Fitgreenmind on tour: "I'm just Maya, why are you coming to see me?"

"3.9 million people – that's almost four times the size of Saarland!" If anyone can make this comparison without the whole of Saarland rolling its eyes, it's Maya Leinenbach. Almost four million followers on Instagram belong to the 20-year-old from Saarland, Germany.

However, as such a number is not tangible for her, despite comparisons, Leinenbach had an idea of how she could change this and get to know at least part of her community. "After all, they made it possible for me to turn my passion for cooking into my profession," she says. And that's not all: they have made her the most successful vegan food blogger in Germany.

Banned from the kitchen

But back to the beginning: in January 2019, the then 14-year-old schoolgirl from Saarwellingen posted her first recipe on Instagram under the name Fitgreenmind.

How can you live without meatballs or schnitzel?

From one day to the next, she had just decided to go vegan. At the time, her older sister had already been a vegetarian for several years, which the younger sister could not understand at first: "A life without meatballs or schnitzel, how is that possible?" she asked herself. A school project about the influence of nutrition and consumption on our environment finally led to a change in thinking. Animal products were immediately banned from her diet – and the rest of the family were effectively banned from her parents' kitchen.

From now on, Leinenbach spends more and more time there, trying out new recipes or attempting to veganise classics of local or international cuisine. Her dream: to write her own cookbook. But Leinenbach was aware from the outset that no one would buy her book if she remained unknown. Instagram became the chosen means to an end. She continued to diligently share pictures and videos of vegan recipes, until the number of followers steadily increased and her first reel went viral. "It was a cauliflower Alfredo sauce," she recalls. "It had a million views. For comparison: one million people live in Saarland – and I thought, wow, the whole of Saarland has seen my video."

In fall 2021, Leinenbach's dream will come true: her first cookbook "Oh, that's vegan?", with 50 different recipes , will be published in German and English. It has sold over 60,000 copies to date. In summer 2022, two million people will follow her – just in time for her 18th birthday.

A limited liability company for Fitgreenmind

"At the end of the day, it's just numbers," the country's most successful vegan food blogger emphasises again and again. And for good reason. The job as an influencer can be lonely – filming and editing content is usually done alone at home. However, she doesn't really know who the people are who actually like and comment on the work she puts hours and days into.

So back to the present and Leinenbach's plan to change that. She receives support from her long-time manager Jennifer Reinhard and her marketing consultant Kristina Kull. The three women have been working even more closely together since this year. Leinenbach moved to Stuttgart after completing her A-levels last year and has since been able to focus full-time on her social media channels. In March, they founded a limited company for Fitgreenmind "to take the brand to a new level".

Young and female

We meet Maya Leinenbach in Cologne at the end of August. The finale of her cooking show tour, which took her across Germany for four weeks, is due to take place at the Gloria Theatre. It was supposed to bring clarity – and it did, as the blogger confirms. She now has a picture of her community that goes beyond the facts and figures that Instagram already provides her with.

As expected, the majority of her viewers are female and between 25 and 34 years old, but the audience is more diverse. There was, for example, the group in their mid-fifties in Munich who used her show for a men's outing, or a group of women around the same age in Stuttgart who discovered the 20-year-old via Instagram and whose families were thus unknowingly introduced to a vegan diet.

The planet benefits

In Cologne however, the majority of the audience reflects the numbers. Most of the 350 spectators are women. And if you do see a man, he is often just a companion, and at the same time the best example of the fact that many of Leinenbach's fans are more interested in the cooking and the recipes themselves than in the vegan diet.

That is precisely one of their goals: no one should be taught veganism with a raised index finger. The fact that her recipes are vegan is a benefit that has a positive effect on her own health and that of the planet. Numerous studies and figures prove this: according to the EAT-Lancet Report, plant-based diets, for example, significantly reduce chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In addition, people who eat a vegan diet have a lower body weight and a lower body mass index on average.

The planet also benefits: a 2018 study by Oxford University shows that a vegan diet can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 73%. In addition, the production of plant-based foods requires significantly less water and land than the production of animal products. A vegan diet therefore reduces the pressure on our ecosystems, as less land is required for animal husbandry and feed production.

In energy-saving mode

Leinenbach is aware of this; after all, these factors were decisive in her decision to go vegan. "I think it's great and fascinating that you can really have an impact and inspire others to cook something vegan more often, even if they've never tried it before," she says a few hours before the show begins.

You rarely meet people who are constantly laughing, but Leinenbach is one of them. At the same time, she seems incredibly shy, taciturn, very different from what we know from the screen. "Energy-saving mode," she jokes when asked about it. But once she's on stage, you can hardly tell the difference between her and the young woman in the cell phone. It's as if a switch has been flipped.

She also speaks German?

But she is still excited. She not only cooks on stage, but also shares tips and tricks, answers questions from her fans and invites one or two of them to join her on stage. To ensure that creations such as corn ribs with vegan mayo or garlic tofu don't burn, she enlisted the help of Lennard Rosar. The Cologne comedian charmingly hosts the show and his humorous interludes are a reliable source of laughter.

Together they perform like a brother and sister duo, teasing each other and delighting the audience with their chemistry. They dispel prejudices against vegan nutrition and talk about the beginnings of Fitgreenmind.

For many of her fans, this is the first time they have heard the 20-year-old speak German. She speaks English in her videos – for reach. In addition to Germany, her viewers come from all over the world, especially from English-speaking countries such as the USA, Great Britain and Canada.

However, a special highlight awaits towards the end of each show: the cooking challenge. Sometimes Leinenbach competed against Rosar or challenged a fan in Stuttgart to let the audience decide who had prepared the better vegan version of a typical regional dish. After dishes such as Kaiserschmarrn, currywurst and Maultaschen, it was the turn of the dish Himmel un Ääd from the Rhineland – and the opponent was a true professional. He kept a promise he made to the content creator at the end of June when she was a guest on his show Drei Teller für Lafer. There, Leinenbach won over Johann Lafer with her vegan Kaiserschmarrn and apple sauce.

Victory against the TV chef

In Cologne, both had 15 minutes to impress a jury from the audience with their vegan interpretation of the Rhenish speciality made from apples, potatoes and black pudding. While Lafer's version, consisting of chard rolls filled with pearl barley, had little in common with the original, even with a lot of imagination, Leinenbach tried to dock onto the classic with roast potatoes and apples. The jury also liked this a little better than the TV chef's version.

The final meet & greet will take place after the show. The queue is long. At the end is the shy, always smiling Maya Leinenbach. She poses for photos and signs books – after all, her fans have come just for her. However, the fact that she is now even recognised on the street is still unusual. "I still think to myself: I'm just Maya, why are you coming to me? I still can't really realise it," she says, although she has now met real people in addition to the numbers.

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