We are san Antonio natives, Marcus and Cara Pitts, and are thrilled to meet you if this is your first introduction!
Marcus and I met while working in the healthcare field in 2013 at United Healthcare. We began dating and a few years later we were married. I became a full-time caregiver towards the end of 2017 for my dear 97-year-old grandmother, Mary Lee.
My grandmother has always played a big role in my life since she moved in with our family when I was 11-years-old. She helped teach me how to fall in love with Southern food.
Since then, I have always loved to bake cookies, cakes and donuts and cook for my family. It was in 2018, when Marcus made the decision to switch to a plant-based diet after watching the eye-opening documentary "What the Health," created by Kip Anderson, Keegan Kuhn and actor, Joaquin Phoenix.
This launched me on a journey to create meals that Mary Lee, who was born and raised in the South, would love to enjoy, wouldn't lack in flavor and were so good she wouldn't even know they were vegan. Of course, Marcus wanted in on the taste testing as well!
Through lots of trial and error, playing around with ingredients and recipes I had previously created and baked for years, I finally came up with a simple yet delicious donut that friends, family and especially Mary Lee loved. Perfecting our recipes takes a lot of time and patience, particularly because we are working with all vegan ingredients but aiming for the same delicious, moist baked goods that so many of us grew up on.
Marcus and I regularly served in the children's ministry at our church All Nations Worship Assembly San Antonio and started giving out what would later become Southern Roots Vegan Bakery's goodies to the kids and members of the church and it just took off like a rocket ship.
With the incredible love and support of our friends and family, we started setting up at farmers markets and, not long after, made our way on Tabitha Brown's Very Good Mondays segment on social media, which was our first viral exposure. It's been quite a ride ever since!
We hope that you will enjoy getting to know our family a little more with this blog, and we would love to share our edible adventures and recipes that we create to better connect with our plant-based community more easily.
Fun Facts to Help you get to Know Cara and Marcus
Five fun facts about Cara
What is your favorite binge TV show?
I'm a sucker for a Real Housewives or Vanderpump Rules rerun, but if I could only watch one show it would be The Office! I may or may not have a Dundie award in my closet.
Who is your celebrity crush?
JT 4 Eva! I've always loved Justin Timberlake and *NYSNC might have made an appearance in my 2020 Spotify wrapped playlist.
What is the first concert you attended?
It was definitely the **NYSNC No Strings attached tour.
What is your favorite vacation trip just for fun?
I love Disney World and Universal Studios! Disney World's Avatar Pandora ride is amazing. Also, the Simpsons ride at Universal is such a classic.
Do you have a favorite book?
“The Untethered Soul” by Michael Singer
Five fun facts about Marcus
What is my dream job as a kid was?
A biochemist.
Who is the famous person who inspires me the most?
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Video games.
After COVID-19, for vacation, where do you want to go to?
Africa and South America.
