Please note: all these products were labelled as ‘vegetarian’ at the time of writing, but don’t forget that ingredients may be subject to change, so always check the packaging before purchasing!

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To those meat-eaters who might be confused about why a vegetarian would want to eat something meat-flavoured: most vegetarians avoid meat because they don’t like the cruelty involved in meat-production, NOT because they object to the flavour or taste of meat products.

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I arrived at the Tide Tables café on a sunny day in March. It was lunchtime and there was a big queue to be served. However, only one person was sitting inside the café, and everyone else was sat outside in the sunshine, in the café garden overlooking the Thames. I chose to sit inside, so I could utilise the Tide Tables WiFi (as advertised on their website). However, unfortunately I couldn’t get this to work – despite repeated attempts at entering their password (written on their menu blackboard). Since the staff were so busy, I didn’t bother mentioning the problem or asking for help.

On the wall behind the counter is a huge chalk board menu listing a vast array of tasty-sounding veggie delights. On the counter is a cabinet filled with various pre-cooked foods that are ready to heat up, including pastries, pies and tarts. I chose a cauliflower tart from the chalk board, but was told that this was unavailable, and that the only tarts/pies/pastries available were those displayed in the cabinet. However, since the foods in the cabinet were all unlabelled, I had no idea what any of them were, so it was difficult to know what was available and what wasn’t! I saw some pies in the cabinet, so asked for their flavours, and ended up opting for the spinach and mushroom one. Alternatively I could have ordered falafels, omelette, pizza, or a baked potato. There was a separate menu for vegans, and also a list of gluten-free items.

My spinach and mushroom pie was served warm and accompanied by a side salad of leaves sprinkled with mixed seeds. It was a very tasty pie, and was clearly made in-house, and not mass-produced. I impressed by the flavour and ate every last crumb! I was tempted by the wide variety of cakes on display in the café, but since I had planned an afternoon of walking, I thought it best not to eat too much. When I left the café I followed the river for a bit, then headed up Richmond Hill, and on into Richmond Park. I took quite a long walk but unfortunately didn’t see any of the famous deer! I am planning to return to Richmond and to Tide Tables sometime soon – next time taking Ben with me. If you haven’t been to Richmond before – I would highly recommend it as a place to visit. The view from the top of Richmond Hill is stunning, and the park is lovely. Tide Tables is also well worth visiting. Their selection of vegetarian food is excellent, and the fact that there was a consistently long queue of customers there during my visit is testament to their popularity!

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The sausages have minimal, modern and eye-catching packaging, featuring different vegetables ‘in disguise’. Six flavours are available: Lincolnshire, Chilli and Corriander, Rosemary and Garlic, Cumberland, Honeybee, and Cheddar and Spring Onion. Other than the ‘vegetables in disguise’ tagline, it isn’t immediately obvious that the sausages are vegetarian – perhaps to draw more interest from non-veggie purchasers.

Secret Sausages have a special vegetarian skin, made from seaweed and rice, which is a bit shiny, and makes the sausages look more similar to meat sausages than many other vegetarian versions. I was sent the Cheddar and Spring Onion, and Cumberland varieties and shared them with Ben (my nearly-veggie other-half).

Frying turned the sausages a nice shade of brown. Their skins crisped a little on the outside, whilst the fillings remained soft. We liked both of the flavours, and were especially impressed by the vegetarian sausage skins, which were similar to meat sausage skins. The Cheddar and Spring Onion sausages were our favourites of the two varieties, since we felt that these had a stronger flavour – largely of sweetcorn and peppers – and were more distinct from existing veggie sausages on the market. The Cumberland sausages were also very tasty, but their sage and onion flavour reminded us of stuffing and existing veggie Lincolnshire sausages. If we hadn’t known the flavours before eating, there’s no chance we would have been able to guess them – since the overriding flavours weren’t necessarily those referred to in the names. However, each variety has a tagline on the front of the box, which mentions the main vegetable ingredients in that particular sausage flavour.

Overall – we were really impressed by these new sausages. Ben and I are in agreement that they’re among the best vegetarian sausages we’ve ever had. I prefer them to many of the more meatier (i.e. soya and Quorn) vegetarian sausages. They’re not yet available in shops, but watch this space! They are going to be exhibited at The International Food and Drink Event (IFE) at the ExCel Centre in London on the 17th to 20th March 2013. This is a gathering of the food and drink community to source new products and trade, so fingers crossed that Secret Sausages will impress some buyers from major retailers!

Keep an eye on the Secret Sausage website for updates and follow me on Twitter for up-to-date veggie news.

The post Secret Sausages – New sausages with a secret… appeared first on Veggie Advisor.

Growing your own food is not as difficult as you might think. Firstly, you don’t have to be an expert gardener (or have any gardening experience), secondly you don’t need to have a big garden or a greenhouse, and thirdly, if you’re using grow bags, pots, or raised beds of a suitable depth (i.e. deep enough for the crops you have chosen) it doesn’t matter if your natural garden soil is poor quality or difficult to work with.

Ben and I recently bought our first house. Having rented flats for many years, one of the things I was most excited about was having my own garden for the first time ever! As a vegetable lover, with a love for the outdoors, it had always been my dream to grow my own food. With no prior experience of gardening, and only an averaged-sized plot, I jumped straight in with both feet, and resolved to grow all my crops from seed. I picked up most of my seeds in discount shops such as Pound shops and Aldi, and had a spending splurge in the Wilkinsons gardening department – picking up a range of seed trays, pots, gloves, and compost.

As a complete beginner, I wasn’t expecting to get much back. I’d read a few gardening magazines, flicked through a few books, and had become convinced that either my seeds wouldn’t germinate, that the seedlings would die or that the plants would die before yielidng anything – having become infested by pests or over-run with disease (especially since I didn’t want to use any pesticides or fungicides). However, I knew that the only way I could learn would be by doing, and I thought the quicker I got started, the quicker I could learn and improve. I therefore set to work on the garden right away, so I could make of use the first growing season in my new house. It transpired to be a great way to escape all the renovations that were taking place indoors!

Since my soil is pretty much solid clay I bought put two 4 ft x 6 ft x 12″ raised beds and positioned them in the middle of the lawn. These were then filled with a mix of top soil, compost and special Zoo Poo compost produced by Paignton Zoo and available from my local city council. My seeds were either germinated directly in the raised bed, or in unheated propogators on my windowsills. Since I don’t have a green house, eventually every windowsill in the upstairs of my house was fully occupied by seedlings and young plants. As they grew bigger and needed repotting, the volume of plants just increased and increased! Watering became a big part of my daily routine – and continued to be so for the next few months! All my mature plants were grown either in the raised beds, in pots, in grow bags, or in compost bags.

The results eventually paid off, and I ended up with masses of produce, including homegrown cherry tomatoes, runner beans, chard, cauliflower, garlic, little gem lettuces, round lettuces, spring onions, carrots, climbing beans, beetroot, potatoes and mini peppers. In fact I barely had to purchase any vegetables during the summer. Not everything was a success – my brocolli and chard flowered prematurely (bolted), and my strawberries all got eaten by slugs. But overall, it was a great experience, and it really made me feel like I had achieved something!

The biggest success was the runner beans, and I’d definitely recommend these as a good crop for a gardening beginner and/or someone with limited growing space. The harvest per square metre for these was amazing – I grew 14 plants and we were eating large portions of runner beans 3 or 4 times a week (and giving lots away) for about 4 months! Fortunately runner beans are one of my favourite vegetables, so I didn’t get sick of them – although saying that, I haven’t even considered buying runner beans since my plants died back at the end of October!

Is there anything I’d do differently if I were to grow my own again? Definitely! I plan to scale back a bit this year and try not to keep hold of every surviving seedling. Last year I ended up with more than ten mature cherry tomato plants (even having given some away) which was far too many considering that Ben won’t eat tomatoes! I’d also like to plan ahead more carefully next time, to make sure I fully optimise the use my available space, and perhaps stagger the sowing of things like lettuces a bit more, so that they don’t all mature at the same time.

If you don’t grow your own already – I’m hoping that this will show you that it’s worth a try! The great thing about the internet-age, is that if you have any questions – there’s sure to be a website or online expert that can give you the answer! I found the Gardener’s World website and forum to be a particularly good source of expert advice. Otherwise I just followed instructions on seed packets – they usually tell you most of what you need to know. It’s really not as difficult as most people assume it to be. Give a try – it’s great fun, healthy, rewarding, and should save you a bit of money in the long run!

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Bella Italia

Vegetarian Four Seasons pizza

Italian restaurants often provide a few vegetarian options to choose from, and Bella Italia is no exception. The vegetarian dishes are all indicated on the menu with a ‘V’ and this labelling extends to desserts as well as mains and sides. I chose the ‘Quattro Stagioni Legumi’ – The vegetable four seasons pizza, which, like a standard 4-seasons pizza, has each quarter topped with different toppings.  One quarter is topped with roasted courgettes, one with roasted aubergines, one with roasted red and yellow peppers and the fourth with garlic mushrooms drizzled with basil pesto. I really enjoyed this pizza, and especially liked how each quarter was different – it made a nice change from a standard vegetable pizza. The pizza was £7.95, but it didn’t cost me anything since I paid with Tesco Clubcard Reward vouchers (and only had to buy drinks).

Bill’s

Bill’s Hummus and Halloumi

Only three main courses offered by Bill’s are labelled as ‘vegetarian’ and unfortunately one of these is described as containing Parmesan (which is never vegetarian). When dining here, I chose the ‘Halloumi and Hummus’, which is described as grilled halloumi cheese in a sesame seed bun with hummus, baby gem, roasted peppers, sweet chilli and yoghurt served with skinny fries. The halloumi could have been a bit hotter, but other than that, I thought that this was a great main course. The fries were nice and crispy, and the other components of the bun were tasty. At £8.95 it wasn’t cheap, but it was a nice treat.

The Living Room

Mushroom, Pepper & Ricotta Wellington

The Living Room offers four vegetarian options (listed in their own section of the menu) although at least one of these was unavailable on my visit. I chose the Flat Mushroom, Pepper and Herbed Ricotta Wellington with new potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli and Hollandaise. Unfortunately the hollandaise was missing from my plate, but I didn’t realise this until I’d almost finished, so I didn’t bother requesting any. My small meal looked incredibly tiny on the enormous plate they served it on. The food was quite tasty, but I would have liked a bit more, and the service (at St Katherine’s Dock, London branch) was terrible! If I had paid the menu price of £10 I wouldn’t have been very happy, but I had a 50% off coupon, so it was okay.

Mother Mash

Veggie Sausage with Champ Mash

Mother mash is a small fast-food café tucked away down a side street near Carnaby Street in London. They specialise in sausage in mash, and you can select your style of mash, sausage and gravy. They only offer one type of vegetarian sausage, and one type of vegetarian gravy, but there are six types of mashed potato to choose from. I had veggie sausages with Champ mash (traditional Irish mash with milk, butter, cheese and spring onions) and veggie gravy. I really enjoyed the meal, although at £7.50 I thought the price was a little too high, considering the slightly shabby, café-style surroundings, and the simplicity of the food.

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At first glance, it is impossible not to notice the similarities between Better Bunny and Veggie Percy. For a start, they are both pink, foamy animal-based sweets with fruit gum ears. They also both have one green ear, and one pink ear – this is surely no conincidence! In the name of research, I have devoured some Better Bunnies in order to review them properly (I was lucky enough to be sent a sample). Unfortunately I didn’t really like the taste of vegetarian Percy Pigs (because of the cherry flavour rather than the texture) however, I really liked the veggie Colin the Caterpillars.

Better Bunny seem to have an identical texture to the Mark’s and Spencer varieties (I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re manufactured by the same company – especially since the M&S ones are also made in Germany) however the flavour is subtly different. I can’t describe exactly what the flavour is – but according to the ingredients, Better Bunny are made with 2.5% apple and elderberry fruit juices. I think the pink bunny is slightly tastier than the white one! I prefer Better Bunny to Veggie Percy, but think that Veggie Colin is still my favourite!

If want to try some Katjes Better Bunnies for yourself – they’re now available in Tesco (in the sweet aisle), priced at £1.48 for a 170 g bag.

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Following on from the success of their veggie Percy Pig sweets, Marks and Spencer have just launched some brand new gelatine-free Colin the Caterpillar sweets. This time, instead of tweaking the appearance of the existing non-veggie sweet (like with Percy pig, who was given a green ear), they have launched a whole new shape – by changing Colin the caterpillar into a butterfly. What a lovely idea!

Hopefully the new lime, orange and blackcurrant flavoured Colin the butterflies will be as attractive to non-veggies as they are to veggies! Let me know what you think when you have tried them.

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