The Green V

Myself, the lovely couple from the BelgiumVeganEats Instagram page, and Lorena from The Happy Vegan Bakery had the opportunity to taste test the menu before the inaugural vegan brunch that took place at Cafe Velvet yesterday. In my line of work, I spend a lot of time writing and working on my laptop, mostly from home, so I don’t actually tend to meet many people in ‘real life’, which is why it was so lovely to chat with other bloggers and of course Ilse Geyskens, the founder of Cafe Velvet, and to hear her story. Cafe Velvet offers various vegan options anyway, including cake and oat milk (my favourite type of plant milk! ), so it was a natural progression to test the waters and see whether a vegan brunch menu would be something that the locals would be interested in. I was so impressed with the quality of the food at Cafe Velvet, especially as a great deal of time, thought and effort had gone into the creation of a fantastic vegan brunch menu.

As I write this, it’s the final day of a little mini-break to Lisbon, that I arranged for Mr Green V’s 30th birthday! It’s no secret that I hate winter, I suffer from SAD, and with an olive skin tone and North African roots, I need a hearty dose of Vitamin D to keep me feeling my best. Lisbon is a really vegan-friendly city, and I’ve been surprised at just how well many places catered to vegans (especially as veganism wasn’t a factor in booking the holiday, it was just a place We’ve been staying at the gorgeous Dear Lisbon Gallery House, which kindly upgraded our room and gifted us a bottle of port as a treat for Mr Green V’s birthday.

I wanted to share this article that I wrote for Vegan Food & Living Magazine as I think it offers some practical help for those of us who want to do a little more for the vegan movement. I’m sure when you think back to the start of your vegan journey, there was a moment when you encountered a form of vegan activism. A non-vegan might think we only eat at 100% vegan eateries, that we can’t enjoy traditional-style food on holiday and that if we do eat at a non-vegan place we’ll end up with chips and lettuce. Chat to local food places (or even reach out to new places or restaurants you’ve eaten in a couple of times) to see if they would consider adding a permanent vegan option (if they haven’t already).