VEGAN IN CORK

one of the best meals of my entire trip was found in cork, ireland. with my trusty google map (via iphone) in hand, we navigated our way through the streets of cork and hit the jackpot with the amaze vegan restaurant 'very healthy food'

after dining on a less than appealing array of quick snacks over the preceding days finding 'very health food' was a god send! i order the soup of the day, accompanied by a salad and wholewheat pita - omg yum! after smashing my way through this hearty and super healthy meal i left satisfied and inspired! 

great meal, great service, great day in cork! 

VEGAN IN VIENNA

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after a quick search of happycow.net, whilst hanging out in starbuck for a bit of free internet and to avoid the afternoon rain, i spotted a loving hut restaurant a few train station stops from where we needed to be that afternoon - score!

with a bit of negotiating, i managed to talk my travel companion into heading there for a quick bite to eat before we jumped on our next night train to prague. easy to find - despite the rain - we dined on delicious vege burgers with cheese... maybe not the healthiest of dinners but certainly satisfying!

VEGAN IN ATHENS

if you ever find your self in athens then you must check out 'avocado' - a gorgeous cafe near the centre serving up amazing food and drinks with outstanding service!

i thoroughly enjoyed their vege pizza - topped with luscious slices of avocado - and their choc banana smoothie - devine! due to our level of famine (following our flight from venice) we also order a starter of falafel, bread and hummus, which came out beautifully presented and tasting fresh and wholesome.

my travelling companion went for the vege burger and a fresh fruit juice - she was well impressed!

VEGAN IN VENICE

travelling as a vegan can be challenging at times, however italy stuck in my mind as a place of easy eating - with abundant pizzas, pastas and fresh produce! although not exactly the case... i did have a choice of pizza nepolitana (tomato, garlic and touch a basil) as a safety net in almost every italian restaurant around.

VEGAN IN NICE

when travelling around i try my best to visit the local vegan eating establishments, so when in nice i looked up trusty ol' happycow.net and found le speakeasy "a small and cosy, almost hidden cafe, run by an expat californian lady"

opting for the daily menu - consisting of a first, second and dessert - we enjoyed her personal creations, although some of the textures were a little confronting for my non-vegan travelling companion. all-in-all she enjoyed her meal but was honestly a little freaked out at first by the vege paté (perhaps not the best choice for the less than adventurous!)

PARISIAN PRODUCE

after the standard sight seeing escapades, my travel buddy and i stumbled upon a fab parisian fresh food market where we indulged in some tasty fresh fruit, baguettes and made-in-front-of-your-eyes fruit juice! a great find amongst the pricey (and particularly unvegan-friendly) restaurants.

Check out my facebook page for more of my pics of the amaze goodies!

M.I.A

like every blogger now and then, i have been missing in action for a while! mainly due to the implentation of my vegan weight loss plan! (see next post) and anything but routine travel schedule... i would therefore like to apologise for having no tasty new dishes or interesting facts, figures or general info to share for some time!

since my last few posts i have equipped myself with a fancy new camera (so bye-bye iphone snaps) and hello new toy! hoping to be back in action soon and am very much looking forward to being back in the kitchen to whip up some tasty, healthy and diet-friendly meals

VEGAN IN SEGOVIA + LA GRANJA

ok... so as i may have previously mentioned, spain is not so well suited to the vegan diner; with its love of jamon (which i have been told on many occasions should be the exception to my veganism), traditional tortilla (made with egg and fried potato), and what i was to discover is the famous dish of segovia - cochinillo (a whole baby pig that has been splayed out on a platter after being roasted in an oven with a varitety of herbs and/or spices).

unfortunately this has meant that getting a good hot meal - minus any queso (cheese), huevo (egg), leche (milk) or atun (tuna) - is near impossible in your standard bar or restaurant. i have, however, been lucky enough to live with an understanding and educated bunch of spanish (oh and french, portuguese and italian) housemates who have been very helpful in spotting the non-vegan items on the menu, or asking waitstaff the necessary questions on my behalf.

thankfully - out of respect to my veganism - during my day trip to segovia we passed on any restaruants advertising the famous baby pig dish when chosing a place for lunch. instead we picked a quaint bar with a variety of non-vegan tapas and a few easily modifiable ensalada (salad) or baguette options. with the help of my travelling companions i enjoyed a fresh mixed salad with a spanish bar flair - consisting of sweet corn, white asparagus, lettuce, tomato, beetroot and grated carrot from a jar. i have come to view this as a great effort on the part of the bar owners, who generally possess little understanding of why someone would not want atun in their salad or any other of the animal-source tapas that are so popular with their diners.

la granja was surprisingly a little more confronting for the ethical vegan, as our visit coincided with a medieval festival featuring large grills laden with meat and very little in the way of vegan fare. being a lover of bread (to my detriment) meant that i got by fine without much else to eat - alas, this is the plight of the vegan traveller on occassions, and keeping this in mind it always proves wise to have a couple of b.y.o vegan goodies stashed to tide you over til your next vegan-friendly meal!

all-in-all, segovia and la granja delivered tranditional spain - with its roman and jewish influences, aquaducts, castles and cathedrals. a nice day out in the country side of spain

VEGAN IN TENERIFE

im not quite sure how i ended up booking the fancy 5-star san blas santos resort for my canary island stay (and thus felt a little out of place on my arrival!); but was certainly thrilled with the massive room, 8 swimming pools, views of the volcano in one direction and the black volcanic rock beach in the other

not only was i amazed by the comprehensive salad bar spread at lunch and dinner (with hot options too!!), but was a little too excited by there being soy milk available to guests by default at breakfast - to the point where i had to stop myself telling every person i walked past in the dining room on the way back to my table!

my stay at san blas was definitely a highlight of my time here in spain!

VEGAN IN MALAGA

despite the cool breeze and unseasonal rain, i very much enjoyed my weekend trip to malaga to visit the hometown of one of my housemates from madrid! i love being near the beach, so this was definitely a welcome break from inner city living. not only was i shown all the must-see sights of malaga, but was taken to a fab veg restuarant frequented by my housemate and her partner - who raved about their cous cous con frutos secos. as we just so happened to visit cañadú on food revolution day, we were lucky enough to be offered a complementary 'shot' of their gazpacho or ajo blanco - i had the ajo blanc and it was amaze! i ordered a delicious vegan-friendly creamy mushroom risotto and a glass of vegan-friendly organic red wine and thoroughly enjoyed my meal! if in malaga cañadú is definitely worth a visit (reservation may be required if you eat in line with the spanish schedule, but if an earlier diner you should be fine!)

ECOCENTRO, MADRID

after enjoying their vegan menu del dia i checked out ecocentro's tienda (shop), which i found packed with shelf upon shelf of great vegan food, cleaning, and personal care products, books, and more! i picked up a loaf of fab looking linseed bread, some dried red kidney beans and a packet of kombu seaweed to add to my future miso soup attempts. check out my facebook page to find the pics from my visit to ecocentro (calle esquillache 2 al 12, junto av. pablo iglesias, 2. 28003 madrid)

upon my return back to my apartment, after a brilliant walk in the sunshine (which i am so super grateful for after surviving my first european winter), i sawed off a few small slices of the crusty loaf and enjoyed it with a good smothering of my homemade hummus - yum! 

VEGANZ CAFE

not only does veganz have a great (and extensive) vegan supermarket but it also runs a small cafe with some delicious looking cakes, sandwiches, hot food and fresh baked bread!

like im sure someone says "when in berlin!" i had to try a slice of their walnuss-creme cake and a cappuccino (with soy by default!) 

very satisfying... perhaps a little too much after such an epic lunch - but worth feeling super full all afternoon! 

veganz can be easily access via the u-bahn and a short walk to schivelbeiner straße

VEGO FOODWORLD

lunch time in prenzlauer berg at vego foodworld was just what i needed! i ordered a vegan hawaii burger with their homemade fries - yum! my work colleague joined me for some vegan fare and ordered the 'ham' and pineapple pizza - which she thoroughly enjoyed - and remarked that if she hadn't known that it was soy cheese and mock meat she would never have guessed! [vegan ftw!] 

the food... delicious, the weather... amazing and the street was perfectly peaceful and relaxing. vego foodworld is easily accessed via the u/s-bahn systems and a short walk along lychener str. 

so if you are craving some vegan style fast food it is the place to be! the menu also features some german favorites and a good range of drinks too!

VEGANZ BERLIN

oh my gosh what an amazing store! and a vegan shoe shop right next door! i was super excited to have made it to veganz and have picked up a few vegan 'snack' food snacks as a result! veganz is a 100% vegan supermarket with a wide range of fresh produce, nuts, seeds, sauces, milks, frozen, refrigerated and miscellaneous items - including pet food, books, cosmetics and more. 

if in berlin it is a must! check out some more of the pics from veganz on my facebook page!  

VEGAN FAIL

despite the heads up... the hotel had no soy milk - darn! so breakfast options were limited! a bowl of fresh fruit salad, a couple of wholemeal + grain rolls with some cherry jam, and a pot of peppermint tea were still pretty satisfying. 

lucky for me a kind-hearted work colleague had a carton of soy milk that saw me through the day at work! 

during a bit of down time between work commitments i have spotted an article on a purely vegan supermarket which i will hopefully manage to source out on a wander through prenzlauer berg tomorrow - fingers crossed. 

VEGAN IN BERLIN

having arrived in berlin on a work trip (followed by a couple of days of sightseeing - yay!), im excited to check out the sights and the vegan scene b-town has to offer! i have noted a descent number of vegan restaurants on happycow.net and will be doing my best to sample their wares! 

during my initial expedition to find an ATM that would accept my spanish credit card, i stumbled across a lidl and thought it would be a good idea (using the 5 euros that i had to my name at this point) to buy a few supplies! unfortunately the lidl was very light on with vegan-friendly stock - but i did manage to pick up a bunch of bananas (at 0,75/kg - nice!) and a semi-loaf of roggenvolkornbrot. 

label deciphering in german (when i speak zero german) was a little challenging - but i think with a little common sense and some rough translations i made it through ok... milch = milk, hefe = yeast, salz = salt, invertzuckersirup = invert sugar syrup (a nice easy one!), natursauerteig = natural sourdough... you get the idea! 

despite roaming the isles i wasnt able to spot any soy milk, so black/green tea it is! luckily i remebered to mention to the hotel that i would massively appreciate some soy milk at breakfast... so i will be trying out soy milk - german style - tomorrow morning!

for now, i am off to see some berlin sights and enjoy the not-so-cold weather whilst it lasts!

LA MAGDALENA DE PROUST

located at calle de regueros, 8 madrid is the cleverly designed, beautifully laid out and well stocked organic 'tienda' la magdalena de proust. in addition to the range of organically grown fruit + vegetables from their local farm, 'magdalena' also stocks a range of vegan-friendly products, non-dairy milks, and grainy staples (such as oats, quinoa, nuts and dried fruits)

'magdalena also bake a range of organic sourdough breads that look absolutely amaze! plus they have introduced a small in-store cafe where they showcase their fab organic products and conduct cooking demonstrations on a range of topics.

for more information you can check out their website at www.lamagdalenadeproust.com

PICNIC BY LAC LÉMAN

despite the wind, i managed to find a sheltered spot to enjoy a picnic by the lac. the olive ciabatta with some fresh and peppery salad greens and a smear of hummus with chili oil was just perfect; followed by some sweet and plump strawberries and blueberries - yum! 

and all that with the amazing backdrop of geneva's old town and the swiss alps - amaze! 

M.Y.O MUESLI

when booking my hotel i (for once) thought ahead and made a request to have soy milk available at breakfast. well this was great! (apart from the unique soy milk flavor that i have encountered in geneva so far - which is a little bit 'eggy' tasting but guaranteed to be 100% vegetable - phew!)

the buffet spread featured a few good vegan options - such as a make your own muesli bar! (well at least that is how i saw it!) with a range of oats, dried fruit (sultanas and apricots) and nuts (slivered almonds and coconut) available, i mixed up a delicious muesli concoction

ADDICTION

my confession! i am a tiny-little-bit addicted to buying cook books! especially those with awesome photos of delicious food! any time i'm anywhere really... and i stumble across a book shop (particularly when i'm on holiday) i head on in to the cook book section and see if i can find any new vegan reads!

yesterday i happened to spot an international book store (not that i wouldn't be keen to translate a foreign language text if it seemed worthwhile) and found 2 books that i am going to check out online! (being away from home, and have a restriction on baggage weight, means heavy books aren't the best thing to be shopping for)

the two titles that i had a flick through were 'raw food real world' - which looked great! and 'raw food kitchen' - which also had some good ideas and inspiring photography

some of the fab vegan books i have added to my treasured collection include:

• 'vegan brunch', 'veganomicon' and 'appetite for reduction' by isa chandra moskowitz;
• 'viva vegan' by terry hope romero;
• 'colour me vegan' by colleen patrick-goudreau;
• 'big vegan' by robin asbell;
• 'babycakes' and 'babycakes covers the classics by erin mckenna; and
• 'sweet vegan' by emily mainquist

just to name a few!