We had the good fortune of connecting with Sara T Russell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sara, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
LA Pierogi is 100% vegan, cruelty free and non GMO. If this resonates globally or locally, we are helping.

How being a vegan business helps:
Being a vegan business means we aren’t using and selling animal products, Our customers aren’t buying them and therefore this exchange reduces the demand for them, which ensures fewer animals are bred to suffer and die on farms and in slaughterhouses.
Environmentally, veganism saves water and reduces energy consumption, cuts greenhouse gases and emissions and protects rainforests from deforestation.
Also- it’s really healthy.

How being a cruelty free business helps::
Not using any products that, for example have been tested on animals. This could be anything from our dish soap to food coloring. It helps because it doesn’t hurt animals.

How being a non GMO business helps:
More business to organic and local sellers. The environmental and health benefits are endless.
We are making food that is healthy. No toxic chemicals, antibiotics or growth hormones.
The flour that goes into our pierogi isn’t flour that has been drastically altered by big corporations.
Non GMO flour is healthier.

With all of that said, pierogi makes people really happy. It’s a phenomenon. People have a deep connection to it. We try and match the authenticity and magic that is the tradition of Polish cuisine.
It works extremely well as vegan food.

Smacznego!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We specialize in pierogi. We sell it as prepared take-out on the weekends and also as a frozen product in markets. We started as a monthly pop-up and then grew into a full time business. We are proud of our product and always excited to come up with new recipes while sticking to the traditional favorites.
We are in our second year and happy to say being LA Pierogi is really great.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would definitely have to start at Olvera Street, a historic street that was once a main market square dating back to the 1820s when Los Angeles was still Mexican territory. Although the cultural theme is somewhat appropriated and romanticized- it has some cool shops and restaurants. The aesthetic is absolutely beautiful. Also Los Angeles has some of the world’s best Mexican food traditional and modern. After that, in no particular order-
A visit to LA would be incomplete without checking out some of the unparalleled hiking here. Switzer falls in the Angeles Crest is one of the favorites. Griffith Park and Elysian Park would follow.
Nightlife – where would we even start? There are so many old hotels and theaters in downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood that are historic monuments now-Old Hollywood is such a rich history. The Biltmore Hotel DTLA then the Hollywood Roosevelt. Other spots would have to be at the HMS Bounty on Wilshire (people swear it’s haunted), Casita Del Campo for drinks in Silverlake and then over to Max Karaoke in Little Tokyo. If someone was visiting the city they would also want to go to the beach so Santa Monica pier and Malibu would be places on the list.
Dinner at Little Pine one night and going to wherever the Voodoo Vegan food truck is the other night.
I’m definitely forgetting places. LA is a big city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Besties Vegan Paradise. Thank you

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lapierogi?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Other: lapierogi@gmail.com

Image Credits
Toni Smith, Shoshonna Mitchell, Judy Sisneros.

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.