Love and food can make us do unexpected things. They lead us down paths we might otherwise have not pursued. For Dan and Liz of Liz Lovely, love and food took them from their Midwestern hometown on a rambling path that ultimately led to running a vegan bakery in Vermont.

Dan and Liz became high school sweethearts in their hometown of Indiana, PA (yes, that’s a real place.) Dan took the fast track, skipping 11th and 12th grades to go to college, but his academic aspirations got derailed when he was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 17. He survived, and it compelled him to take life by the reins. So he and Liz set out to become rock stars.

The rock star thing didn’t work out (though they did record one CD), but 10 years and a handful of jobs later, a new star rose in their lives. Liz’s lifelong love of baking began to bear fruit. Liz’s deceptively delicious vegan cookies fooled even the staunches anti-vegetarians (her father’s family owned a meat market), so they decided to make a business of it. They left unsolicited samples at Whole Foods’ headquarters in Rockville, MD. Two weeks later they got the call: They were in.

It wasn’t long before they outgrew their tiny attic kitchen outside Philadelphia, PA. So they packed everything up and relocated to Vermont, where they built a new facillity from scratch — building the walls, digging the plumbing trenches, installing baking equipment, you name it. Somehow, they managed to get the job done in time for their September, 2004 launch, producing thousands of cookies for distribution throughout the East Coast.

Tragically, they were in the process of building out a cafe when Hurricane Irene hit. The entire building, in which they were just one unit, was destroyed. They were due to open in two days. Luckily, their baking facility was undamaged, so you can still buy their delicious cookies right here on Foodzie.

Dan and Liz have traded in sex, drugs and rock and roll for flour, sugar and baking soda, but are all the happier for it. When they’re not working, which is seldom, they take in the idyllic beauty of Vermont’s Mad River Valley, the destination where food and love ultimately brought them.