Summer on a plate...

If ever there was a good time to try eating seasonally, summer would have to be it. The choices are endless and delicious at this time of year - strawberries, plums, broad beans, cucumber and courgettes, just to name a few. It has been the perfect month for fresh whole fruit and crispy cool salads.

I found a great site called Eat Seasonably that was really helpful, with a calendar of all the best seasonal fruit and veges for each month of the year.

Over the last month I've been attempting to limit my seasonal fruit and vege purchases to markets, and to organic box deliveries. That way I know they're genuinely seasonal, not all-year round hydroponics that just happen to be selling during that season (even a broken clock is right twice a day). Organic boxes in particular have been a real inspiration. There are some great companies in the UK, including Abel & Cole and Riverford Organics, who source their fruit and veg from a network of local organic farms. They also include helpful tips and recipes to make the most of what's in season at the time.

The advantage of box deliveries is also that you get a set delivery of seasonal produce, rather than picking your own individual items, so you get to try a real range of things that you might not otherwise think to pick. This week among other things I got some fantastic yellow plums, and a candy-like striped beetroot - yum!

For my next mission I'm setting out to meet some real greenies in the hopes of some inspiration rubbing off on me. My mission is to do some green volunteering - to get out there and talk to some real eco-activists and find out what they're all about. Will keep you posted!

On a side note: I've seen two great environmental films in the last few weeks that I wish everyone would watch. 1) The End of the Line, about the effects of over fishing. 2) We Feed the World, a look at the global food industry.

I heart being vegan!

It's not too often that I try something new and it instantly feels right - but that's how my mission to go vegan felt. Going vegetarian felt good, it was fun and tasty, but going all the way vegan feels so much better!

I can honestly say I didn't expect to love this challenge as much as I have. It sounded like hard work. But the honest truth is, when I focused on what I could eat rather than what I couldn't the options were endless.

I started my challenge by brainstorming a list of all the normal meals I eat that are already vegan. Having converted mostly to vegetarian already it was a pretty good list. Some of my fave weeknight staples include vege packed thai curry, burritos (with my amazing-if-I-do-say-so-myself fresh guacamole), vege and tofu stir-fry, and curried pumpkin soup. I also jotted down a few of my favourite vegan treat meals, so that if I was feeling down about my lack of food choices I had some happy fall backs - veg nachos, take-out gourmet veg burgers, dark chocolate. Then I created a week's meal plan. I didn't follow it, it was just a good way to psych myself up, and write my shopping list. My message here is to be prepared, it definitely made this challenge less daunting!

Over the last two weeks there have been some days that felt difficult (usually when I tried too many new things in one day, and my stomach didn't cooperate!), and some days that felt amazing. Yesterday I counted and I ate 11 different types of fruit and veg in one day. Apparently the average American diet includes only 12-13 different fruit and veges altogether. Just think what deliciousness people are missing out on!
All in all, I feel great mentally and physically. I feel positive about the choice, I feel healthy, my skin is clear, I'm full of energy, and I'm doing something good for the environment. Win-win-win!

After a few weeks of reading up and surfing the net about veganism, I found so many interesting resources and inspiring blogs and websites. If you're thinking about going vegan here are a few sites I loved:

• There's a lot of nutritional advise out there for vegans, but I thought a safeish bet for sound advise was this UK national health service page.
• Some nice video reminders about why what we eat matters for the environment on Plate to Planet.
• And my favourite inspiring vegan women that I discovered this week if you need assurance that being vegan can be fun, cool and sexy. Kris Carr on Crazy Sexy Life, Kim Barnouin on Healthy Bitch Daily (I just got one of her cookbooks too, love it), and this awesome down to earth advise from Ann Esseltyn on the Planeat website.
• And many many more - thank you to all the online vegans out there flooding the net with helpful info, I appreciate it! You could google the hours away with a simple 'vegan' search.

I'm also just a few pages from finishing Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer which I happened to pick up at the library. It's quite terrifying but definitely worth reading if you're interested in finding out more about meat, dairy and egg production methods.

My next step is going to be signing up for some Spork Online cooking classes, and trying to expand my repertoire. Hopefully if I can cook some amazing meals I might be able to convince some friends and family to ditch the meat too.

Now sticking to the food theme (I do love my food), this week my mission is to explore eating seasonally. It makes complete sense that eating foods that are in season locally means that they require less artificial input to grow and therefore = less environmental impact. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I guess I'll find out this week!