These 'Tuna' Melts Show Vegan Cooking Can Be About Abundance, Too

Jenné Claiborne has me thinking about Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor and the idea of vibrations.

Claiborne, who just turned 38, writes about vegan cooking from her home in Atlanta under the brand Sweet Potato Soul. Smart-Grosvenor, who died in 2016 at age 79, was the Geechee poet, broadcaster and culinary anthropologist who wrote the seminal 1970 book "Vibration Cooking.” (In it, she wrote, "When I cook, I never measure or weigh anything. I cook by vibration.”)

I met Smart-Grosvenor more than a decade ago, when she won a lifetime achievement award from the Southern Foodways Alliance at its annual symposium in Oxford, Mississippi, and I was struck by her regal presence as she took the stage and enraptured the audience. She was the type of woman people called a "force of nature,” and I immediately understood why.

I'm remembering the scene now because Claiborne's latest cookbook is "Sweet Potato Soul Vegan Vibes,” a celebration of the energy and positivity that she attributes to the vegan diet and lifestyle she adopted 14 years ago. "I just want to help people feel the same way I feel,” she told me.

In recent years, the term "vibes” and its related phrases have become so commonplace as to perhaps have lost some of the word's original meaning. But as soon as Claiborne and I started our Zoom interview to talk about her book, and her energy radiated through the screen, I started to make the connections. Claiborne is nothing if not vibrant, and to be vibrant is to vibrate, to buzz - to be alive. She didn't know Smart-Grosvenor, but I have a feeling the two would've had a lot to talk about.

Claiborne is a force in her own right. She has drawn legions of fans to her "Sweet Potato Soul” website and the 2018 cookbook of the same name, which were inspired by her grandmother.

When Claiborne was a girl, her grandmother would tell her: "You gotta put soul in everything, even if it's not soul food,” she told me. "Everything is soul food, really, if you put love and soul into it.” Does that sound like vibrations, or what?

Her new book doubles down on the idea that vegan cooking can be about abundance, not limitation, that taking animal products off the table can inspire you to explore all the ways vegetables can be more than merely satisfying. And that if you learn to cook, it doesn't need to cost more money - or take more time - than being an omnivore.

Take my current favorite recipe from her book, the one I'm sharing here: It's a vegan take on a tuna melt, with finely shredded carrots and mashed chickpeas standing in for the tuna. Much of the flavor comes from a combination of ume plum vinegar (a Japanese staple and one of Claiborne's favorite ingredients), celery seeds, dill and seaweed flakes, while the carrot shreds evoke the texture of well-blended tuna salad. You would be happy spooning the mixture onto bread for a cold sandwich anytime, but this recipe takes it further into comfort-food territory by adding a little vegan cheese and toasting the sandwiches in the oven.

It's the kind of simple-but-brilliant recipe that has earned Claiborne her well-deserved reputation. Bonus: Apparently even a hungry, omnivorous teenager gets the appeal. I hadn't planned to serve the sandwich to mine, but I had a couple left after my husband and I devoured ours, and he was taking a break from Instagram scrolling to scavenge in the kitchen. He ate one, proclaimed it "pretty good” (his term for something outstanding), and then asked if he could have the other one.

Was it the sandwich, or was it the vibes? I like to think it was both.

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Carrot and Chickpea "Tuna” Melts

In this vegan take on a tuna melt, finely shredded carrots and mashed chickpeas join forces with seaweed flakes, dill and other ingredients that help evoke the flavor of tuna salad.

Cookbook author Jenné Claiborne was inspired by the carrot "tuna” at Tassili's Raw Reality, a restaurant in Atlanta. The mixture is also great on a cold sandwich, without the cheese.

Servings: 4 (makes 4 sandwiches)

Active time: 25 minutes. Total time: 35 minutes

Storage: Refrigerate the salad for up to 4 days.

Where to buy: Ume plum vinegar and dulse seaweed flakes can be found in Asian markets, natural foods stores, well-stocked supermarkets and online.

Substitutions: Chickpeas >> cannellini, navy or other white beans. Canned beans >> 1 1/2 cups home-cooked beans. Ume plum vinegar >> rice vinegar, preferably unseasoned. Dulse flakes >> any other seaweed flakes (nori, wakame or a blend), or omit. Celery seeds >> dill seeds.

INGREDIENTS

One (15-ounce) can no-salt-added chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 medium carrots (6 ounces total), scrubbed
1/3 cup vegan mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons ume plum vinegar, plus more to taste (see Where to buy)
2 teaspoons dulse seaweed flakes (see Where to buy)
1 teaspoon celery seeds
Fine salt
8 teaspoons olive oil
8 slices sourdough or other sandwich bread
4 slices nondairy cheese, preferably Daiya or Violife brand

DIRECTIONS

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, use a fork to coarsely mash the chickpeas.

Using the fine side of a box grater, shred the carrots. Add them to the bowl with the chickpeas. Add the vegan mayonnaise, dill, mustard, vinegar, dulse and celery seeds, and stir to thoroughly combine. Taste, and season with more vinegar and with salt, if desired.

Build the sandwiches on a large sheet pan: Brush 1 teaspoon of the olive oil on one side of each of the bread slices, and arrange the slices oil side down. Top half of the slices with a slice of vegan cheese and about 1/2 cup of the chickpea mixture. Top the sandwiches with the remaining bread slices, oil side up.

Bake for about 10 minutes, flipping the sandwiches halfway through, or until the bread is golden brown and the cheese is starting to melt. Serve warm.

Nutritional information per sandwich: 515 calories, 28 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 52 g carbohydrates, 856 mg sodium, 0 mg cholesterol, 12 g protein, 6 g fiber, 5 g sugar.

This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian's or nutritionist's advice.

Adapted from "Sweet Potato Soul Vegan Vibes” by Jenné Claiborne (Rodale, 2025).

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