Heidi Van Pelt Biography: Taran Noah Smith’s Ex-Wife, Vegan Chef, Playfood Business, Age and Life After Divorce

Heidi Van Pelt is an American vegan chef, nutrition-focused entrepreneur and restaurateur who became widely known through her relationship with former Home Improvement child actor Taran Noah Smith. The pair held a wedding ceremony on April 27, 2001, when Smith was 17 and Van Pelt was about 32, creating intense media attention because of their 16-year age difference. But Heidi’s story extends well beyond that relationship: she studied several subjects in college, worked in film production, became interested in vegan nutrition, developed cashew-based dairy alternatives, helped create Playfood and later operated the Kansas City vegan restaurant Füd.

Quick Bio of Heidi Van Pelt

A detailed 2007 profile by The Pitch is particularly useful because it interviewed Heidi, Taran and people who knew them rather than relying on later celebrity websites. It described Heidi as 38 at the time and traced her life from Missouri schools through nutrition work, vegan cooking, Playfood and the end of the relationship.

Who Is Heidi Van Pelt?

Heidi Van Pelt is often introduced simply as “Taran Noah Smith’s older ex-wife.”

That description is technically part of her public story, but it leaves out a lot.

Before meeting Taran, Heidi had already tried several career paths.

She studied fashion.

She studied German and philosophy.

She became interested in Russian studies.

She worked behind the scenes in film and television.

Eventually, she found the field that seemed to suit her best:

vegan food and nutrition.

Her later career included nutritional counseling, radio, catering, dairy-free food development and restaurant ownership.

So while her unusual relationship with a teenage television actor brought her national attention, food was actually the more lasting part of her professional life.

When Was Heidi Van Pelt Born?

Her precise date of birth is surprisingly difficult to verify.

Many modern websites list a specific birthday in 1968, often July 11.

But stronger contemporary reporting did not provide that exact date.

The Pitch described Heidi as 32 around the time of her April 2001 wedding ceremony and as 38 in its April 2007 profile. A 2002 Lawrence Journal-World report described her as 33.

Those reports support a birth year around 1968.

That would make Heidi approximately 57 or 58 years old in 2026, depending on her exact birthday.

The best approach is therefore to avoid presenting an exact day as certain unless a stronger first-person record becomes available.

Where Did Heidi Van Pelt Grow Up?

Heidi has strong roots in the Kansas City, Missouri area.

The Pitch reported that she attended both Oak Park High School and Blue Springs High School and graduated in 1986.

Her childhood was not always stable.

The same profile said her parents separated when she was very young and that she moved between her mother and father.

Her mother, Marsha Duncan, described Heidi as independent and unusually creative even as a child.

That independent personality appears repeatedly throughout her adult story.

She rarely followed the most obvious path.

Heidi Van Pelt’s Education

After high school, Heidi attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where she initially studied fashion design.

She later studied German and philosophy at the University of Missouri.

Then, in 1988, she moved to Seattle and entered the University of Washington’s Russian Studies program.

According to The Pitch, she once hoped that studying Russian might help her pursue work with the CIA.

That plan did not last.

She left the program before finishing and moved toward creative work instead.

Her educational background therefore does not follow a simple straight line.

But it shows an early pattern: Heidi was interested in many different worlds before eventually finding her place in food.

Heidi Worked in Film Before Becoming a Vegan Chef

Before she became known for cashew cheese, Heidi experimented with media work.

She started a company called Emergent Films while living in Seattle.

When film work became less steady there, she moved to Los Angeles.

In California, she worked on television and movie productions in behind-the-scenes jobs such as production assistant and prop work.

Hollywood did not become her permanent career.

Instead, Los Angeles introduced her to a growing community centered around:

vegetarianism,

veganism,

animal rights,

raw foods,

and alternative nutrition.

That changed the direction of her life.

How Heidi Became Interested in Vegan Food

Heidi had already been vegetarian before moving deeply into veganism.

While living in Seattle, she met animal-rights advocates who avoided not only meat but also dairy products, eggs and other animal-derived foods.

She eventually adopted the lifestyle herself.

By the 1990s, vegan eating was much less mainstream than it is today.

Plant-based burgers existed.

But supermarket shelves were not filled with:

oat milk,

cashew cheese,

vegan mozzarella,

plant-based cream cheese,

and meat alternatives.

Heidi entered this world relatively early.

That makes her later experiments with cashew-based cheese particularly interesting.

Was Heidi Van Pelt a Nutritionist?

The wording needs some care.

The Pitch reported that Heidi obtained an online certificate from the American Academy of Nutrition in 1994 and worked as a nutritional counselor at a clinic in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood.

Her work included helping people learn how to prepare affordable, healthier meals.

She also worked with Head Start families and people relying on food assistance.

So she definitely did nutrition-related professional work.

However, titles such as “registered dietitian” or licensed clinical nutritionist should not be applied to her unless supported by appropriate professional licensing records.

Nutritional counselor and vegan food specialist are safer descriptions.

Heidi Van Pelt’s Radio Career

Heidi also spent time in radio.

The 2007 Pitch profile says she co-hosted a show called Raw Health on a Los Angeles Pacifica radio station.

That helped her build contacts in the health and vegan communities.

Her growing reputation led to catering and nutritional-consulting opportunities.

The profile even says actor Woody Harrelson was among the people she worked with.

By the late 1990s, Heidi was connected enough in Los Angeles’ raw-food scene that entertainers occasionally attended dinners at her home.

One of those dinners changed her life.

How Did Heidi Van Pelt Meet Taran Noah Smith?

Heidi first crossed paths with Taran in 1998.

At that time, he was still a teenager appearing on Home Improvement.

According to The Pitch, Taran and fellow Home Improvement actor Zachery Ty Bryan attended one of Heidi’s raw-food dinners.

Taran was around 14.

Heidi said she barely paid attention to him at the time.

They met again in 2000 at a movie premiere.

This time they talked about music, including Radiohead.

Heidi played bass, and Taran invited her to his home recording studio to play music.

They gradually spent more time together.

Eventually the friendship became a relationship.

Why Did Their Relationship Become So Controversial?

The main reason was age.

Heidi was approximately 16 years older than Taran.

She was in her early 30s.

He was still a teenager.

The relationship therefore attracted immediate criticism and tabloid attention.

Contemporary reporting described Heidi as 32 and Taran as 17 around the time of their ceremony.

Taran’s parents strongly opposed the relationship.

Heidi herself later acknowledged that the age difference was unusual.

Because Taran was also a former child actor with a large trust fund, questions about his finances became mixed into public discussion of their relationship.

Those financial circumstances made an already controversial situation even more complicated.

Taran Noah Smith’s Home Improvement Fame

Taran was best known as Mark Taylor, the youngest of Tim and Jill Taylor’s three sons on ABC’s Home Improvement.

He appeared throughout the sitcom’s run from 1991 to 1999.

He had begun acting as a small child.

By the time the show ended, he had already decided that acting was not the future he wanted.

A contemporary Lawrence Journal-World report said he had earned about $1.5 million during his childhood acting career, held in a trust he could fully control after turning 18.

The battle over that trust became one of the biggest stories surrounding him after Home Improvement ended.

Did Heidi Van Pelt and Taran Noah Smith Really Get Married?

This question has a more complicated answer than most biographies suggest.

IMDb lists them as married from April 27, 2001 to February 2, 2007.

And the couple publicly considered themselves married.

But a detailed contemporary report reveals a legal complication.

They held a ceremony on April 27, 2001, when Taran was 17.

A Kansas lawyer arranged for another lawyer to receive temporary judicial authority to conduct the ceremony.

Heidi and Taran exchanged rings beside a swimming pool at a Topeka law office.

Later, however, a California court reportedly rejected the marriage because Taran had been a minor and lacked the parental consent Kansas law required.

So “married in 2001” is the common public shorthand.

But legally, their marital status later became disputed.

Their Move to Lawrence, Kansas

After the ceremony, Heidi and Taran spent time in Lawrence, Kansas.

A September 2001 news report described the 17-year-old former actor living there with 33-year-old Heidi while fighting with his parents over control of his trust.

By April 2002, the Lawrence Journal-World still referred to Heidi as his wife and reported that the couple were temporarily in Los Angeles while Taran prepared to turn 18.

He gained full control of his trust when he reached adulthood.

Eventually, he also reconciled with his parents after years of conflict.

Heidi Introduced Taran to Veganism

Vegan food became one of the biggest things Heidi and Taran shared.

Heidi said she converted Taran from a meat-eating diet to veganism.

They both recognized a problem in the vegan market:

many dairy-free cheeses available at that time simply were not very good.

Heidi already had a recipe using cashews to create a cheese-like product.

That recipe became the foundation of their business idea.

They named the project:

Playfood.

What Was Playfood?

Playfood was a vegan food company centered largely on Heidi’s cashew-based cheese alternatives.

After Taran turned 18, the pair formally incorporated the company.

According to The Pitch, Taran was chairman and CEO while Heidi served as president.

They promoted the products through:

catering,

dinner events,

trade shows,

and a mobile food operation.

Their Los Angeles home became an unofficial vegan dining space where they served large numbers of guests.

Heidi handled much of the culinary work.

Taran helped fund and promote the venture.

For a time, Playfood looked promising.

Playfood Reached Grocery Stores

This was not simply an idea that remained inside their kitchen.

By late 2006, Playfood products were being stocked in more than 50 Price Chopper, Balls and Hen House stores around Kansas City, according to The Pitch.

Local vegetarian restaurant Eden Alley also used the product.

The company was preparing shipments outside Missouri and hoped to attract larger chains.

This was years before cashew-based vegan cheese became common in mainstream supermarkets.

In that sense, Heidi’s food idea was ahead of its time.

Why Did Heidi and Taran Separate?

Their personal relationship had been struggling well before the final legal filings.

The Pitch reported that by the mid-2000s they were living increasingly separate lives.

The age difference became more noticeable as Taran moved through his late teenage years and early 20s.

Their different lifestyles also caused tension.

By 2005, the romantic relationship was effectively falling apart even though they remained connected through Playfood.

Rather than presenting every accusation made during the breakup as fact, the clearest conclusion is:

the relationship had deteriorated, and their shared business made separating much harder.

Their Business Dispute Became a Court Fight

The breakup turned into more than a relationship problem.

It became a battle over Playfood.

Heidi established a separate company called Playfood Manufacturing LLC in Missouri.

Taran argued that money he had contributed to Playfood was being used in a company over which he had no control.

He sued.

Heidi disputed his claims and argued that Taran had stepped away from the business while she was trying to develop it.

A Missouri judge granted an interim injunction giving Taran access to the production facility.

Heidi later filed a counterclaim.

The dispute shows why it is risky to describe either side simply as “winning” the company without carefully checking which stage of litigation is being discussed.

When Did Heidi and Taran Divorce?

In early February 2007, Heidi filed for divorce and requested a share of marital property, financial support and legal fees.

Taran responded through his lawyer with an annulment request, arguing that he had lacked the legal ability to consent to the 2001 marriage because he was only 17.

IMDb simplifies the relationship as ending in divorce on February 2, 2007.

However, the contemporary report shows that the legal situation was more complicated than a normal divorce filing.

The safest wording is:

Their relationship ended in 2007 amid divorce, annulment and business litigation.

Did Heidi and Taran Have Children?

There are no publicly documented children from their relationship.

Neither the major profiles of Taran nor the detailed reporting about their marriage identifies any son or daughter they had together.

That makes their business—rather than children—the main continuing connection after their romantic relationship ended.

Heidi Returned to Kansas City

By the middle of the relationship breakdown, Heidi increasingly based herself in Kansas City.

She returned to the city in 2005 and began rebuilding a food career there.

Instead of abandoning vegan food after Playfood became tangled in litigation, she started another project.

She organized underground vegan dinners.

She experimented with new recipes.

She also operated for a period inside the Bad Seed farmers market.

Eventually those experiments became a full restaurant.

Heidi Van Pelt-Belle and Füd

By 2010, food reporting referred to Heidi as Heidi Van Pelt-Belle.

That year she opened Füd as a stand-alone vegan restaurant on Kansas City’s West Side.

The Pitch described her as its chef-owner.

She operated the restaurant with partner Jeremiah Rozzo-Belle.

The menu included plant-based versions of familiar comfort food, such as:

tacos,

lasagna,

and chicken-fried-steak-style dishes.

That approach reflected Heidi’s basic food philosophy.

She was not interested only in serving vegetables.

She wanted to recreate foods people already loved in plant-based form.

Was Heidi Van Pelt a Vegan Chef?

Yes.

Unlike many facts repeated in celebrity biographies, this description is strongly supported.

She:

taught vegan cooking,

worked in nutrition,

catered events,

created dairy-free products,

co-founded Playfood,

developed cashew cheese,

and later ran Füd as chef-owner.

Calling Heidi only a “celebrity ex-wife” therefore misses her most substantial independent career.

Food was not a short hobby.

It became a large part of her adult professional life.

What Happened to Füd?

Füd operated for about seven years as a stand-alone Kansas City restaurant.

In August 2017, The Pitch reported that the restaurant had closed.

The closure followed internal conflict involving staffing and management.

The article included competing claims from Heidi and former employees.

Because those claims were disputed, it is better not to reduce the restaurant’s end to one accusation.

The important timeline is simpler:

Füd opened as a stand-alone restaurant in 2010.

It developed a place in Kansas City’s vegan food scene.

It closed in 2017.

Did Heidi Remarry?

The name Heidi Van Pelt-Belle appeared in Kansas City food coverage by 2010.

She was running Füd with Jeremiah Rozzo-Belle.

That clearly shows a later personal and professional partnership.

However, the strongest food reporting reviewed here does not provide a detailed wedding history.

A surname change can indicate marriage, but biographies should still avoid inventing an exact ceremony date without confirmation.

Her current relationship status in 2026 is not firmly established through recent authoritative reporting.

Where Is Heidi Van Pelt Now?

Heidi became much less publicly visible after Füd closed.

There is no strong recent source showing a major new restaurant, television career or public-facing business under her name in 2026.

That does not mean she stopped working.

It simply means her current professional and personal life is not well documented in mainstream sources.

Her most recent clearly established public business chapter remains Kansas City’s Füd.

So claims that she currently lives in a specific city or works in a specific new profession should be treated carefully unless they are supported by newer first-party information.

Is Heidi Van Pelt on Social Media?

There are profiles and mentions using her name online, but she does not currently have the kind of widely verified celebrity social-media presence that makes her everyday life easy to track.

That is not surprising.

She was never primarily an entertainer.

Most of her national publicity came through her relationship with Taran and the unusual legal and business circumstances surrounding it.

Her restaurant career was much more local.

What Is Heidi Van Pelt’s Net Worth?

There is no independently verified net-worth figure.

Some biography sites estimate a few hundred thousand dollars.

Others claim more.

There is no reliable financial disclosure supporting those figures.

A true net-worth calculation would require information about:

property,

business equity,

savings,

investments,

debts,

taxes,

and other liabilities.

Public reporting about Playfood shows that the company experienced both commercial promise and significant financial trouble.

Füd operated for years, but running a restaurant does not automatically reveal the owner’s personal wealth.

The accurate answer is:

Heidi Van Pelt’s net worth is not publicly known.

Is Heidi Van Pelt Famous for Anything Besides Taran?

Yes.

Her relationship is what made her nationally famous.

But her vegan-food career has a separate history.

Long before plant-based cheese became a booming commercial category, Heidi was experimenting with cashew-based cheese alternatives.

Playfood products eventually reached dozens of grocery stores in Kansas City.

Later, she opened a vegan restaurant that survived for several years.

So there are really two public Heidi Van Pelt stories:

the controversial celebrity relationship,

and

the vegan-food entrepreneur.

The second story lasted longer.

What We Actually Know About Heidi Van Pelt

Once weak internet claims are removed, her biography becomes much clearer.

Heidi grew up around Kansas City and graduated from high school in 1986.

She studied fashion, German, philosophy and Russian studies before leaving college.

She worked behind the scenes in film.

She became involved in veganism.

She obtained nutrition-related training and worked as a nutritional counselor.

She co-hosted Raw Health.

She met Taran Noah Smith through the Los Angeles raw-food scene.

They became romantically involved despite a 16-year age difference.

They held a wedding ceremony on April 27, 2001, while Taran was 17, though its legal validity later became disputed.

They created Playfood together.

Their relationship collapsed around 2005 and ended amid legal filings and a fight over their business in 2007.

Heidi later opened Füd in Kansas City.

That restaurant operated as a stand-alone business from 2010 until 2017.

What remains uncertain includes:

her exact birthday,

her precise age,

current relationship status,

current occupation,

current residence,

and net worth.

Final Thoughts

Heidi Van Pelt’s biography became famous because of one highly controversial relationship, but that is only part of her life.

Her connection with Taran Noah Smith attracted enormous attention because of their ages.

They first met when he was a young Home Improvement actor.

They reconnected later.

Their friendship became romantic.

And on April 27, 2001, they held a wedding ceremony when he was 17 and she was around 32.

The relationship eventually failed.

Their shared vegan business made the breakup even messier.

Playfood had grown from Heidi’s cashew-cheese idea into a company selling products in dozens of Kansas City grocery stores, but personal and financial disagreements pushed the former couple into court.

Yet Heidi did not leave vegan food behind.

She returned to Kansas City.

She experimented with underground dinners.

She developed another following.

Then she launched Füd, serving plant-based comfort food for years before the restaurant closed in 2017.

That later career is important.

It shows that Heidi was not simply someone who appeared beside a former child star and vanished.

She had developed a food philosophy before Taran.

She built businesses during their relationship.

And she continued cooking professionally afterward.

For readers searching for Heidi Van Pelt, the clearest answer is this: she is Taran Noah Smith’s former partner, but she is also a longtime vegan chef and entrepreneur whose career included nutrition counseling, raw-food events, the Playfood cashew-cheese business and Kansas City’s Füd restaurant.

Frequently Asked Questions About Heidi Van Pelt

Who is Heidi Van Pelt?

Heidi Van Pelt is an American vegan chef, entrepreneur and former nutritional counselor who became famous through her relationship with Home Improvement actor Taran Noah Smith.

How old is Heidi Van Pelt?

Contemporary reports place her birth around 1968, making her approximately 57–58 years old in 2026. Her exact birthday is not strongly verified.

Was Heidi Van Pelt born in 1968?

1968 is consistent with contemporary reports describing her as 32 in 2001 and 38 in 2007.

Where is Heidi Van Pelt from?

She grew up in the Kansas City, Missouri area and attended Oak Park and Blue Springs high schools.

What did Heidi Van Pelt study?

She studied fashion design at Stephens College, German and philosophy at the University of Missouri, and Russian studies at the University of Washington, though she did not follow a traditional degree path.

Was Heidi Van Pelt a chef?

Yes. Her documented career includes vegan cooking, catering, cashew-cheese development and ownership of the Kansas City restaurant Füd.

Was Heidi Van Pelt a nutritionist?

She obtained nutrition-related certification and worked as a nutritional counselor in Los Angeles. “Registered dietitian” should not be assumed without separate licensing evidence.

Who was Heidi Van Pelt married to?

She is publicly known as the former wife or partner of actor Taran Noah Smith, who played Mark Taylor on Home Improvement.

How much older was Heidi than Taran?

She was approximately 16 years older.

How old was Taran Noah Smith when they married?

He was 17 when they held their wedding ceremony on April 27, 2001.

How old was Heidi Van Pelt when she married Taran?

Contemporary reporting described her as approximately 32 at the time.

Was their marriage legally valid?

The situation was complicated. They held a marriage ceremony and publicly lived as spouses, but The Pitch reported that a California judge rejected the marriage because Taran was a minor and did not have the required parental consent. Their later separation involved both divorce and annulment filings.

When did Heidi Van Pelt and Taran Noah Smith break up?

Their relationship was seriously deteriorating by 2005 and ended in legal proceedings in 2007.

Did Heidi and Taran have children?

No children together are publicly documented.

What was Playfood?

Playfood was the couple’s vegan-food company built around dairy-free products, including Heidi’s cashew-based cheese recipes.

Did Playfood sell products in stores?

Yes. By late 2006, The Pitch reported its products in more than 50 Kansas City-area grocery stores.

Why did Heidi and Taran fight over Playfood?

After their relationship deteriorated, they disagreed about business control, funding, ownership and company structure. Both sides made allegations, and the disagreement went to court.

What was Füd?

Füd was Heidi’s vegan comfort-food restaurant in Kansas City. It opened as a stand-alone restaurant in 2010.

When did Füd close?

The Pitch reported its closure in August 2017, after about seven years as a stand-alone restaurant.

Is Heidi Van Pelt now Heidi Van Pelt-Belle?

Kansas City food coverage referred to her as Heidi Van Pelt-Belle during the Füd years.

Where is Heidi Van Pelt now?

Her current everyday life is not reliably documented. She has maintained a much lower public profile since Füd’s closure.

What is Heidi Van Pelt’s net worth?

There is no independently verified net-worth figure for Heidi Van Pelt.

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