The Carrot Underground is a vegan food and lifestyle website devoted to classic comfort food made kinder. Founded by vegan recipe developer and cookbook author Connie Edwards McGaughy, the site shares familiar favorites recreated without animal products.
Here you'll find tried-and-true vegan recipes inspired by traditional dishes, treasured family recipes, and popular foods we all know and love. You'll also find practical cooking tips and inspiration for enjoying a compassionate vegan lifestyle.
Our Story
The Carrot Underground began long before this website existed. In the early 1990s, while my husband John and I were raising our children, I kept a journal called The Carrot Underground: Raising Compassionate Kids in a Carnivorous World. It became a place to collect thoughts, ideas, and inspiration as we navigated raising a plant-based family in a world where our choices were often different.
More than two decades later, while packing up our longtime family home in 2018, I rediscovered that journal in a drawer. Seeing the title again sparked an idea. I knew I wanted to create something that could inspire others to enjoy good food while making kinder choices for animals. The Carrot Underground website grew from that moment.
Today, The Carrot Underground brings together decades of vegan cooking experience, treasured family recipes, familiar comfort foods, and a commitment to compassionate living.
What You'll Find Here
The Carrot Underground is rooted in recipes, but there's more growing here. Everything I share reflects the same idea: enjoying good food and a fulfilling life while making kinder choices for animals and the planet.
Vegan Recipes
Recipes are at the heart of The Carrot Underground. You'll find classic comfort foods, traditional dishes, family favorites, and restaurant-inspired recipes recreated without animal products. From everyday meals to holidays and special occasions, each recipe is created and tested in my home kitchen.
Cooking Help & Inspiration
Good recipes should set you up for success. I share practical cooking tips, techniques, ingredient guidance, substitutions, and lessons learned from decades of cooking without meat, dairy, or eggs.
Vegan Living
Vegan living extends beyond what's on our plates. I also share thoughts and experiences about animals, dining out, travel, sustainability, creativity, and everyday choices that are kinder to animals and the planet.
Cookbooks & Resources
The Carrot Underground also includes digital cookbooks and practical kitchen resources designed to make vegan cooking and entertaining easier and more enjoyable.
Our Approach
Every recipe at The Carrot Underground is created with the home cook in mind. My goal is to make the instructions clear, practical, and detailed enough to help you succeed the first time you make it.
Recipes are prepared and tested in my home kitchen using ingredients that are readily available whenever possible. I pay attention to the details that make a difference, from texture and flavor to cooking times, techniques, and helpful substitutions.
I also believe familiar food should still feel familiar. When I recreate a traditional dish or family favorite, I want it to capture the flavors, textures, and experience people remember, simply made without animal products.
Most of all, I want readers to understand why a recipe works, not just follow a set of instructions. Cooking becomes much easier when you know what to look for and what to do when something doesn't go exactly as planned.
Meet Connie
Connie Edwards McGaughy is the founder and creator of The Carrot Underground, a vegan recipe developer and cookbook author whose journey toward vegan living began in 1977.
For nearly five decades, Connie has been recreating traditional dishes, family favorites, and classic comfort foods without animal products. She brings that experience to every recipe and resource she creates for The Carrot Underground.
Based in San Diego, California, Connie combines her love of cooking with a lifelong commitment to animals and compassionate living.
Press & Media
My work with The Carrot Underground has been featured, referenced, and shared by national media, food publications, and other organizations.
In the press: AARP The Magazine • HuffPost • Chowhound • CNN • USA Today
The Carrot Underground Cookbooks
I created The Carrot Underground cookbooks to bring together some of my favorite recipes, cooking tips, and practical resources in convenient digital collections.
The Carrot Underground Cookbook - Volume One
How to Host Plant-Based Parties Everyone Will Love
45 vegan recipes, party-planning tips, and creative ideas for hosting gatherings everyone can enjoy.
The Carrot Underground Cookbook - Volume Two
How to Bake the Best Vegan Desserts and Treats
A collection of vegan desserts, sweet treats, and practical tips for successful vegan baking.
Our Philosophy
For me, vegan living has always been about more than food. It reflects a belief that animals deserve our compassion and respect, and that the choices we make every day can make a difference.
The Carrot Underground is built on the idea that choosing kinder options doesn't mean giving up the foods, traditions, and experiences we love. We can gather around the table, celebrate holidays, share favorite recipes, and enjoy wonderful food without harming animals.
I hope the recipes and stories I share here make those choices a little easier, and a lot more delicious.
Explore The Carrot Underground
Whether you're vegan, cooking for someone who is, or simply looking for delicious ways to enjoy more plant-based foods, I'm glad you're here.
Explore the recipes, try something new, and make yourself at home in The Carrot Underground.
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