3 minute read
The Vegetable Plot with Tony Bishop-Weston
The Vegetable Plot
Consultant Vegan Chef & Author Tony Bishop-Weston and family plotting for a more vegetable filled world. This month, “Have the restaurant and hospitality sector finally run out of no-vegan excuses?”
Beans Means Vines
Sorry, not a very good start to the veggie garden’s year as we planted the French beans and the frost brutally froze the life out of the poor little things despite some of them having reached nearly 12 inches tall. The vines due to be delivered this month have allegedly been killed off by the frost too. The broad beans have survived so maybe few falafel and hummus recipes later in the year.
Meanwhile …
The New Normal
Please indulge me as I nudge the narrative away from our garden woes and instead urge you to venture out to the doorsteps of pubs, restaurants, hotels, cafes, garden centres as they step towards getting back to normal after the lockdowns.
I’m hoping that like Starbucks, Costa, KFC, Burger King, Greggs, Dominos, Coughlan’s the bakers et al they’ve seen the light and used lockdown get up to speed with the new vegan normal.
Hello?
This is what I’d love you to do. Please email/ping/tweet/ write to or call your local and quote Adele “Hello, it’s me - I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet. To go over everything”. I’m sure most of your local eateries have stepped up, but IF their vegan options are still woefully inadequate, not offering equal value for money, quality and choice then I’m happy to step in at this point to help.
Excuse me madam
If, incredulously, they say “There’s no demand for vegan here!” point them to the latest survey from Asda. The research revealed 40% of respondents said they had a vegan (8%), vegetarian (14%) or someone actively avoiding meat (18%) in their household. Thus, if a restaurant had room for five families, two families may not come if the vegan choices weren’t good value for money, delicious and varied. Ironically sales of all dishes go up with the introduction a good vegan choices.
2 BC
If they say they are too busy or short of time to cook extra vegan dishes then just point them in the direction of their wholesale supplier. Bidfood, Brakes, JJ Foodservice all have a myriad of vegan solutions for caterers, in fact Bidfood just won an British Frozen Food Federation award for their vegan chocolate and tangerine tart. Easy Peasy Vegan Cheesy Brakes and JJ foodservice are offering Plantnation shreds and slices, a plant based Vegan cheese made for foodservice that tastes and melts just like a mild cheddar and can be used as a straight swap in recipes. The price per kilo is similar too. Plantnation goes really well with the vegan Moving Mountain burger that many pubs seem to be selling, makes superb pizzas and vegan mac ‘n’ cheese and is crying out for someone to make a vegan cheese and onion pie with it.
Game on
With ubiquitous vegan cheese options in supermarkets ranging from gooey vegan camembert to fantastic crumbly Greek style vegan feta and vegan Applewood smoked cheese, even haloumi, caterers will have to seriously up their game. Restaurants are not just competing with the myriad of vegan takeaway options delivered to customers’ homes but also the improved cooking skills of potential customers honed during the long UK lockdowns.
Call of Duty
It’s our duty to help these poor beleaguered caterers get the hang of this new fangled vegan thing, barely 77 years out of the packet, we can’t expect them to be perfect overnight. If in our line of duty we no longer have to put up with chips, salad and a bag of peanuts then so be it.
By Tony Bishop-Weston
