Help Launch A Brand New Vegan Lifestyle Magazine - Driftwood

April 7, 2015 by India Leigh

Driftwood Travel & Culture Magazine - Kickstarter Campaign

Just two days left to go. Three women from America are set to launch a sophisticated voice to the vegan lifestyle beyond mere gastronomy. Holly told Anglo Italian; ‘We called it “a travel and culture digest for the graduated vegan” because we want to make a magazine for people who don’t need help becoming vegan. Driftwood is a place for us to celebrate our communities and the possibilities of a vegan world’.

They have already successfully launched a portal of vegan portraits! Their intention is to attempt to photograph every vegan in every continent is an effort to uplift and celebrate the vegan community which will be an ongoing insert from their summer launch. Help them to launch their print and digital magazine via Kickstarter

Who are the voices behind Driftwood set to showcase the vegan lifestyle? Here are a few words to introduce the core team;

Holly Feral - Editor In Chief

Holly began her career working for community papers, going on to freelance as a writer and photographer since 2006. She has been actively involved in animal rights for 14 years.

Michele Truity - Managing Editor

Michele has been in book and magazine publishing for more than a decade.

Jade Sturms - Art Director

Jade is an artist and designer from New England.

The print edition will be on high-quality stock so that it can be collected rather than disposed of. The beautiful photography, artwork, and intriguing, expertly crafted articles demand it. The website will be a frequently updated source for timely stories, travel information, and supplemental content. The first publication will be launched in July this year. But they still need subscriptions to hit their target on Kickstarter. Please lend a hand to help this vegan lifestyle magazine off the press!

Subscribe now, via their Kickstarter campaign.

Project Juice Bar San Francisco

December 20, 2014 by India Leigh

A new juice bar has opened on Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District. Juice bars are not new, but I’d heard their set up was a little different so I thought I’d check it out.

Valencia is a very gentrified area of The Mission. Think lots of independent furniture design stores, clothing stores awash with hipster apparel and a myriad of smart restaurants and coffee houses. The walkways outside are embedded with glitter which pleases my magpie heart. Ooh, shiny. It is a street that holds much for the avid people watcher.

Project Juice Bar San Francisco has a clean, simple and minimalist interior. I felt healthy just standing inside and perusing their extensive and creative menu of smoothies and juices. The staff were super friendly and helped me to make my selection. Along with the smoothies they have raw wraps and tempting desserts.

I spotted in the chiller a coconut-meat wrap stuffed with house-made vegan, cream cheese. I’m going back for that sucker. Today though I felt in the mood for smoky, so I ordered the Southwestern Burrito to go with my smoothie of choice. Though the juices are fresh pressed to maintain ALL their nutrients and enzymes so thrice super healthy, I only had eyes for a thick, decadent smoothie.

CALI CARROT $9.00 House-Made Almond Mylk, Cold-Pressed Carrot Juice, Raw Coconut Meat, Dates, Hunza Raisins, Lucuma, Cinnamon, Spices. It is said there is 5 lbs of produce in each bottle.

I’m not one for overly sweet so I asked them to omit the raisins. My order arrived within minutes and I took a stool at the window to begin feasting. The smoothie was thick, creamy, and the cinnamon was sweet harmony. I tucked into my burrito. A delight, let me say. I was not a particular fan of the little pot of salsa, but the wrap itself was smokey and crisp (from the lettuce) and bbq sweet. As if that was not enough to delight my senses it just so happened I turned up when they were experimenting with a new smoothie. My eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning when I was handed their seasonal no-egg nog to try. It is made from a base of their turmeric mylk with added nutmeg eggnog flavour notes. I was actually full by now but I took it on for my dessert stomach, which always seems to be very accommodating and nudges over and make room for sweet things. The flavour was insanely good, my head was in my hands and the wonder of it. Seriously. Project Juice have a full time chef on staff. Together they are making flavour whoopee!

I also sampled the Buff Beatnik, Berry Blaze and the Chocoholic. I think I consumed a gazillion calories but hey, it’s the holidays! And everything is made from healthy ingredients. Sourced locally (for the most part. Their fresh coconuts come from the Philippines. They use as much of the coconut as they can, even using the husk and shell to make vegan activated charcoal to go into their Black Magic hangover cure/detox juice). Greg & Rachel, the owners of the Project Juice bar take pride in personally knowing all their suppliers.

Valencia is their forth location. The fifth to follow soon on Market Street. They also deliver detox and cleansing packs direct to your home. Their first store only opened 1.5 years ago, after a successful Kickstarter Campaign helped to get their vision off the ground. The couple had moved from the East coast where they’d been daily patrons of Organic Avenue. Rachel said that when they arrive 4 years ago there was nowhere in San Francisco where she could go to for uber healthy food and smoothies/juices. Being celiac and allergic to eggs and dairy, Rachel had turned her health around prior to coming to San Francisco by adopting a mainly vegan diet. Frustrated the couple decided to take the matter into their own hands and open a healthy juice bar in San Francisco themselves.

As I find so often in these stories, there is usually a nice path that leads (not always straight..sometimes a little squiggly) to career Nirvana. Rachel’s background had previously been working with autistic children. Through her work she was particularly interested in the nutritional effects on these children. Studies now prove that careful focus on nutrition has been found to help with symptoms. She’d attended many nutritional courses, so coupled with her studies, research and experience of finding health for herself it kind of dovetailed and gave her the impetus she needed to begin Project Juice. Greg had had a long career in investment banking in the food sector. See how that works?! In their whirlwind last 18 months the couple even managed to have a child. It must be the super foods keeping them going!

I had begun to think that the vegan food scene had stagnated in the City but things seem to be gaining fresh energy. That can only be good.

Yeah Dawg. Delicious Street Food In NYC. HOT DOGS!! [video short]

December 21, 2013 by India Leigh

I once thought that being vegan, gluten free and healthy meant forgoing street food. That notion has since been proven wrong by a host of gourmet food trucks I’ve visited on my travels. I did think though that it definitely meant no hot dogs consumed al fresco. WRONG! My recent trip to New York had the whole gamut of eating experiences. When I was given the tip off about a street vendor who was making dogs, not only vegan but gluten free too….I made a plan to visit.

I was salivating when I arrived at the Yeah Dawg pitch on the Lower East Side. It was outside a boutique shoe shop, the window filled with pretty heels I wanted to covet. It was actually a VEGAN shoe shop. The styles were very contemporary and a far cry from the heavy goth platforms and boots of yesteryear. I’d planned my lunch to coincide with a visit to the Tenement Museum, a place I HIGHLY recommend putting on your New York ‘to do’ list. They run about seven guided tours that take you through the history of the tenement building and their various inhabitants, you get to learn all about the immigrants and the tough times they had upon arrival to the New World. They have traced back to the original families and their stories are bought to life by animated storytellers. It is all told as you walk around the actual building on Orchard Street. Totally fascinating.

I made a short video of chatting with the sweet Founder of Yeah Dawg, Marina Benedetto.

Yeah Dawg’s hotdogs are full of flavour and the texture is dense and ‘sausage’ like. The toppings are super healthy but they taste like they are not. Marina does not have hot dog buns yet that are gluten free so you get a load of her well dressed, massaged kale salad. Lovely! Go visit her when in NYC. Give her a hug from me.

Go to the Yeah Dawg website for Marina’s latest events and follow her on Twitter or Facebook to find out where she is cooking up next.

Surely A ‘Must Do’ When In New York. Go Visit A Chocolate Factory [video clip]

December 18, 2013 by India Leigh

Not all chocolates are created equal. Not all raw chocolates cut the mustard so to speak. Fine & Raw does.

Tell you about Fine & Raw? OK.

“FINE & RAW was started in a notorious Williamsburg, Brooklyn artist loft by Daniel Sklaar. A nonsensical obsession with chocolate inspired Daniel to begin making small chocolate batches. He shared them with friends then started delivering them on his bicycle to small local purveyors. The stock was good - the purveyors wanted more”

The first slip of a morsel of F&R into my mouth occurred at the Williamsburg Brooklyn Flea foodie market named Smorgasburg (see what they did?!). Here I sampled a few morsels and became rather partial to their Sea Salt Chunky bar. I declare it is rich dark chocolate heaven with the perfect amount of sea salt to offset the subtle sweetness that lets the cacao shine. I loved it so much I tracked down the factory to the uber trendy Brooklyn district of Bushwick. The smell inside was insane. I inhaled so much and so deeply I nearly had to grab one of their brown paper bags to stop me hyperventilating!

If you are in Brooklyn I strongly suggest you get yourself over to the Fine & Raw HQ and meet these bean to bar makers. It is a fun thing to do and there are a few vegan cafes and even a vegan bar just around the corner. Brooklyn has a very different feel to Manhattan and Bushwick and nearby Williamsburg are a great place to shop, eat and hang out. Check out the graffiti around there, too.

Back to Fine & Raw…They source their beans from small sustainable farmers in countries like Columbia and Madagascar. They have a little cafe area where you can sip a hot drink, eat far too much chocolate (you can sample their amazing flavours of ‘bonbon’ ‘lucuma & vanilla’ and ‘blueberry’ ‘chipotle’ and even one with cacao nibs in, to name but a few), and watch the chocolate making shenanigans unfold before your eyes.

What makes this chocolate ‘raw’? Well, it means it is not heated above a certain temperature and so it mains it’s flavour profile and maintains it’s nutrients.

Fine & Raw

288 Seigel St, Brooklyn, NY 11206

What’s Better Than a Potato Crisp, Guilt Free And A Delicious Superfood?…. Kale Chips [with short video interview]

October 12, 2013 by India Leigh

Once you’ve popped a crispy, crunch, chewy kale chip in your mouth..you will be hooked. A warning and a promise!

I was at the Mind Body & Spirit Festival 2013 in London in June. We interview Dominik Schnell from inSpiral Foods A mainly raw food company with a great little cafe/lounge bar in Camden Town and an online shop. Selling all their raw and vegan products. They were the first to bring kale chips to the market in the UK. A little behind our American cousins, who’ve been crunching on raw kale chips for years, but better late than never! More and more companies are getting in on it now. Dominik is a bit of a raw rock god, in my eyes.. I’m in awe of anyone with the gumption to seize, and create the growing vegan market.

Kale chips are certainly not cheap. But, they are the most tasty savoury, crispy, healthy snack you can buy. Inspiral have now launched their bio degradable, fully compositble snack bag (world first eco pack..see below for the science). 30g only £2.19, much more accessible cost wise. They come in savoury and sweet options. I confess I go for the savoury nibble every time.
Dominik is a fascinating visionary. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Buy the new snack bags online, and at their cafe. They are sold in most whole food stores in the UK and selected places in Europe. I nearly peed with excitement when I saw them in the Vegan Store on my recent trip to Berlin.

Loving the kale!

Healthy Elixir Kombucha, The New Alternative To Alcohol? Equinox Kombucha Is Launched In The UK [with video].

June 20, 2013 by India Leigh

I was at the Mind Body Spirit filming my debut with Extraordinaire Digital Media, when spotted the colourful sign and I muscled my way in through a lines of hungry expo goers, to grab a taste of the drink that quenches my thirst on a daily basis in America. I was keeping my fingers crossed it would be good. Hoping the ginger would be as kick ass as my beloved elixir, so readily available in California. I took a sip and was presented with an explosion of bubbles…and yes, the ginger was full throttle. I decided to chat up the founders, Daphnie Charest and Robert (Robbie) Charles, and see if I could get an interview. They kindly agreed.

Kombucha is a fermented drink, made fizzy by a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) that feed off sugar and (green) tea to create a fermentation process that the Chinese have been using for 2000 years to aid good health. As the culture eats all the sugar, it doesn’t have the same negative effects of a sugary drink, so it is suitable for diabetics.

Much sought after in the US, Newsweek reports that between 2008 and 2009, US kombucha sales quadrupled, from $80 million to $324 million.

A brief video of my initial interview is here (my first professional interview..eek!). But then, as the camera man, producer and I made to leave, I found out something about their ‘journey’ to kombucha that intrigued me. It was full of romance, serendipity, travel and love. I went back for more. If you want to know what I discovered, read on.

The Equinox Kombucha Story (so far).

You could say that Kombucha found them. Daphnie had set out on a trip to Asia in 2010. She found herself in a village called Pai, Thailand. Here she discovered Kombucha. Her first experience was in a ‘cool little health food cafe called Good Life’. First sip and she recoiled. Different from anything she had drunk before. She remembers thinking the drink tasted ‘awful’. Unused to a drink that delivered a tang. But, she acquired a thirst for it and fell in love with it. As she did Robbie, upon setting eyes on him at the watery paradise of Tonsai beach, Thailand. She told me;

‘When Robbie and I met I convinced him to go back to Pai because of the beauty and peace of the area and I got him into Kombucha Tea as well. We were drinking it everyday before yoga and could really feel the detoxifying and energising effects. I asked the owner of the shop to tell me more about Kombucha and he showed me his brewery and told me all about it. He gave me a little culture that i smuggled back to Montreal (Quebec, Canada, where i’m from). I was putting on a humanitarian project for 2 Cambodian students with a friend and had to leave my travels’.

But smitten Robbie was not going to let Daphnie go that easily, and he came to find her a few weeks after. The pair worked on the project together. Love was blossoming, not just for each other but for the kombucha. Daphinie and Robbie learned how to brew Kombucha for themselves and were fervently studying about the whole process. ‘I was really getting into the whole thing, reading everything I could get my hands on’.

Once the humanitarian project was complete. The pair took off again. This time to Western Canada, to get work picking cherries, apples & grapes. Once the season ended they had a trip to Mexico planned, to experience shamanistic healing, and fulfil their vision to ‘live in the moment’ and see where life directed them, in their common desire to run more humanitarian projects and give to the world. But nature had other ideas. They discovered Daphnie was pregnant! Projects abandoned they move to Robbie’s home town of Hebden Bridge to prepare. There in this small market town in West Yorkshire, their son Eden was born.

Daphnie told me,

‘The first day I arrived in Hebden Bridge and noticed how much of an alternative town this was. I remember thinking Kombucha would do great here and was surprised nothing [like it] could be found around. I remember Robbie’s eyes became really bright and he thought this was an amazing idea. With the birth of Eden we left the project aside, being busy trying to become parents (!), and were dreaming on how we could set up permaculture projects in Peru. [But] We then put 2 and 2 together and it became obvious that the way we could fund our projects is with Kombucha!’

The new parents racked up hours of research, but couldn’t find anything that compared to the (incredibly popular) American version of Kombucha Tea. Which is unlike the vinegary and flat kombucha they first sampled in Thailand. They decided fizzy and flavoured would be what the market in the UK wanted. So they agreed to market it as a healthy soft drink.

Daphnie said, ‘There is nothing quite like it on the market, in the sense that pretty much all the drinks you get from the shelves are either very sugary, full of chemicals or are pasteurized which defies the whole point of healthiness by heating up [damaging] all the good stuff off the beverage. With the help and support of precious friends and family, Robbie used all his charm and his determination to set up the foundations of our business whilst I was at home brewing as much Kombucha as I could, trying to come to the perfect recipe. And here we are now!’

I asked Daphnie what were their plans for the future of Equinox Kombucha

‘With our company van, a VW lovewagon called The Dude, we are planning to join the UK festivals and spread the word. To reach a younger public, we aim to get our drinks in skate parks. And for people who want an alternative to alcohol [Kombucha has a minimal trace of alcohol] , we are getting it in pubs and bars.’

They are also concentrating on improving the health of the nation, in their own way by spreading the kombucha love and bringing it into mainstream awareness. With obesity increasing in our young population they are trying to show children that the energy drinks on the market are nasty and that there is actually a tasty, fizzy and healthy alternative! They want to replace chemical laden ‘pop’ drinks that are loaded with sugar and chemicals with kombucha.

So where can we get our hands on Equinox Kombucha?!

‘We are supply to Suma and Tree of Life distributors, so our products are everywhere around England, but we don’t exactly know where. We are aware of about 40 British retailers (cafes, restaurants, bars and gyms).

(A number of very large health food shops are wanting to stock their product. Equinox are in the process of expanding to meet the demand)

“We are also exporting to Norway and Finland to some distributors there. And for individuals, they can order it from our website if no local food shop is stocking it yet”.

Digital Media

Beyond Eggs - Science and Passion Is Set To Crack The Egg..And Replace It….With Plants!

May 21, 2013 by India Leigh

Are the egg’s days numbered?

There is a company that may very well be set to totally revolutionise the food manufacturing industry: come to the aid of the environment and improve our health.
I met with the founder of Hampton Creek Foods, Josh Tetrick at his start-up company in the Soma district of San Francisco. He looks far younger than his 33 years with clean cut with all-American good looks. ‘I’m from Birmingham, Alabama’, he tells me. His accent lilting and distinct. He exudes the confidence of someone who is comfortable in his own skin. He reminded me of a young Tom Cruise, boyish and vibrant, sans the aviator shades. One can’t help but be a bit doe-eyed as he welcomes me into the Beyond Egg hub. He makes you feel like he has all the time in the world to share, and right now it is all for you. I admit to loosing my thread more than once as my brain floated off, all female and flustered, as Josh showed me around and introduced me to his team.

Josh is the man behind the team that is fervently working to dislodge and displace the egg industry. He has an impressive background, having set up a UN business initiative in Kenya, worked for a time for President Clinton, he also won a prestigious Fulbright grant to teach in Nigeria and South Africa. Hampton Creek Foods is his debut venture into the world of food. His compassion was sparked during his time in Africa, working on environmental projects. He felt moved enough to know he wanted to make a huge positive impact. He chose the egg industry as his target. Which methods are currently, in his words..’barbaric’.

He hits me with some statistics..
’79 billion eggs laid in US every year. 95% of them are laid by hens in battery cages so small they can hardly move. They are pumped with antibiotics’. 1/2 billions eggs recalled because of food poisoning in 2011 in the US. What about eggs impact on human health?

The NewYork Times published a report by Dr. Stanley Hazen of Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. that eggs may provoke bacteria that increases the risk of heart disease. University Of Western Ontario likened the consumption of eggs to that of the effects of smoking cigarettes.

You’ll agree it’s an area in need of change.

Beyond Eggs is gaining some notable interest. Articles have appeared in Bon Appetit & Food & Wine. Countless articles are dotted around the internet, even Tony Blair, ex-Prime MInister of that thumbnail sized island,GB. Bill Gates has taken a shine to the companies ideas. On his blog The Gates Notes, where he highlights his concern for the impact on the environment and how we can feed a population that is expected to hit 18 billion by 2050, Gates listed Hampton Creek Foods as one of the 3 companies that are shaping the future of food. He says,

”By 2030, the world will need millions of tonnes more meat than it does today. But meeting that demand with animal products isn’t sustainable. The meat market is ripe for reinvention.’

Bill Gates took the taste test, cookie challenge and couldn’t tell the difference between the cookies with egg and the cookies with Beyond Egg’s egg substitute.

The building is open to the street, open to each department and one another. The office dog and company mascot, Jake, lolls in the sun in the greeting area. Their state of the art laboratory is a field of stainless steel. On one wall a row of ovens. Behind vast doors are shelves stacked with jars of creamy mayonnaise, trials and tests. The food scientists and biologists work diligently, and with admirable dedication to emulate the properties of the egg. Which is, after all, all that is going on. The egg served a purpose. The effect doesn’t have to come from an egg. They have worked out just how the proteins molecules give rise in cakes and bakes, aerate, bind and thicken, and emulsify our dressings. Beyond Eggs have a product that can do all of these things. Eggs may have been a cheap source of protein but they are full of harmful cholesterol. Josh and his team have cracked the code to do what the egg did by using pea, potatoes, sunflower lecithin, rapeseed, and natural gums extracted from tree sap. They offer it 18% cheaper (which will no doubt interest the large food manufactures), with reduced storage costs and longer shelf life, and it’s sustainable and kinder to boot.

The strength of the team is all apparent. I half expected the theme tune to the A-Team to kick in as Josh introduced me. All looked under 30, with that special California glow.
Chris Jones a chef and molecular gastronomist was poached from Chicago’s award winning restaurant, Moto..

He was sporting a bandana and standing over something whirring in the corner. It must be the largest stick blender/food mixer in the world, and it was busy creating a swirling vortex of snow white mayonnaise. I asked him why he came to work for the company, he gave an impassioned reply. Noting, he wants his family to have a future. Chris said of his work, ‘The egg was the first thing. This is the next thing’. He showed me his floor to ceiling wall of experiments. His job to is work with different components and proteins. Testing for shelf life. Stability. They regularly enlist the help of employees from Yelp & Google, as taste testers.

Director of Bakery Innovation is Shweta Rao. She was positively charged with self motivated enthusiasm for Beyond Egg and the concept of what it will achieve. Shweta and her colleague Megan both told me they have a sense that what they are doing goes beyond cookies and cake and stretches into making a big difference in the world. They are fulled by this. They’d wanted to fuel me, with cookies. They’d baked some for me to try. Two neat rows of blond and chocolate chip cookies sat waiting for me on a platter. They were left untouched. Damn my bloody intolerance for gluten!

A team of scientists work full time, surrounded by a wall of purple gloves, test tubes, machines spinning ingredients in centrifuge, and other wizardly gadgets and gizmos. I’ve not the faintest idea what they were for. But they excited me nonetheless. The team are currently working on replicating the egg white and working with gluten free flours so products can be produced that are free of the main allergens and suitable for celiac sufferers.

At this point I really start to see what impact this company will have. As did Khosla Ventures. Venture Capitalists, based in Palo Alto, California, who’s tagline is ‘ We care about genuine issues: a healthy environment. Sustainable power‘. They back Josh’s vision, and made an investment of a cool $3 million in Hampton Creek Foods.

Josh Tetrick

‘In seven years we will be the ‘egg’ industry’.

The team at Hampton Creek Foods

Beyond Eggs. The name of the product says it all and is where Josh Tetrik wants the world to be in 7 years. It seems a bit fantastical to imagine it could happen in what is really a blink of an eye in the time space continuum. but if anyone can do it I believe Josh can.

Want to know more?

Watch A short video tour from Techcrunch.

Read this article in Popular Science

Look out for Shweta Rao, she is speaking Ted X. June 15th in Edmonton.

What do you think of the future of our foods? Leave your comments and views below. Just click on the comments tab.

A day with Vegan Iron Chef SF 2013 - Lisa Books-Williams [with short video]

April 19, 2013 by India Leigh

A woman transformed!

As you know, I am currently in San Francisco working on some interesting projects and finding out what is new and exciting in the vegan world. I covered the 2013 Vegan Iron Chef and was so inspired by the winning menu. It consisted of some very innovative and enticing looking raw food (food not heated above degrees to ensure optimum nutrition and vitality) dishes.

Lisa Books-Williams was the chef behind the raw menu. Her humble and sweet nature had me thinking how great it would be to meet her. Well, wishes certainly do come true! Lisa saw my blog post of the event and contacted me, to invite me to a special presentation dinner of her winning menu. I was pinching myself at my good luck and fortune!

A week later I went along to meet Lisa in Alameda, a pretty island town, just a nub of a place really, spitting distance from mainland Oakland. The sun was shining and warming my bones as I rode my bike to an awesome location. A house sitting by the waterside.

Happily, I found Lisa just as warm and magnetic in real life. She was a hive of activity in the kitchen, letting us in on her cooking secrets and enthusing about plant-based living. She is a living testament to a high raw diet. Currently, her diet is based about 40-50% raw, on average. However, her diet tends to change a little with the seasons. When it is cold she eats more cooked, and when it is hot she tends towards a higher raw diet.

Lisa used adopted a plant-based diet in 2005 in a effort to regain control over her health. The vegan diet help her drop a whopping 100 lbs. She is still loosing lbs and reaching her optimum weight goal, not through dramatic dieting but buy a change in attitude and lifestyle. Her vitality is evident to all. The results she was getting in reaching her ideal weight, gaining control over her life, and the new and exciting foods she was eating, spurred Lisa on to share her love of this lifestyle with others. She gained her chef certification with Greenivore and her passion helped her win Best of Raw in NYC in 2010

When she is not winning Vegan Iron Chef, Lisa runs a successful event and private catering business Thrive Holistic. In addition she regularly runs plant-based nutrition classes for Kaiser Permanente in Redwood City. Her therapeutic vegan cooking classes are also taught in local hospitals and to persons with disabilities in institutionalised care facilities. As well as a some local classes in Pleasanton. When does this girl stop for breath!

It is her desire to show, not just women how want to get fit, be happier, have more clarity and energy but everyone, to see how a plant-based diet is sustainable and joyful in every way.

Since winning Vegan Iron Chef SF she has been inundated with offers, and she has lots of projects in the proverbial pipeline. She has even been asked to go to China to present at the World Congress on Health and Nutrition in October 2013. She is also hoping to take her expertise to Europe and offer her classes on a special tour.

If you want the chance to sample her award winning menu she is hosting her Vegan Iron Chef Dinner in Alameda on 4/28. Contact [email protected] and book your place. Spaces are limited.

Lisa is also presenting at Berkeley Vegan Earth Day this weekend. - 4/20

Below is a snippet of the day. I hope you enjoy the video.

Cooking With Tea - A Class With Philip Gelb of In The Mood For Food - [with short video]

April 11, 2013 by India Leigh

Those of you that follow A Vegan Obsession regulary will know that I recently had the opportunity to attend Vegan Iron Chef San Francisco 2013. So much fun. Well the fun kind of mushroomed. I was so excited to then be invited by the chef who gained 2nd place, Philip Gelb, to his ‘Cooking With Tea’ workshop. It was to be an afternoon of discovery, and hands on experience of the dishes he prepared for the judges at Iron Chef.

Soba noodles
Tea Soup
Radiccio Salad with Tea Dressing and Tea roasted nuts
Smoked Tofu Wrapped in Yuba
Waffles with Strawberry & Orange Compote

I took the BART (San Francisco’s metro system) over the bay to Oakland and Chef Philip’s live/work kitchen studio. Six keen cooks gathered to learn the tricks and tips to Philip’s Tea Menu.
A talented musician too, Philip has spent a lot of time in Japan playing music. Whilst there, he spent a great deal of time picking the brains of Japanese chefs, and friends, to discover their culinary techniques. The menu was heavily influenced by his knowledge of Japanese cooking. We learnt about using a strange Japanese mountain potato (nagaimo) that, when grated, kind of exlopded into a gelatinous gloop (great also for using as a binder in gluten free cooking). We also got to sample a ‘milky’ green tea, the same used in the competition from …. We smoked tofu. We used tofu skin (yuba) to make ‘tofu in a blanket’ and nestled in a single mange tout pod to add colour. The tofu had been marinated and then we watched as Philip showed us how to smoke the tofu.
All of us got the chance to prepare parts of each dish. We made soba noodles from scratch! It was so much fun producing beautiful flat noodles from a ball of dough! Unfortunately, they were not gluten free so I didn’t get to taste them. The others murmured their approval so I guess they were good. I had the broth from the soup the noodles were to swim in (the one with the mountain potato grated into) and it was delicious.
Philip told us all about the infusion of tea into his dishes, and regaled us of the fun he had competing in Vegan Iron Chef. The tea we used was by Chadoen
Once all the dishes were complete we got to sit and eat/slurp together. It was a fun day. Rounded off with vegan buckwheat waffles (had wheat in too…argh! not gluten free). My body isn’t real compatible with gluten so I just had lashings of the strawberry and orange compote. Sweetened with coconut sugar and nothing else to set my body twitching I could have happily sat with a ladle and cradled the pan of compote and devoured it all. Sadly, I had to share!

Check out Philip’s website. He regulary runs events in between his catering and private parties.

I created a little montage of the day…check it out.

Philip kindly shared his waffle recipe, especially for you! To make the recipe gluten free..sub the plain flour for a gluten free flour. I’d try a garbanzo and quinoa mix . If you are soy-free then you can use coconut milk or almond milk.

Tea waffles
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 packets powdered sencha or 1 tbsp matcha
1 tbsp palm sugar

1.5 cups soymilk
1 tbsp grapeseed oil

mix the dry ingredients in one bowl. mix wet in another. Add wet to dry, mixing gently, being careful NOT to overmix. Let batter rest before adding 3/4 cups mix to waffle iron.

Strawberry tangerine compote
place the following in a saucepan.
2 tangerine quartered
2 pints strawbrries, halved
1 vanilla bean, split
1/2 cup maple

cook over medium low heat till berries break down, stirring frequently.

Have you any great recipes with tea you’d like to share? Let us know about them in the comments box below.

Be well

India Leigh xx

p.s The video has cool tunes by Luc & The Lovingtons. A band out of Oakland, where Philip has his live/work kitchen studio

Eating Vegan In Buenos Aires - Interview Series. Algaia Cocina [with video clip]

January 7, 2013 by India Leigh

My time in Buenos Aires was nearing its end. Knowledge of Argentinas capital had proliferated questions of its food scene. Why was I so encouraged and hungry to find a restaurants marked with the big V? It is 5000 miles from home. But what is home anyway? Maybe a view, narrowed by a town or a city is poorer for it. It is my planet. I understand that no action, however small, or distanced from an observer is relevant. A meatless restaurant in Argentina reaches further than a continent it is a world movement and that is exciting.

I’d read about Nicholas, trained French Chef and owner of Algaia, on the internet. I was keen to meet him.

(Includes Chef Nico in action …..[1 minute clip] below)

The buzzer to gain entry already offered an air of seclusion. For a girl more used to encountering sheep than people around her rural town, it was a welcome if brief respite from the crush of shoppers, joggers and cars.
Algaia’s bright, walled yard, filled with cooling, exotic plants is a haven. Chic French music whispers its presence and adds atmosphere. Though the kitchen is separate from the simple seating, it is not hidden away. The sound of spoon hitting against pan. The sizzle of hot oil, the confident, rhythmic knock of knife on wood, an acoustic backdrop.

Nico is one of those people who is quiet, subtle but whom you sense is full of wisdom, like a thick encyclopedia, resting in the bookcase, or a gentle Eastern Master. Nomadic for twenty years. He left his native France and set out on an adventure of slow travel. Cooking to pay his way. Taking his time to learn the intricacies of foods and cultures from other lands.

The kitchen was scented with warm fragrances of herbs and millet, sizzling in peppery olive oil. I followed Nico as he showed me around his space. A small kitchen garden, tended when time allows. An alfresco space, and, for those days when the skies pour forth unrelenting, two rooms under roof. When Nico found love in Buenos Aires, he gave up his boat and pulled anchor. His Spanish now fluent. The stereotypical traits of a typical French man dispersed. A daughter was born.
As natural as can be, his longing to discover foreign lands acquiesced to a desire for stability, for his daughter and a compulsion to finally be the master of his own space. A business partner, since gone, manoeuvred him to a restaurant space bigger than Nico’s courage envisaged and way out of his comfort zone. With a child to care for and a business to grow, it was natural for his daughter to be part of that. She has grown up alongside papa, playing in the gardens, drawing crayoned stick figures whilst diners sat around her. The atmosphere at Algaia is peppered with family. I think this is why the kitchen feels open, accessible to all. I visited twice during my visit and each time I wanted to linger, long after my table was clear and my stomach content.

The weekends at Algaia are something special. It is family time. Nicolas wanted to encourage people to come and experience natural fresh food, bring their children and take time to relax. For the children there is a bright little playroom. A bright face young Argentinian girl is employed to entertain energetic young ones. The food is natural, plant based. Surprisingly most of his guests are not vegetarian (yet) but conscious of health. The menu is simple. The flavours satisfying. Algaia is an experience, and for a solo traveller like myself, a place to rest and feel at home.

Like us all, Nico has a growing sense of the need for community. For business to be conducted and supported among friends. Perhaps one day, organic urban farms (all produce is currently grown outside of the city) and local artisans could bring their produce, not only for Nico to use in his kitchen, but also to sell to his guests. The kitchen garden could thrive at the hands of a green fingered gardener, freeing Nico to devote all his time to the business of cooking and offering more classes. That morning, Nico had spent, privately teaching a whole family to form falafel, dress salads, create sauces and seemingly effortlessly build nutrition dense flavorsome meals. Skills he is keen to pass on. Just being at Algaia makes you want to take time, take a little more care perhaps, and savour what is placed in front of you.

I felt a little sad upon leaving the sanctuary of Algaia. I know nothing of its kind in the UK. Not just because of the warm air and keen sunshine but the comfort of kind food, the quiet community and slow, welcoming pace is a nourishment to the soul and, unfortunately a commodity rare today.

Be well

India xx

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