First and foremost, thank you to my parents, George and Lisa Okamoto, who have shown me what hard work looks like. I’m forever grateful for the long hours you worked to get me here, and I will spend every day of my life trying to make the most of the opportunities you’ve given me.
And thank you to my family—Gabriel Okamoto, Elena Deras, Jolene and Larry Shapiro—who will always show up for me in good times and in bad. I feel like the most privileged woman to be born into such a loving and loyal, ride-or-die group of people.
Paul Shapiro, love of my life, thank you for the inspiration, the love, the space to create, the time to collaborate, and for the truly wonderful partnership you’ve created with me. I couldn’t have done this book and this work without you and your support. And I can’t wait to do it again and again forever.
Michelle Cehn, if it wasn’t for you, who knows what I’d be doing? You encouraged me to make Plant-Based on a Budget my life’s work. I’ll never be able to fully express the importance of your encouragement. Thank you for being the best business partner in the world.
A huuuuuge thank you to the entire team who helped create this book: To my agents, Jaidree Braddix and Celeste Fine, for walking alongside me through this entire process. My publisher, Glenn Yeffeth at BenBella, for believing in my idea and my brand. To Leah Wilson, Maria Hart, and Jennifer Greenstein, for all the highly detailed work and finesse you put into my manuscript—you’ve made me really proud of this book. To my food photographer, Jenny Love, for traveling to Sacramento from Denver to take my gorgeous recipe photos (and allowing me to listen to the entire Taylor Swift discography in the process). To Sarah Avinger and the design team, Monica Lowry in production, Heather Butterfield in marketing, and everyone else at BenBella who has worked on my book along the way, for your help in making this dream project come to life. I’m so filled with gratitude.
Finally, thank you to my army of recipe testers: Grace Amico, Justin Au, Toube Benedetto, Cathy Bradford, Max Broad, Gianna Cannataro, Hannah Carrol, Angie Cooper, Isabelle Cnudde, Alex and Holly Evans-Peterson, Lyssa Everett, Annemieke Farrow, Josh Fernandez, Mary Kaye Ferreter, Jodie Foreman, Caryn Ginsberg, Debbie Hart, Kathryn Harvey, Holly Jackson, Logan Jeffrey, Tamaron Johnson, Lisa Kurtz, Virginia Guzman Loenberg, Susan Malphurs, Vannesa Manriquez, Shaunna Martin, Roxane Masson, Katie Metraux, Johanna Miller, Lisa Okamoto, Kathleen Peebles, Jennifer Piccolo, Idalia Ramos, Robin Ritchie, Michelle Rosier, Michelle Salemi, Paul Schwartz, Jolene Shapiro, Paul Shapiro, Erica Shultz, Lora Silver, Matthew Smith, Sarah Smith, Melanie Swanson, Tyler Tiznado, Rebecca Tuohino, Laura vanZandt, Andrea Waybright, Anna Wetherbee, Brett Young, Irene Zhan, and Brian Zimmer. It’s your feedback that helped create such a tasty book.
Lastly, thank you to anyone who has ever written a recipe or an article for Plant-Based on a Budget, fixed my site when it’s crashed (hi, Justin Lewis!), or shared my resources with someone.
This book really is a dream come true.