For Vegan Food Month my post will be about something very important to me – meat!
I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years and vegan for much of that, yet as a natural carnivore with constant cravings for flesh (and lover of meat substitute of all kinds), I was intrigued and couldn’t resist a trip to The Vegetarian Butcher concept store, in The Hague, full of the finest vegetarian “meat” around.
I happened to be there for a meeting recently, so on my way back to Amsterdam, where I stayed at the eco conscious and vegan friendly Albus Hotel (see my review on Ethical Hedonist soon), I popped in to see what the Veg Butcher was all about…
I was greeted by Paul, the chef , who isn’t even a vegetarian, but proclaimed that since he opened the Butcher 4 years ago and he has cut down on meat consumption, he feels much healthier. Like me, the Dutch are lovers of the taste of meat and The Vegetarian Butcher caters to them, by creating very true tasting alternatives. Although only about 50% of the products are vegan (whey and egg are used in some), my favorite, which is vegan, was the chicken, it seemed so real I was amazed.
Paul admits the products are still a processed food, but they are much healthier than eating too much meat. They also add iron and B12 to the protein rich items, which are all frozen to cut out the need for preservatives, to ensure they fulfil all your nutritional, as well as taste and texture needs.
Just what any good vegan fashionista needs, right?
Yours in a vegan meat frenzy.
Ms Tammam
