Cody and Ava Stubbe: Pioneer Vegans in Omaha!

In a city where veganism isn't the norm, Cody and Ava Stubbe have carved a path as pioneer vegans, challenging stereotypes and inspiring others to consider a plant-based lifestyle. Cody Stubbe, a registered nurse and Food for Life instructor, began her journey to veganism after witnessing the increasing number of young patients requiring open-heart surgery due to lifestyle-related issues. Disturbed by this trend, she sought out information that led her to adopt a vegan diet. One of her key influences was the documentary Forks Over Knives, which highlighted the devastating effects of animal products on health.

For Cody, the transition wasn't just about personal health; it was about setting a positive example for her family. She gradually phased out animal products, educating her family along the way. "Once I got my husband on board, it was easy peasy," she recalls. Ava, Cody’s daughter, also embraced the lifestyle, noting that it was a gradual change influenced by the vegan meals her mother prepared. Despite living in Omaha, Nebraska—a place not known for its vegan community—the Stubbes have found support online and through the vegan cooking show "So Many Cooks in the Kitchen."

The Stubbes' journey wasn’t without challenges, particularly from family members concerned about the health implications of a meat-free diet. However, Cody has been steadfast in her approach, educating others respectfully and effectively. "It's nice to break that unhealthy family tradition," she says. Their story is a testament to the power of education, perseverance, and the importance of a supportive community in making lasting lifestyle changes.

In their latest endeavor, Cody and Ava prepared a delicious black bean salsa, showcasing how easy and tasty plant-based eating can be. Their journey continues to inspire others, proving that even in the heart of Omaha, a plant-based lifestyle can thrive.

Watch the full episode of here: Cody and Ava Stubbe: Pioneer Vegans in Omaha!

Listen to our other podcasts:

DISCLAIMER: Please understand that the transcript below was provided by a transcription service. It is undoubtedly full of the errors that invariably take place in voice transcriptions. To understand the interview more completely and accurately, please watch it here:  Cody and Ava Stubbe: Pioneer Vegans in Omaha!

Glen Merzer: Welcome to the Glen Merzer show. could find us across all your favorite podcast platforms. You could find us on YouTube. And please remember to subscribe. And you could find us at RealMenEatPlants .com. Our guests today are a mother -daughter combination. Cody Stubbe is a registered nurse and she is a PCRM food for life instructor. had actually four recipes in my book, Food is Climate, but one was hers and there was one for each of her three daughters in this book. Cody is the co -founder of So Many Cooks in the Kitchen and So Many Kids in the Kitchen. She'll tell us about that, but these I think are available to be watched on Facebook. And she is the co -leader of the Nurses Nutrition Network. And with her is her daughter, a sophomore in high school, Ava Stubbe. And Ava and Cody, welcome to the show. 

Cody Stubbe: Hi, Glen. Thank you for having us. It's good to see you. And we're honored to be on your show today. So thank you. 

Glen Merzer: Well, thank you. So let me begin with a question to Ava.Have you been a vegan all your life or when did you become a vegan? 

Ava Stubbe:  Not all my life. think it's been, I want to say about four or five years by now. four or five years.

Glen Merzer:  OK. So do you remember the moment when you became a vegan and how that happened?

Ava Stubbe:   It's more it was more like a gradual change, at least for our house, I think. because mom started doing it before the rest of us. So she'd just like be cooking vegan meals most of the time. And then that's just what we'd eat. And then I just kept eating that basically. 

Glen Merzer:  So Cody, how did that work for you as you transformed to a vegan and then you have three daughters and you presumably wanted them to go vegan, but maybe wanted to give them some degree of choice. Tell us about that.

Cody Stubbe:  Well, we kind of just started phasing things out a little bit. And, you know, I'd make less and less of the animal products. I couldn't, couldn't hardly do it, you know, and, and just kept trying to kind of educate my family on the importance of, of changing and improving our health and the way we eat and getting away from those animal products. And once I got my husband on board, was easy peasy because then we didn't have to even worry about having those products in the house because we make the decisions of the family. you know, so we pay for the groceries. So we decided not to buy those, those things anymore. And the kids went right along with it and they really enjoyed it. Cause at that time they had a lot of more, I guess, options and got to see what was really good without those kinds of animal products in them. And yeah, it's been, gosh, I think it's been five years since the kids have been. And I can't remember, maybe seven years for me. I don't know, I lose track of the time. It's just the years go by so fast and my kids get older, Glen. So, but we love this way of life. It's just, it's nice not to have to, you know, be a part of that anymore. kind of break that cycle, break that tradition in our household or family, you know, because I came from a family of hunters and and it's nice to actually be able to break that. So that unhealthy, unhealthy family tradition. 

Glen Merzer:  Now you're coming to us from Omaha, Nebraska, which is not considered the center of the vegan world. 

Cody Stubbe:  No. 

Glen Merzer:  So. How did you, Cody, first come across the information that made you go vegan? And then how did you cope with the fact that you were becoming a vegan in an environment that probably is not full of a lot of vegans?

Cody Stubbe:  Yeah, those are great questions, Glen. So.you know, being a nurse, I teach nursing clinicals and I taught on the cardiac unit. So open heart specialty was my, was, was my thing. And then I started teaching on the cardiac unit and, we just, I started seeing patients younger and younger. We're having open heart surgery for clogged arteries. So we took care of a patient as twenties. And that got me really like wondering what is going on in this world that someone that young was having, you know, his chest, you know, opened up and revascularized his heart because of his lifestyle. I was like looking, I'm like, why are, why is this happening? So I started watching some documentaries and one of the first ones that I came across was forks over knives and having Dr. Esselstyn, you know, he's an old cardiothoracic surgeon. And so his perspective, his research on that just blew my mind. And I'm like, why are we not talking about this? This should be on billboards. This should You know, on news shows, it should be everywhere. This information about the devastation caused by eating animal products. so that's what we're going to excuse me. 

Glen Merzer:  Were you still eating animal products when you came across this information? 

Cody Stubbe:  Yeah. And then I made the change because I was like, I can't unsee and know what I just know, you know, what I just learned. Educator. Right. And so then knowing that is what kept me going and having a family and not wanting to be that that would need open heart surgery down the road. Myself just trying to look out for my health and then my family's health as well. The transition with just myself was okay. I did my best and then it was hard because it's about two years I was doing it on my own without really any support and there are the days where I just, I felt like I needed support. where it's like too easy to give in, but then I was like, nope, I can't. I know this is very important. There's no going back, right? Once I know what I know and I know it's right. And it was kind of hard though for a couple of years. And then I found some online support, know, Facebook pages and recipes and stuff like that. It just kept me going. And then the Food for Life group of people, those other instructors, they've been such a great support.

And we've become really good friends with a lot of them. So it's been a really, really nice thing, you know, and glad to find that support, you know. But it took a while. It took a while to find my tribe. But once I did and then got my family on board now, now it's great. So it just depends, you know. 

Glen Merzer:  Did a lot of neighbors and friends in Nebraska confront you on

Cody Stubbe: Well, I'd say family was the hardest thing because, you know, I bring my own food now when I go to my family's house, which is fine, you know, or make sure that they have things available there already. you know, my, think some family members were concerned about the, my kids not being healthy because they weren't eating meat and it

Glen Merzer:  Ava looks healthy. 

Cody Stubbe:  She's very healthy. Yeah. And it's just, you know, just to get to educate them and to let them realize I'm not hurting my kids. I'm actually helping my kids, you know, because it's just so ingrained in everybody that you have to eat meat for your protein. That's the only place you get it. You know, and then it's like, no, that's not the only place. That's actually the worst place. 

Glen Merzer:  Right now, Ava, in high school, do you have any other friends who eat the way you do? 

Ava Stubbe:  so I don't personally know any vegans. I know a few people who are like vegetarian or lactose intolerant, but like everyone's really supportive about it. 

Glen Merzer:  Good. So you don't get any, any flack for being a vegan? 

Ava Stubbe:  No. 

Glen Merzer:  Good. 

Ava Stubbe:  Like my parents will like cook me vegan food or stuff and I go over to their houses. 

Glen Merzer:  Good. Now, do you know, people who are in the animal agriculture who feel threatened by your diet? Either of you.

Cody Stubbe:  I mean, I grew up on a farm land. I don't really. 

Glen Merzer:  What was grown on that farm? 

Cody Stubbe:  a lot of corn grown for cattle, you know. So that's where I came from. Right. I don't think they're offended. I think it's how you approach people on it, you know. If you approach it from a health perspective with my background and everything, it comes across, I guess, less intense, maybe. And I just, very respectful in what they do because what they do, I mean, essentially it's their way of life. You don't ever want to step on toes in that aspect because they have to provide for their families. So there's definitely a delicate way to go about things. I just try my best not to really offend someone, you know? I think I've done a pretty good job at that. At least I think so. I try not to be pushy, but I try to to educate when it's warranted, you know. yeah. 

Glen Merzer:  And and tell us about so many cooks in the kitchen and so many kids in the kitchen. What are those? 

Cody Stubbe:  So those are just some free online, like great cooking shows. It's been a lot of fun. We started this in 2020. A group of food for life instructors, we got together and decided it'd be so fun to do a cooking show where we go kitchen to kitchen about every six minutes or so we go to another kitchen in a different house. So Omaha's for me. I got a friend Dillip in North Carolina, a friend Ella in Rhode Island. Tammy in Florida, I mean, we just literally go kitchen to kitchen and we have a friend that's in Abu Dhabi. And so it goes across the seas. I mean, it's all online so we can do those things. And we've just, we've had so much fun. And then my friend Dilip and Ella, they have some kids too, of course. So Dilip has a new and Ella has me and Max and I got my 3 daughters. So Ava, Ella and Nora, and they started to so many kids in the kitchen. So that's every other month, same. Same concept, we go kitchen to kitchen, but now you get the kids doing their own recipes or picking one off from a good resource and just simple recipes and fun and delicious and colorful. And the kids really have a good time and they've all become good friends together too, which is really a joy to see, you know? And it's just free, it's through Facebook. I think it goes on YouTube as well. They're recorded. We have a website called somanycooks .com. where there's a link to all the shows as well and recipes. And you probably know who Brenda Davis is, don't 

Glen Merzer:  I have interviewed her, yeah. 

Cody Stubbe:  I figured so, Glen. So she does all of our nutrition write -ups for us. So for each of our shows, we have a nice document with all of our recipes. And at the end, she does a wonderful nutrition write -up, and she throws in some of her own recipes in there as well. OK. Yeah, so you have to check it out if you haven't been on there yet and see what all she's done for us. And you know, we've had, gosh, hundreds of recipes now, or thinking about throwing together some kind of a book, a big cookbook. I think that'd be a lot of fun. And next year we'd like to get all the kids in the kitchen together for some kind of fun anniversary event. Yeah. So, but it's been such a joy. I mean, to have my kids just be inspired by other kids and have this community, you know, people that support your lifestyle. It's really been such a benefit for us, a joy, isn't it? That's great. 

Glen Merzer:  And your husband, tell us about his journey. One day his wife comes home and she says, I'm not eating meat anymore. And what did your husband say? 

Cody Stubbe:  Well, he was not on board initially. took a couple of years. He likes to lift his weights and he was definitely concerned about losing out on the muscle mass due to the lack of protein without eating meat. So it took that time period to kind of educate him and very delicately, of course. 

Glen Merzer:  Did you show him pictures of vegan bodybuilders? 

Cody Stubbe:  Yeah, I did what I had available to me at the time. then I think it was when Game Changers came out, took him to And that was very mind opening for him. Cause yeah, there's a lot of weightlifters on their football players. And so it was good, good for him to see that documentary. And he met Robert Cheek a couple of years ago and had a good conversation with him so he can see firsthand, you know, how you can actually build great muscle on a whole food plant based diet. And so he changed along with the kids and He's, he's enjoyed it. He hasn't lost any muscle. He's gained it. He hasn't, it doesn't seem like he has as many like, lifting kind of injuries. I mean, they're always minor, but I don't ever hear him really say anything about having a lifting injury anymore. and I told him, said, yeah, you know, it's, this is exactly where like the cows get their protein. They get it from the grass. It's amino acids, you know, that come together in your body. It's so, you know, the biggest animals on earth eat plants. So, you know, some people have a hard time wrapping their head around that, but it's true, you know, and you have less inflammation, right? Because you have all these antioxidants totally healing your body and keeping it nice and healthy all the time. 

Glen Merzer:  So your husband is glad he made the transformation? 

Cody Stubbe:  Yeah, yeah, definitely. And the benefits for the climate as well. He wants this world to be a better place for our kids. He loves animals, so he's glad he doesn't have know, be a part of that anymore. So yeah, it's nice. It's really made a huge difference to have him on board with this. And I mean, I feel for any of those spouses or those husbands or wives out there that are doing this on their own, because it is, it's hard and so much easier. You can both get on board. And sometimes it takes an outside source to educate that spouse because they don't ever want to listen to their their partner, it seems like. I don't know what it is. I mean, you can talk to them for years and it takes someone outside to come talk to them or watch a documentary that just kind of makes something click for them. 

Glen Merzer:  So. OK. So what are you going to prepare for us today? 

Well, we're going to make a black bean salsa dip, and this is a PCRM recipe. And I always like to tweak it. love garlic. So I added a little garlic to this recipe. So basically, yeah, I do. love garlic, Glen. You put garlic in everything. I put garlic in everything. So I'm gonna let you dump everything in. So we got one can of black beans and it's rinsed and drained. 

Glen Merzer:  Okay.

Cody Stubbe:  All right, one cup of your favorite salsa. One of my favorites is it's from Aldi's. Do you have an Aldi's California? 

Glen Merzer:  We have an Aldi's, yeah. 

Cody Stubbe:  This is my favorite salsa. It's just, it's very inexpensive. I think it's like a dollar something for this. it seems like clean ingredients. So I like that. So one cup of salsa and then about a half a teaspoon of ground garlic.

Glen Merzer:  -huh. I hear you use that often. 

Cody Stubbe:  What's that? 

Glen Merzer:  I hear that you use garlic often. 

Cody Stubbe:  Yes, yes, definitely. And then a half a teaspoon of ground cumin. So that's it. That's it. Yeah, it's easy because if think about it, you're going to have your peppers and your onions in with your salsa. So you don't need to add that in there. All right. It's going to get loud for a hot minute here. OK. 

Glen Merzer:  You know, I can't hear

Cody Stubbe:  All right, and then you just blend it to the consistency you like so I like it a little bit smoother things with this sorry one more time. One more little go. Smell a little good. Thank you. All right. this is a really inexpensive recipe. Really quick as you can see, very healthy for you. Lots of veggies and legumes. And there you go. And then you just get your favorite chip. It's hard to find chips that are low fat, low sodium, right? So you can make your own if you want. If you can't find any, can just do

Glen Merzer:  Or tortillas. 

Cody Stubbe: Tortillas, yep. And I stack them up and I use a pizza slicer and slice through them. You can do like chili and lime on them and throw them in the oven and crisp them up. Excuse me. And then those make excellent chips as well. 

Glen Merzer:  OK. Now I have a question for you, Cody, about the cardiac unit that you worked in. Do you still work in a cardiac unit?

Cody Stubbe:  No, not currently. Now I teach on the oncology units. Now I deal with people going through cancer treatments. 

Glen Merzer:  OK. Well, when you were working on the cardiac unit and you had your revelation and you went plant based, went vegan, did you speak with any of the surgeons about it? And did they have any opinions about your diet? 

Cody Stubbe:  Well, let's see. I did at a different facility. It was not a cardiac unit, but I did talk to one cardiologist and he was definitely unfit himself. And I said, yeah, know, how about, you know, plant -based diet? And I just started kind of talking and then he's like, we just recommend a cardiac diet, whatever that all is. And I'm like, hmm, well, you should know. You know, it's like, you know, it's sad because like cardiologists, know, those physicians alone, a lot of them are very unhealthy themselves. Nurses too, nurses that can, are I think more unhealthy than the general population, unfortunately. And we're here educating others and trying to take care of others when sometimes we don't take care of ourselves or know how to take care of ourselves because maybe forgot what they learned or didn't get taught the appropriate things or like the media sways things, you know, to promote their products or the beef and dairy industry, you know how it goes. So, you know, we're not immune. Nurses, doctors are not immune to those things, to the media, to the false advertising, all of that, unfortunately. So it's kind of my passion to educate nurses, nursing students about eating whole food plant -based getting away from those animal products, know, put more plants on your plate for health benefits for not just themselves, but just, you know, they are also a good example of what health should be. And, you know, I don't want them to get sick, you know, we have enough people getting sick. We all need to do our best and you meet people where they're at, you know, and just encourage them just to try more new things. And I think that's a part of like why there's so many cooks, there's so many kids is important to me because you're showing how easy these recipes are, how delicious they are and how fun it is. 

Glen Merzer:  So have any of the have any of your nurse colleagues transformed to the vegan diet after talking to you? 

Cody Stubbe:  No, not 100 percent, but I think I'm definitely influencing them, getting them curious. One of the directors reach out to me last week to saying she wanted some more resources. She's interested and so that got me excited. yeah, so I'm definitely excited. So if I can get those, you know, those people administration, the nurses administration on board, you're going to have a trickle down effect to your classroom, to what we're teaching our nursing students more often. And I do do post -conference food for life classes with my students. I bring in food, we watch the videos. I do sometimes hands -on cooking demo, get them involved. And they seem to really like it. It's a fun way to end a day at the hospitals to sit down and chat and have some good food and good education. But yeah, I'm trying my best to get more of the administrators on board. And we're getting there. We're making progress.

Glen Merzer:  Ava, do any of your friends in school, excuse me, do any of them show any curiosity about your diet? 

Ava Stubbe:  I mean, sometimes if I bring some homemade food for lunch, they'll be interested and want to try some. It's better than a lot of those school lunch foods. School lunches are not the best here. So I think it is interesting if they see something different and like, hey, that looks good. What is that?

Glen Merzer:  I can still remember the school lunches I had when I was a kid. were inedible. Yeah. And the government often subsidizes the school lunches to put more cheese and milk in them. And government subsidies get passed through to kids with animal products. Yeah.

Cody Stubbe:  That's too bad. And they still have processed meat. know, that's that's a carcinogen right there. Same as cigarettes and asbestos. And they're still giving that out to kids for school lunches. You know, that's that's that should be the first thing to go, you would think. 

Glen Merzer:  Or in hospitals. That would be a good place to get rid of the animal foods.

Cody Stubbe:   Yes, I agree. 100 percent. Yeah. And, know,

Glen Merzer:  Year and a half ago, I had hernia surgery and I woke up in the recovery room. And the first thing the nurse said was, would you like a ham sandwich? But well, you don't know who I am, do you? So Do you put much time into recipe creation? Either of you

Cody Stubbe:  let's see. I haven't done that so much lately. I did that more during COVID when I wasn't working as much. Now I take a recipe and just kind of tweak it. 

Ava Stubbe:  I don't really cook with recipes unless I see something specifically I want to try. Usually I just kind of like think of what I want and then go for it and sometimes I end up making a new recipe. 

Glen Merzer:  Okay.

Cody Stubbe:  Yeah, I'd say you're more creative than I am. more of like spontaneously cooking, so I don't always write down my recipes, but usually I just come up with something and make it. 

Glen Merzer:  So what are your favorite breakfasts? 

Ava Stubbe:  I've made like these little vegan egg quiche cups and you can put like whatever toppings you want in there. And I like those with my friend Anu has this really great pancake recipe. So like quiche cups and pancakes, I think.

Glen Merzer:  So, what do you use as vegan eggs? 

Ava Stubbe:  I've done it with like a tofu thing before, but I also like the just egg substitute. That's usually pretty good. 

Glen Merzer:  Yeah, I never tried that just egg thing. All right. And a favorite lunch? 

Ava Stubbe:  I don't know. Usually for lunch, I just have leftovers of whatever we cooked the day before. So, it's not much for a lunch thing. 

Cody Stubbe:  Yeah, we like leftovers, that's for sure. We do love stir fries. Yeah, I don't know. very good things. 

Glen Merzer:  And what are some of your favorite dinner entrees? 

Ava Stubbe:  I like mom's vegan lasagna or her vegan mac and cheese. Those are both really good. 

Cody Stubbe:  Yeah, I make a good cheese sauce with sweet potatoes. 

Glen Merzer:  OK, is there any garlic in it? 

Cody Stubbe:  Of course, there's always garlic in it. 

Ava Stubbe:  If anyone ever eats food at our house, there is always garlic. 

Cody Stubbe:  There's no bacon fires here, 

Glen Merzer:  Well, garlic is one of the healthiest foods. Yeah, garlic and onion. 

Ava Stubbe:  We love onions as well. 

Glen Merzer:  That's good for your immune system. Mm hmm. All right. Well, thank you for joining us, Cody and Ava. The website is so many cooks dot com and you could find so many cooks in the kitchen and so many kids in the kitchen on both Facebook and YouTube. Is that right? 

Cody Stubbe:  Yeah.

Glen Merzer:  And and so there may be a cook down the road, huh? A cookbook? 

Cody Stubbe:  Possibly. We've been talking about it. So I'll let you know, Glen. 

Glen Merzer:  Let us know if that happens. And in the meantime, there is a new cookbook for sale. Chef AJ's Sweet Indulgence, which is like the most beautiful dessert cookbook of all time. 

Cody Stubbe:  Wow. 

Glen Merzer:  vegan, of course, all gluten free. No oil, healthy desserts. People are going to always have dessert, right? 

Cody Stubbe:  Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having us, Glen. We appreciate you. 

Glen Merzer:  Thanks for joining. Thanks for joining me. Take care. All right.

Cody Stubbe:  Bye.

Ava Stubbe:   Bye.