Vegan in West Africa?

Before leaving for West Africa, I was pretty confident that I could continue being vegan or at the very least vegetarian while I was in Africa. We had told our project that we were vegetarian and it didn't seem an issue. We spent our first couple of weeks on the coast ordering food that we figured to be vegan(ish) and were feeling cocky about how easy it would be.

Then we arrived at the project.

I have never in my life found so many fish bones in my meal, (because you know fish isn't actually an animal right?) and stews where the animal carcass had just been removed "to make it vegetarian for us". To be honest it just went down hill from there, to the point where I started eating eggs and ice-cream, rationalising that if I had to eat fish heads then, fuck it, I'm going to eat chocolate too.

After a few months I'd found out that all the foods we had originally thought to be vegetarian were not at all, and almost every dish there seems to have some sort of meat stock or ground up fish in it. As one Ghanian once told us "I understand you don't like to eat meat but you want the taste in it"

Suprisingly Ghana actually does have a few vegetarian restaurants. They're usually owned by Rastafarians, so if you can take Bob Marley blaring on the speakers, ganja wafting in the air and every second word being "Jah man" then they're worth a visit.

We visited at least four of five, none of them were anything special, but it's nice not to find bits of mystery meat in your meal.

Best ones by far would have to be Asasse Pa in the center of Accra and Baobab Guesthouse in Cape Coast, so if you ever find yourself in the middle of Ghana and you're craving some veg food, hit them up.

A good, honest feed at Hendersons

For months I've been going to the bistro part of Henderson's Cafe and buying discount sandwiches and have always wondered what the food was like in the cafe below.
Henderson's has been open for 50 years, which is amazing in a country that seems to be a little bit behind when it comes to vegetarian food. They now have two cafes, one restaurant and one bistro in Edinburgh and brilliant reputation amoungst locals and tourists.
So finally I decided to go in for a bite and see what a 50 years old vegetarian restaurant was cooking up.


Not bad. not bad indeed.

The food was simple, honest and affordable. I had a 'light lunch' deal, consisting of my choice of two salads, a choice from a selection of hot dishes and a slice of bread. I chose an asian tofu salad and a broccoli and cauliflower salad and the vegan haggis with neeps and tatties. Theres also a selections of very yummy side sauces; vegan mayo, homemade chutney and toasted sesame seeds.
And I must say, the haggis was by far the best haggis I've tasted in Scotland so far and for £6.95, I felt I had definitely got my moneys worth. 


They operate on a 'cafeteria' service at Henderson's. You grab a tray and move along the line until it's your turn to tell the lunch lady what you'd like to order and then continue to move your way along the lunch line to the counter with your food. This system gives it a really laid back, relaxed feeling, and with all meals costing under £10, I think I'd prefer to be transported back to my youth than to pay more to be served at a table.


I'm looking forward to having more visitors in Edinburgh so I have an excuse to go back and try more of their tasty lunches.

El rey de los nachos

Ahh... Doritos, doritos, doritos. Oh how I love doritos. If these babies weren't vegan (lightly salted and chilli heatwave), I swear to blog I would be the skinniest carrot munching woman out there.

But as luck may have it, they are! And it's a good thing they are or else I wouldn't be able to use my leftover bean stew-a-lious into a plate of mouth watering nachos.

Like every other recipe I make that's not from a cookbook, they're a random combination of what's left in the fridge, but hey if they taste good, why not??

El rey de los nachos

(The King of Nachos)

For one:

One big handful of Doritos

Left over bean-stew-a-lious

One tomato

Half an avocado

1 tsp chilli pepper, diced

coriander, diced

1 tbs jammin jamaican ketchup

salt and pepper

Sprinkle of chia seeds

Reheat your leftover beans. Dice the tomato and avocado, place in a bowl with the chilli pepper, coriander, ketchup and salt and pepper. Mash together until mixed, personally I like to leave mine with some chunks.

Once the beans are heated, spoon them onto the Doritos, then your avocado mix and top with a sprinkle of chia seeds.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

Scrambled Tofu Bagel

There's just something truly great about breakfast for dinner, it's quick, it's easy, and you can eat it in your pyjamas in front of the telly... it's just brilliant.

A few months ago in Amsterdam, a friend and I went out for lunch and I had a hummus and roast veggie bagel.

I think that was the moment I fell in love.. with bagels.

So I introduced my two loves together and said "Bagels, let me introduce you to someone very important to me... meet scrambled tofu". The two have been together ever since.

I've tried many different accompaniments with my scrambled tofu, I've even tried kiwi fruit and onions once (probably don't try this one, my taste buds are still trying to forgive me), in my defense my choices are usually based on whats left over in the fridge.

But my all time favourite is....

Curried Scrambled Tofu Bagels

To serve one lazy, hungry girl:

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, diced

1/4 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup of firm tofu, slightly mashed with a fork

1 tbs curry powder

1 tsp chilli powder

handful of coriander

Salt and Pepper

To Top:

Spinach or lettuce

Hummus

Mango chutney

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onions and red bell pepper and saute for around 3-4 min, add the garlic, cook for another minute.

Add the tofu and continuously stir for about 5-8 minutes, add your herbs and spices and cook for another 2minutes.

Toast your bagel (co-operative supermarkets bagels are vegan), spread on your hummus, garnish with some salad, tip your tofu lovingly on top and finish it off with a big dollop of mango chutney.

Now you're already to curl up on the sofa in your pyjamas and watch a movie with your late night brekky.

Big ups to co-ops!

Co - operative supermarkets are amaaaaaazing! They label all their vegetarian and vegan products with a big (probably non certified) 'V'.


Some of them are blatantly obvious, you're probably well aware that a cream doughnut is likely to be vegetarian but not vegan.. but in the case of wine it is incredibly handy.


Unless you know which wines are vegan by experience, it can really hard to know. No wines that I know of specify in the ingredients what they use for the fining process and if they do most people are shocked when they find out what they actually are.

Gelatine - from bones and connective tissues of cows or pigs Isinglass - obtained from fish swim bladders  Chitin - derived from the shells of crabs or lobsters Casein - obtained from milk Albumin - from egg whites Bentonite - a type of clay Ox Blood - banned in Europe due to BSE Bentonite is suitable for vegetarians and vegans because it is not an animal - derived product.. obviously (it's clay). Other vegan finings are kaolin and kieslguhr (clays), plant casein and synthetic polymers. If you're far too sophisticated to drink co - op wine, unlike me, then check out the website below, it has a list of almost every wine imaginable and lists which are vegetarian or vegan. http://www.veggiewines.co.uk Just don't come crying to me if it turns out you're favourite Merlot contains cow tissue!!

Take me to bake potato heaven!!

Today I was wandering around the cobbled streets of Edinburgh after a lovely morning of coffee, art galleries and other fun things you do while your only semi employed (by the way Wellington coffee shop in Edinburgh is amazing AND they have soy milk), when an amazing smell filled my nostrils.
I followed the smell, awaiting to find out what smells soooo good yet probably contains some sort of animal product, and came across a tiny little store called 'The Baked Potato Shop'.

"Great" I thought, they're bound to have something vegan. Little did I know, I had just stubbled across not only an entirely vegetarian baked potato shop, but a vegetarian baked potato shop that had almost half it's entire menu vegan. And let me tell you, these are not boring potatoes. I'm talking vegan haggis, vegetable curry, beans, chickpea salad, and that's just to name a few.

This is not just an Irish persons heaven, this is so much more than just potatoes, I am in love! For less than 4 pounds a tattie and they're HUGE.

I got the, apparently small, vegan haggis filled tattie, and nearly burst. Buttons popped, my belly expanded and I lay in potato ecstasy.

Brilliant.

Making sushi friends

Turns out making sushi in overcrowded hostels can be fun! And a great way to make friends.
Everyone is curious about how to make sushi, everyone, hence how to make friends.
Let me give you an example of how your conversation will go

CURIOUS BACKPACKER: "Is that sushi you're making?"

ME: "Why yes it is, do you want to learn how to make it?"

CURIOUS BACKPACKER: "I'd love too.... then lets be friends"

Ok, it doesn't always follow that exact example, but you get the gist of it.

Sushi is super easy to make. You don't have to be Japanese or overly patient to be blessed with the gift of rolling good sushi ( though it does help if you've rolled a few marleys in your life time ), you can learn simply through practice, practice, practice. Plus I bet there's probably at least one Japanese tourists at your hostel that can show you a trick or two.

My favourite sushi is with marinated tofu or tempeh, which you can usually find at most supermarkets, otherwise google to see if there is a health food store nearby.
Most cities or even towns have atleast one chinese supermarket, there you can find cheap nori paper, rice vinegar, ginger and wasabi.
Find a local farmers market and buy some seasonal veggies. I love using red pepper, cucumber, sprouts and avocado if it's in season.

And... BOOM a wicked vegan dish that you can make over and over again with all your newly made hostel friends,