Why your restaurant needs vegan options

I'm not a vegan, I'm not even a vegetarian but I think all restaurants, cafes, clubs, bars, and anywhere that serves food should ensure there are vegan options on the menu.

I don't think that because  it's not nice to eat animals (it may not be, but I still love steak and bacon), I don't think it because it's good for the planet (debatable if you look at what plants can grow where and why sheep may sometimes be the best protein creators..but also farts...) I think it because it's good business sense.

Many people are vegan these days, whether as a hipster lifestyle choice, a deep rooted love for living things or just not really liking meat, the reasons don't matter to a business, what matters is getting customers through the door.

Some cafes seem to think that one veggie option is enough. "Oh we have jacket potatoes with beans if you like, we can leave out the butter if you are vegan". The idea of 'leaving out' the meat or dairy or egg bits seems a common theme. "hmm vegan? well I think the veggie burger might be vegan, I'll leave out the brioche bun and the cheese"  Well let me tell you straight, leaving things out is not a menu option, it's lazy and it looks lazy. It also looks mean, "we'll make you a special meal by leaving stuff out and not replacing it with anything" doesn't look like you are happy to help, it looks like a begrudging afterthought.

Some eateries think it doesn't matter, after all less than 1% of the UK population is vegan and only 2% of the population is vegetarian. But if you miss those choices from your menu you don't only exclude the vegans, you exclude groups of friends where one of the group is vegan. "Shall we have Jake's party at *Umbertelli's? oh no, they have no real vegan options and Jessica won't want to come, let's go to *Palmita's instead" And the number of vegans is increasing, and they tend to be younger, more likely to eat out with friends.

It's not only vegans that benefit either, with increasing awareness of allergies a person with a dairy or egg allergy is going to opt for places with good vegan options too. Religious food restrictions can also affect people, in a multicultural society many religious people struggle to find a place to eat out that caters for them, but vegan is halal and kosher, problem solved. When I'm looking for a location for a works party or a meal out with friends I might include vegans, Muslims, vegetarians and Jews...and some allergy sufferers, it's not being 'precious' to want to be catered for at a restaurant and it's not a lot to ask for the menu to be clear about it either.

Vegan options are not difficult! Add a vegan section to your menu (and mark them as such, use a different symbol for Vegan than for Vegetarian). Examples of vegan meals include falafel wraps with salad, salads with tofu, stir fries with noodles (egg free) , vegetable soups, hummus salad sandwiches with either no spread or a dairy free spread, olives, fancy breads made with oil, pasta dishes (vegan pesto, tomato sauces etc), risottos with either no cheese or vegan cheese, vegetable burgers, stuffed peppers, garlic mushrooms (use oil or dairy-free spread),  Jus-Rol puff pastry is dairy and egg free! so you can even make some puff pastry treats with fruit or roasted vegetables. Pieminister have a vegan pie option. Vegan pizzas, lentil curries. Don't forget to add some vegan desserts too, lots of sorbets are lovely and there are plenty of vegan ice 'cream' varieties to choose from, and exotic fruits in syrup can be a lovely end to a meal.

Anyone can eat vegan, so including some vegan options on a menu doesn't restrict the menu, it expands it. Now I have a vegan daughter I can really see what a pain it is to eat out when 99% of the menu is off limits, so come on caterers, make it easier, step up and add some vegan goodies to your menus.

Are you vegan?  Where is good to eat out and which vegan things do you like to see on a menu?  I recently ate at Zizzis and they have a brilliant menu, clearly set out with vegan options. Are there other good examples out there?

The best Vegan and Vegetarian Sunday lunches in London.

Vegan and Veggie Roasts in Brighton

*not real restaurants

Smooshed Creme Egg Bakes - Neither big nor clever

*trigger warning for huge amounts of creme egg cake recipes

On social media and in the world of blogging it seems you cannot blink this Easter without another picture of a cake covered in broken Cadbury Creme Eggs.

For anyone visiting from Uranus, a creme egg is a chocolate and fondant confection of teeth rotting sweetness. The centre wittily resembles that of a real egg.

In my youth I too liked a creme egg at Easter, and like many before and since, I poked my tongue into the moist middle with delight. But as I've grown up my sweet tooth has diminished and the diabetic inducing sweet no longer appeals. That would be fine, and I could ignore them and get on with my life that except that the world has gone berserk adding the eggs to anything and everything claiming that it makes something tastier and more Easter themed. I blame Pinterest.

Well, adding creme eggs doesn't improve things. It just adds extra sugar, and the horrible look of a house attacked by angry trick or treaters (ooh idea for Halloween cakes - no! stop, enough). A smashed creme egg looks like a smashed egg, that is not attractive. They taste only of sugar and American disappointment.

And if you don't believe how prevalent this horror is just look at a few of these examples! We have chocolate brownies and they are delicious, they do not need the addition of gloop, but despite that a recipe exists with just that.

Brownies made by The Minis and Me

And as for a creme egg 'blondie'...well, I really have no words, a blondie is something I already view with some suspicion, to add a creme egg into this dubious American mess can only end badly.

Blondies via MamaMummyMum

Cakes, whole cakes, already a treat, chocolate flavoured and covered in icing (frosting) I'm fairly sure crushed  creme eggs all over the top are an unneeded gilding of the cocoa lily!

Cake from Chilling with Lucas

Cheesecake, cheesecake!, is there no end to the abomination that is the creme egg takeover! A cheese cake needs no extra, it is cheese, soft and delicious, maybe with a tart fruit addition, but a smooshed creme egg? No no no. Just no.

Cheesecake from MotherGeek

And breakfast, the first meal of the day, where we need some protein and goodness, do we need creme eggs? No we do not, and yet it seems there are those among us that think a creme egg will improve a croissant. A croissant! That sophisticated and chic French pastry of delicate buttery loveliness, just no.

Croissant from Californian Mum in London

And last and most unnecessary of all, the Scotch Egg Brownie. I'm not sure I can fully express my horror and disgust, to hide the runny candy egg within and innocent brownie casing, to trap the unwary nibbler with a horrific gooey mine...

Scotch Egg Brownies form Nobody Said it Was Easy

I am ashamed of you all - I am especially ashamed of those blog readers that are, even now, writing down some of those recipes for later. You are sick! Sick I say! (or you will be later) Stick to proper recipes using chocolate mini eggs like normal people.

Recipes for Easter like mini white chocolate nests,  or regular chocolate nests, or even chocolate mini egg fudge, these are for normal, good and proper people.

Chocolate nests from The Messy Blog

Thank you to all the bloggers who agreed to be featured in this round up of loathing and disgust. All photos used with permission from the original posts.

Come and chat over on Twitter or my Facebook page I'd love to hear from you

Baking Rock Cakes with children

I have a trusty old recipe book, it was the first cook book that Mr TM bought, and I've inherited it. It is by Marguerite Patten and just covers everything you could ever need to know about cooking, oven temperatures, cake tin sizes, what 'dropping consistency' actually is...and everything else. I use it a lot. One of the recipes that Mr TM loves is the one for rock cakes, so called for their look and shape not their texture!

They are simple to make and a good choice to make with children (inserts joke about how I usually use dried fruit) as it's a real 'bung it all in a bowl and mix' type recipe.

If you are baking with small children as helpers I suggest, clear surfaces, pre weighed and measured ingredients in plastic bowls like on a cooking show - maybe leave one thing to weigh like the dried fruit. And invest in some anti slip mat stuff to put under the bowls as they mix.

For the cakes you will need:
8oz self raising flour
4oz margarine or butter
4oz castor sugar (I sometimes only use 3oz as Mr TM isn't keen on over sweet cakes)
4oz dried fruit
1 egg (beaten)
some spice if you like that sort of thing
2 tablespoonfuls of milk.

Sieve the flour into a bowl, then rub in the margarine until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Kids love helping with this bit, but ensure that hands are washed first! The odd nibbled crumb won't do anyone any harm. Next add the sugar and the fruit, give it a stir, add the spice if you are going to use it, then add the beaten egg to pull it all together. The mix should be sticky, but not runny, add milk if needed..

Plop small 'lumps' of mixture onto a greased (I use silicone baking parchment to save myself the bother) baking tray, they will spread a bit, so space them!

Bake in a hot oven for 12-15 minutes. Eat when cool. (it's always cool to eat cake)

Small Changes in my shopping basket - organic additions

When Waitrose asked me to try some small changes to make a bigger impact, by adding some organic things to my shopping list, I was happy to help. I have bought organic meat in the past as I don't like the idea of the routine use of antibiotics etc in my food. And of course organic vs chemicals doesn't just affect the consumer, if affects nature too, the entire food chain. I like to buy organic fruit or veg when I can but it's easy to forget that other things have chemicals pumped into them too to increase the yield (and in the west, more often, the profit margin) so I was interested to look at all the other things in the Waitrose store that fell into the 'organic basket'.

I already mentioned that I bought a really nice organic wine, helped in my choice by the extremely pleasant and knowledgeable wine staff. But I also bought organic fruit juice (delicious!) organic coffee (fair trade too and I have bought this before so I know it's good) and organic tea bags (Clipper - unbleached bags, I am impressed with the strength and quality and may permanently switch from my usual Assam).

I bought organic sugar (how can I forget that's a plant too!) Organic milk (I really think I should try and only get organic milk - it makes sense if I like organic meat!) ditto eggs.

I added organic tinned sweet corn, herbs (no one wants to eat leaves that are sprayed with chemicals), and organic tomato passata , and organic pasta - I plan to make a pasta bake from those ingredients, with some cheese on top.

I had some jam and some really tangy and tasty organic orange marmalade too, it seems that I don't think about processed foods or fruit and veg used in recipes so much, so I shall be thinking organic where I can in future. I may not be able to afford to buy totally organic but small changes...

What could you swap for organic in your shopping basket?

Stuck for ideas? Check out Waitrose's excellent organic inspired recipe selection here 

An interesting read on the current news about insecticides can be found here

Disclaimer - I was sent some vouchers towards the cost of my organic purchases but all thoughts are my own