EAT: Vegan London.

Amazing vegan food I bought in the Wholefoods market in Kensington, London! Swear to god, I had a little tear in my eye.I’m not really vegan these days - it just wasn’t possible in Japan - but as my recipe index testifies, I still make vegan food for myself, and I will always get hugely excited over my weird vegan health foods.

I thought this would be easier for people to understand, but they are SO BEWILDERED BY IT. I’m like, it’s pretty simple; socially I’ll eat whatever, but when I have freedom of choice and opportunity I prefer vegetarian and vegan foods. NOPE. NOBODY GETS IT. It’s ‘are you allowed to eat this today???’ morning noon and night. Someone will introduce me as vegetarian just as I’m halfway through a bacon sandwich with vegan mayo. I don’t know if this says something about our society’s attitude to food as an all-or-nothing game, but I feel that every choice you make is worth something. Like, I don’t lose points for having a cup of tea with regular milk (it’s not like in Scott Pilgrim where if you eat gelato one time you lose your Vegan Powers). I just prefer - ethically, personally, and in terms of taste - to have soy milk. For some reason, people expect me to be twelve hundred times more extreme than I actually am. Eat what makes you happy, guys. Eat what’s good to you.

Clockwise from top left:

• Inspiral raw vegan passionfruit tart - I had never heard of this company before but they had chocolate blackout cakes, carrot cake, tiramisu, the works; and apparently there’s a cafe in Camden to which I now desperately want to go. This was awesome, and I ate it for breakfast, and I have no regrets.
• CoYo coconut milk yoghurt with mango - This was actually layered, with mango puree at the bottom, but this photo was taken after I’d carried it around in my bag for like, twelve hours. I enjoyed this SO MUCH, OH MY GOD. I have a weakness for Rachel’s coconut yoghurt, so finding a dairy-free version (and there were all different flavours! I was so excited!) is amazing.
• Vegesentials carrot, peach & cucumber smoothie - I was torn between this and a beetroot and blueberry one, but I was in the mood for peach. Awesome awesome awesome. I’m the healthiest person alive.
• The Chia Co.’s vanilla bean chia pod - I’ve been aware of chia puddings for quite a while, but I never wanted to invest in a whole bag of chia seeds to try it out. The flavours in this were amazing, but I’m still not sold on the texture.
• Nakd bars - Duh, you can get these in supermarkets wherever now. But these are my two favourite flavours: cashew cookie and pecan pie. Also a big thumbs-up to the gingerbread one.
• Wholefoods’ nut butter station - OH MY GOD, THEY HAD LIKE A ROW OF NUT BUTTER MACHINES ALL FILLED WITH DIFFERENT NUTS. Cashew! Pistachio!!! Hazelnut and chocolate! Salted peanut! I WAS SO EXCITED. I am desperate to go back and just hang my open mouth under the nozzle of the pistachio butter grinder. BEST DAY EVER.