JANUARY is the very time of year to go ‘dry’ or detox for many of us after the excesses of Christmas, so self-denial is in the crisp air. So why not go one step further once all the turkey curry is safely stowed and become vegan for the month?
There’s every encouragement at the moment to cut meat, fish, eggs and dairy out of our bloated lives thanks to the high profile Veganuary campaign with lots of mainstream encouragement. All Bar One has launched a brand new vegan menu... with Leon, Handmade Burger Company, Pret, Las Iguanas and Zizzi all promoting specials.
Throughout January All Bar One’s two Manchester outlets will be offering a choice of three vegan starters, mains and desserts branded with the Veganuary logo – patatas bravas, crushed avocado bruschetta and tomato, vegetable and quinoa soup; superfood salad, miso rice bowl and Indian flatbread; coconut and vanilla rice pudding, chocolate, chilli and cardamom cake, raspberry sorbet.
Meanwhile, in London, where vegan campaigners PETA plastered London Tube stations on New Year’s Eve with posters promoting veganism, the indie ‘Temple of Seitan’ brand is opening a standalone outlet in Hackney this month. They told the blogger Fat Gay Vegan it’s “London’s (and maybe the world’s!) first 100 per cent vegan chicken shop.”
Cynics may say they are all just cashing in on the swelling customer base for the cause. The number of UK vegans has increased by 360 per cent over the past decade to over half a million. One figure suggests 20 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds have embraced a plant-based diet.
Most of the Manc vegan fraternity and plenty of hip potential converts seem to have been queuing to get into relocated V-Rev on Edge Street, Northern Quarter – the UK’s Vegan Restaurant of the Year – to sample its wicked way with the aforementioned Seitan, a meat substitute made from wheat gluten crisply coated and fried to recreate that dirty food vibe (ToM wasn’t impressed), while out in Stockport The Allotment (ToM was impressed) is leading the charge for casual vegan fine dining.
Animals must feel increasingly safe in that particular town after the recent launch of The Herbivore Vegan Store at 3 Wellington Road South (opposite the Hat Works) and further down at No 238 Curry Culture, offering a vast array of vegan dishes from Gujarat to the Punjab.
In our view go Asian is the one true tasty path for Veganuary vegan virgins. The perfect introduction remains Vegan Street Food (Ryland Peters, £16.99) by Jackie ‘Hungry Gecko’ Kearney, our own BBC Masterchef finalist. After being initially wowed by some of the dishes she prepared as a consultant for Tampopo we’ve road tested many of the book’s recipes, which span food cultures from Vietnam to Sri Lanka, India to Indonesia. They are fantastic.
So too is her choice of the Best Places to Eat Vegan in Manchester.
GRUB’s first Food Fair of the Year at Alphabet Brewing Co on January 28 goes vegan. Full details here.
