Intro to Tofu Travels

I don’t know why its taken me so long to start a plant-based food blog. I guess it’s because I tend to wing it when I cook, so actually stopping to look at, and write down what I’m putting in my meals took a lot of patience and memory – neither are my strong suit. The same goes for photographing my food – even out for dinner, I’m usually halfway through a beautifully presented, chocolate cheesecake, when I look up, cheeks full like a hamster preparing for winter, and see my dinner partner’s food, untouched, as they Instagram it; and I would swallow my food, kicking myself for not capturing a delicious vegan dessert on camera, to look at and fantasize over later. My mum always says I must have been a prisoner of war in a past life because I eat like I haven’t seen food in months.

So, I’ve decided to combine my passions of eating and photography, with a long lost passion – writing. I’m rusty, so bear with me while I travel off on every tangent that pops into my head, as my fingers sporadically hit the keys like they’re trying to get away from my hands.

A bit about why I decided to stop eating animals:

I was 17 when I became vegetarian. The trigger for me was when a vegetarian friend said: “If you wouldn’t kill the animals yourself, you shouldn’t be comfortable with someone else doing it for you.” I’m not sure why, but that hit home for me, and as if a light switch went on, I couldn’t eat animals anymore. My mindset changed.

The struggle was real, at first. Looking through the endless lists of ingredients (before possible allergen ingredients were emboldened and you actually had to read), fantasizing about sausage rolls, having to cook all your own meals because your mum refuses to cook two different ones. But convenience was no longer an acceptable justification for me. So I persevered.

My conception of food started to change. As I began researching how to live on a vegetarian diet and get all the nutrition you need, a vibrant new world of tastes, ingredients and recipes opened up to me. I fell in love with food (in a perfectly healthy way I promise); I learned which foods had which nutrients and how healing certain foods can be. After a year of being vegetarian, I started to look into veganism and slowly started to adapt it into my life. I don’t have animal products in my diet, apart from eggs and honey – but only if I know the person who has the bees and chickens. To make my life easier, I usually refer to myself as vegan, although I feel that there can be a lot of rules and restrictions just sticking to one firm belief. I feel that everyone should find their own path, stand for something, but be fluid in their opinions and just try to do as little harm as possible.

As well as food and photography, my other passion is travelling; but as a lot of people know, on a vegan diet, food and travelling don’t always make the best companions. When I travel, I love to immerse myself in different cultures, the colours, the sounds, the atmosphere and the food – but this can be difficult as a lot of places are still lacking in vegan-friendly options. Of course, there are very few places where you won’t be able to eat anything on a vegan diet. Almost everywhere will have fruit, vegetables and legumes, so I never find it too difficult to stick to my convictions. And things are changing rapidly. More and more I see an increase of understanding and respect of what vegetarian and vegan mean (of course you will always get the occasional twat who quips your diet choice with ‘but bacon though’). Maybe one day my three great passions will flow smoothly alongside each other.

Anyway, that’s basically what this blog will be about, food, travel and photography. I’ll be adding recipes, photos and travel tips for people interested in plant-based diets. I hope you enjoy!