Vegan food in York & Leeds

I recently got back from a long weekend in York (with a day trip to Leeds) with my mum and my sister, and while I was there, I discovered some amazing vegan food. I only found one fully vegan restaurant (as opposed to the multiple vegan ones in Edinburgh), but lots of places had vegan options so I was never short of food. I even found a stall in York station selling brownies and vegan sausage rolls, although I'd just eaten breakfast so I wasn't hungry enough to buy any.

Here's some of my vegan food highlights from the trip.

1. Double Dutch Pancake House

I stumbled across this place from a leaflet left in our apartment, and while it's not a fully vegan café, it has lots of options for vegans. I had the Belgian pancake which was served with sliced pear, Biscoff spread and Swedish Glace ice-cream and a chocolate milkshake made with soya milk and ice-cream. I did feel pretty stuffed once I left and I would never normally eat something so sweet for breakfast, but it was delicious and a definite must if you're in York.

2. Pho

Pho is a Vietnamese street food restaurant in Leeds which has lots of healthy, fresh vegan options. There's not a Pho in Scotland so it was completely new to me, but they seem to have locations all over the UK. Vietnamese spring rolls are my absolute favourite (even though I've only had them a few times) so I had them with vermicelli rice noodles, beansprouts and some salad.

3. Goji 

Say hello to the most delicious scone I've ever had. We arrived at Goji vegetarian café just as they were bringing out warm scones. I opted for the vegan version so it was served with coconut cream instead of butter. The café had a great menu with lots of choice for breakfast and lunch, and they had lots of huge cakes in the menu too.

4. Cosy Club 

We found Cosy Club through a booklet in our apartment and since it had a separate vegan menu it was a winner. They had brunch, mains, sides and desserts on offer which isn't always the case for a non-vegan restaurant. I picked the vegetable curry which was served with rice, onion bhaji, nan bread, poppadum and mango chutney. I don't normally order a curry when I'm out, but i was drawn to it because it came with so made sides and it didn't disappoint. The décor of the restaurant was beautiful too, so you could easily have a meal and sit for a few drinks after it.

4. Ambiente Tapas 

The dishes weren't marked vegan on the menu, but our waitress went through everything I could eat and other dishes that could be altered to be vegan. I picked veggie paella, patatas bravas, green beans fried in garlic and toasted bread with tomato and garlic. It was all really tasty, especially the green beans which I finished first. It might not seem like a huge amount of food, but it filled me up and it was really good value too.

I also have a vegan food blog from my recent trip to Iceland which you can read here.

Vegan food in Iceland

It's the land of dried fish, sheep head, and shark, so it's safe to say I had my reservations about how much vegan food I would actually find in Iceland. As it turns out, there are lots of great options.

In a bid to save some cash (because Iceland is VERY expensive) we did eat quite a few meals in our apartment. I took oats with me for porridge and found some strawberries and syrup at the local shop, and we made a giant pot of veggie pasta which lasted us two nights. However, when I did eat out I discovered some really tasty food.

The first place I found was Kaffi Vinyl which is a completely vegan bar/café and record store right in the centre of Reykjavik. There were lots of options on the menu including salads, sandwiches, pasta, and a burger. They also had cocktails and a selection of delicious looking cakes on the counter.

I had the Mile High Club sandwich which was filled with tomato, portobello bacon, avocado, lettuce, garlic aioli, dijon mustard, crispy fried onions, melted cheese and the biggest pile of crisps I've ever seen. It was really tasty, even if I couldn't quite manage to finish all the crisps on the plate.

The second place I tried was a fast food restaurant called Aktu Taktu which I had read about online. It's like McDonalds but a lot better. They have a selection of burgers on the menu including a vegan one which consists of a soya patty with cheese, salad and sauce.

I've never had an actual meat burger before, so it was a strange experience to even order a burger in a fast food restaurant, but I really enjoyed it. I also saw another girl come in after me and order the vegan burger too.It would be nice if there was another option on the menu, but it was much pretty than you would get in similar places in the UK.

So that was my vegan experience in Iceland. Have you ever been? I'd love to know your recommendations as I'm planning to go back sometime soon.

**Happy Veganniversary**

Happy Veganniversary to me!! That's right, today is officially my veganniversary. I'm sure to some people it's a pointless day that doesn't mean anything, but to me it marks a completely new chapter of my life filled with compassion, love, good health and great friends. Plus, I'm not married or anything so right now this is the only real anniversary I have to celebrate, so I am taking it.

If I'm completely honest, until about a week ago I was convinced that I had been vegan for five years but as it turns out it's only been four years. My journey to veganism was pretty easy. I stopped eating meat when I was around 12 or 13 years old (fun fact: no one can remember exactly when I gave up meat, just that my mum made my eat the rest of the chicken in our freezer before I could stop eating it),  and I have never drank cow's milk or really eaten eggs. I occasionally ate scrambled eggs and I guess I consumed eggs in cakes, but I've never had a fried/boiled/poached egg. I've also never eaten a steak, a burger, bucket of chicken, or any kind of meat joint. I guess you could say I was always destined to become vegan at some point.

It wasn't until late 2013 that I actually became aware of how terrible the dairy industry is. I always thought that dairy cows were better off because they aren't being slaughtered in the same way that meat cows are, but actually they have a horrific time. Their life revolves around being artificially inseminated over and over again, while their young are taken from them as soon as they're born. I discovered this at the end of 2013, did veganuary in 2014, and I have never looked back.

I still can't quite believe how much veganism has grown in the past few years. The Fish & Chip shop in my hometown of Polmont now has a vegan night (Polmont is a tiny village so this is AMAZING - check it out here), most chain restaurants have vegan options including Pizza Hut which now does vegan cheese, and Ben & Jerry's even brought out some non-dairy ice-cream last year. If you're worried that veganism may be restrictive, then just check out some of the food I ate in the last twelves months.

If you're thinking about transitioning to a lifestyle free of animal products then you can sign up to veganuary here. It's a great way to get a taster of veganism without having to commit to it for life, although I do think once you tried it you'll never look back.