[dropcap]T[/dropcap]is the month of New Year’s resolutions — insanity workouts, bulletproof coffee and alcohol abstinence ahoy. Although it might be known to you and I as January, a new term has vied to rename the month — Veganuary. #cleaneating, #eatclean and other variants have dominated the Instagram and Twitter feeds of carnivores and herbivores alike with cold-pressed juices, raw chocolate and sassy salads.
In 1995, the Simpsons episode “Lisa the Vegetarian” aired starring Paul and Linda McCartney, revealing that the lovable shopkeeper, Apu, was a vegan. The concept may have seemed almost impossible to comprehend when society was still dishing out abuse to vegetarians, but twenty years on, things have changed. Vegan menus are running in some of the top restaurants around the world, babies are declaring “paleo” as their first word and heck, quinoa’s cropping up (geddit) as a popular mutual interest on Tinder.
Although it seems like a huge undertaking, fret not — there’s more to veganism than almond milk and alfalfa sprouts.
While we’ve screamed over the complexity of Weight Watchers’ points and the Dukan while inducing a coronary on the Atkins, the vegan diet offers something straight forward and substantial. Beyoncé ditched the maple syrup diet for something a little more balanced, and emerged positively glowing after her 22 day (research has shown it takes 21 days to break a habit, so they decided to go for (n+1) days) vegan diet. Jay also joined in on the beetroot banter looking just as fresh and svelte. Although Bey was papped going into a vegan restaurant in fox fur (yes, fox, not faux), her #22Days Challenge led to the explosion of veganism, with a reported increase in energy levels, defined muscle tone and clearer skin.
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But the vegan diet isn’t purely advantageous to vanity. The China-Oxford-Cornell Study headed up by T. Colin Campbell in Cornell University or the “China Study” as it’s better known, is still one of the best-selling publications on health, following one of the largest epidemiological studies conducted in the world. Through extensive research, significant differences were found. Increased cholesterol levels in dairy consumers compared were discovered to their counterparts, as well as a reduction in the amount of disease such as cancer, diabetes and other autoimmune diseases between those following at least a vegetarian diet compared to meat eaters. It’s also argued throughout the piece that mental diseases such as Alzheimer’s could even be prevented through diet.
Although it seems like a huge undertaking, fret not — there’s more to veganism than almond milk and alfalfa sprouts. On a PETA site and a dedicated Tumblr account of “Accidentally Vegan Foods”, Oreos as well as some of the McVitie’s and Doritos range are thankfully in the clear for a treat. If you need to ease yourself into it, kale will still get you the crucial “instalikes” paired with salmon (grilled, grilled is key). The offering of vegan produce, resources and eateries has also expanded greatly — amongst the Web Summit and start-up craze, clean eating has never been so easy or enticing in Dublin.
Food pioneer and Irish Times columnist Domini Kemp’s latest venture, Alchemy, offers the best of detox delights and cold pressed juices on the first floor of BT2 along with her business partner and sister, Peaches. While she jokes that the name for the ever popular Itsa Bagel was conceived drunkenly in a New York Bar, Alchemy has more of a deeper, personal meaning to it. Two years ago, Domini was diagnosed with breast cancer. Along with traditional treatments, she used diet and exercise to successfully combat it and has subsequently decided to open an outlet which offered light, healthy meals and drinks. Kemp feels that the healthy food market is now parallel to the traditional food industry, as “people are getting sick of pulled pork and are looking for something cleaner and lighter”. The venture offers juices, of which the vegetable offerings seem more popular than the “gateway” product with more fruit in it, as well as soups, salads and sweet treats — all raw, sugar-free, and packed with superfoods from turmeric to goji berries. Alchemy work in conjunction with nutritional writer Susan Jane White and nutritionist Patricia Daly in menu design and offering workshops to the public. A book dedicated to clean eating and fighting cancer with diet change, in conjunction with Daly, is to be published in spring next year. A juicing detox program has also been launched at Alchemy, but a daily meal such as a salad or soup is advocated along with the program, to prevent the “binge juice, binge eat” cycle that Domini describes goes along with the severity of some programmes.
Trinity is home to Indy Power, a successful vegan blogger who hopes to make clean eating easy, quick and fabulous respectively. Her blog, The Little Green Spoon, now boasts nearly 9,000 Facebook likes, as well as being one of the predicted stars of 2015 in a recent Irish Independent article. Indy set out with an aim to “transform classic dishes into healthy versions” and after their family spotted a talent, they encouraged her to start blogging just over a year ago. The results speak for themselves, as she draws inspiration from seasonal ingredients, her travels as well as what’s in the fridge, with most ideas jotted down in her phone at night. Indy has noticed a definite difference in Dublin with respect to how people are eating, as “so many people have a genuine interest in eating well and making sure they know what goes into their food, and even those that don’t have an appreciation for it that I don’t think existed before”. A huge improvement in the breakfast and lunch market has been spotted by her, with a remaining gap for dinner and takeaway. But as time goes on, you might catch an opportunity to try her amazing goods in the future, with a further step into the food industry seeming more promising over time: “It’s getting more difficult to juggle college [and her blog] at the moment as I’m in my final year, so I can’t wait to finish and devote more time to it.”
Ending on a sweet note, nobó has taken the market by storm in 2014, being crowned Lovin Dublin’s Food Start Up of the Year, not to mention scooping a myriad of Great Taste Awards with the world’s first dairy-free ice cream based on avocado and almonds. Brian and Rachel Nolan, directors as well as husband and wife’s newest flavours consist of mango & passionfruit as well as Irish salted caramel, the latter of which appears to be Brian’s biggest achievement, which he admits to eating a whole tub in one go. The innocuous base of avocado, coconut, honey and almonds allows for a quasi-creamier texture which goes a delight with their amazing flavours, from fresh lemon to chocolate and toasted almond. Originally taking flight from New York to Italy to follow their food dreams, Rachel and Brian are confident that their business will be making an appearance on the Big Apple’s shelves in years to come, with plans to expand the brand and supply to overseas stockists such as Whole Foods.
Meat-Free Mondays during the recession and Gillian McKeith’s dictatorship on faeces evaluations may have been a fad, but clean eating and veganism look like they’re here to stay. And it’s never tasted nor felt so good.
