Vegan South Wales

As you know, I love discovering new things, so to discover two new things on the same day is a bonus. Whilst guiding my visiting parents around Cardiff one day, I got the opportunity to try a café I had seen a few weeks before and wanted to check out. The Embassy Café, situated in Cathays Community Centre, is a totally vegetarian café with plenty of vegan options. The staff are very welcoming and knowledgeable, so you can tell them your dietary requirements and they will come up with suitable options for you. It was perfect for me and my parents, I could get decent vegan food and they, as omnivores, could also have a coffee and snack with me.
Whilst waiting for our coffees, I found my second discovery of the day. The Embassy has a book swap and DVD rental table (fab idea!) which is also home to leaflets and flyers about local activities. ‘Vegan South Wales’ caught my eye immediately. This fantastic pocket-sized booklet lists loads of vegan options in South Wales, all categorised by area, so wherever you are you know where you can find something to eat. I carry mine with me whenever I’m out now, and it is so handy. It saves so much time, especially when you’re eating with people who aren’t vegan and you don’t want to appear fussy. Other areas of Wales are covered in separate booklets, and all the information is available on their website www.eatoutveganwales.org

Making a Meal Out of Sides

   Today I found myself eating in a chain restaurant with friends where the food is generally reheated rather than served fresh. My first glance at the menu led me to believe there was quite a selection for vegetarians. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that three of the vegetarian meals were the same cauliflower cheese dish that had been included under different course options. The only main I could find that included no animal protein was a jacket potato with baked beans. Tinned beans aren't ideal, I know, but sometimes you have to cheat a bit. With all the will in the world, a jacket potato with beans is never going to be an exciting meal. So, I decided to add a side of flat mushrooms to make it a bit more interesting.
   Making a meal out of starters and sides is a skill that I picked up whilst living in Greece. Whereas Greek main meals generally revolve around meat, the starters (or mese dishes) are usually vegetarian, and a lot are plant-based.
   If you are finding it hard to make a plant-based choice when eating out, why not order a combination of starters and sides instead? It gives you much more variety and your dining companions will no doubt be jealous of your personal buffet!

The Plant-Based Traveller

   Before I go any further, apologies for being absent for so long. Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy to find internet access on my trip to Germany, and since I've been back I've fallen victim to the dreaded flu that has been making its way round Cardiff. I must point out, though, that this is the first time I've been ill since converting to a plant-based diet, and there's not many people in the UK who can say they've gone almost a whole winter illness-free.
   During my absence I have been doing lots of reading and learning, and I have so much I want to share with you. First, though, a bit about my adventures in Germany. If you want to read more about my adventures, there will be a full blog on http://thetravelbug.blog.co.uk/ soon.
   OK, I'm not going to pretend that on my 4 day skiing trip to Garmisch I stuck to a completely plant-based, organic, wholefood diet. I did, however, as always, do my best to be conscious of what I was eating and made small changes wherever I could. It surprised me how little effort it took. The excellent continental buffet that my hostel provided made it very easy for me to choose a suitable breakfast. I was happy to drink black coffee, although I know from my experience working in the Alps that hotels and guesthouses will provide soya milk if you request it. Along with my coffee, I had a fresh semmel with jam, no butter. For those who haven't visited the Alps, a semmel is a small, round bread roll and is present at pretty much every meal. Believe me, when you work there you soon get sick of eating semmels everyday, but I'd had long enough away for them to be tasty again.
   Lunchtime up the mountain is generally spent in a self-service restaurant, most of which offer spaghetti and tomato sauce as an option. Remember to ask for no parmesan, though, Austrians and Germans seem to like putting cheese on top of everything. One thing that self-service restaurants in the Alps do very well are salad bars. So there's no excuse not to fill up on the fresh, tasty food available. You can also have yet another semmel to go with it if you choose.
   Most restaurants have at least one vegan option on the menu, you just have to ask. The range of dishes available might not leave you spoilt for choice, and in ski resorts will most probably revolve around pasta, but at least the options are there.

   I know I repeat this all the time, but I've learnt that the best way with a plant-based diet is to be prepared. Health food shops are really popular in Austria and Germany, so stock up on things to snack on. Most supermarkets now stock a 'bio' range, and they will highlight what is organic and what has been grown in the local region. In German speaking countries, look out for the 'bio' sign and 'aus unsere region' (from our region).

A vegan cure for hungover hunger

This morning I tried out the Breakfast Homefries recipe from www.vegankickstart.org, and I discovered that it's a great hangover aid. However, it does take a bit of effort to make, so if you are genuinely hungover I'd recommend persuading someone else to make it for you while you stay in bed :)

Plate to Planet

   If you're still not convinved that our dietary choices have such an effect on the environment, or you think it's all a conspiracy (although I can't think of anything they would be conspiring for), then the www.platetoplanet.org website should provide you with proof that factory farming is a very real problem. Here are just a few of the scary facts that platetoplanet highlight about the effect of factory farming in the US:

   * Agriculture generates 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.
 
   * Animals raised for food in the US produce so much manure that alot of it is stored in lagoons. When the lagoons leak, the maure enters into the environment and threatens water quality across the US.

   * Scientists at the Smithsonian Institute say that the equivalent of seven football fields is bulldozed every minute for animal agriculture.

   * It takes an average 16 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of beef and takes 11 times as much fossil fuel to make 1 calorie from animal protein as 1 calorie from plant protein.

   * It takes an estimated 4,000 gallons of water to produce one day of animal-based food for the average American. In comparison, one day of plant-based food only requires about 300 gallons.

   How mad is it that most factory plant farming is fertilised using chemicals, when the factory animal farms are producing tonnes of maure that goes to waste? Before any of my fellow Britons say 'That's America, not the UK', remember that the effects of factory farming are felt all over the world, the focus is just more on the US because they have more space in which to farm. Next time you're about to bite into your McDonalds burger, think about where the meat came from.
   You can also pledge to go meat free for a week, a month or forever on the platetoplanet website. So even if you only sign up for a week, please, please make a pledge today. You never know, not eating meat for a week might open up a whole new world of experiences for you.