Bolognese Frustration and Mock Duck

Day 21 of 28

Feeling healthy rating: 6 out of 10
Feeling frustrated rating: 9 out of 10
Weight: 75kg (-1kg)

Definitely counting down the days now.

About a week ago, this moved from being a fun novelty, to just being a very frustrating experience.

As you might have seen if you were following my tweets, the absolute peak of frustration came earlier this week. After waking up late and missing breakfast at home, I had to make do with a cereal bar. Then at lunch Boots had run out of vegan sandwiches, leaving literally no option there.

But the saving grace throughout all of this was that I had already planned what to have for dinner. I was going to make a really delicious Shephard's Pie with quorn mince and sweet potato.

When I got home, Susie was cooking spaghetti bolognaise, so I decided to follow suit and make my own version with quorn.

So I ran out to Tesco, where - yes! - I got the last tin of chopped tomatoes, the only ingredient I needed.

So, after half an hour of conjuring up a delicious quorn bolognaise, with red onion and just the right mix of herbs, it was tasting pretty good.

I started to tidy up while it simmered away on the hob. As I picked up the empty quorn packet to toss into the bin, I saw this:

Possibly one of the most disappointing moments of my life

EGG WHITES?

Why the hell do they have to put egg whites in quorn??? And why did I have to look at the packet?

Seriously disappointing.

But, as Susie pointed out, this is what makes it a challenge. And I am committed to making it through the 28 days, so I didn't eat my bolognese.

Today, I had this interesting delicacy which Patrick found in Brixton Wholefoods (which has lots of vegan foods including vegan cheese):

Mock Duck

It kind of looked like duck. But it certainly didn't feel like it. I'm just quite happy that I managed to get through an entire portion.

So, 7 days until The Week of BBQ. I am seriously looking forward to so many good, real, proper cheesy, meaty and delicious foods.

I now at least partially understand how it must feel to have a real food allergy or sensitivity and have to cope with the constant frustration of having to explain it to everyone and be incredibly limited in your food choices. It is really hard. And I have a great deal of respect for everyone who can't just eat what they want.

The purpose of this endeavour is to raise money for Raleigh and The Princes Trust.

It's all about rethinking things. I'm rethinking what I eat for a week. The Princes Trust is about helping young people to rethink their lives, to see new possibilities and opportunities. Raleigh is about providing them with challenging experiences to help them see these possibilities.

Read more about Raleigh's Youth Agency Partnership programme.

Watch a video about what The Princes Trust does.

I'd like to ask you to rethink what you're doing to help society. Could you spare a few hours each month to volunteer? Could you make a regular or one-off donation to help us raise funds for these causes?

A huge thank you to Tariq, Niall, Declan, Patrick, Mum, Kate and Christina for your donations.

First week of veganism

Day 6 of 28

Feeling healthy rating: 8 out of 10
Feeling frustrated rating: 7 out of 10 (and rising with this BBQ going on beside me)
Weight: 76kg

Well, I'm still alive. No apparent weight loss or signs of malnutrition yet, and I'm feeling pretty good with all the healthy eating that seems to go side-by-side with a vegan diet. Plenty of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, pulses (mostly hummus) and good, fresh, organic stuff.

I don't think it's a bad thing at all to be forced to be so conscious of what you're eating, making sure you're filling that food pyramid.

Occasionally stepping back and re-thinking a big aspect of your life (such as what you eat) is quite a challenge, but a rewarding one.

Definitely avoiding dairy is the hardest part. Sandwiches, pizza, pasta are all a bit lacking without cheese, and so many baked products and snacks are out of the window without milk. So that's quite difficult and frustrating.

Meals of varying success so far:

Day 1 - came home to a DIY pizza workshop that Charlie had set up, at which I made myself a colourful veg-fest of a pizza topped with onion, pepper, olives and spring onions. It was a bit sad not to have any mozzarella, but a worthy meal nonetheless:

Day 1, dinner: Vegan pizza

To my horror, most beer isn't vegan. It's settled in vats which use animal derivatives such as isinglass (fishy) or gelatin (meaty) as fining agents. Luckily, Meantime ale (one of my favourites) is suitable for vegans, as are all these.

Day 2 - got home late from work, and made the mistake of trying to get something quick from the worst Tesco Express in the world. As they didn't have baking potatoes I ended up having Baked Beans with Gnocchi. Not really recommended:

Day 2, dinner: The shop had run out of baking potatoes :-(

Day 3, lunch - asked the confused waitress in Miso Noodle Bar about ten different questions about whether the vegetarian ho-fun stir fry contained any egg (no), milk (no), was made with rice or egg noodles(rice), or was cooked in butter (definitely not, that actually got a laugh from her!) then when it arrived felt compelled to confirm again whether this was tofu or omelette. Ahh, vegan paranoia!


Day 3, dinner - time to get serious. found a whole bunch of great vegan recipes on BBC Food. I made Spinach, Aubergine and Chickpea curry, with plenty of freshly ground coriander and cumin seeds. Very successful and went down quite well with everyone:

Day 3, dinner: Spinach, Aubergine and Chickpea Curry

Day 4, dinner - discovered to my great delight that Wardour St is really kitted up well for vegans. I had an absolutely delicious and extremely mega-healthy-tasting hearty meal from Vita Organic. Got a scoop each of mashed pumpkin curry, spicy noodles, chickpea stew and apple and beetroot salad. It's all vegan and wholefood, and even cooked at under 46 degrees Celsius to preserve all the vitamins. Extremely satisfying, fully recommended, and proof that vegan food can be extremely good:

Vitaorganic (photo by Andrew Hunter)

Day 5, dinner - another late night at work, which meant that dinner was a falafel sandwich in the train station on the way to the pub, where I drank some organic cider as none of the beer was certified vegan.

Day 6, BBQ - right now I'm sitting writing this with the smell of smoky BBQ meats enticing me from the garden. I've managed to resist some awesome-looking Colombian Chorizo and the next challenge is lamb koftas. Going to get some caramelised taro on the go soon!

If you want to see me keep this up for a full 28 days, please please please give what you can on my sponsorship page - http://www.justgiving.com/borneoforthis

All donations are going to Raleigh, who are working with The Princes Trust to provide underprivileged kids in the UK with personal development opportunities that inspire them to see that there is a way out of whatever difficult situation they may be tackling.

A huge thank you to Murray, Susie and Flor for your donations so far. And to Connie for volunteering to ship some home-made hummus over the Atlantic!