Veg-O-Rama’s vegan cupcakes will find a home in your belly

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

I’ve been a vegetarian for 10 years and a vegan for nearly five. In that time, I’ve realized that ordering new dishes is usually much more exciting than eating what’s placed on the table—not that it’s bad; my taste buds just seem to have a magnetic connection to my girlfriend’s cooking. Whatever I eat, I always think her version is better, which explains my skepticism when I came across a Long Beach-based vegan catering company named Veg-O-Rama.

It’s never a smart move for a man to say another woman is better at anything than his girlfriend, so I won’t. What I will say is this: The cupcakes and muffins born from the kitchen of Chris Dziobecki are the best on the local market. And I’m not just saying that because—as far as the 32-year-old entrepreneur and I can tell—she’s the only one in town selling baked vegan goodies. Even with competition, it would be hard to top her work.

Dziobecki—vegan for 15 years—celebrated her company’s one-year anniversary in October 2007, but those old enough to remember the sorely missed Papa Jon’s restaurant on Second Street might recall tasting some of her stuff during the mid-’90s. During her tenure at the veggie staple, Dziobecki added sweets to the menu and later perfected her skills during a stint at a similar establishment in New York City.

Dziobecki describes herself as an ethical vegan, which means giving up meat and dairy had more to do with the uneasy feeling of eating living creatures than with practicing a healthy lifestyle. This attitude fits Veg-O-Rama perfectly because although the chef makes her slices of heaven from scratch using organic flour and unrefined sugar, no one would ever say cupcakes are necessary a part of clean living.

Vegans are bottom feeders. We have to eat whatever is in front of us, assuming there are no animal products in it. So the true test for vegan items lies with how well the food goes over with non-vegetarians. Although she doesn’t ask, Dziobecki says so far she’s had no complaints. Part of her perfect track record comes from the presentation, which she says is a top priority.

“I’m not going to convert non-vegans with a cupcake,” Dziobecki says, “so it has to be beautiful to sell. It can’t just be tasty because I have to think of people’s perception of what vegan food looks like. I like to have kids eat it because they’re the ones who are honest.”

Growing up the sole vegetarian in her family, preparing vegan meals was a method of survival and also what introduced the then 17-year-old to cooking. Because there was, as she says, “certainly not a lot of vegan food 18 years ago,” Dziobecki was required to make her own food—or go starving. As her talent snowballed, visions of childhood excitement regarding sweets sparked an idea.

“When I was a kid,” Dziobecki says, “my mom would take me to the bakery and me and my brother would get a cupcake. I started [Veg-O-Rama] because I have a huge sweet tooth, so I experimented with different replacements.”

I dare anyone—vegan or not—to sample Dziobecki’s peanut butter cupcake and tell me it’s not great. Equally exciting are her vanilla cakes with almonds and chocolate icing cupcakes and banana-nut muffins so filling you’ll have to sit down after eating one. Even the standard vanilla cakes with pink frosting will find a welcome home in your belly. Veg-O-Rama also features coconut and mocha cupcakes (with strawberry and lemon coming soon), cookies, seasonal pies, cinnamon rolls and muffins.

Currently, Dziobecki’s creations can be ordered from her website or found at Viento y Agua Gallery. Those hoping Veg-O-Rama expands into a storefront shouldn’t hold their breath, though.

“I’ve turned down a lot of people in LA and Venice who want me to open a bakery there,” she says, “but I don’t see myself having a retail bakery any time soon. I don’t want to do that. It’s something I’m not ready for. I’d rather have wholesale.”

VEG-O-RAMA 562.338.5781 | VEGORAMA.COM

Tags: catering, cupcakes, Food, Long Beach, vegan