Actress, singer, and author Bellamy Young remembers the exact moment she decided to stop eating animals. It was 1988, and she was a sophomore at Yale University, where she double-majored in English and theater.
“One night, I was in line at the dining hall and I ordered the baked breast of chicken. The way [the server] plated it, with the underside up, made it look like the little Chihuahua mix dog that my mom had at the time when she would roll over and want her tummy rubbed. I never looked back,” she says.
The reality of the food system fell into place, and Young made her choice then and there. She got a lot healthier in a variety of internal and external ways and that she came to a realization.
“It became clear that my body is not compatible with animal products. And, as it turns out, neither is my heart. I was really grateful for a moment of insight that freed me from sleepwalking through life.”
ABC
Young, 55, who started her career on a Broadway stage, is best known for her award-winning role as President Mellie Grant in the ABC series Scandal, along with her work in a number of other TV shows and movies. She can currently be seen in the NBC medical drama Brilliant Minds.
The Asheville, NC, native—who now calls New York City home—also recently became an author with the release of her book (co-written by fellow actress and close friend Fay Masterson) The Spark, the first in a young adult science fiction trilogy titled The Aetherion Code.
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A staunch advocate for pet adoption, she and her husband—percussionist Pedro Segundo—have a rescue dog named Razor (“a really good-hearted little boy,” she gushes). Young is also heavily involved in animal-welfare organizations, including campaigns for PETA and serving as a spokesperson for the ASPCA.
VegNews caught up with Young to talk about her plant-based journey and vegan lifestyle.
JULIET PENNINGTON: Tell us about the transition to a meat-free diet all those years ago.
BELLAMY YOUNG: I was raised Southern, so plant-based was not a thing we did in the South when I was growing up. But it wasn’t difficult at all, because immediately upon giving up meat, my body was pretty rapturous, honestly—and relieved.
It just took me reminding myself of how much more there is out there in the world to eat instead of just going to a drive-thru, or reaching for food that’s boxed, or a TV dinner out of the freezer. I mostly eat whole foods, and at 55, I’m at my healthiest. Instead of Chicken McNuggets, I’ll have peanut butter on an apple, or I’ll make some quinoa.
I really am a firm believer that we are all going to either spend money at the grocery store or money at the doctor. So, yeah, I try to go into those outer aisles of the grocery store, where the stuff has been alive more recently.
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JP: What does a typical breakfast, lunch, and dinner look like for you?
BY: I love breakfast, and if I am home and can do it for myself, I make a little chia pudding the night before with soy or hemp milk and put all kinds of fruit on top. If I really think I need to get a little more protein in there, I’ll add a little peanut butter. So that’s my favorite—with some coffee.
For lunch, if I need to get it on the go, I’ll get a Just Salad that has the ingredients of everything I want to make at home but don’t have time for—spinach, edamame, broccoli, carrots, tofu, and maybe almonds sprinkled on top.
And then as it gets a little later in the evening, I’ll sauté a little tofu and make a sweet potato or some quinoa or something like that. All very simple. I love to have those cooking because they’re delicious, and I can make all kinds of wonderful soups, curries, stews, and other concoctions because you can improvise with them. I really think as much about my body as I do my taste buds.
JP: What are some of the things you always have in your refrigerator and pantry?
BY: I love a chunky peanut butter—you will have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands. I’ll put it on absolutely anything. What I want with my peanut butter is a Pink Lady apple, fresh from the fridge, crisp and cold. Or sometimes in the morning—especially in the winter—I’ll make a warm buckwheat cereal with Maldon salt, chunky peanut butter, and a little soy milk on top.
I always have fruit of the season in my fridge, and I have to say I even go against season with blueberries. I love blueberries and always have them on hand.
A delicious coconut-based yogurt is also always in there because that’s a great midday snack. And tamari almonds. Also, cold bubbly water—and there’s always a bottle of champagne. Life is short, and we shouldn’t wait until something big is coming, you know? You need to make a decision every once in a while to celebrate something, and I want that decision to be able to be fulfilled immediately if necessary.
I also like to keep a little jar of vegan pesto in the fridge, or sometimes I’ll make a batch of chimichurri, which can take a very simple dinner to the next level. Spinach is always in there because I’m always going to need spinach—and tofu, too, since I’m always going to need tofu. Those are my absolute non-negotiables.
Hangawi
JP: What are your favorite veg restaurants?
BY: I haven’t been there in a beat, but I love Hangawi in Manhattan. It’s Korean, and it’s been there forever. They have a grilled todok and these beautiful rice bowls and an exquisite cheesecake for dessert. And the ambience is amazing. It’s just a beautiful experience that always delivers.
Then in Hell’s Kitchen, where it can be a tricky place to get great, clean, delicious food, our favorite coffee shop, UT, opened a tapas dinner place called UT47 that does an amazing theater prix fixe—people need something delicious, nutritious, and clean before they go to the theater.
The sweet-and-sour tofu bites are out of this world, and then they have bibimbap with some sort of miraculous fake egg on it that the owner, who’s this wonderful woman, will stir up for you and make magical. It’s our favorite meal right now.
JP: What do you say when people ask you, “What do you eat?”
BY: I grab my belly and say, “I eat plenty.” I think that’s what we all say. I wish there were a better retort. I think the only way to answer that question is with joy, right? Because I think there are people who think that making that choice is choosing a life of deprivation, but it’s not at all.
It’s choosing a life of liberation, if anything, where your body, your mind, and your heart are freer than ever—and you’re really into what’s coming in and what you’re putting out. So yeah, I eat plenty, and I love what I eat.
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JP: What do you think is the biggest misnomer about adhering to a vegan lifestyle?
BY: I think the biggest struggle is the label; there hasn’t been a sexy label. I think all the words fall short to encompass what the energy behind the choice is.
I struggle with conveying my joy, my curiosity, and my engagement with food and fun when someone calls me plant-based or vegan. It just seems limiting to the way that I experience my life. Semantics is my biggest problem with this whole conversation.
I can say “I eat thoughtfully,” or “I eat right for my body,” or “When I eat, I think about the planet and my body.” I wish for an easier way to talk about it.
JP: Do you feel hopeful for the future of veganism?
BY: I do. If you just take a bigger gestalt of everything—like where we are as a species, as a people, where we are as a planet—I do believe there is no world in which we don’t have to consider these issues.
Water is going to become an issue, our climate is changing, and how we make and take in food will necessarily have to evolve as we are evolving. It’s not science fiction—it’s definitely happening.
We have to remember that we are active agents in this equation. We aren’t standing by and watching something happen, and we aren’t exempt from the repercussions of these changes. So necessarily, what we’re able to eat—what will be available to us—will also be evolving.
If we can just make more intentional, better-informed, some might even say more loving choices in the short term, it will give us all a little more time to love each other, love our planet, and figure out how to handle where we are and where we’re going.
JP: Looking ahead, do you have a New Year’s resolution for 2026?
BY: The resolution I’m giving myself now is to spend more time meditating because I feel like our lives are filled with a lot of chatter. And in a broader sense, I believe in the goodness of people and how much we care about each other when we remember that we’re real.
As I walk through the days and see people making a conscious choice to connect—when everybody’s lives are being changed or being threatened to be changed by AI advances—I see us in a really moving way turning again to each other, human to human. And in that moment of kindness, caring, and connection, I find all hope to save each other, to save ourselves, and to save our world.
For more plant-based stories like this, read:
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