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Your Food Diary
Have you ever wondered what other vegans like to eat? We're now featuring your food diaries. If you are vegan and would like to tell us what you eat and drink, write a diary of your vegan weekend, food and drinks-wise, send it to editor@saveascream.com and we'll add it to this page. Please see the very bottom of this page for more info on writing and sending us your food diary for the weekend. Instructions on how to lay it out are at the bottom. If you'd rather send us a weekday diary, that is fine too. We hope this page is interesting to fellow vegans, vegetarians and even meat eaters. As humans we're all different, we all do different things and like different things. No two vegans are the same - and with more and more vegan food now being produced, our eating habits are varied too. Send us YOUR vegan food diary. We'd love to add you to this page. |
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Shari Black Velvet Redditch, Worcs. UK
SaveAScream.com (& Black Velvet Magazine) owner/editor. Friday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - 2 energy drinks, Prawn cocktail crisps, veggie sausage, baked beans, 2 pieces of toast, tomato, fried bread, hash brown, Shambu's choc orange cheesecake & lemon & coconut cheesecake, salt & vinegar Squares crisps. It's my friend's birthday so when she asked if I fancied going to Birmingham to do some shopping and have something to eat I said yes. The only problem was that I had a cold. It had been creeping on for the last week, each day getting a tiny bit worse - but not toooo bad. That said, getting to sleep at 4.30am and then waking up just after 8am wasn't the best. My alarm clock was set for 9am, since my friend was picking me up at midday (it takes me 3 hours to get ready! That does include wasting time on the internet!). I had a couple of energy drinks and a multivitamin to try and wake up and feel a bit more alive. Had a piece of toast and a packet of Prawn cocktail crisps (so bored of eating Walkers ready Salt & Salt & Vinegar... why can't they make their chicken, bacon or beef suitable for vegans?). Just before midday Elizabeth texted to say that it'd be more like 1pm when she'd arrived. I didn't mind as my hair still looked a mess. Only just before 1pm she then texted again saying she wouldn't get here until 2.30pm. Eventually Elizabeth arrived at 2.15pm. Turns out she'd driven up from her parents' house in Wiltshire, and hadn't just come from the next town! We set off and after a trip to the One Earth Shop in Birmingham where I bought about £20 worth of food (and also handed over £20 worth of wristbands for them to sell!) we then went on to Canalside Cafe for something to eat. Every time I am in Birmingham it seems that Veged Out is not open so I still haven't gotten to visit that place yet. Canalside Cafe has quite a few vegan options though and despite it being nearly 5pm I chose the Vegan Breakfast! So glad you can still buy this even though it's not morning time! It was great... baked beans, hash brown, fried bread, tomato, a piece of toast with vegan margarine... it also came with mushrooms but I hate mushrooms so didn't eat them... and your choice of tea or coffee... I don't drink tea or coffee so let Elizabeth have that... I had a coke instead. The breakfast was supernice. I've only just realised that it actually stated a veggie rasher on the menu and I didn't get one... but I think the fried bread came in its place, which is fine by me. We then went shopping... Elizabeth was looking for a new coat... and ended up back at mine probably around 8.30pm when I then made Elizabeth be my 'model' for a photoshoot. After she left I ate the Lemon & Coconut Shambu cheesecake and had a packet (or was it two?) of salt & vinegar Squares while editing photos until 4am.
Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Shambus Choc Orange & Mint Choc Chip cheesecakes, salt & vinegar Squares crisps, soya hot chocolate, baked beans, Redwood's Pepperjack Cheezly bites, banana. It's New Year's Eve but I had decided to stay home. I prefer going out when there's somewhere I really want to go, like to a good gig or an event. New Year's Eve, to me, is so overrated. Sure, it's ok if you just like hanging out with your friends... and one year I really must be in Times Square for New Year's Eve, but I prefer going out when I really have a purpose to go out. I've already got plans for 2012 - including a trip to USA - so this New Year's Eve, especially with my cold, I'd decided to stay home and relax. I managed to catch up on sleep which was nice - although when I woke up my cold felt ten times worse than the day before. I think it was a mixture of not much sleep and walking in the rain and cold in Birmingham the day before (it had been pouring most of the day). But still, after eating the Choc Orange Cheesecake that I'd bought from One Earth Shop, drinking a soya hot chocolate and eating another packet of Squares crisps or two (and a banana), I found time to go on my exercise bike to kill 300 calories. I caught the last ten minutes of Free Willy and found it very moving, then promptly decided to buy it on DVD off ebay so I could watch the whole thing properly, and at 9pm watched Mean Girls - another good film. I ate some Redwood's pepperjack Cheezly bites which have recently become a new fave food (although I'm at risk of going off them shortly due to eating so many of them!) with baked beans, and some Ginger & Ginseng (love this drink). I saved my last cheesecake - the mint choc chip one, until midnight, and rang in the new year doing some Black Velvet work while eating it! You can't get better than ringing in the new year eating some awesome vegan food!
Sharon Prymaka Gloucester, Glos.
Sharon is 46, has been vegan for two years. She lives in Gloucester with her husband and two teenage children who are also vegan and two small dogs Nibbler and Harley. Sharon became vegan after a friend sent her a link to the Glass Walls Video. She now dedicates her life to animals and educating people on Veganism. Sunday December 25th - Christmas Day FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Redwoods Cheatin Rasher Sandwiches, Tofurky Roast, Wild rice with whole wheat breadcrumb stuffing, Cranberry-Apple Potato Dumplings, Roast Potatoes, Mashed Swede, Sprouts, Broccoli and Cauliflower, Linda McCartney Mini Sausages wrapped in Cheatin Rashers, Tofurkey Mushroom Gravy, Onion Gravy. Tesco Value Mince Pies with Alpro single 'cream', Trifle made with Just Foods Strawberry Jelly Crystals, Dairy Free Chocolate Buttons, Birds Custard (made with Soy milk), Coconut 'whipped cream' Topping, Tesco Classic Christmas Pudding. Twilight Caramal Mars Candy Bars, Cinder Toffee, Good Stuff Cola Breeze bottles, Buccanneer Bars - Milky Way style, Jokers Bars - Snickers style, Hazlenut Nougat and Dark Chocolate, Golden Coconut and Dark Chocolate. Christmas Morning for us started at 8am when the kids (16 and 20 year old!) decided it was time to get up. We got up and let our two little dogs out for their morning business and started opening our gifts. The kids traditionally have had selection boxes as part of their gifts and so we now make them up ourselves using vegan chocolate bars that we get from Animal Aid or the various vegan festivals held in Bristol and Wolverhampton during the year and put them in two huge stripey socks! Once the presents are opened it's time for breakfast, which consists of a nice mug of tea or coffee with what I call 'Facon' sandwiches using the Redwoods Cheatin Rashers, which are delicious if lightly fried in soy. They lasted about 60 seconds! But was just enough to keep us satisfied as Christmas dinner was not going to be served until at least 2.30 in the afternoon. Our little dogs also had some 'Facon' and were given their toys to rip to pieces, which took them about 5 minutes and had to be quickly retrieved before they ate the stuffing out of them! We then basically relaxed and watched a fabulous production from the Royal Ballet of Alice in Wonderland filmed at Covent Garden, which was really good. My husband's Dad and Step mum came for a quick visit before going to lunch at his brother's house later in the day. My hubby Marcus always cooks Christmas lunch as I do all the cooking throughout the year and so he was in and out prepping and sorting dinner. The smell of the veggies cooking was absolutely wonderful, he had set the table the evening before and the Tofurkey Roast only took an hour and a half so it was all ready really quickly. We sat down to eat at about 2.30ish and the plates were full and absolutely delicious, the stuffing that came with it was so tasty and the roast itself was moist and full of flavour. Dessert was a home made Trifle and we had Sainsburys Lambrusco white sparkling wine with the meal. As we'd had a later than usual dinner and pudding we didn't really want anything later but were quite happy munching on Sainsburys Nuts and Crisps and watch the television into the evening. We were too full to do much else!
Monday December 26th - Boxing Day FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Jacobs Savours Crackers, Tofutti Cream Cheese, Asda and Sainsburys Veggie Spring Rolls, Asda 75 piece indian selection (Onion Bahji, Samosa, Saag Aloo Fritters) Sainsburys Meat Free Mini Sausage Rolls, Redwood Pepperjack Cheezly Bites, Mini Burger Bites, Cranberry and Sage Bites, Mini Thai "No fish" fish cakes, brussels pate, ham, chicken, turkey style slices, olives, gerkins, pickle onions, Sainsburys sweet pickle, french mustard, Fry's Southern Fried 'Chickless' Nuggets, Holland & Barrett porkless pie, Walkers BBQ Doritos, Salt and Vinegar, Flamed Steak, Sainsburys Salt & Vinegar twists, bacon style rashers, taste the difference BBQ finest crisps. Swedish Glace Chocolate, Raspberry, Blueberry ice-creams, Mamma Cucina Non Dairy Cheesecake (Mango and passion fruit, strawberry) Aldi stollen cake. As is traditional for us on Boxing Day we spend it playing games, watching TV, drinking a little more than usual and having our food as a buffet style so that everything is prepared and cooked and then put out for people to help themselves. We got up at about 11am so had a bit of a lie in and had a cup of coffee, we didn't want any breakfast as lunch was only going to be an hour away and so Marcus began to get the buffet foods out of the freezer and start to cook it up to keep us all going for the rest of the day. The kids continued eating their chocolate from their stockings! We always love Boxing Day as it's very laid back and people can generally pick at the foods when they feel like it, there is really no set meal time. Next we played 3D snakes and ladders, it has plastic slides and obstacles on the board so if you land on one of the large slides you can very soon end up at the start of the game again, which is what precisely happened to me. I lost yet again and Chris won, so we thought that there was something in his good luck charm of the orange playing pieces after all. The buffet food was put out on the table after the games and we all helped ourselves to the rather huge variety of snacks and nibbles. For drinks we had smirnoff ice and crabbies and soft drinks. The foods that were not eaten were then packed into plastic boxes and put into the fridge for another day and we then sat down very full and watched Shrek and Madagascar. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and just enjoying 'family time' which for us is the most important part of a good Christmas.
Pickled Jhon Petersfield, Hants
Jhon says: After my very successful interview on the Saveascream site which generated between 3 to 4 hits (like a rubbish boy band but uglier) - I've been asked to do a food diary. I always mistype diary as 'dairy' which is bad for a vegan. Then again I always mistype the word 'just' as 'jsut' but that's boring and I don't want to bore you. Anyway, here goes. Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - veggie sausages, potato waffles, tomatoes, bagels, Pad Thai, Butternut squash casserole. It's always good to start the weekend in style and this mammoth fried breakfast is a good start. Please note that this isn't made from mammoths as they don't exist anymore and all that hair would've been a fucking nightmare to eat and definitely not vegan. Then again I don't suppose cavemen got to go to health food stores and buy soya mammoths. Moving on to lunch time. The bar I work at (Fusionbar-One in Petersfield) makes awesome Asian food. I had a wicked Pad Thai sans egg. When I work as a waiter, I like to wear a tie and walk around with a pad. Then I can do the whole hilarious 'pad tie' gag. No one has laughed yet but then again it's not funny. Dinner time! This one is pretty complicated to make but us TV chefs are used to the pressure in the kitchen. It's a butternut squash, butter bean, tomato based casserole thing with vegan dumplings. Very filling and if you cook it for a young lady, you're guaranteed that she'll be too full to have sex with you after. So think about it. Food or sex. Or sex with food. Mmmm crisp packets.
Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Porridge with golden syrup, bagel with peanut butter and banana, vegan quiche, vegan pizza, spaghetti Al Teste. Well after a two mile run around the local pond which only took around six hours, the only thing that I could be arsed to eat was some porridge with golden syrup followed by a bagel with peanut butter and banana. Peanuts and bananas are really good for energy. So is the drug 'speed' but this is a lot safer and you won't stay awake all night staring at your radiator followed by being depressed for two weeks. I didn't take any photos of this because it was super dull and I was so hungry that I could've eaten a horse. A soya one of course. Lunchtime and it's time to make a vegan quiche and pizza. I didn't eat all this on my own, I shared it with my imaginary friend called Jhon. He's tall, handsome and funny. Like me but less self obsessed and better at cooking. The quiche uses tofu instead of eggs and you can fill it with normal quiche type things. Olives, sausages, spinach, tomatoes etc. The pizza had some Daiya cheese on which my friend sent me over from Canada. It's the best vegan cheese I've tried and doesn't taste like plasticine. They better get it here and soon. Selfish. Din dins! Yes please mummy! 'Spaghetti Al Teste' was on the menu. Homemade spaghetti from the packet. Well I had to boil the water. The main part was a tomato sauce with carrots, spinach, mushrooms, sundried toms and of course meatballs. These were ones from Redwood, which were actually quite good. You can make your own with Sosmix if you can be bothered. I normally can but this time I was too tired from running and thinking about shit gags for my food blog. I obviously didn't think hard enough. Hope you guys jsut enjoyed my dairy. If you want any recipes, don't ask me. Search google. Only joking, ask me. This is just a snapshot of two days of vegan food, thank fuck I didn't get asked to do a week. There's loads of awesome vegan recipes out there.... I just haven't found them yet. Thanks for reading.
Jen D'Netto Kidderminster, Worcs
Jen is an animal activist and charity shop volunteer whose life revolves around helping animals. She has 3 dogs and 4 cats that are also vegan and a vegan daughter. Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Coffee, toast (toast, and more toast), Vegemite sandwich, Pot Noodle, pie, chips, hot soya milk drink. At last, week over, always busy doing animal business, charity shop three days a week and Birmingham animal rights collective the other one, sometimes two days a week doing vegan stalls and demos. And then my physical exercise so no time for decent food. Food for the week included chocolate buttons for brek and lunch, pot noodle and mushy peas for dinner, keep repeating with lots of coffee. At the weekend I'm a bit more adventurous. After working weeks and weekends of many, I've got this one off, but usually would be doing animal business Saturday and sometimes Sunday; for example cash collections, coffee mornings, stalls, fun dog shows and other various fundraising events. I have only one love in life and that's the animals, it is my pleasure to do all this by way of voluntary work and will do anything providing it's for the animals. So in between sleeping I intend to munch well. Saturday, up earlier than I'd like but my cats and dogs want their grub, they are now vegan. As for myself, lots of coffee with sweetener and soya milk, eventually it's toast time - four pieces with Vitalite margarine, white bread for a change. Get ready, do a bit of exercise, and eat lots of apples along the way, yum, then another piece of white bread with Vitalite margarine and Vegemite, always hungry I am. At last dinner time arrives, cuddle up with my pets and devour Linda McCartney pie and oven chips, A BIG YUM. The dogs had some chips too! Then bedtime it was with my hot sweet soya milky drink, lovely. Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Coffee, toast, vegan Horlicks, hot chocolate, soya milk drink, Pot Noodle & mushy peas, bread with Vitalite. Sunday, early start again, loads of coffee, feed the pets and back to bed for a bit, then four pieces of white toast with Vitalite margarine, yum, I love toast, then soya milk 'Horlicks' - vegan style of course using malt extract and sweetener. Then milky drinking chocolate, and a hot milky drink. Addicted to soya milk drinks, trying to break the habit, but it's not happening for me, love the stuff. Then after a lazy day of loving my pets and relaxing, fighting off the sleep, struggle into the kitchen for my fave food fad at this moment in time being Pot Noodle and mushy peas mixed in it ,with two pieces of white bread and vitalite margarine, love the damn things, so easy to cook and quick, tasty. Then at last it was bedtime with a hot soya milky drink, and that was my weekend menu. Yum, yum, yum. Been vegan for many years now and loving it.
Roi Elam Portland, OR
Roi of The Material is back and this week he's telling us all about his raw diet. Friday August 26, 2011 FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Live Oatmeal, Grapefruit, Yerba Mate, Stuffed Peppers with Live “Toona”, Live Lentil Soup with Flax Almond Crackers, Berry Smoothie. I just celebrated my 35th birthday last week and with the beginning of a new year of life I decided on a new diet challenge: 1 month of (mostly) raw food. It’s a hefty challenge but one I am pretty confident I can do. Friday was the fourth day of my raw diet and things are going along quite well. For breakfast I have been making Live Oatmeal. What is Live Oatmeal you may ask? Well, I will tell you. I use steel cut oats and soak them overnight instead of cooking them. They end up as a granola like texture that is nutty and fabulous. I mix in a little maple syrup and some fresh fruit and it’s an awesome way to start the day. On the side I had a half grapefruit and some Yerba Mate tea (been replacing my coffee with this). I went out for a run after breakfast and then when I came back I made a smoothie with blueberries, raspberries, banana, tahini, and coconut milk. This was not 100% raw but does fall under the “mostly” raw category that I am striving for. For lunch I made some Stuffed peppers with a walnut “Toona” pate that I had made a few days prior. I also had some of my first batch of home made Flax/Almond crackers fresh from the dehydrator. I spread a little cashew hummus on them and they were delicious! For dinner I made a Live Lentil Soup. To be able to eat lentils raw you have to sprout them which takes about 2-3 days of soaking them in water. Once you have soaked them and they are sprouted the lentils are perfect for throwing in salads or for making this delicious soup. I don’t remember all the ingredients because I kind of winged it but it turned out great. I put some of the crackers on the side and they were a perfect match. After dinner my wife and I went to the park across the street from my house to pick blackberries. It’s so amazing to be able to go and get the fruit straight off the branch instead of having to go to the grocery store and buy it. After picking the blackberries we came back home and watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I had wanted to watch this after Shari had been posting about it and luckily enough the movie was streaming on Netflix. Score! It was such and inspiring movie and I suggest everyone watch it. Saturday FOOD CONSUMED: Banana, Berry Smoothie, Flax Crackers with Toona, Cucumber/Apple/Fennel/Celery/Kale juice, Dates, Sprouted Lentil Salad, Raw “Cheese”cakes, and a Pear/Apple/Carrot/Cucumber juice Today was my shopping/prep day for the week. My wife and I went to the Farmers Market, Trader Joe’s, Lifesource (local health food store), and Fred Meyer to get everything we needed. We bought A LOT of produce for juicing and spent about an hour and a half prepping, washing and finding storage space for our bounty. Needles to say, watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead had an impact on us. Plus, fresh juices are just so dang good! Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Raw Scramble, Apple/Cucumber/Fennel/Celery juice, Blackberry Pineapple smoothie, Sea Veggie Salad, Dates, Nori Rolls, Carrot/Kale/Cucumber/Apple/Ginger juice, and Raw Almonds So far I am loving my mostly raw diet. It’s great to know exactly what I am putting into my body during every meal. After this month is over I will definitely be incorporating more of these foods into my everyday diet.
Eloїse Harding Stirling, Scotland
Blogs at Increasing Veganicity and recently started Vegan Grasshopper as a resource for new vegans. Friday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Two slices of toast with yeast extract and margarine, vegetable burger with chips, broad beans and carrots, sabzi (vegetable) dhal with rice and poppadums, banana and plum smoothie, black coffee, tea with soy milk, loads of tap water We’ve just got back from visiting family, so didn’t have any fresh stuff in the house. Add this to being busy catching up with work-related tasks and fast food was the order of the early part of the day. Toast is my usual breakfast – the least messy option when I haven’t had coffee yet! I try to have yeast extract most days, as it is the best vegan source of vitamin B12. Lunch was rather late because my partner needed to go into his office and did some shopping on the way home – I try not to do burgers and chips too often, but they are very useful indeed for days when things are a bit up in the air. Because my partner stopped at the store, we had plenty of fresh stuff for dinner. I made a fairly thin dhal, because it’s lower-maintenance if you can just stick a load of water on the lentils and leave them for a bit. I cooked onions, garlic, half a courgette and a handful of green (fine) beans in margarine with cumin and fenugreek seeds, then stirred it into the lentil mix. Finally I added a few handfuls of spinach. We had a smoothie for a snack later in the evening – I’ve had the blender a while, but didn’t start using it until the start of the summer. Wish I’d thought of it sooner. Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Two slices of toast with yeast extract and margarine, pasta with spinach sauce, nachos with Sheese, vegetable and bean chilli with rice, plum crumble, black coffee, orange juice, banana and nectarine smoothie, glass of Shiraz, tap water. A nice lazy day getting used to being back home! Had a rather late breakfast after spending longer than usual getting a newspaper to read with it. Then on to making lunch – pasta is one of our staples, but I try to vary the sauces we have with it to stop it getting boring. Today’s was made by cooking onions and spinach in margarine then adding half a tin of tomatoes and some basil and oregano. Chilli is a bit of a favourite, and I normally make a huge batch so it lasts two meals. I start by sizzling some cumin seeds and dried chilli flakes in sunflower oil then frying onions, crushed garlic, peppers and sometimes courgettes and sweetcorn in the mixture until they soften. Occasionally I add some soy mince, depending on how much we have of anything else. Then I tip loads of tins of tomatoes, kidney beans and black-eyed beans into the big stockpot and add the contents of the frying pan along with some cayenne and smoked paprika. A whole lot of protein, for anyone who still thinks vegans might be short of it… Nachos make a nice quick starter. Sheese isn’t the best for melting but it does ok. (Although I’m feeling the irony of carrying Bute Island cheese into Scotland on the train!) We had a whole load of plums around because my partner is the only one tall enough to pick from the highest branches of his aunt’s tree. They weren’t working out in smoothies and we weren’t remembering to eat them as they are, so I stewed them a bit and made them into a crumble. And because we ended up having a three-course meal, we decided to have a glass of wine with it too! Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Oskri coconut bar, Bombay mix, vegetable and lentil soup with French bread, chilli, nachos with refried beans and Tofutti cheese slices, plum crumble with Provamel cream, black coffee, tap water, glass of Shiraz. I had sleep issues last night so got up a bit late, and subsequently forgot to eat a proper breakfast before going to the shops. Hence the Oskri bar on the way home – I love those and any excuse to eat one is good! We now have a ton of Bombay mix due to the large bags being in Holland and Barrett’s 1p sale. I’ll try to ration it. My daily portion of yeast extract went in the soup instead of on toast. Most of the vegetable content was carrot because it’s what we had, but I also put in a few new potatoes and some green beans, plus a handful of green lentils. Haven’t had those for a while but they were cheap in H&B today. The weather has got a bit cooler this week so I’m trying to get back into winter food mode! The chilli was left over from yesterday – I decided to make a bit of a change by putting some refried beans on today’s nachos and getting some meltier cheese. The Tofutti slices are great for that, just not so impressive for anything else.
Paola Bread N' Water Miami, Florida
Paolo is a writer/actress/activist/musician/barefoot enthusiast from Miami FL. Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Carbonated water with grapefruit/lemon, sweet potato fries, salad and rice, iced tea, wine, ghetto vegan sloppy joes. I basically live off carbonated water. Literally, I'm downing one right now. I buy them in bulk with lemon or grapefruit already in them. Nursed a couple of those while playing some piano, and writing. Then in the late afternoon got around to eating breakfast; a bunch of sweet potato fries with salt. Then I got picked up to go to my dad's house sinse today was my little brother's birthday. For “dinner” I ate my weight in salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, dressing, and white rice. I drank some iced tea with my food, then we broke out the good stuff and toasted to my lil bro. I got home, and jammed for a while. When I got hungry I made more sweet potato fries, and this sloppy joe-like thing I invented. I get some Don Lee Farm's veggie patties (wholesale at Costco), smash it up and add some diced peppers and onions. Season with garlic, salt, and red pepper powder. Hit it with a shot or 6 of worcester sauce, and it's the bee's knees... or some weird paste that I eat with tomatoes (olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar) on burger buns. Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Carbonated water with grapefruit/lemon, advocato sandwich, chips and salsa, bowl of cereal, and half an apple. I was rummaging through old vegetables in my refrigerator when I remembered that I picked my advocado tree not too long ago. I squeezed one of the many advocados to check if it was ripe. I can't explain to you how happy and relieved I was. My hair has been through a lot lately, and I'm starting to look like a scarecrow. So I put a advocado in the blender, with olive oil and coco milk and BAM! Best deep conditioner for my poor, chemically tortured hair. With the left over advocado, I made myself a sandwich. Chopped up some tomatoes, and mashed the advocado. Smack some Earth Balance and complete seasoning on some toast and you have Texas Toast; added the delicacy of the advocado and tomato and you have what I like to call Heaven. After devouring that, I went up to my room to relax a little. Today I was actually going out of the safety of my home, and that takes serious mental preparation. Once out, I nibbled on some chips and salsa. I got home at 7:30am or so, and decided there was no point in sleeping. So I had “breakfast” which consisted of a bowl of Kashi Go Lean and half an apple.
Shari Black Velvet Redditch, Worcs. UK
SaveAScream.com (& Black Velvet Magazine) owner/editor. Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - 3 herb & chive cream cheese on toasts, peach, banana, Twilight bar, Trek oak protein bar, crisps x 4, coke, Red Bull. Whenever I go on holiday and have a flight (or two) you can guarantee that my diet will mostly consist of crisps. Today I had a flight to Brussels, 3 hours to connect and then a flight to Portugal. Airline food especially between European cities is notoriously unaccommodating to vegans. My first flight saw the attendant offer me the statutory muffin – of course figuring it was bound to have an animal product in I declined and ate some of my crisps that I’d brought from home instead. Later I couldn’t resist the Twilight Bar that I was originally planning to have for next day’s breakfast. The connecting flight was equally as bad – except instead of someone giving out muffins you actually had to buy food. The menu looked like it failed with almost every item appearing unsuitable for vegans (we could eat the Pringles except they’re manufactured by a company that tests on animals…so we don’t). I ate some more of my crisps and a Trek oak protein bar. After getting to my hotel and meeting friends it was time to get ready and then go out. We headed to a party where I drank a bunch of cokes and 7-Ups. Another packet of crisps was consumed before going to bed at 3am. Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Red Bull, orange juice, bread rolls, tomatoes, crisps, coke, water. Sunday was concert day. After downing a can of Red Bull we had complimentary breakfast at our hotel. Items for breakfast that were suitable for vegans were pretty much just bread, bread rolls, tomatoes and some fruit such as pears (I’m not a pear fan). I chose a couple of bread rolls and tomato slices to make a couple of tomato rolls and had some orange juice. I took a couple more bread rolls back up to our room and made a couple of crisp-filled rolls. We headed to the venue at around 2pm and for the rest of the day I ate more crisps when hungry and a few cokes. It was boiling so I got through the cokes pretty fast. Back at the hotel after the show (when we eventually got there at about 2.30am) it was time for yet another packet of crisps. Predictable? Me? Monday My friends were heading home so we checked out of our hotel. My friend from Germany had a couple of ours before she needed to be at the airport so she ended up coming to Bake The Difference with me. Bake The Difference is a new vegan bakery than only opened in May. On Rue San Jose it was about 10mins walk from our hotel, and 10 more mins to the hostel I was checking into for that night. The menu looked great – it was hard to know what to choose as it all looked good. I opted for a toasted soya cheese & tomato (with oregano) sandwich and had a hot chocolate to go with it. My non-vegan friend chose one of the other toasted sandwiches and a cup of tea. We both had a strawberry cupcake and I bought some cookies to take away. Bake The Difference was awesome, a spotless café/bakery with cheap prices for good food. And friendly staff. If you’re ever in Lisbon you have to go there. Later in the day I just ate some crisps and tried one of the cookies before getting an early night ready for my early flight home the next morning.
Shari Black Velvet Redditch, Worcs. UK
SaveAScream.com (& Black Velvet Magazine) owner/editor. Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Tofutti cream cheese on toast, soya cheese pizza, energy drink, Smores, Cinder Toffee, cola, water. Saturday began with me having to get up at 9am as I’d volunteered to usher at my local theatre. I do ushering about once a month. Today’s performance was Goodnight Mister Tom. As I’d only gone to bed at around 4am I was feeling tired so had to open a can of energy – Tesco’s Kx. I had my usual two slices of Tofutti herb & chive cream cheese on toast while reading the paper and checking emails and then got ready. At 12.30 I left the house and got the bus into town. I had about half an hour to go in a couple of shops and then made my way to the theatre for 1.45pm. We have to get there 45 minutes before the performance starts. There’s an interval halfway through. The performance finished earlier than usual, at around 4.30pm so I went in another couple of shops before getting the 5.10pm bus home. Kevin of Lakeside Ethical Treats was delivering some food that evening after he’d got back from the Moseley Festival. I’d ordered £26 of food from www.ethical-treats.co.uk including Twilight & Buccaneer bars and some Smores. He wouldn’t be back in Redditch until after 7pm though and since I was getting a bit hungry I decided to make a vegan soya cheese pizza in the meantime. In my quest to make the perfect vegan pizza I decided to try a different tomato puree. I bought Gia’s tomato & garlic puree from Tesco recently and like this more than the previous tomato topping. It gives a tastier taste! Also, after trying some of the cheese-less pizzas while out recently, I decided to try a ‘half Redwood’s Cheezly’ pizza, and half no-cheese. I’m not sure which I like the best yet. Although I wish we had Daiya cheese in the UK as everyone seems to rave on about that over in the US. Anyway... at about 7.30pm Kevin arrived with my goodies. I spent half an hour or so taking photos of them before finally realising I couldn’t wait any longer and had to try one of the Smores. I’d wanted to try one of Sweet & Sara’s Smores for ages but hadn’t actually gotten around to it – mostly due to their lack of availability in the UK. They are £4 from Lakeside Ethical Treats and while £4 sounds a lot for one item, it is a wholesome size and takes a while to eat. I managed to eat both of the Smores although was getting full halfway through the second. If you haven’t tried a Smores yet, you really should. They’re like a thicker Wagon Wheel (twice the height). They taste sooo good. I will definitely order some more of those in future. I also tried a couple of pieces of the Cinder Toffee – chocolate covered honeycomb (like a Crunchie, except in pieces). Another great buy. I had a Whole Earth Cola to quench my thirst.
Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Tofutti cream cheese on toast, hot banana chocolate, hash browns, vegetable fingers, veggie sausage, baked beans, Cinder Toffee, Ananda's marshmallows, water, Dr. Pepper. After not getting to bed until after 3am, I ended up sleeping in and catching up on sleep. When I finally got up (we won’t mention the time!) I had a piece of Tofutti cream cheese on toast along with a hot banana chocolate. Basically, I discovered that if you add chocolate powder to a soya banana milkshake and then heat it up it tastes amazing. I froth it up in my Frothie for that added gorgeousness. A couple of hours later I decided I’d have a bigger meal and decided to have three hash browns, two vegetable fingers, one veggie sausage and some baked beans. This was followed by another piece of Cinder Toffee and some Ananda’s marshmallows, also from Lakeside Ethical Treats. I spent most of the evening doing a bit of Black Velvet work and watching Marley & Me, and then winded up having another couple of cream cheese on toasts and some more marshmallows. I managed to restrain myself into leaving two marshmallows for my mom. It was hard – but I did it! I then did a bit of exercise on my exercise bike to burn off a couple of hundred calories - so I didn't feel quite so guilty for all the treats I'd eaten!
Roi Elam Portland, OR
Roi Elam of The Material is back in action with another weekend food diary. Yay. Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Toast with Earth Balance, Grapefruit, Tofu Scramble, Bagel with Chipotle Smear from Sweetpea Bakery, Soy Latte, Beer samples at Widmer Brothers Brewery, KARP Pizza from Sizzle Pie, Chips and Chipotle Peach Salsa from Trader Joes. Saturday started off like most weekend mornings with a healthy breakfast of home made tofu scramble along with some toast, a half of a grapefruit and some coffee. After breakfast my wife and I went for our morning run around the park next to my house and enjoyed the beautiful weather that we were (finally) having here in Oregon. Once we got back from our run we got ready to head up to Portland for a day full of festivities, which included a brewery tour, trying out a new pizza place, and visiting some friends that were in town recording. The brewery tour was at Widmer Brothers Brewery (www.widmerbrothers.com) just north of downtown Portland. I looked over the pub menu and realized that there were zero vegan options so we made a pit stop at Sweetpea Bakery for a quick bite to eat. One of my new favorite things at Sweetpea is an Everything Bagel with their house made Chipotle Smear. It’s full of garlicky, oniony, creamy, spicy, and smokey goodness that I just can’t get enough of! Along with the bagel I had a Soy Latte (hands down my favorite latte from anywhere). Mmmmmm. Now it was off to Widmer Bros for some free beer samples cause really, lets be honest, that’s why people do brewery tours. I was actually interested in seeing the inner workings of the brewery but we had to get the abridged version of the tour due to a few areas being too busy for us to visit. All in all, it was a fun experience that didn’t cost a thing. After the tour we did some window-shopping at Urban Outfitters and a few other places before heading over to check out Sizzle Pie (www.sizzlepie.com). We had been told by a trusted Portland resident that this was THEE place to get vegan pizza in town. I must say, I was not disappointed with the menu selection and they even had slices of vegan pizza to order (that almost never happens!). We had the KARP, which had kalmata olives, artichokes, pesto, and red sauce…it was fabulous. The pizza comes with ricotta cheese (that would be the R in KARP) so we substituted Daiya Mozzarella instead to make it vegan. Now, full of yummy pizza, it was off to visit my friends Children Of Nova (www.facebook.com/childrenofnova) at the recording studio. It’s not often that I have friends in town so them being just a short trip away from my house makes me very happy. It’s a little known fact that I used to play in a band with Pozzi (guitar) and Colin (drums) before I joined The Material. I slept in their garage and we made fun music together. They are still some of my favorite people I have met since moving to the West Coast 6 years ago. I am so excited to hear their new album once it is finished! Ashley and I visited with the Nova kids for a while and then it was time to make the trek back down to Salem with a much needed Trader Joes pit stop in between. Once we made it home it was getting pretty late so we had a snack of chips and chipotle salsa, watched some TV, and called it a night. Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Grapefruit, Toast with Earth Balance, Coffee, Grilled “Cheese”, Chips and Salsa, Lemon Cupcake, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cliff Bar, and Pesto Pasta. Sunday was another gorgeous day here in the Pacific Northwest so we kicked it off with breakfast (grapefruit and toast) and a run around the park. While my wife and I were out running I suggested taking our dogs out to the coast so we could all have some beach time together and we both agreed that this was a great idea. After we got back from our run I made a quick lunch of Grilled “Cheese” with Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds and chips with salsa before we made the hour long trip out to the Oregon Coast. Our dogs LOVE the beach. We used to take them all the time when we lived in San Diego so it became something that they were very accustomed with. We spent about 2 hours walking up and down the beach letting the dogs be dogs and taking in the sights, smells, and feelings that we miss from our time living in San Diego. We felt like we did a good job of wearing the pups out so we got back in the car and headed back home. I had a plan for dinner already in my head and couldn’t wait to get back home and make it. My new favorite Vegan Chef is Chloe Coscarelli and she has a bunch of great recipes on her site (www.chefchloe.com) that I have been anxious to try. Some people may know Chloe from being the first vegan contestant (and winner) on the Food Networks Cupcake Wars. A few weeks ago I tried one of her cupcake recipes (Chocolate Beer Cupcakes) and they were amazing! For dinner I went with the Avocado Pesto Pasta recipe. I stayed true to the original except for using spaghetti noodles instead of linguini and toasted walnuts instead of pine nuts (pine nuts are so expensive!). The end result was a creamy and delicious take on an Italian staple that I will use from now on as another pesto recipe in my arsenal. Chloe does it again! I suggest checking out her site, she will be a household name very soon. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I love writing them. I love vegan food and hope that through this I can at least turn you on to some new ideas. See you again next time!
Benjamin *%£&
The George Foreman grill takes care of the new potatoes as I slice the Cheezly Edam cheese and prepare the salad. A few mayo squirts and some Encona West Indian Hot Pepper Sauce lashings add the extra flavour - gotta be easy with the hot sauce though - it'll melt through your belly button and run down your pelvis if ya' use too much. Tingling mouth and all (hot sauce) daily meal is done - but y'know what'd take away the peppery sting of the sauce? Porridge!! Rice Dream `Rice Milk (sweetened)` is the bestestestest. Four-and-a-bit table spoons of porridge, gently submerged with the ricey milk - sprinkled with a few raisins. Microwave for 2 mins. DING! Add half of a sliced banana and a light sprinkling of sugar and the deal is done. Worst part is scrubbing the porridge from the bowl afterwards, gah, maybe I should pour the hot sauce in there and melt it off.
Nothing better to wash stuff down with than Free Natural Root Beer. My brother is up. It's about 7-ish. I bring him a bunch of discs that I've burned for him (mostly U.S chat shows Conan, Ferguson etc) and we chit-chat about all sortsa stuff. Eventually I watch even MORE UFC stuff - a three part series showing the build-up to the main event fight. I reach up from bed and grabbed my package (ooh matron) of Kallo Savoury Rice Cakes - just to fill my tum a bit (ate 2 of 'em). My left eye was really sore today so as soon as I felt drowsy enough to fall asleep - I hopped-up to turn off the hard drive and the telly (energy saver) and turned over to slumber - the time would be about 3:30pm-ish. I awake, squint my poor-sighted eyes at my VCR's clock (yes, I still have a VHS VCR) it's 8:05pm - but I'm still tired. FOUR HOURS later I'm still tossing and turning!!!!! Argh! Eventually at about midnight-ish I fell back to sleep - for TWO MEASLY HOURS! Pah! 11:08am I'm back outta bed -and boy am I hungry! You may as well scroll-up, it's almost the exact same meal as yesterday - apart from the salad has no sweetcorn in it this time :'( Flicked-on the old big square telly to watch Sky Sports News, grabbed a spoon and had an Alpro Strawberry Yogurt. Yum. Sweet tooth craved more, so I ate half of a bag of Orgran Mini Cookies - Vanilla flavour. Had a quick swig of orange juice, and then a bit of root beer (hey, I felt like some fizz).
A bit later the house is full, nieces and their friends, my big brother and his wife (or is she ex wife? who knows!). Cough splutter - the nieces have sprayed a tonne of hairspray in the bathroom and it's travelled over to where I am - that stuff CANNOT be good for their hair! ...or my lungs!!
Tonight is the UFC show - it starts at 1:00am - so I need to sleep so I can get up - but I also wanna watch the Spurs/Chelsea game (on telly) that kicks-off at 5pm. The rest of the day is spent with one eye on the tv (Soccer Saturday) and one eye at the PC (the usual routine) while sneaking-in podcast listens during ad-breaks of Soc-Sat. Remembering that I had half of a Doves Farm Tropical Fruit Cereal Bar left from 2 days ago - I untie the er....tie (that keeps it fresh) and finish it - Time check: 15:07. The wacky sleeping pattern is catching-up to me so I start to unwind for sleep. My mp3 player gets a bunch of new stuff sent over to it - and I potter-about the PC some more as I watch the Man City v West Ham match. As soon as the whistle blows for the end of the game - bam - tv off and in bed I go. Coast To Coast is on the mp3 player and it's time to sa-leeeeeeeep. Usually I wake up mid-sleep with earache (from the headphones) and fling the mp3 player to the side (in disgust :). It's one of those cube shaped players - and from time to time I wake-up with it almost embedded in my back - arghy! Kate Brindle Ann Arbor, MI
Kate is a vegan stand-up comic in Michigan who used to work for PETA. Check her website out at www.katebrindle.com Friday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Oatmeal, orange juice, red peppers, carrots, hummus, cashews, guacamole, tortilla chips, sweet potato burrito, slice of apple pie. I now work as a stand-up comic, but I used to be employed full-time in the Campaigns department of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). I used to travel extensively with PETA, and I've often missed my time with them. So I was delighted when I was asked to volunteer with their Animal Liberation Project at the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin. I was excited about sharing information about animal rights with the students there, and I was also quite psyched to eat at the veg-friendly restaurants in Milwaukee. Luckily, our hotel had a free continental breakfast, so in the morning, I grabbed some oatmeal and orange juice before heading out to the campus. I took a quick lunch break to eat some hummus and veggies, and I snacked on cashews in the afternoon. Dinner was the real treat! I went to Beans and Barley restaurant and had their guacamole & chips and sweet potato/black bean burrito. The burrito was out of this world! Somehow, by the time dessert rolled around, I managed to make room for some homemade apple pie. That was delicious, too! Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Peanut butter and banana bagel sandwich, coffee, split pea soup, vegan rocky road cookie, vegan meatloaf, mashed potatoes with vegan gravy, brussels sprouts. Again, I took advantage of the hotel's free breakfast and made myself a toasted bagel with peanut butter and banana. Since we were still leafleting and passing out information at the Animal Liberation Project all day, lunch was quick, so I had some split pea soup that I made in advance. When I first started going on the road (which I still do frequently for comedy), I learned to pack food to take with me. This saves tons of money and comes in quite handy when you're in small towns that aren't very vegan friendly. I have a portable cooler that I pack with granola bars, fruits, veggies and pretzels, and I take it with me everywhere! That way, I never panic if I get the munchies! The co-president of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee animal rights/vegan student group, Amy Gorski, is an amazing baker (in fact, she plans to open a vegan bakery after she graduates), and she brought us some of her homemade rocky road cookies and brownies. She wrote the recipes herself, and they were fantastic! It was definitely hard to stop at just one! For dinner, we tried another veg-friendly restaurant in town, Comet Cafe. There, I had the vegan meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and Brussels sprouts. I could probably eat mashed potatoes everyday of my life, and after working outside all day, they definitely hit the spot. Comet Cafe had a great atmosphere (it had a lively coffee shop free), and I recommend it to anyone who is passing through the Midwest. Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Peanut butter and jelly bagel sandwich, orange juice, Clif bar, vegan nacho salad. Today was my last day in town, so I took advantage, yet again, of the hotel's free breakfast. I knew we would be hitting the Chicago Diner on the way home from Milwaukee (thank goodness that it's right on the way back to Michigan, where I live), so I only had a Clif bar for lunch. The Chicago Diner has wonderful food, and I wanted to save room in my stomach. When I got to the Chicago Diner, I had no idea what to get since everything looked so good. I eventually settled on the nachos (which came with beans, soy cheese, soy sour cream, guacamole and faux taco meat), and asked them to add lettuce to make it more like a salad. I was quite pleased with my selection! Overall, I had a wonderful trip! Eating at new vegan restaurants is one of my favorite parts of traveling, and Milwaukee certainly didn't let me down.
Hannah Southcoast Southampton, UK
Hannah Southcoast is the owner of Hannah Banana Bakery, a vegan bakery based in Southampton that sells innovative, pretty and exceedingly tasty treats. Friday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Toast with Vitalite and yeast extract, chocolate cupcake, Redwood sausage, mash with mustard, broccoli, sweetcorn and peas, gravy, endless cups of tea. Friday was a stupidly manic one for me! I’m starting a vegan bakery at the moment and I had a super early start making a raspberry and chocolate cake and 12 chocolate dipped strawberry topped cupcakes for The Art House Cafe’s ChocFest (a night raising awareness about why you should buy fair trade chocolate) and I also had a 5pm deadline for a paper to be submitted to a journal for my day job. I’m normally a big lunch eater but I was just so busy. I skipped it and had to do a run to the post office to post out some home-made Jammie Dodgers so I just grabbed a quick bite of toast. Dinner was cooked by my lovely other half whilst I boxed up the cakes and eaten in about 5 minutes (I don’t even think I chewed!). If you’ve never had whole grain mustard in mash you haven’t lived by the way. It's mind blowing! I also had a leftover chocolate cupcake (I pretty much eat cake daily as I have a VERY sweet tooth!). I drink herbal tea ALL day! I don’t really like cold drinks so I just chain drink tea... Most days I drink chai, chocolate chai, apple and chamomile and vanilla tea... mmmmm....
FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Alpro raspberry yoghurt x2, raspberries, an apple, a banana, a home-made Jammie Dodger, a Japanese tofu noodle bowl, apple and ginger juice, chips with ketchup, endless cups of tea. Today I headed off to Devon to see my other half’s parents for the day. I was in a rush as always trying to get the washing out before we went so I threw some chopped fruit and a couple of yoghurts in a pot and ate it in the car on the way there. The fruit was awesome and made me realise how little fruit I’d eaten this week and that I need to eat more of it! I gave my other half’s parents some home-made Jammie Dodgers so I HAD to have one myself! Then we had a wander round Exeter and ended up going to a Wagamama. It was hard to tell what I could eat as the menu isn’t very detailed and I was made to feel like an idiot for asking if the noodles were egg. I was told there was only one thing on the menu I could eat so I had that! It tasted okay but they were so rude I wouldn’t go back! I’ve since heard there’s a vegetarian cafe there so next time I’ll check that out instead! After a day of strolling and drinking more tea we didn’t get home til 10pm so just had some oven chips and crashed out! Sunday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Ginger nuts, ginger tea, ginger/garlic/soy sauce/sesame oil marinated tofu and vegetable skewers, corn on the cob, beetroot/watercress/spinach/red onion/cherry tomato/cucumber salad, new potatoes with Plamil mayonnaise, Fry’s chicken burger in a white bread roll with salad and more Plamil mayonnaise, new potatoes with Vitalite and pepper, endless cups of tea. Sunday was a day of chilling for once (I haven’t had a proper day off for MONTHS and it was great! I went for tea and biscuits with my lovely friend and put the world to rights with our banter then I came home and had a LUSH vegan BBQ! I made tofu and vegetable skewers and they were super tasty! I LOVE tomatoes that have been cooked on the BBQ – yum yum yum! I did some gardening so my lovely new veg plants can go out this week (hooray!) then went for a stroll to buy some cake boxes. By the time we got home it was getting late and after our huge BBQ we decided to eat the fake chicken burgers we couldn’t eat at lunchtime and the leftover potatoes with a home-made Jammie Dodger for pudding.
Laura Leslie Birmingham, UK
Laura Leslie is a Biomedical Engineer at Aston University working on blood flow and cell response using non-animal methods. She has been vegan for 10 years and loves being outdoors, walking and running. Friday FOOD AND DRINK CONSUMED: Trim flakes cereals with sweetened soya milk & pint of orange squash, ‘beef’ stew with baguette & garlic bread plus diet pepsi, half a slice of cheesecake & half a chocolate muffin, Linda McCartney pie with pasta & salad, Swedish Glace ice-cream. Throughout day – drinks of water or squash. FOOD AND DRINK CONSUMED: Branflakes with sweetened soya milk & 2 crumpets with Pure margarine & pint of orange squash, slice of ‘Mrs Crimbles Dutch Apple Cake’, Home-made potato salad, low-fat houmous & mixed salad, bowl of olives, veggie mince & vegetable chilli with brown rice & crackers. Throughout day – drinks of water or squash.
Maria Junko Cardiff, UK
Maria is the owner/creator of Santa Macabre and frequently puts on Vintage Pretty fairs. Friday Eventually I started up my own fairs, as originally there wasn't a huge amount going on in Cardiff (though now there are loads of fairs and markets, which I think can only be a good thing!). I didn't think it would do as well as it has and now Vintage Pretty fair is over a year old! I have met so many amazing people through the fairs, it's refreshing to meet people from all walks of life who all have a passion for their art. As usual, I didn't have time for breakfast so took a Doves Farm Chocolate and Crispy Rice Bar with me for when I got a spare minute. I love these bars so much and only tried them for the first time when I visited Brighton last year! They were my favourite purchases from the amazing Infinity Foods, but unfortunately were really hard to get hold of back in Cardiff. Luckily the local health food shop here called Bean Freaks now regularly stocks these little delights, it broke my heart whenever I went in and they still hadn't restocked! You really would not be able to tell that these bars were vegan friendly, the chocolate has such a lovely taste to it and isn't too rich (I'm not a fan of dark chocolate at all so love it when I find vegan friendly chocolate that isn't bitter like dark chocolate!). I don't often get chance to relax when it's the day of Vintage Pretty. As well as needing to be on hand if the sellers need any help, and making sure the banners are put up in the venue etc, I also need to set up the Santa Macabre stall. It takes longer than you would think to put some jewellery out! Around 3pm I had chance to run out and get something to eat. As town was packed due to it being the England vs. Wales football match I decided to go for the quickest and easiest choice, Holland and Barrett. There I brought a Steakless Bake. These are so tasty and not dry at all, I would really recommend them as a snack to anyone. I also like the Italiano bake and occasionally a Sos Roll, though they're a bit bland and dry. Unfortunately the fair was quiet this time, but at least this meant Tanaz and I could pop out and get a hot drink. I love the Soya Hot Chocolate at Caffe Nero. I'm really not a coffee person, I've never drunk more than a sip of it, but I do like a really nice hot chocolate! I always tend to check if any of the little wafer snacks at the counter are vegan, even though I know they're not from the last time I checked. You just never know if they changed the ingredients hehe. I did notice however that they sell dark chocolate covered coffee beans, which are suitable for vegans. But totally not my thing unfortunately, I couldn't imagine two worse ingredients put together! Good for the coffee loving vegans I guess though! FOOD AND DRINK CONSUMED: 2 Sainsburys crumpets with Vitalite, cereal with soya milk Oven chips and vegetables Chips and mushy pea fritter (batter: water and flour) Sandwiches with Redwood Garlic Sausage style slices, Asda's Pringle style crisps ('Pop Snax') Jalapeno flavour (almost too hot for me to eat, but so nice!), Doves Farm Chocolate Chip Cookies. Tea with soya milk and two sugars, Sainsburys Hot Chocolate with soya milk, blackcurrant juice With Saturday being a busy day, it was nice just to chill out and relax a little. Which to me meant eating breakfast (2 Sainsburys crumpets with Vitalite and cereal with soya milk) in bed watching Peep Show, and then popping out for a drive a little later on. I had oven chips and vegetables for lunch, chips and mushy pea fritters for dinner and snacked on sandwiches with Redwood Garlic Sausage style slices, Asda's Pringles and Doves Farm Chocolate chip cookies. During the day I drank tea with soya milk, Sainsburys Hot Chocolate with soya milk and blackcurrant juice.
Shari Black Velvet Redditch, Worcs. UK
SaveAScream.com (& Black Velvet Magazine) owner/editor. Had a busy weekend filled with gigs and interviews so thought I'd do a food diary to go with it. Friday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Energy drink, Tofutti cream cheese on toast, soya hot chocolate, veggie burger, 2x hash browns, 2x meat free fingers, 1 veggie hash brown, baked beans, smoothie, cola, Ricola throat sweets. Thursday night saw me at Birmingham Academy 2 reviewing/photographing The Maine and Never Shout Never (Christofer Drew is a vegetarian and PETA supporter!) - I ended up editing photos until 3am so was quite tired on Friday morning. A friend was coming to stay for the weekend so I had to get up earlier than usual in order to meet him in Birmingham (thus needed an energy drink to kickstart the day along with my Tofutti cream cheese on toast). He arrived at 3.30pm which only gave us half an hour to walk down to Birmingham HMV Institute (as his train was half an hour late) as I was interviewing There For Tomorrow at 4pm for issue 68 of Black Velvet. After the interview we had two hours before doors so my friend (Steve) and I went to Canalside Cafe, a pub/cafe that sells quite a bit of vegan and vegetarian food. Steve, who isn't veggie/vegan, opted for the vegan cottage pie with chips, peas and carrots. I decided to go for the veggie burger and had a soya hot chocolate. I hate spending loads of food when I'm out so usually look for something that's cheap but good! I was given three sachets of sugar to go with the hot chocolate - I ended up putting all three sachets in and the chocolate still wasn't that sweet. It had quite a dark, unsugared taste. We headed back to the venue for the gig and enjoyed There For Tomorrow. Getting home at midnight we were a little hungry so I put some hash browns, meat free fingers, baked beans in the oven and gave Steve a Linda McCartney veggie sausage with his to try. I like him trying different vegan food when he comes to visit - and he enjoyed it all. :-) Saturday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Energy drink x2, Tofutti cream cheese on toast, Frank Roast Dinner crisps, veg sausage and mash, Ginger & ginseng drink, Ricola cough sweets, hash browns, meat free fingers, veggie sausage, Trek cherryflapjack, Whole Earth cola Friday night turned out to be another late one - after Steve went to bed I ended up staying up till nearly 4am to go through my There For Tomorrow photos and get a few small pix on the Black Velvet website - hence next morning I felt the need for not one but two cans of energy drink with my Tofutti cream cheese on toast. We left the house at 1.10pm to get the train to Birmingham for my third gig in a row. I had a packet of Frank Roast Dinner crisps while sat on the train. Once in Birmingham we headed to the Warehouse Cafe for today's meal. I couldn't resist the children's portion of veggie sausage and mash. I've had this the last three times I've been to the Warehouse Cafe. Although I could easily eat the adult portion, I do prefer the £3.95 price tag of the children's size. I had a bottle of Ginger & Ginseng to go with it - I like Free Natural's Ginger & Ginseng a lot. Steve chose the Warehouse smoked cheddar and BBQ burger (vegan version) with chunky wedges, salad and had a Ginger Beer to go with it. After this we walked down to the Custard Factory as I'd told Steve how Rooty Frooty's used to do an amazing soya hot chocolate. Unfortunately we discovered that Rooty Frooty is no longer there! When did that close down? We did discover a cafe with had lots of Linda McCartney products on the menu. We didn't go in - just checked out the menu at the window. At 5pm I went to interview Toploader at Birmingham HMV Institute before their headline show. I ate a Trek flapjack while at the gig as I was starting to feel a little peckish. Getting home at midnight again, I was in the mood again for some hash browns, meat free fingers and another veggie sausage (I know, my diet is pretty bad!). Had a Whole Earth Cola while editing Toploader photos until 3.15am.
Wendy Attwood Birmingham, UK
Wendy is the founder of The Chocolate Wendy House. She makes and sells vegan chocolate eggs and other vegan chocolate items. Friday Weekend complete and here's to another week!
Rob Jackson Birmingham, UK
Rob was Education Officer with the Vegan Society for four years, visiting schools giving young people the chance to explore veganism. Now he's moving on to new projects, such as music (www.youtube.com/veganjackson) comedy, acting and also considering his own business. Friday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Dorset cereals muesli and homemade cashew nut milk, beans on toast, packet of Redwood chicken pieces, smoothie (cashew milk, Thrive meal replacement powder, banana and frozen blueberries). FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED: Olive bread, homemade hummus, tomatoes, sauerkraut, ginger pickle and gherkins, Three bean soup and olive bread.
Kim Jett Hollywood, CA
Kim is a rock fan living in California who works at FYE. Friday FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Chai Tea Latte with soy, banana, peanuts, garlic soup, potatoes in vegan butter and garlic salt This was the day I was still pretty sick, so for breakfast I just had a Chai Tea Latte with soy & a banana from Starbucks. Lunch: some peanuts & garlic soup from Trader Joes. Love this soup cuz it's Vegan, garlic & only $0.99! Dinner: Just fried up some potatoes in vegan butter & garlic salt (still sick, so that was it for dinner). FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Plain bagel with hummus, tomato, lettuce and cucumber, potato soup, seal salt & pepper crisps, olive hummus, Annie Chum's teriyaki noodle bowl, vegan chicken strips, rice pilaf. Breakfast: I had a plain bagel toasted with hummus, tomato, lettuce & cucumber. YUMMY! Also some potato soup from a local bagel place by my work that has all vegan soups. Lunch: (at work) Sea salt & pepper crisps with olive hummus & Annie Chun's teriyaki noodle bowl (all from Trader Joe's). Dinner: made some vegan chicken strips & rice pilaf, both from Trader Joe's. This is the first time I have tried the Trader Joe's Chicken strips. WAY better than the "smart" chicken strips! FOOD & DRINK CONSUMED - Chai tea, banana, seal salt & pepper crisps, hummus, Pad Thai noodles, toasted baguettes with vegan butter and garlic, daiya mozzarella, basil leaves and tomato. Breakfast: Late for work, so only a chai tea & banana from starbucks again. Lunch: (at work) more of the sea salt & pepper crisps with hummus and some Pad Thai noodles from Trader Joe's (I shop there a lot for my food for work so I stay away from fast food!) Dinner: This was Oscar night, so my roommate & I roasted some garlic (drools) then toasted some baguettes, spread with butter & the garlic, topped with Daiya mozzarella, basil leaves & tomato. Super easy to make & really really yummy!
Roi Elam Portland, OR
Roi is the guitarist/backing vocalist in the San Diego-based band, The Material. He sent us the following Friday and Saturday food diary since The Material's final show of their tour was on Saturday... Friday
Natasha Scharf London. UK
Natasha is a London-based DJ and music journalist who is currently writing a book entitled 'Worldwide Gothic'. Saturday
Send YOUR weekend vegan food and drink diary to editor@saveascream.com and we'll add you to this page! If you'd like to send us your food diary to put on this page, please follow these instructions: Set the diary out a day at a time. ie. Friday March 18th, 2011. Saturday March 19th, 2011. Sunday March 20th, 2011. One below the other. For each day write a full list of all the food and drink that you have consumed on that day. Underneath this list, write a paragraph about that day - including the food - what you ate, when you ate it, why you decided to eat it, how it was. Send us a photo to go with it. If in any doubt check the ones on this page and lay it out the same. :-)
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