Lacie Starr never thought her picky six-year-old would ask for tofu. But last month, he did—by name. “He said, ‘Mom, can we have that squishy tofu with the sticky sauce again?’ and I just laughed,” she says. “That moment was a win.”
Lacie didn’t become vegan overnight, and she certainly didn’t expect her kids to jump on board easily. At first, they missed the usual things—cheese, chicken nuggets, birthday cake at parties. But instead of forcing the shift, Lacie took a different route. She focused on flavor and fun, not rules or restriction.
“It wasn’t about making them eat kale,” she says. “It was about making dinner something they’d want to show up for.”
She started by veganizing meals her kids already loved—like spaghetti with lentil “meatballs” or tacos with seasoned black beans and guacamole. She involved them in the kitchen, too, letting them stir pancake batter or sprinkle cashew cheese on homemade pizza.
What surprised her most wasn’t how much her kids tolerated the changes, but how much they embraced them. “They started asking questions about where food came from,” Lacie recalls. “And they got excited about cooking.”
The real key, she says, is not making veganism a battle. “You don’t have to be 100% perfect,” she explains. “But if you make it taste good and keep it lighthearted, kids will follow your lead.”
Now, meals in the Starr household are simple, plant-based, and—more importantly—something everyone looks forward to. “We’re not trying to be a Pinterest family,” Lacie laughs. “We’re just trying to eat in a way that feels good.”
