Will travel for food: Lloyd Rose on cooking for his luxury culinary retreats | Canada Voices

Lloyd Rose developed a curiosity for food at age 11, when he began cooking alongside his mother. In their Montreal kitchen, the familiar scents of cornmeal porridge, curry chicken with rice and oxtail stew perfumed the air.

But it wasn’t until 2017 that one simple culinary choice would change everything for the former IT specialist. What began as a 14-day no-meat challenge turned into a nine-year commitment (and counting). In March, 2020, spurred on by friends, Rose began sharing recipes across social media platforms under the name Plantcrazii (now @lloyd.rose). His early dishes included a maple jerk tofu bowl, ackee and fried dumplings.

Since then, he’s garnered one million followers on Instagram (including SZA and Snoop Dogg) and written two cookbooks (Crazy Good Vegan and Island Vegan). Now, he’s taking his offerings offline, with a series of culinary retreats at resorts in Belize and Jamaica.

He never anticipated that posting on social media would lead to such success.

“I was so used to the corporate 9-to-5 routine,” Rose says. “I thought that if I ever wanted more out of life, I needed to become more in that space. I never knew social media could do what it has for me. Had I known, I would have taken it seriously from day one.”

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His latest venture began in 2023, when fellow content creator Todd Anderson (a.k.a. @turnipvegan) asked him to co-host a culinary retreat at Jade Jungle Resort, a 300-acre off-grid property in Belize. He enjoyed it so much, he decided to offer his own immersive experiences.

Possible activities include ziplining through jungles, cave tubing, interactive cooking demos and guided meditations – sometimes while monkeys roam nearby and toucans fly overhead.

“I had only seen a toucan on a Froot Loops cereal box, right? So, to see those birds come in right above me, where I’m sleeping in a cabana, I was like, ‘What?!’”

Retreats, which are held throughout the year, run for five or six days and feature a maximum of 22 guests.

Of course, on these trips it’s the food that brings people together, Rose says, whether it’s a buffet breakfast teeming with in-season produce or a multicourse fire-cooked spread he’s curated.

“When you’re at a retreat with other like-minded souls, dinner time is when we decompress,” he says. “We share our stories, and we have an exchange of different cultures and values.”

Some of the dishes on his all-vegan menu, including “rasta pasta” with wood-fired jerk oyster mushrooms, and rice and peas with a silky coconut curry and sweet plantains, reflect Rose’s Jamaican heritage. Others, such as lasagna and tiramisu, are popular hits from his social feed.

To help guests experience the culture of each destination, Rose collaborates with the resorts’ chefs to showcase the local foodscape with a Plantcrazii spin. “I never want to visit a country and wipe out the heritage and hard work that’s brought food and flavours together,” he says.

In Belize, for example, Rose and the in-house chef decided to replace the smoked paprika in his recipes with achiote, a seasoning made with annatto seeds, commonly used in the region for recado (a vibrant red-orange seasoning).

“I’m like, ‘Dang, I think I’ll stick with this versus my smoked paprika,’” he recalls.

Each retreat kicks off with an opening ceremony, where guests share why they booked. “So many people come with all kinds of different traumas and stress,” Rose says.

Others welcome a short break from their careers and the opportunity to recharge and rediscover their inner child. “As days go by, they break out of the stress that is holding them so tight, and they find themselves again.”

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Rose says he is most proud of the multiculturalism within each group; he’s had guests from Canada, Europe, Africa and beyond. “I’m glad that I’m able to attract that type of diversity at my retreats.”

“The energy is beaming through all of us. It feels like everyone has a plug attached to them, and we’ve now connected to one port.”

With five sold-out retreats under his belt, Rose is expanding his offerings to Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, with the next coming at Silent Waters Villa in Montego Bay, Jamaica, this September.

“I’m a perfectionist, so I make sure that people are well accommodated, well fed and happy in their hearts,” he says.