Megan makes it Vegan

Starting a new blog is always exciting.  I'm excited, I hope you are too.  Scrolling down from my cute faded green background, looking at that rather nice baked beetroot salad in the heading, nestled in cheerful contrast against that lurid blue tupperware, you know that this is going to be a world of good.

This is a blog by a vegan about food, but it's not a "vegan blog" or a "vegan food blog"  I'm hoping you'll join me for a mix of fun recipe sharing, kitchen experimentation, and to share an enjoyment of classic food jazzed up by some of my favourite TV chefs.

I love cooking shows.  Clarissa (rest her soul) of the two fat ladies made me smile every time she poured more cream, or dabbed more butter onto a dish.  Huey's cheerful mo' and penchant for sprinkling gargantuan quantities of grated cheese into every meal makes me happy.  The Iron Chef opening cry of  "Who's cuisine will reign supreme" still makes me want to pump my fist and cheer. 


Jamie Oliver's earnest love of cooking and his drawn-out war against packaged foods fills me with hope for humanity.

My blog will start though, with a celebrity chef who has a special place in my heart.  Nigella Lawson.  We all know Nigella, the English rose of the kitchen.  Her cheerful love of food, and of sharing food is just delightful.  Her flexible approach to cooking, her anti post-feminist backlash love of eating leftovers from the fridge in front of a TV audience warms my soul.

Of course, this is the moment where the record scratches, and we're left with that awkward silence after we all thought the violins were really going to get into full swing here.  I'm a vegan.  I don't eat meat, fish, oysters, shellfish, milk, cream (sorry Clarissa), butter, yogurt, ghee, duck fat, pate, bacon, eggs or honey.  I also don't wear wool or leather, and all of my household cleaning products and cosmetics have a little label on them that says "cruelty free".

I'm vegan for lots of reasons that are very important to me.  I've been vegan for a long time, and am certainly not in any danger of fading away.  It isn't the goal of this blog to discuss my opinions about animal rights, food politics, environment or social justice.  There are lots of people out there who will tell you why you shouldn't eat meat, or dairy, or eggs or honey. 

What I'd like to do, is show you that vegan food isn't "weird" or "bland" I'm certainly not missing out on anything delicious... As a vegan I'm against all suffering, especially my own.

I'm a scientist by background, and so decided to take a scientific approach to this blog.  My aim, is to as faithfully as possible follow Nigella's latest dvd series (Nigella Kitchen) and translate her wonderful meals into voluptous vegan delights.  Challenge accepted.  Here's the rules.

1)Recreate as a vegan dish each recipe presented in the TV chef's show.

2)Replicate as closely as possible the taste, appearance and overall enjoyment factor of the dish.

3)Use only ingredients available from an average suburban supermarket.  No strange staples from health-food shops that 2 out of three people would upon initially hearing the word mistake it for a communicable disease of some sort.

4)Road test my dish on a team of non-vegan volunteers (thanks workmates!)

5)Ask my team of eager volunteers to provide comment and feedback on my dish, reporting the results as fully and faithfully as possible, weather the reviews are good or bad.

6)Document my process with clear instructions and pictures so that my flock (okay wishful thinking) of faithful blog followers can reproduce my efforts in their own kitchens at home.  To also provide honest advice as to weather it's actually worth trying at home yourself.

7)Provide means for my blog readers to communicate and provide comment.


Phew I have my work cut out for me.  Let's get to the kitchen!