Vegan chef Ayindé Howell—former personal chef for musician India.Arie—developed the now-popular recipe several years ago as a tribute to his great-grandmother Mary’s Sunday supper recipe. The dish, which is made with nutritional yeast and soymilk, originally launched last April at Whole Foods in the Southern Pacific region but is now being tested for possible expansion. “I’m excited to make this expansion within one year because I know we have a lot of fans up in the Bay Area and Northern California,” Howell told VegNews. “I think it’s growing more popular because of the one thing I’ve always relied on: word of mouth. Through that and our active social media campaign, we got our people to request [the dish] via the Whole Foods website and WFM listened.” The dish will be available throughout the month of April and, if it proves popular, could be added as a permanent menu item.