About Us

Why Planted?

Our Values

Reducetarian
Sustainable
Local, Seasonal and Careful Sourcing

We are a food truck specializing in healthy delicious plant-based food with no single-use plastic. We want to encourage people to eat less animal products and felt like the best way to do that would be to provide delicious, reasonably priced, plant-based food to our community.

We work hard to support our environment and local businesses. To achieve that, we limit the use of non-reusable products, source carefully, and partner with nearby farmers to bring in locally grown seasonal produce whenever possible.

Animal Agriculture

Planted began from a concern about our food system, specifically how it treats animals and the impact that has on the planet. We want to raise awareness and provide amazing food that makes the transition away from supporting that food system easier for people.

In industrial animal agriculture, animals are confined to inadequate living spaces, forcibly impregnated, torn from their families, and almost all animals trapped in our food system are ultimately killed in slaughterhouses. Planted works for the betterment of the lives of all animals trapped in the food system.

The meat and dairy industries are also two of the largest contributors to climate change. These industries require large quantities of farm land, both to raise their animals and to grow food for these animals. Delicate ecosystems are torn down to make way for animal agricutlure, depleting vast amounts of land, and hauling in water taken from our natural waterways.

Planted’s mission is essentially Reducetarian. We would like to support people in reducing meat and dairy consumption as the easiest and most impactful way for individuals to decrease harm to animals and lessen their carbon footprint.

Check out our resources page to learn more about orgs addressing these problems, and literature and films on these issues.

To help you reduce your consumption of animal products, check out our recipes page (for easy tried and true plant-based recipes), our restaurants page with a listing of good plant-based options in and around town, our Planted-at-Home meal kits or consider signing up for one of our plant-based cooking classes (check out our shop for a listing of meal kids and community cooking sessions).

Recipes

Restaurants

Orgs We Love

Sustainability

Plastic pollution is suffocating our planet. Single-use plastics clog our oceans, harm wildlife, and take centuries to decompose. By ditching these wasteful products and embracing sustainable alternatives, we can save marine life, reduce landfill waste, and create a cleaner, healthier world for future generations.

Our take out containers are all natural and compostable. These are more costly but we believe the cost to the environment of not sourcing well is greater.

Our cutlery on the truck is either bamboo or wood. We also have metal cutlery sets available for purchase to keep in your car and reuse. We purchased these from local thrift shops, cleaned them and sanitized them so they are immediately ready for your use. That way you can say no thank you to plastic cutlery you might be offered with carry out. These sweet sets are available for purchase from our truck for $5 (and come with a pretty cloth napkin).

Planted does not use single-use plastic. We encourage you to being in any clean reusable cup for $1 off any drink from the truck!

And, lastly, our Planted t-shirts are made from high quality thrifted t’s that have been washed and then logoed up by Bad Knees T’s with our sweet logo (designed by the amazing Erin Tobey). If you wear one of these t’s while purchasing something from the truck you get $1 off any order over $10. These t’s are for sale in a bundle with a Planted tumbler and sticker for $25 (see our shop for more info!).

Sourcing Well

and Supporting

Local

By sourcing locally, we support the community, reduce transportation distances, which in turn minimizes carbon emissions and our ecological footprint.

We are also careful with our sourcing in general, using organic products when we can and making sure the products we use are ethical. For example, we do not use any coconut products that are on the boycott list for using monkey labor.

Visit Our Partners

Meet the Crew

Manar Abuzer

Truckette
When Manar is not rock climbing, you can often find her listening to or making music. She is also deeply passionate about neuroscience. She has undergraduate degrees in both music and neuroscience. She also enjoys all of the precious things in life, like food, animals, nature and art in its many forms.
Avery Durnil Wilkerson

Truckette
Avery is a Hoosier, born and raised. She just graduated from IU with a degree in Media Advertising and minors in Folklore and American Sign Language. She has a passion for nature, animals and humans. Avery recently joined the truck to better serve her community, connect with others and support the imporant mission of sustainability. She is a pop culture connoisseur who loves to paint and read in her free time.
Cooper Gerrard

Truckette
Cooper first went vegetarian when he was nine years old due to the cruelty that occurs in the meat industry. Reducing consumption of animal products was what initially inspired him to learn how to cook, and he now loves making food for customers as well as family and friends. When he is not chopping vegetables, you might find him reading something in Japanese, making art, playing dungeons and dragons, or writing and playing songs on the guitar.
Aspen La Soleil

Truckette
Aspen works at the Owlery as a cook as well as at Planted as a Truckette. Wanting to decrease animal cruelty, help the environment, and give her body the best nutrition, she decided to go vegan about 6 years ago. She enjoys being in the kitchen and putting together beautiful food that nourishes the body whole. She also loves skateboarding and adventures with her partner in her free time.
Gary M Marra Jr.

Truck Manager/Truckette
Gary came to Planted with many years of food experience, most recently leaving a very long term gig at the Owlery. A long time vegan, he is creative with cooking and has found many ways to improve processes at Planted. He was recently promoted to Truck Manager. Go Gary!
Julia Martin

Prep Chef
Julia first moved to Bloomington in 2020 to be closer to family and shortly after began working at the Goat Conspiracy Farm. Julia is a huge animal lover so working with goats on a local farm was awesome and she is now looking forward to helping the farm transition to a sanctuary.
Julia was super excited o start working with Planted, as she is passionate about animal welfare, local food and nutrition. When she is not on the farm or prepping food with the rest of the amazing Planted staff, she can be found volunteering with cats at the local animal shelter, climbing or hiking.
Nicole Schonemann

Instigator
Nicole loves animals and the natural world and laments the fact that humans don’t do a good job of taking care of either. She is an avid reducetarian, believing that the more people who reduce their consumption of animal products the better this will be for the world as a whole. She is delighted to be working with such an amazing group of people at Planted Bloomington, whom she believes is making a difference by introducing people to amazing plant-based meals. Her heart is full.
Leah Wolfe

Head Prep Chef and Artist Behind Our Food
Creating delicious food experiences has been a part of Leah’s life since early childhood. Growing up in Texas in a pecan orchard, Leah’s first memories are of shelling pecans in the kitchen with her family. Being surrounded by trees filled with peaches, pears and pecans along with her family’s garden instilled in her a love for fresh ingredients. This also taught her to care for the importance of supporting local agriculture and a care for food waste. These are core values Leah has brought with her into her adult life.
When she is not experimenting with new ingredients and cooking techniques, Leah is passionate about holistic care and is writing her first cookbook to be allergy friendly. She also loves to be in touch with nature through hikes and swimming at the lake.
Erica Yochum

The Original Conceptual Artist Behind Our Food
Erika has had a love affair with food for as long as she can remember. She adores how all of her senses can be excited by holding and smelling a tomato heavy with sun and rain, or the eyes closed swoon after a shattering crunch into an almond croissant.
She sees food as an underlying connective force behind all things. Food connects us to our past, to our place, to our culture, and to one another. beyond creating delicious bites, she honors local ingredients grown in rhythm with the season. This mirrors the temporal nature and our interdependence in a complex ecosystem.