As most of you know, since 2014, January has been heralded as Veganuary - an annual challenge run by a UK non-profit organisation that teaches about veganism by encouraging people to follow a vegan lifestyle for the whole month. Since the event's conception seven years ago, participation has more than doubled each year. Last year 400,000 people signed up for the campaign.
Many studies show that everyone can help reduce our global carbon emissions by eating more great-tasting plant-based foods.
So this month, in the name of the planet and the animals - we're diving headfirst into Veganuary and offering a vegan-first pizza menu! This means that all the our pizzas on our menu will be served with dairy-free cheese as standard. We’ve got the melty mozza from our friends at The ‘Arty Vegan - frequently spoken about in superlatives by our customers “the BEST vegan cheese” etc. To mix things up a bit, we’re excited to have introduced I Am Nut Ok to our menu. They have a smokey meltdown that is flavoursome, stretchy and delicious and can’t wait for you to try.
We want to make our vegan options more visible and explored. In the past, all of our pizzas could have been made vegan by asking to swap the cheese yet we sometimes notice that our messaging on the menu isn’t enough. Non-dairy lovers still choose the specified vegan pizzas. By flipping this round, we hope to encourage more people to try plant-based and - better yet - LOVE plant based.
We’ll also be raising money for Made In Hackney - a local, vegan, community cooking school.
On a personal note, Rich and I have also pledged to go vegan this month. We can’t run a predominantly plant-based business and not practise what we preach. This isn’t a HUGE stretch for us as we’re a fan of the alternatives, eat loads of veg anyway and have access to the best vegan suppliers in London. However, we’re now having to be careful not to buy pasta with egg in it, for example. This might seem obvious to some but it’s these kinds of things that can catch us out.
We like to fill up on lots of veg, pulses and grains - the more varied the better. We source these responsibly and feel good for eating them. There is a lot of ultra-processed foods out there (UPFs) which is basically food that has been altered so much that it can be hard to recognise the underlying ingredients eg. the fake meats etc. Not to say that UPFs should be avoided. There’s no fun in that. Just be aware of it.
My eating aims are to fill up on lots of veg this month, plan meals in advance, DO NOT eat pizzas AFTER my shift (10.30pm pizza is not a good look on anyone) and always read ingredients on packets.