In a very special episode of Vegans Talking Shit, The Tofu Trio welcomes Denis Soukhanov, who co-owns Zen Mystery—an organic lounge, café, and cultural center—with his wife. Denis shares his personal journey to veganism, the vision behind his strictly organic mission, and how his business survived the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the conversation continues, Joey asks Denis if he would ever consider adding meat to the menu to stay afloat—a move some struggling vegan restaurants have made—while Jon and Denis discuss the broader future of plant-based dining. For her part, Vanessa can't stop talking about the awesomeness of the Zen Mystery potato salad. To wrap up the show, Denis reveals the origin of the Zen Mystery name and highlights several new menu items. Just as the episode concludes, Jon and Vanessa's cat, Bob, makes his presence known by causing a glitch in the video. At least it wasn't Khaleesi messing up the recording this time!

All dishes at Zen Mystery are organic, vegan, and gluten-free, and prepared on-site daily. To learn more, visit zenmystery.com. Follow @ZenMystery on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Help The Tofu Trio win their first award! To vote for Vegans Talking Shit for Best Vegan Podcast in the 2026 VegNews Veggie Awards, visit https://vegnews.com/veggie-awards-2026/survey. The show is listed in the 37th category, which requires clicking "Next Page" several times. Every vote counts, and voting ends March 10.

Vegans Talking Shit is hosted by Joey Di Girolamo, Jon Missirlian, and Vanessa Silva. Main podcast image artwork by Diego Orellana. Theme song "Flying" by TrackTribe. Visit @veganstalkingshit on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube and @vegans.talking.sh on TikTok. Send questions, comments, and topic ideas to [email protected], and you may get your email read during the show.