About & Merchandise

Thanks for checking out our website!  The Wild Cow serves vegetarian & vegan fare in a fun, casual environment in the heart of East Nashville.
We opened the Wild Cow to provide delicious, cruelty-free, healthy food to the people of Middle Tennessee. We will never support the inhumane and environmentally destructive factory farm system that dominates our agricultural economy, nor will we support corporations like Coke and Pepsi that thrive off of our addiction to sugar and artificial “food”. Nearly all of our food is purchased in it’s whole form, meaning we make almost all of our own sauces, dressings, soup stocks, etc. This means that we can name every ingredient in the food we serve!
Most of our produce is grown locally and much of it is organic.  We are proud to not have a microwave or freezer (we have a tiny freezer that sits on top of our mini fridge, but it’s only for vegan ice cream and chilling beer glasses).
It is our goal to bring people together for the love of good food in a fun & relaxed environment, while supporting our community and organizations that promote our philosophies.
We have a rotating Charity of the Month.  We donate 10% of our sales from the first Thursday of each month to that Charity.  April’s Charity of the Month is Animal Rescue Corps.  Our Charity of the Month for May is Plant the Seed (planttheseed.org).

Merchandise

You can purchase a Wild Cow gift card below.  Just email us at thewildcow@live.com to let us know where to send it.
We also have Wild Cow t-shirts for sale!  Purchase here and email us at thewildcow@live.com to let us know which size/color you’d like (ask us what’s in stock) and to let us know where to send it.  Price includes shipping and tax.
Gift cards & t-shirts

Meet the staff:

Melanie Cochran, Co-Owner

Melanie
I am so excited about The Wild Cow!  I am a yoga instructor and am getting ready to be a mom (well, I’ve been a dog mom for years, but our first human child is on his way)!  Before opening the restaurant, I was a music documentary producer/director and history teacher.   It is my heartfelt passion to make the world a better place for animals, especially factory farm animals. One way I’m trying to accomplish this goal is to introduce people to the idea that vegan food can be awesome!   I love watching our chefs at The Wild Cow create cruelty-free, healthy food and I feel so lucky to be able to eat this way everyday.  My role at The Wild Cow is front of house manager and overseer of all business issues.  I have plenty of restaurant experience, mostly serving and bartending.
I also enjoy vacations (who doesn’t?), explorations, making music, listening to music, traveling, hanging out with my dogs, the ocean, music history and acknowledging the innate emotional connections between humans and animals. I’m so lucky to have met a life partner who shares a love for animals, the environment and vegan cooking.
One of the things about The Wild Cow that I’m most excited about is that, through 3 Funding America, we raise funds for organizations that deal with animal welfare, environmental protection, safe/humane farming, world hunger, and more. The other thing I love about The Wild Cow is the opportunity to meet lots of new awesome people everyday–some will be venturing into vegetarian food with a degree of skepticism and I’m looking forward to impressing them–others will be vegetarians/vegans who have probably been looking forward to having another vegetarian restaurant in town and I hope we fulfill your expectations! No matter who you are, we hope that The Wild Cow will become a place of community, good food, and good energy…and we look forward to getting to know you!

Nick Davis, General Manager & Chef

Nick
I am 25 years old, and I have lived in and around Nashville all of my life. I currently attend MTSU majoring in English, and I hope to go to graduate school next year (if I can afford it!). I skateboard, read good books, hang out with my wife, Ashley, and enjoy all different kinds of music. I have been eating a vegan diet since 2004, and I chose to do so for health and ethical reasons. I love fresh food and try to support local businesses and farms as much as I can,
so I am really looking forward to working at The Wild Cow.

Karina Khan, baker

Karina Khan has a varied food background, her professional career spanning 14 years and three states.  Cooking her first full Thanksgiving dinner at age 14, she began cooking professionally at 16, and has been at it ever since.  She began removing meat from her diet at age 9, becoming fully vegan in 2008.  Karina specializes in vegan and raw vegan desserts, and world cuisine. Before arriving in Nashville in July 2009, she was the head vegan baker at Fiore’s Italian Bakery, Boston Massachusett’s premiere spot for vegan desserts.  While at Fiore’s, Karina co- hosted several successful vegan dessert parties with the Boston Vegetarian Society, and exhibited with Fiore’s at the 2008 Boston Vegetarian Food Festival.  Since coming to Nashville, she has found it fun to branch out into raw foods and desserts with the Wild Cow, and explore regional Southern cuisine and desserts.
Karina is also a professional world fusion bellydance performer and instructor, having co- owned and operated a dance studio in New Hampshire and being a popular performer and workshop teacher in New England before moving to Tennessee to be with her family.
“I believe that growing up as a person who didn’t eat meat inspired me to cook my own food and learn about the banquet of flavor that world cuisine has to offer. I view food as part art, part necessary nourishment, part higher calling.   I welcome every challenge that I meet, from allergies and food restrictions, to concocting and adjusting recipes, to finding new flavor combinations.  I am a “dyed in the wool” cook, and I will cook at work all day, and then go home and cook all night. I’m sure that I’m in the right place, because I am a chocoholic, and it seems that everyone else around here is too.  I love what I do, and it makes me happy to see people enjoy eating the desserts as much as I enjoyed making them. Blessings, and happy eating.”

Nathan Walters, kitchen supervisor

if the buffalo grinder had hands, i’d put a ring on it’s finger! seriously! i love working in a place where i can be creative with the taste, and aroma, and presentation of healthy food. i love working in a place where the general, unspoken rule of thumb between employees is taking care of others, before we take care of ourselves. i love working in a place full of people that care so much about our community, and making a difference in it. We are passionate about our convictions, we are active in our community, we are positive in our hopes, we are truly happy to make crazy food that helps people feel good. I grew up in richmond, va, and finding a job at the wild cow gave me a home in nashville. mmmk, enough of the bs… if anyone is still reading this sappy bio, here’s a deal… come in, and give gavin a sloppy wet kiss on the lips, and ill buy you a beer… whos up for a challenge eh??



Callie Foley


Hey I’m Callie, I’m 20 years old and life time animal lover. I became aware of the henious conditions of factory farming in 5th grade and became vegetarian. Now 11 years later I am at my 1 year mark of being vegan. I study cosmotology at Paul Mitchell the School, Nashville and absolutely love it. My goal is to open a eco-friendly vegan salon and raise awareness of animal testing and make known that there are alternatives that are better for you and the creatures we share this planet with. Other then school I love reading, making jewelry, baking deserts, doodling and chilling with my friends.
I am blessed that I have been given the opportunity to work at the Wild Cow, its amazing being surrounded by like minded people that are so passionate about what they believe in. I feel that veganism is widely misunderstood but the Wild Cow gives people the opportunity to try their favorite foods and deserts cruelty free and comfortably begin their transistion into a healthier more compassionate lifestyle. It feels great to work in a place that whole heartedly supports my core values where I can share my knowledge (and serve awesome food!) to others.
Thanks for reading!
:)
-Callie

Linda Fry




I enjoy playing my violin, singing, dancing, writing, making funny faces and noises, and dreaming about the future. I like tea, chocolate, and have an incorrigible sweet tooth. I love to travel; I perpetually have ants in my pants. Camping, house shows/parties, and my friends are just a few of my favorite things. I like anything that makes you smile.
When I’m not behind the counter at the cow, I take my fiddle to the streets and play for tourists, locals, homeless folks, and anyone else who happens to be walking by. It’s a beautiful, joyous thing which I absolutely love to do. I also play the rock music with an unparalleled dramatic flair. It’s good for my heart… and my cardiovascular system.
I’m so excited to be working with such amazing and kind people in such an awesome establishment: a place dedicated to minimizing animals’ suffering by serving vegan fare and using recyclable and compostable materials, where the food is to DIE for, but nobody had to die for it!!!!!!!!!!!  This is the kind of restaurant I want to see more of; this is the kind of restaurant I feel I can be proud to work for. And I am!

Matt McCord

Rich Texas wheeler and dealer Big Enos Burdette and his son, Little Enos, are trying to find a truck driver willing to haul Coors beer to Georgia for their refreshment. Unfortunately, due to federal liquor laws and state liquor tax regulations of the time, selling and/or shipping Coors east of the Mississippi River was considered bootlegging, and the truck drivers who had taken the bet previously had been discovered and arrested by “Smokeys” (truck driver and CB slang for highway patrolmen). At a local truck rodeo, the Texans locate legendary truck driver Matthew “Bandit” McCord and offer him $1,000,000, the price of a new truck, to haul 400 cases of Coors beer fromTexarkana, Texas (the easternmost part of the country where Coors was legal) to the “Southern Classic” truck rodeo in Georgia— in 28 hours, driving a total of 1800 miles. Bandit accepts the bet and recruits fellow trucker Cledus “Snowman” Snow to drive the truck (Snow brings along his dog, a Basset Hound named “Fred”, for company). After requesting an advance from the Burdettes for a “speedy car”, Bandit purchases a black Pontiac Trans Am, which he will drive himself as a “blocker” car to deflect attention away from the truck and its cargo…

Ryan Silver




I recently moved to Nashville, to work on recording my new album and find my way in a musically and culturally rich community.  I stumbled upon The Wild Cow one day, and immediately saw that they were a step above the rest in providing fresh, organic, cruelty-free food.  I strongly believe “you are what you eat” and that you SHOULD think twice about you eat.  Food fuels you, and you fuel the world we live in.  I enjoy shooting photography and video, being active, chillin’ with my dog, Emily, cooking, and just living in the moment! I’m very excited to be apart of the Wild Cow.  It’s a great restaurant, that will satisfy your soul as much as your tummy! Come in and say hey!