Find: Todd's Porkless Pie

I love my girlfriend.

Lyd got back from work yesterday with this



Did I mention I love her? Its soya based vegan pork pie and is delicious in the same way pork pies are. Not the healthiest thing in the world but I didn't expect (or really want!) it to be (and its still healthier than actual pork pie. The soya does a good impression of pork filling and the pastry is...well, pastry! What's more, no foul jelly around it! Which is, in my opinion, a very good thing!


Its about £3 in Holland and Barret and Lyd found it a bit reduced. I'd still recommend it as a treat :). Especially for a picnic. Does contain gluten but personally that isn't a problem.

NOTE: Lyd made a good point! "Todds Porkless pies" Isn't necessarily a good thing. It puts us in the mind of Sweeny Todd and Mrs Lovett's pie shop.

"Porkless" doesn't necessarily mean "Meatless"

We made pizza!!

We made vegan pizza! this is a HUGE thing for me! I haven’t had pizza in over a year and it brings with it memories of eating my housemate’s leftover out to the bin and horrid purging experiences… So being happy to make and eat pizza was a big step! It was really nice :) We used pre-made bases, tomato puree, peppers, mushrooms, tomato and courgette :D 

For the love of food! My introduction

The previous post have been by my boyfriend but as we are making this blog together i wanted to introduce myself as well and how i came to the point of deciding to be vegan. 


I've always loved food, it has always been hugely important to me, even as a child. I have to say i have always been one of those people who look to food for comfort and pleasure too. As a child food was something to be seen as a reward, a highlight to the day and i looked forward to my mum's shepherd’s pie or roast dinner. But there where a number of meals though-out my childhood that were less appealing - boil-in-a-bag square of fish in a source with mash and peas or the dreaded, disgusting corned-beef with baked beans and mash... but i had little control over the dinners i ate as a child but found some in hiding biscuits under my mattress. 


I was a fat child, and a podgy teenager too. I was often reminded of this, rather meanly by my mother. As a teenager i was not oblivious to how food was made and like to point out the rather gruesome facts of slaughtering, etc around the dinner table but i lacked the drive and confedeince to become a vegetarian as i had only ever known one way of eating. Then my sister went ff to uni and would come back talking of foods that i had never heard of - fancy stir-frys, funny vegetables, sushi, etc. I hoped one day i would go to uni and learn how to cook healthy foods. 


Then my mum decided to go on a low carb diet (i now no these to be stupid) which confused me greatly! Where once there had been shepherd’s pie made with mince and mash there was now an alien version with celery and cauliflower-cheese! There was mum and my sister with there 'special' food and my and dad with our regular, 'full-fat' version. How come i wasn't including in this diet? I was fat and greatly saddened by my body and the way i looked (even then i would cry while going underwear shopping). So i did my own thing - cut chocolate then all sweet things and did 80sit-ups a day. It only lasted a couple of months and i was soon back to being the school vacuum and finishing my mate's lunches (not helped my the fact my 6th form was right by 2 take-aways!)  


Then i went to uni. Freedom!!! For the first few months it was great! I loved looking up recipes and trying new things. I was way the best cook in my flat. Then came placement of 37.5hour a week of long day shift and night shifts. Good food went to the window and i'm ashamed to say i remember sainsbury's basic sausage rolls playing a large part at the time! My eating became eractic and unhealthy. To cut a long story short, i ended up with an eating disorder, bulimia. 


People often think people with ED's hate food, but in actual fact, we love food. I loved researching food, exploring every aspect of it. This opened my eyes to the realities of how food is produced, how it effects the world and what we really should be putting into our bodies. I would look up every sort of diet and lifestyle to find the healthiest, what would treat my body the best? Yes, i wanted to look after my body, i wanted to eat well. I just couldn't. This was not about deprivation - i think too many people ED as one and the same whereas i would say bulimia and anorexia are polar opposites. 


Becoming vegan seemed the way forward, and still does. It involves eating in a way that makes so much sense - for me and for the world! I am glad to say i am now recovering from my ED and that the decision to go vegan was not driven by it. I had 18 years of eating for my own self-enjoyment and 3 years of eating for my own self-destruction. I now what to eat for myself, for my environment and for my world. 


Thank you 
Lydia      

Lunches

I didn't know you had to be so good at logistics to be vegan.

I've been trying to be "mostly vegan" for a while and a commonly repeating problem is finding lunches that are vegan. If I find myself in town or anywhere away from home without some kind of packed lunch its damned near impossible to find lunch from a shop that is vegan.

In most cases its because most shops seem to think Vegetarian equals cheese. Which really doesn't help. You occasionally find things that are cheese-free but there seem to be a few solutions.

1) Always bring a packed lunch. This takes a lot of planning and you sometimes don't expect to be out. Plus it means you usually have to eat outside rather than buying food from a cafe.

2) Snack. Vegan snacks are usually easier to find than full meals.

3) Holland and Barret. The almighty temple of health-foodiness. Their "Veg Out" range of Soya based pastries are almost always vegan. (Except the Scotch Egg, go figure). They've got quite a decent range (in the Cheltenham branch anyway).

4) Investigate vegan lunches available. The best way I've discovered for this is the "Suitable for Vegans, UK" group on facebook. Its a group for sharing information on veganism and where people in the UK can share finds from UK retail outlets (supermarkets, health foods and so on). If you're in the UK and even just interested in vegan food I strongly recommend it. Creator Sue and the rest of the mods are very friendly and extremely helpful.

Anyway. How do you deal when you find yourself away from home without food. Do you have a vegan-friendly bolt hole? (like us and Holland and Barrett) or do you strictly and valiantly go without?

The Obligatory Introductory Post

Its expected of blogs like this for there to be an explanatory post. So here it is.

I'm Luke, I'm 23 and I live and work in and near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. I live with my girlfriend Lydia. Since we started dating we've both had an interest in vegetarian and vegan food.

While at university I gained an interest in environmentalism and green issues but for the most part just took interest and didn't act upon it. When I started dating Lyd I've had a greater interest in green issues (For want of a better term) but also a greater desire to act on these interests.

Now that I firstly have a source of income as well as independence (After being unemployed and living with my parents for a year) I'm slowly starting to act on ideas and wants and one of these is to start living a vegan lifestyle. In short I think its a firstly not wanting a part in the poor way animals are treated in mass production of foods. The second and possibly greater thing is my inner economist (I studied it at university) wanting to cut the amount of resources I use and lessen my impact on the environment.

Anyway . This blog will be a place for Lyd and I to discuss issues we face, encounter and have opinions on that relate to veganism and occasional green-ness as well as a place to share recipes and dishes we make.

I hope I do this intro post justice.