Vegan chocolate cake made by me

There’s been a recent rise in interest in plant-based food and diets in the last few years. The reasons why may be many and varied, including a growing awareness of environmental issues, animal welfare concerns expressed in films such as Forks Over Knives and Cowspiracy, mainstream chefs such as Jamie Oliver waking up to the topic, sports people turning to vegan diets (and being amazing!), and mainstream health and fitness magazines featuring rising stars such as Deliciously Ella and the health benefits of plant-based diets. There’s now even a vegetarian drive-thru in California, America!

So far, so good. But what about when you’re faced with planning a few meals or shopping for the week? What can you cook? There are hundreds of vegan and vegetarian recipe books, blogs and YouTube channels, so here is a very small selection of websites (predominately UK/USA based) that might tempt you to try more plant based meals. They vary from straight ‘picture and words’ to what I call ‘food-porn sites’ with many, many pictures of alluring, tempting (and often chocolate based!) dishes, often told with some sort of back-story.

And the yoga connection? It’s back to ahimsa, one of the first elements of yoga as outlined by Patanjali – the principal of non-harm and compassion. Not just for other living beings but also for your health and for the environment.

• International cuisine – by country/area from the International Vegetarian Union
• Vegan recipes for 21 days – broken down into breakfast, lunch and dinner. (Click on the day number to choose the next day.)
• Vegan recipe club – by Viva! charity. You can browse by different courses, countries, allergies, seasons etc.
• Vegan Society UK recipes – again, select by course, requirements, budget etc.
• 10 no-bake raw vegan cakes for summer – amazing pictures. One Green Planet have pulled together a selection of raw vegan cakes from other websites (food-porn alert!). I want to try all of these!
• 26 dairy free cheesecake recipes – again from One Green Planet with links to other sites (definitely food-porn!)
• Mouthwatering Vegan Recipes – as it says!
• Recipe Monster from One Green Planet – browse by course, occasion, ingredient etc.

And if you’re out and about and want to eat at a cafe or restaurant, try Eat Out Vegan Wales (if you’re in Wales, obviously), Happy Cow for the rest of the world. They give you the low-down on where to eat, where to avoid, and Happy Cow has reviews from the public.

Happy cooking and eating!