One of the things that were really important to Brown in creating her cookbook is that she wants readers to feel like they’re in the kitchen with her cooking together.

“I want people to feel like, ‘yeah, this is Tab, right,'” Brown told Blavity. “Same way with my audiobook, I recorded it in my voice. And people are like, people don’t need audio for cookbooks, but I want people to download it and hear me in the kitchen and feel like that I’m in there with them.”

It’s a huge reason the book is so vibrant.

“I remember when I was doing my photo shoot for the food with the photographer. And so, you know, replating the food and stuff. And I said, ‘listen, the food gotta look like me saying, get into it,'” she said. “It’s gotta have that same effect like, when I do my videos — like, y’all, get into it. So, I wanted to be me in book form. That’s the best way I could put it. And I wanted people to feel like they got a little piece of Tab in their kitchen with them and in their food. So almost like we get to have food together. Like, we get to share a meal together.”

And you just might need Tab in the kitchen with you if you’re not a veteran cook because, in true Tab form, the recipes do not feature measurements.

“I don’t want it to be a mistake about it, right? It’s called Cooking from the Spirit. Everybody knows from the last five years of me doing videos, I don’t use recipes. I don’t use measurements. I just do it as I go,” she said.

But she doesn’t intend to leave you hanging. She’s already thinking of ways to create a connection between herself and the book that allows readers to truly join her in the kitchen.

“It can be one of those things where I’m like, ‘OK I’m gonna go live y’all on this day, this time we’re gonna cook this from the cookbook,'” she said. “So if you got the cookbook, we can do it together type of thing. And so it also adds to that, ‘oh, I am getting to experience this with Tab.’ But then also just for people to learn to trust themselves more because a lot of times people be like, ‘I cannot cook without measurements’ and I’d be like, ‘yes, you can, you can trust yourself enough to know what you like.’ So, I just want people to have that feeling with it.”

The book tour, however, will be a real in-person experience during which Brown intends to interact with her fans to the fullest. Last year, she embarked on a highly-successful tour for her inspiration book, Feeding the Soul, but things were way more emotional than she expects things to be this time around.

“Last time got a little heavy, you know, there were tears, it was happiness, it was sharing,” she said. “But this is a cookbook. So, this is food. This is fun. I love seeing people be happy. I love the excitement. And I’m a foodie. I love talking about food. I love eating food. So, I’m just excited to share that I’m excited.”

She’s also looking forward to answering food questions. She said she’s gotten loads of them via social media and just can’t get to them all.

“So many people always send me questions about being vegan or asking about substitutes. Or, you know, ‘I can’t eat peanuts, what can I use?’ Or ‘I can’t eat mushrooms.’ I get so many of those messages I can’t respond to, so I’m excited about being able to do a Q&A and answer those questions in person.”

But what she’s most excited about is being in the physical presence of the people who have contributed to her success.

“And of course, I’m looking forward to being able to hug on people and love on people and all those things and taking them pictures. It feels like a family reunion to me.”

Brown is passionate about vegan food because she believes that the dietary change saved her life. She said people seem to understand that certain foods can cause your body harm, but that the idea that food can also heal you appears to be lost.

“I don’t know why people don’t connect the two, if it can kill you or make you sick, it can also heal you and keep you alive,” she said. “So for me, it did change my life and save my life. I wasn’t a bad eater per se. I haven’t had red meat or pork since I was 15. I was only eating chicken and fish, and I’m allergic to dairy. So, I had already cut dairy out of my diet on my own. And so I was just eating like chicken and fish and turkey every day. And I was very sick.”

The documentary What the Health piqued her interest in doing a 30-day vegan challenge and she never went back to meat.

“Literally in those first 10 days of not eating meat, a headache I had had every day for a year and seven months disappeared,” she said. “So, I knew it had to be what I was eating that was making me sick. And a lot of times, if we just listen to our body, our body tells us everything that it needs and that it likes and what agrees with it and what disagrees with it. That’s really it. Food is medicine. It really is.”

Brown doesn’t want people to get sick before making changes. But even if you don’t intend to embark on a fully vegan diet, she wants people to give vegan food a try.

“I just want people to have no fear and keep an open mind,” she said. “On a personal note, I always try to encourage people. Don’t wait until you get sick to try to make changes for your health, in how you eat, try your best to at least five days a week, once a day, eat something that’s intended for you to live well. And that’s it.”

People are likely hesitant to give vegan foods a try because they think vegans just eat grass, Brown joked.

“I’m not skinny, honey,” she said. “I still eat very well. I got hips, thighs and fries. OK!”

She’s encountered people who have negative things to say about vegan diets and she blesses them the Tab way.

“I always tell people I didn’t go vegan ’cause I ain’t like how nonvegan food tasted. I went to save my life,” she said. “But you know, people who say [negative things], I think they just want something to say, you know, nobody said those things when I was sick, nobody cared about what I was eating when I was sick. They only cared when I started to try to take care of myself. So I always say, ‘well honey, God bless y’all.'”

Those encounters are why she doesn’t judge people.

“Y’all eat whatever you want, that’s your business. But for me and my body, I know I listen to her and I gotta eat what makes me feel well.”

However, be not confused, Brown’s vegan food is well-seasoned.

“I still season with garlic, herbs and spices. Like, all those things — that’s why I have my own seasoning,” she said. “My Sunshine has all my favorite things from turmeric to pineapple, to mango to ginger all those things in one. I just love a little bit of sweet and savory. And so yeah, I still season my food the same so I can get the same flavors and all we really crave is flavor and texture. That’s it. We don’t crave the bone. We don’t crave the blood. We crave the texture and the seasoning. That’s it. And so if I can get my texture and my seasoning down, then I’m alright.”

Throughout the book are Tabisms to encourage the reader to trust themselves and have a little fun while trying something new.

“We are so quick to judge ourselves or be hard on ourselves,” Brown said. “We don’t give ourselves grace. It’s alright to make a mistake. It’s OK not to get it right, especially when you’re cooking, don’t take yourself so seriously in the kitchen.”

Inspiration is not only a facet of her faith, but Brown also truly understands how hard life can be sometimes.

“The world is so hard,” she said. “We should not be part of the hard, we should be good to ourselves. So, that’s kind of the reason why I always remind people of that, and food should be fun, right? Food should be creative. Food should be family. It should be gathering. It should be memories. It shouldn’t be feeling bad about ourselves. So, I just always want people to just take it easy on themselves, enjoy your food, try something new, get in the kitchen and don’t overthink it.”

Cooking from the Spirit is on sale now and tickets for the eight-city book tour can be purchased here.