Lauren Toyota

Lauren Toyota is a vegan cookbook author and creator of the blog, Hot for Food. She is a former Canadian television personality.

Early life and education
Toyota was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. She is a Yonsei Japanese Canadian. Her great-grandparents emigrated from Japan to Canada, and her grandparents were in internment camps during WWII.

Toyota became a vegetarian when she was 12 and had to cook her own food. In 2003, she graduated from Durham College with a degree in Music Business Management.

Career


Toyota began her career in Canadian Television, as a host for MTV Canada, a former MuchMusic VJ,  and a co-host of 969. In 2014, she gave up her work in television, in order to develop her vegan blog and YouTube channel, Hot for Food. Canada's Impact magazine listed Toyota as one (out of 12) of "Canada's Top Vegan Influencers."

Food & Wine named her 2021 cookbook Hot for Food All Day: Easy Recipes to Level Up Your Vegan Meals, as one of "The 18 Best Vegan Cookbooks for Every Type of Meal" in 2023, and VegNews named her 2018 cookbook, Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics: 101 Recipes to Feed Your Face, as one of the "Top 100 Vegan Cookbooks of All Time," in 2024.

Refinery29 included Toyota in their 2018 list of "Canadian Women Killing It". OptiMYz listed her in their list of "Top 100 Health and Fitness Influencers of 2019".

Awards

 * 2019: Gourmand Cookbook Award: Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics
 * 2018: VegNews Veggie Award for Best Vegan Cookbook: Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics

Books

 * Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics: 101 Recipes to Feed Your Face. Ten Speed Press, 2018. ISBN 978-0399580147.
 * Hot for Food All Day: Easy Recipes to Level Up Your Vegan Meals. Ten Speed Press, 2021. ISBN 978-1984857521.