Every good story begins somewhere and I guess for us that would be here.
I have always had a love for food, mainly consuming it, but since moving away from home and commencing ‘adult’ life as a university student things have changed somewhat. There was no longer anybody to cook for me on a daily basis and so I quickly came to realise that in order to fulfil my desire for fat portions of the best munch, I’d have to take on the role of chef myself. This blog is designed as an outlet for me to share my creations with fellow students who are looking for quick and easy inspiration of the culinary kind that keeps them on budget with enough time and money left over for pub related activities.
For 18 years of my life I was a devout omnivore and considered a meal incomplete if there wasn’t some form of animal protein that came with it. Even vegetarian food that swapped meat out for cheese or eggs didn’t really cut it for me. I wanted steaks cooked rare and burgers layered with bacon and extra patties just because they looked better that way. I’ve always had a huge appetite and thought that without the meat, a meal just wouldn’t satisfy me, and then one day in March of 2017, everything got turned a bit upside down. I was on the final push of my English A-level when my teacher decided our class deserved a break and so she put on a new documentary she’d discovered on Netflix. When she told us it was about the environmental impacts of the animal agriculture industry I scoffed and tried to convince her that we should spend our precious ‘reward’ time watching something of more interest. She persisted however and I’m forever thankful that she did because the 20 minutes of ‘Cowspiracy’ that we watched that afternoon ignited in me a desire to know more about the consequences of my dietary choices. I went home that night and finished the documentary and as my mum called me downstairs for dinner (sausages and mash) I told her “I can’t eat those sausages mum”. She laughed at me, knowing how dedicated I was to the meat eating life I had lived since birth but she soon realised I wasn’t joking. I had mash for dinner that night and the next morning we went to Tesco and a new chapter in my life began. Over the next month or so I spent every night watching and reading everything I could find to try and fill what felt like an 18 year wide hole in everything I thought about living. I learned about the health benefits of living a plant based life, how much better it was for the environment, I finally allowed myself to see how cruel eating meat, eggs and dairy was and generally became more aware.
This blog is not going to preach about the negatives of an omnivorous diet. It simply serves to exemplify cheap, quick, easy vegan meals and snacks that my fellow students may benefit from. Veganism is a cheaper way to live and so is ideal for students and I just want to show you that through the medium of food, because who doesn’t like food?
As an student of English Literature, finding the time to cook is not really a big deal. I could spend most of every day in the kitchen if I wanted to but I understand that for my poor fellow students over at Med-school this isn’t the case so; firstly, shout out to anybody doing a real degree, and secondly, I hope you can find respite in knowing that good food doesn’t have to take an age, cost a fortune or be cooked by your mum.
I won’t say much more as of now because I want the food to be the focus but be sure to follow the journey as I try and grow this currently vacant web page into something more mouthwatering.