This Vegan Week
There sure are plenty of vegan friendly treats available these days. This week I have enjoyed…
I was sent some lovely Aubergine Parmigiana pasta from almost-vegan brand White Rabbit (all bar their mozzarella pizza are vegan friendly) and it was absolutely delish. I used to live off ready-in-minutes fresh pasta when I was a student, my sister and I used to use soup as a pasta sauce and think we were very clever. Ravioli has come a long way since then - as have I. I made this with a mixed mushroom sauce sprinkled with nooch.
Would you like a beer with that?
In the two short years since I gave up drinking, the alcohol-free industry has boomed - thanks guys! Tee-totallers, designated drivers and not tonight darlings are spoiled for choice but there’s a special place in my heart and shopping basket for vegan friendly AF drinks. And no, they’re not all vegan - some are still made using fish guts (isinglass) or milk powder and / or eggs. Don’t ask me why the hell eggs are added to wine. Mmm, I’m getting blackberries, vanilla… and a hint of cruelty.
I like Jump Ship beer because it’s vegan and delicious - my two priority boxes are ticked there. But also, I like boats and sailing and nautical terminology. On one boat trip with my dad, we wrote down every saying and quip we could think of which was born of the seas - there were loads of them! Jump Ship have coined a few for their varieties - not to mention the clever brand name itself. YardArm, Flying Colours and the latest, a lovely IPA called Goosewing, all nod to the seas the founder, Sonja, so loves.
I’d heard of Moving Mountains burgers but did not realise their range stretched to mince, meatballs, goujons and hot dogs. I love fake meat, where have I been hiding!
Back in my omnivore days I never much liked ‘fish & chips’ in the chip shop sense of the meal. I didn’t like the batter the fish was fried in. But the new Moving Mountains fish fillets are baked in panko breadcrumbs so it’s less greasy, more crumbly. We had them with chips and mushy peas and loved it. Gaz’s favourite meal is chips and bits (‘bits’ defines any meat substitute plus beans or peas) but my friend Mila and I came up with an even snazzier name than just Chips and Bits. Because what’s the point in chips if you haven’t got a generous dollop of mayo, maybe some sweet chilli sauce, BBQ sauce, mint sauce, horseradish sauce, any kind of sauce? That’s what the chips are for - a dip vessel! And so, Chips, Bits and Dips was coined. CBD for short.
Everyone raves about the health benefits of CBD so I think we can all agree Chips, Bits and Dips is officially nutritious. As our Sunday night special CBD meal, the Moving Mountains fish fillet with chips and mushy peas (plus dips) did not disappoint - a strong 10/10.
Check out the Moving Mountains range (what a sentence!) here.
Shall we finish with some chocolate? All good things should end with chocolate.
Kyoot is a 100% vegan brand. Also gluten-free, should that tickle you. Pronounced ‘cute’, Kyoot is so delicious that when my samples turned up and I nibbled a smidge on a Tuesday, a day I don’t usually allow myself to eat chocolate (Monday - Thursday treat-free, Friday - Sunday, go wild, if you would like to know my House Rules) I ended up eating the entire bar in one go. Such was the mighty taste. But, I reasoned, this is chocolate with no refined sugars, sweeteners, emulsifiers, palm oil or other fillers. So why the hell not eat it on a Tuesday?
I especially loved the Crunchy Salted Caramel but the Vanilla Quinoa Pops and Original were also rule-breakingly scrumptious.
Great work Kyoot champs - I hope these guys are soon sitting alongside all the pathetic excuses for chocolate in petrol station forecourts (soon to be reimagined as Electric Vehicle Charging forecourts - imagine a future where you buy vegan chocolate in a plastic-free wrapper while waiting for your EV to charge - IMAGINE!)
Maybe you’ve already switched to an EV. Well done you. But you don’t have to wait for vegan chocolate in plastic-free wrapping: Kyoot is available here.