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Thoughts on veggie food, work, play and life in general

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Monthly Loves – April 2020

The world in lockdown has affected many businesses – some stopping completely and others finding new ways to provide for their customers. Her are just a few of the business and sites that have brought a dsmile to my face during April.

Harries Coffee for finally teaching me the right way to make decent coffee using a cafetiere. I haven’t tried the coffee yet but will be ordering some soon.

Oat Milk from Milk & More – In my opinion as good as Oatly oat milk but delivered to your door in the most gorgeous reusable/recyclable glass bottles. In conjunction with my new found coffee making skills I may never have to go out for a decent coffee again. Milk & More’s veggie/vegan range is very good, with a commitment to avoid plastic packaging wherever possible. And all delivered to your door!

Nature – I am lucky enough to have a small garden to relax in. I’m not the best gardener in the world and with my love of wildlife my garden tends to have a slightly ‘wild’ look to it. I tend to leave the edges of the garden to wild flowers that naturally seed themselves and just keep them in check. In April the Forget-No-Nots have been lovely and have brought a burst of colour and joy to the days of lockdown.

April Loves - Forget Me Nots

We have been trying to support local businesses where possible during lockdown. One business has been Al The Pie Man. He usually has a stall in our local market and is now doing home deliveries. He dose meat, veggie and vegan options. I had the Mushroom Stroganoff which was lovely. The sides or mash and peas with wild garlic were also very good, in fact I’m tempted just to order the peas on their own! Usefully the pies come marked with what they are, so no nasty surprises in serving the wrong pie to the wrong person!

April Loves - Al The Pie Man

Monthly Loves – October

October was a busy month for me as I was concentrating on setting up a new business offering.  This has taken a lot of time and didn’t leave much time for going out and finding new things. Hopefully I will have more to report on next month!

  • I did attend The Ethical Consumer conference which was very good.  I came away with loads of ideas on how to make my company more ethical and sustainable.  Not sure I will be able to convince my directors to take any actions, but I’m working on it.   
Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash
  • Now the days are drawing in we are revisiting the roast dinner on a Sunday.  I’d forgotten how much I miss roasted beetroot!
  • Had a lovely family meal at The Wheatsheaf, Esher.  Good veggie options, including a roast.  A very popular pub so if you go do book in advance.  The low points are the lack of parking and it gets quite hot and stuffy so wear layers!  The food is definitely worth going for though!
  • A client meeting that didn’t last as long as I thought it would meant that I could visit Seasons, Forest row.  Probably my favourite organic supermarket, which I have been visiting since the late 1990s.
  • If you are looking for another great  place to eat out tryThe Horse Inn, Hurst.  This pub has recently been refurbished and offers a great selection of food, from tapas and bar  meals to lovely dinners. The Vegetarian and Vegan menus are well worth a look at. The christmas menu also looked really inviting.

Monthly Loves – August

For the first time in many years I managed a short break in August. Normally I have been the one who is happy to work whilst others have holiday with their families. Its less crowded and cheaper out of season! But this year was different and it was good!

On our trip to Dorchester we went to Vivo Lounge.  One of a chain of ‘Lounges’ they have a very good vegetarian and vegan menu and fabulous cocktails.  Definitely worth finding your nearest one for a good night out.

The King and Thai – an excellent family run Thai restaurant which caters really well for vegetarians and vegans.

The Hendover Cafe – another family run business offering breakfasts, lunches and tapas evenings.  Great friendly service and good quality food. 

We finished off August with a visit to The Woking Food Festival.  This was well run and had a multitude of stalls selling lovely vegetarian and vegan food.  From sauces to pies there was so much choice! Although being surrounded by so much food made me loose my appetite, I can recommend the dosa, sauces and pickles from Ollo Foods.  

Woking also has a lovely food walk in between the two parts of the Peacock shopping centre (Market Walk).  A great range of food stalls and a lovely fruit and veg stall selling everything from broccoli to kohlrabi and mooli.  A real treat and a good reason to go back to Woking!

Monthly Loves – November

November seems to have gone by in a flash.  I was lucky enough to have a few days off work, which resulted in some great restaurant finds!  

  • Winchester -lovely place for a short break.  Beautiful architecture, great museum and lovely shops.  Mkre sure you go when the market is on – a lovely mix of stalls.
  • River Cottage Kitchen – I love Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Much More Veg cookbook so took the opportunity to eat at his Winchester restaurant.  The food was amazing, although most of the veggie/vegan food options are side dishes. But don’t be disheartened. The portion sizes are good and the variety of choice leaves you wondering what to order, and hoping your meat eating  companions will order some of the sides so you can try them.
  • Incognito Cocktail Bar – An interesting and quirky cocktail bar, serving a lot of different drinks, with modern twists on your old favourites.
helena-yankovska-434536-unsplash
  • Kinder Tech – This is a small, local opportunity to have your tech issues answered and fixed for free.  Run by volunteers from the people behind The Kinder Living Show, this twice yearly event gives you the chance to find out what is wrong with your tech, possibly get it fixed and find out if it is worth fixing.  They will also take your old tech and make sure it is recycled.
  • I was lucky enough to attend the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.  A beautiful, emotional and humbling evening.
  • Green People shampoo – the only shampoo I have used that means I don’t need conditioner.  My hairdresser is amazed by it and is looking to get it stocked in the salon.

Shop Local

I like to use my local shops.  I am lucky where I live as I have a small Co-Op, a Tesco Express and a One Stop all within a short walk of my house.  I like using these shops as you get to know the staff and members of my local community.

When I was married I would make the weekly trip to the local large supermarket. It was always stupidly busy and I would lose an hour of my life to doing the weekly shop.  People lost as the quarterly aisle reshuffle has taken place. Those more interested in their phones than watching where they are walking, or the food on the shelves. Those deep in conversation, seemingly unaware that they are blocking the aisles for those of us who just want to shop and go.

Moving out on my own gave me the chance to change this.  To explore my local shops more. To avoid taking the car out. Be kinder on the environment.

The problem with shipping local as a vegetarian is the lack of variety.  The supply of fruit and veg is fine, but some things I just don’t understand. All of the stores have a really good range of ‘free from’ gluten  free products. The variety of canned pulses is small, but then I wouldn’t expect it to be large. My biggest bug bear is gravy granules. None of my local shops stock vegetarian gravy granules.  Not even their own brand.

I once queried this with Tesco and Co-Op.  Tesco came back and said it was to do with waste – not enough people bought them.  The Co-Op gave me the impression it was a blip and would be sorted soon. Needless to say nothing has changed.  

I just find it hard to believe that with all this current trend towards cutting out meat, going veggie or vegan there is no demand for gravy granules locally.

I’m sure from the picture below you would agree that it wouldn’t take much effort to start with even one row of veggie friendly granules?

 

shop local
Apparently no room for vegetable gravy granules

Also if you don’t stock an item then there won’t be any demand for it.

You may well think I am bonkers at wondering at the lack of such an ingredient.  But for I don’t believe there is not a market for it. And the lack of it locally means I have to make a special trip to a larger supermarket on the otherside of town.  Not something that I find enjoyable or have the time for.

So this makes me wonder what other products are missing for vegetarians/vegans.  What do you wish these smaller stores would stock?

 

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