With more people than ever trying veganuary and a large portion of them from the UK, I thought it might be helpful to show you how to veganise some traditional British meals. Btw in the photo above you can see a full vegan English breakfast I had in Bristol 😍😍😍
About the photo above: I met a guy in @greggs_official Let's call him Greg bcs i dont know his actual name but wouldnt that be funny. I bought the #vegansausageroll (yes greggs 👏) and Greg bought the one made of pig. I said "hey, have you tried the vegan one?" Greg said "yeah, it's too salty for me 😬" i
was like "fair dinkum" (bcs i get my english-speaking slang confused sometimes slash i like to show off that i used to live in Australia...) Greg was like "what?" and, not wanting to encourage the #rudevegan stereotype i added "soz, i didnt want to be pushy, it's just if you
hadnt had it i would have offered you mine". Greg was like "noooo i get it!! I actually spent the whole weekend vegan with my #veganlady friend so i needed a bit of meat, but i dig the movement and i recommend to you the #veganpastry" ♥ Greg looked like your typical #boomer cis white male, and it was so nice to have a convo with him like this. His #flexitarian weekend lifestyle and openness to #veganism is an example of how far the vegan movement has come in my humble opinion.
People seem to come towards veganism at three different angles: they care about animals, they care about their health and/or they care about the environment. The latter is one most people seem to agree on, even if people don't care about animals, or don't understand veganism (when done right) is better for their health than calorific meat and dairy, everyone lives on earth and everyone wants to continue doing so.
People seem to come towards veganism at three different angles: they care about animals, they care about their health and/or they care about the environment. The latter is one most people seem to agree on, even if people don't care about animals, or don't understand veganism (when done right) is better for their health than calorific meat and dairy, everyone lives on earth and everyone wants to continue doing so.
Above, you can see a vegan roast dinner soup in a mug. Thank you goes to my Hungarian bf Tamás ♥ I read an article recently about the carbon labelling of Britains favourite recipes and I was (not) shocked to find that the worst carbon contributors of the meals came from fish, beef, pork, I mean take a look at this graphic:
96% beef? How can environmentalists eat meat? Anyway, I thought I'd veganise these traditional meals to drastically lower the carbon output, I hope you enjoy!
How To Veganize Traditional British Meals
#1. Vegan Fish and chips (tofish)
What's your national dish? I'm British so I guess it would probably be fish and chips.. So this is my take on fish and chips 😂 tofu, potatoes and peas 👌 unfortunately I didn't have an oven in Budapest so I couldn't have my favourite (roasted) but it was still pretty good 😁 🐠 🍠.
Fish and chips might seem like a hard place to start - it's one thing to replace ingredients e.g. dairy with non-dairy milks, but fish is fish, how do you replace that? Easy: tofu. Tofu is incredibly disgusting raw, but incredibly versatile if you cook it, seriously from desserts to, well, fish, you can (and should!) do anything with tofu - think of it like a blank sheet of paper. To make tofu and chips, or 'tofish' and chips, cover in nori and batter and deep fry - full instructions here.
About the photo above: I made these lean and clean chips (fries) and ketchup, no salt, no sugar, no oil. I thought they were going to be bland and rubbish but they were sooo good. The ketchup was also banging. 😁 thanks for the recipes goes to @highcarbhannah! Dear readers: do you call them chips or fries, or something else?
#2. Vegan Roast dinner
Next up, roast dinner - this is one of my favourite British meals to veganize because the beauty of a roast is everyone's family does it differently - there are no limits as to what's appropriate in a roast. I've made roasts which starred vegan pies, aubergines, nutroasts (of course) and even made a roast that was as many vegetables as I could find.
Question: where are you from and what's the best meal that comes from there (in your opinion). Even as a vegan a roast dinner is still the best meal to come out of the UK. You can have almost anything in a roast but at the same time you can only have certain items: each family has a slightly different set of rules about what's allowed and what's not and how you should have your potatoes 😂 👌 👏
#3. Vegan Spaghetti bolognese
What's your favourite meal?? I LOVE vegan lentil bolognese 😍😍 pictured here with organic vegan wine (of course 😄)
It wouldn't be a list of Britain's favourite meals without including a few from a abroad, in this case Italy. Spaghetti bolognese was one of the first meals I ever made (successfully) as a vegan, and as with tofish, the key to veganising it is simple: lentils. my full recipe here.
About the picture above: 🍝Moved last minute on Sunday and ended up with a très mismatched dinner of store-cupboard items that made the move too - here is Vietnamese rice noodles with a traditional Italian sauce and nutritional yeast 👌👏
#4. Vegan English breakfast
Last but not least, the English breakfast. Like the roast this is very easy to veganify because like the roast no two English families cook the same full English, even in the meat world, some have this some have that. For vegans I recommend: avocado, tofu scramble, mushrooms, tomatoes, toast, hashbrowns and baked beans.
This other English classic, the Full English Breakfast is imo one of the best examples of a meal vegans can still have whilst travelling where there's no risk of fomo - vegan full Englishes are just as good (imo actually better) than the meaty versions👌 At the weekend I went back to my home town to see my friends and family it was soooooo niceeeee I love them so much 😍 What did you get up to?
Wrap Up: How to Veganize British Food
So there you have it, vegan meals are undeniably lower in carbon emissions and I hope this list has shown just how easy it is to veganafy any meal. Britain may not be the world leader in cuisine (far from it) but it can be the leader in vegan cuisine. P.S. what's another example of a meal that translates well into a vegan version, in your opinion? And below: a video of me and my Hungarian bf Tamás veganizing a full English breakfast :) Enjoy!
