Miyoko Schinner (née Nishimoto; born 1957)[1] is an American-Japanese vegan chef, cookbook author, activist, cooking show host and social entrepreneur.

[5][6] She describes this period as "the 60s and early 70s, the glory days of the hippie movement and spiritualism and hare krishna," or the turn to natural foods within the American counterculture.

[5] Her initial exposure to this movement occurred during a camping trip that included vegetarians who "were from a spiritual family and didn't believe in harming animals.

[5] Although this interest in cooking led her to consider culinary school, she ultimately decided not to attend (as she would have to work with animal products), and is entirely self-taught.

She started a small business called "Madam Miyoko"[11] and sold vegan poundcakes (made of Okara), out of her backpack.

[8][11] During the holiday season, she would make the vegan Unturkey (a seitan roast with a yuba shell), which she exhibited at the 1995 Natural Products Expo (and ended up with $50,000 worth of orders).

[11] Eventually, Schinner sold the restaurant and created a vegan natural foods company called Now and Zen that focused on The Unturkey.

[15] Schinner co-hosted the PBS cooking show Vegan Mashup for three seasons (2012–2016)[16] with Toni Fiore and Terry Hope Romero.

[17] Guest chefs on Vegan Mashup included Bryant Terry, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Girl Gone Raw Elizabeth Fraser, and Cathi DiCocco.

[5] Schinner's initial goal was to create dairy-free products including butter and a wide variety of different types of cheeses using traditional cheesemaking cultures and techniques, chiefly out of cashews, oats, and chickpea flour.

"[28] Miyoko's Kitchen eventually accrued $1 million in seed money, first being invested in by Seth Tibbott, the founder of Tofurky.

[34][35] In August 2021, Miyoko's Creamery prevailed on First Amendment grounds in their lawsuit against the California Department of Food and Agriculture's attempts to force the company to cease using the words "Cheese" and "Butter" (among others) in the marketing of their products.

[37] A few weeks later, on February 16, Miyoko's Creamery filed a lawsuit against Schinner, alleging that she misappropriated confidential information and copied the data to her personal cloud after the board of directors voted to terminate her as CEO.

Bloom stated: “The company's behavior in forcing her out of the company she created and built, then trashing her via an outrageously malicious and misleading lawsuit will be met with facts and witnesses showing that Miyoko's own complaints of toxic and sexist behavior by certain male executives were swept under the rug, and then she was demoted and fired.”[39] On May 18, 2023, Miyoko's Creamery and Schinner released a joint announcement stating that "they have resolved all legal disputes between them and that they have withdrawn all legal claims made against each other.

[47] In 2024, Schinner joined the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business as a Lecturer,[48] serving as a co-instructor (with program co-founder Brittany Sartor)[49] in the Plant Futures Challenge Lab,[50] where she teaches the course "Sustainable & Impact Finance.