Last week was my birthday and among the many lovely birthday greetings I received from friends and family was an email from my cousin Brandon (a very successful lawyer with odd taste in music), wishing me “a meat, gluten and MSG free, organic and veganly awesome birthday!” Below that enthusiastic message was a link to this video.

How fabulous (and semi-frightening) is this? Seriously. I love it!

These videos are the brainchild of a guy named Brian from Orlando, Florida whose main passions in life are making/recording hard metal music and vegan cooking. His blog at veganblackmetalchef.com is the intersection of those two (markedly different) interests and it’s fantastic.

He says the purpose of Vegan Black Metal Chef is twofold:

1) Help answer the question “what do vegans eat”/show vegan cooking in the most informative and fun way possible while making some great music to go along with it.

2) Help people bring consciousness to their lives and actions.

Though not one of his stated goals, something else Brian’s writing and videos help to do is show how diverse the vegan movement really is. To so many people, “veganism” evokes the image of rail-thin women who split their time evenly between yoga and PETA protests, but what Brian proves without a doubt is that there really is no “type.” Compassion comes in all shapes, sizes and musical tastes.

Currently, Brian is featuring two videos on his site/YouTube channel but he promises there are more to come. I’ll definitely be tuning in! I mean, where else am I going to learn that boiled potatoes are done when they’re easily pierced with a mystical knife?