Avery Yale Kamila


Avery Yale Kamila is an American journalist, vegan columnist and community organizer in the state of Maine.

Biography

Kamila was born in Westminster, Massachusetts in the 1970s and grew up on an organic farm in Litchfield, Maine. Kamila adopted a vegan diet in 1991 while studying journalism at Syracuse University. She graduated from State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Kamila is married to Adam Hill and they have a son. She lives in Portland, Maine.

Journalism

Kamila is a journalist who wrote the Natural Foodie column for the Portland Press Herald in Portland, Maine, for many years starting in 2009. At one time, she wrote the Society Notebook column for the Maine Sunday Telegram. Kamila currently writes the Vegan Kitchen column for the Portland Press Herald food & dining section.
A column Kamila wrote in 2018 about the lack of vegan school meal options convinced the Portland Public Schools to add hot vegan choices. The column upset some readers. The district's superintendent endorsed the idea on Twitter. The national media coverage of the vegan school lunches in Portland cited them as part of a national trend.
Kamila's recipe for pumpkin seed croquettes with shiitake mushroom gravy is included in the 2020 cookbook "Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook: 200 Recipes Celebrating Maine's Culinary Past, Present & Future," compiled and edited by Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz.

Community activism

In 2015, Kamila and Maggie Knowles co-founded a grassroots group called Portland Protectors. The group convinced the Portland City Council in 2018 to pass a strict pesticide ordinance that mandates organic lawns and gardens within the city.