I have just successfully extracted myself from the self-induced food coma which I have been languishing in for the past few days. I’ve removed myself by choosing not to have Quality Street for breakfast, but to instead have a fruit tea and a banana.
Christmas is a time of giving eating. But this year was different to former times, because this was the first year that my wife and I were going to sit down to a vegan Christmas Dinner. Early last year I watched Cowspiracy, and I’ve been off meat and milk since then. I have had the odd bit of cheese and butter, because frankly eating out in Switzerland if you are anything other than an omnivore, is nigh on impossible (we’re on the French side… Zurich is much easier).
In the UK, where I was brought up and have spent all but two Christmases, the lunch (we call it dinner) is all about the turkey. This stuffed bird is often accompanied by gammon, or perhaps pigs in blankets. Either way, the focus is the meat.
This year, however, we went for a veg fest and it was fabulous. We served up a peanut and cranberry roast, with parsnips, roast potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, leeks in vegan-cheese sauce and stuffing balls. It was delicious, and made a damn fine Bubble and Squeak the next day too.
But it got me thinking, could I have grown everything that I ate on my plate? Sure, they’re wouldn’t have been much space left on the balcony perhaps, but in April we are moving to a new house with a 375m2 garden… surely that would be big enough?
So that’s the plan, alongside my wheat project, I’m also going to be planning on growing my own Christmas dinner. I like the way this is going, and I like being occupied with a number of simultaneous projects. If you like the sound of that, then great, it is likely to be the steer that this blog needs over the coming year or so.
In the meantime, I’m off to research and plan my vegetable plot for next year with the new Christmas project in mind. But before I toddle, I couldn’t resist sharing a picture of my Christmas Dinner. It was every bit as tasty as it looks…
Merry Christmas and wishing you a happy and healthy 2017!
Leave a Reply