When the fog started to lift, I wanted to find ways to get my energy levels back up, and so I started to research more into food and the impact your diet can have on you physically, mentally & emotionally.

When I lived in London, cooking was never a priority for me. Sure, I dabbled. I actually baked much more than I cooked – baking was stress-relieving for me, and my colleagues enjoying my food was a great reward. But cooking dinners… When I got into it, I loved it, I just never prioritised it. My ex and I used to cook on the weekend – we’d make sushi, big comfort dishes or try and recreate our favourite restaurant dishes, but I was never passionate about it. It’s likely the London lifestyle fed heavily into that – on any given day of the week there was a chance a last minute offer would come up – a couple of pints after work, grabbing dinner with a friend or any other randomness that the beautiful city of London would throw at me.

Then I moved to LA and things started to change. At first out of necessity – I had no friends here to be able to grab dinners with! So I started to get a little more into cooking things at home – experimenting with the different styles and influences of cooking here (hello Mexican) as well as ingredients that were more readily available (avocados, I’m looking at you). I lived by myself for 7 months and it was great to have a kitchen all to myself. I was still buying lunch however and as my social life grew, once again cooking got pushed to the wayside a little. I moved into house-shares after this point and although I was still dabbling – cooking my tried and tested chilli & lasagne recipes, as well as discovering new ideas like a garlicy-creamy avocado pasta sauce – I still didn’t feel that spark ignite. I was wasting SO much money and although I was living a much healthier life in LA, as I got older I started to realise how… bleh I felt.

Then I moved to an apartment by myself. Everything changed. I obsessed about making my apartment the perfect home for me. I stocked my kitchen with gadgets galore (ask ANY of my friends) – anything that would make my life easier and start to encourage me to be more adventurous. My rent went up significantly and I knew I needed to be at home more to save the money I needed for the extra rent. I invested a not-inconsequential amount of time, money and emotional expense on making my home my haven. And it worked – I started to really enjoy cooking. I played around with slow cooker recipes. I made various taco fillings. I got into baking again. I finally found my kitchen mojo.

About 18 months ago, I was struggling with low energy and lethargy. I didn’t necessarily realise it at the time, but I was going through a short but sharp phase of depression. When the fog started to lift, I wanted to find ways to get my energy levels back up, and so I started to research more into food and the impact your diet can have on you physically, mentally & emotionally. I knew I wanted and needed to get more whole foods and a better and wider variety of vegetables into my diet (I have historically been TERRIBLE at eating veg!) It was around this time I discovered Thug Kitchen (on a recommendation from a dear friend) and as soon as the book was delivered I was hooked on plant-based cooking.

I’m going to interject on myself a little here and make a few clarifications, because I suspect there may be a few eye-rolls or glazed over expressions at that last sentence. I am not vegan. I do not believe that plant-based food can replace medical treatment or guidance for health issues. I am not on a diet. I do not believe in diets. I still eat like shit (I literally just had McDonald’s for lunch!). I have never really cooked with meat – I don’t like doing so and have been eating veggie substitutes for meats since I was around 10 years old.

BUT I have been on a food journey that I have loved. I have found that getting really excited and passionate about cooking (both regular and plant-based food) has had a significant impact on my physical and mental health. I would say I eat about a 95% vegetarian diet (and this has been the same for decades), and probably 40-50% vegan. I don’t label myself, I don’t judge others and I try my hardest not to judge myself. I also do believe in the environmental impact of eating less meat and dairy products – but you do not need to cut it out entirely if you don’t want to.

I’m excited to write a little more about food. I’m very excited to share my favourite cookbooks and recipes. I’m interested to hear more about others’ relationships with food, cooking, what helps them feel better about themselves and to take any tips and advice.

I’m just really excited to continue learning about and loving food!

Catdog xx