Seriously the phrase of the century from Nanna in the Royle family. As a vegetarian for almost thirty years now, it’s my experience that this does still epitomise many people’s vision of a veggie… My own darling Nanna once presented me with a quiche Lorraine and said she’d left the ham nice and chunky so I could pick it out if I wanted.

But the seas are now changing. More people are coming around to either being a full time ‘vegetable-arian’ as my best friend calls me, or indeed a part time one, eating veggie a few nights a week. The health benefits are well documented and even Jamie Oliver is championing it now, which I was overjoyed to see this week.

What I desperately want people to realise is that eating veggie is not boring, it’s not dull, and you absolutely don’t need to be scared when you accidentally invite one to your dinner party. I’ve had several panicked phone calls over the years from people saying ‘I’ve invited The Jones’ for dinner and it turns out she’s a blasted vegetarian? What on earth am I going to give her? Salad??!!!’ It’s very easy and simple to make a veggie version of many family favourites.

My darling hairdresser became a veggie last year and no joke, he told me he’s eaten pasta every day for the last twelve months as he doesn’t know what else to do… I’m forever writing out my own cobbled together recipes for people, I’ve been told I need to write a book. That’s on the back burner for now, or my to-do list as it’s also known.

It is possible to be a vegetarian foodie you know…

Why oh why do I still see restaurants with a non existent vegetarian offering? You might lose a booking of ten people if one is a veggie and there’s nothing they can eat, they’ll book somewhere else for everyone. Come on people, get with the program here. And something more than a mushroom stroganoff thank you please. Oh and no I absolutely don’t want tagliatelle on a Sunday when everyone else is eating roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.

So over the coming months I am going to share with you some of my most favourite veggie recipes. Ones that even my carnivorous comrades request over and over when they visit. And things that you can make in no time at all. This is fast food at its best and ready in less time than it takes for you to go and pick up a take away.

Eat veggie one, or two, or every day of the week, the choice is yours. Try it, you might like it 😉