What Kind of Diet Does Zendaya Follow? An In-depth Look

November 3, 2025 •

3 min read

Since childhood, Zendaya has followed a vegetarian diet, though she openly admits she is not a huge fan of vegetables. This approach highlights her pragmatic, balanced perspective on nutrition, which she often adapts to her busy schedule.

Quick Summary

Zendaya maintains a vegetarian diet for ethical reasons, supplementing it with a love for convenience foods and sweet treats. Her approach emphasizes balanced, mindful eating over strict rules, reflecting her practical lifestyle.

Key Points

Ethical Vegetarianism: Zendaya has been a vegetarian since childhood due to her love for animals, not for her love of vegetables.
Preference for Convenience: A busy schedule means she often relies on takeout and delivery, rather than cooking complex meals.
Indulgent Side: She has a notable sweet tooth, enjoying things like Nutella on pancakes and ice cream.
Go-To Meals: Favorite foods include instant noodles with hot sauce and a simple but savory brown rice salad with sautéed vegetables.
Balanced Hydration: She dislikes plain water, opting for juices and iced matcha lattes instead.
Realistic Wellness: Zendaya's approach prioritizes balance and mindful eating over strict dieting, making her routine more attainable and sustainable.

Zendaya's Vegetarian Journey: A Moral Choice

Zendaya's dietary choices are rooted in ethics rather than a passion for plant-based food. At just nine years old, she became a vegetarian after seeing a slaughterhouse, a decision that cemented her commitment to animal welfare. She has consistently maintained this diet, even admitting in interviews that she finds it challenging because she is not a fan of most vegetables. Despite this, her dedication to her principles is unwavering, showing that motivations for diet can be deeply personal and extend beyond simple health reasons.

The Role of Convenience and Indulgence

With a packed schedule involving acting, singing, and modeling, Zendaya's diet is not a rigid regimen but rather a reflection of her busy life. While she makes a conscious effort to eat mindfully, convenience is a significant factor in her food choices.

Breakfast: Zendaya is famously not a breakfast person, but when she does have it, she opts for breakfast foods like pancakes with berries and her favorite hazelnut spread, Nutella.
Snacks and On-Set Meals: During long filming days, her go-to comfort food is often a cup of instant noodles with hot sauce. While acknowledging its high sodium content, she chooses it because it's what she wants at the moment.
Lunch/Dinner: For a healthier option, she has shared her recipe for a rice salad, which includes brown rice, vegetable broth, sautéed vegetables, and lemon juice. However, she also frequently orders takeout via delivery services, enjoying the freedom to eat what she craves.
Fast Food Fix: Even in fast food, Zendaya sticks to her principles. Her favorite order at In-N-Out is a grilled cheese sandwich with extra spread and grilled onions.

Comparison: Zendaya's Diet vs. Stereotypical 'Clean Eating' Diets


Aspect	Zendaya's Diet	Stereotypical 'Clean Eating' Diet
Core Philosophy	Primarily ethical vegetarianism with a balanced, flexible approach that includes indulgent foods. Convenience is a major factor.	Strict adherence to unprocessed, whole foods, often avoiding sugar, carbs, and processed items entirely. Control is paramount.
Indulgences	Openly admits to a love for ice cream, instant noodles, Nutella, and fast food options.	Often shuns or severely restricts sweets and fast food, viewing them as 'cheat meals' or unhealthy temptations.
Hydration	Prefers juice and lemonade over water, acknowledging her dislike for plain water.	Emphasizes drinking copious amounts of water, often infused with lemon or other additives, to detoxify and hydrate.
Meal Structure	Less structured, sometimes skipping breakfast due to a lack of appetite, and relying on takeout.	Highly structured, with fixed meal times and specific, often small portions.

The Verdict: A Realistic Approach to Wellness

Zendaya’s diet and wellness philosophy is notable for its relatability. She prioritizes her mental and physical well-being by finding a routine that works for her rather than conforming to a strict, unsustainable ideal. Her training for roles, like the intense tennis preparation for Challengers, is balanced with her more laid-back everyday eating habits. This reflects a modern, mindful approach where consistency and enjoyment trump perfection. Her example serves as a reminder that wellness isn't a one-size-fits-all journey, and a flexible, honest approach can be both healthy and sustainable. You can find more on her wellness philosophy in a 2024 interview with The Everygirl, where she discusses finding fun in fitness and valuing convenience.

Mindful Eating and Balance

Zendaya’s food habits are a testament to mindful eating—knowing what you want and enjoying it without guilt. She isn't afraid to admit her cravings, which makes her approach refreshingly honest. Her frequent snacking and preference for specific drinks also showcase a person who listens to her body, even if it doesn't align with traditional dietary advice. This balance of a plant-based foundation with personal indulgences shows that a healthy life isn't about deprivation, but about finding a rhythm that is both nourishing and fulfilling.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Zendaya follows a flexible vegetarian diet driven by ethical principles, not strict health rules. While she prefers convenience and indulges her sweet tooth and comfort food cravings, she offsets these with an active lifestyle and mindful eating. Her diet is a balanced reflection of her busy, demanding career and her personal values, proving that a celebrity diet can be both manageable and realistic for an active lifestyle.

Frequently Asked Questions

Zendaya is a vegetarian. She made the decision at age nine for moral reasons, specifically her love for animals, though she has mentioned she still consumes dairy products and is not vegan.

Her favorite fast-food comfort food is a grilled cheese sandwich from In-N-Out, which she customizes with extra spread and grilled onions. She also loves ice cream and instant noodles.

Due to her busy schedule, Zendaya admits she is not a big cook. She uses delivery services frequently to order food, preferring convenience over cooking.

Zendaya's primary reason for becoming a vegetarian was ethical. As a child, she saw a slaughterhouse and felt it was awful, leading her to adopt a plant-based diet out of compassion for animals.

Zendaya is not a regular breakfast eater. However, when she does have breakfast food, her go-to meal is pancakes with berries and Nutella.

Ironically, Zendaya has openly stated that she is not a big fan of vegetables, which she admits makes her vegetarian diet challenging. She tries to incorporate them in creative ways, like in her favorite rice salad.

Unlike many celebrities, Zendaya avoids coffee, soda, and energy drinks. She prefers juice or a Venti iced matcha green tea latte with coconut milk from Starbucks for her energy boost.