Toni Okamoto

Toni Okamoto is an American plant-based cookbook author, who appears in the 2017 plant-based diet documentary, What the Health.

Early life and education
Okamoto grew up in Sacramento, California. She was raised by her Mexican grandmother, who taught her how to cook "calabasitas, sopa de fideo and tacos," and her Japanese grandfather, who taught her how to grow food through his farm work after being released from WWII internment camps. After her father came home from the Navy, she lived with him, and they lived on a diet of processed and convenience foods. She states that she first began to alter her diet during high school, when she ran track and her coach suggested that she "cut back on red meats and fast food so that I could perform better," in response to frequent bouts of illness.

When she was in college, she initially joined the vegetarian club in order to get extra credit. She eventually turned to veganism, however, as she was influenced by club members who taught her that it was affordable. She graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2016.

Career
In 2012, Okamoto began posting vegan recipes on her family as a response to the chronic health conditions in her family. She later started the cooking blog, Plant-Based on a Budget with the goal of making plant-based cooking "inclusive," affordable, and easy. In 2017, she appeared in the plant-based documentary, What the Health.

Okamoto has published four cookbooks. Forbes named her 2019 cookbook, Plant-Based on a Budget, as one of the "Best Vegan Cookbooks" in 2019, and Runner's World listed it as one of the "6 Best Vegan Cookbooks to Get More Plants in Your Diet" in 2022.

Plant-Based on a Budget: Quick & Easy (2023) was nominated for an IVFF award in 2023, and VegNews listed it as one of the "Top 100 Vegan Cookbooks of All Time" in 2024.

Personal life
Okamoto is married to American animal welfare writer, Paul Shapiro. The two reside in Sacramento, Calif. with their adopted pit bull Eddie.

Books

 * Plant-Based on a Budget Quick & Easy: 100 Fast, Healthy, Meal-Prep, Freezer-Friendly, and One-Pot Vegan Recipes. BenBella Books, 2023. ISBN 978-1637742495.
 * The Friendly Vegan Cookbook: 100 Essential Recipes to Share with Vegans and Omnivores Alike. BenBella Books, 2020. ISBN 978-1950665365. (With Michelle Cehn)
 * Plant-Based on a Budget: Delicious Vegan Recipes for Under $30 a Week, in Less Than 30 Minutes a Meal. BenBella Books, 2019. ISBN 978-1946885982.
 * The Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook: 100 Easy, Healthy Recipes That Are Ready When You Are. Rockridge Press, 2017. ISBN 978-1623158958.