false-alarm
type: Note
content: False alarm. It's not all vegan, and whilst they do have a large range of (labelled) vegan sorbets, they don't have any vegan non-sorbet ice cream. Slightly disappointed.
in reply to: important
published: 2018-06-24T19:35:00+02:00
tag: sarajevo
tag: vegan
tag: food

georgian-dish
type: Note
content: There's this Georgian dish - ojakhuri, "family meal" - of potatoes slow cooked with mushrooms, and sometimes tomatoes, onions and slightly hot green peppers. I mean. They know what I like. (The mushroom version is the weirdo alternative to pork, obviously, but common everywhere.) On a related note I have extreme potato bloat right now.
published: 2018-07-14T16:15:00+04:00
tag: georgia
tag: vegan
tag: food
tag: travel

khinkali-2
type: Note
content: Me: I would like potato khinkali please. Waiter: :o but you're alone and the minimum order is five Me: My good sir, let me tell you about the time I ate ten khinkali. (in case you were wondering, I ate all the khinkali. And a salad. And then the waiter hit on me and I ran away. But the important part of this story is KHINKALI)
published: 2018-07-27T23:32:00+04:00
tag: travel
tag: food
tag: vegan
tag: georgia

lobiani
type: Note
content: I discover a new kind of lobiani every day.
published: 2018-07-26T09:35:00+04:00
tag: vegan
tag: travel
tag: food
tag: georgia

port
type: Note
content: Gooood morning from... still the port of Batumi. After a reasonable but short sleep, an announcement at 7am sent us down for passport control, where we got stamped out of Georgia (and they kept our passports). Two hours later.. at 8am Ukrainian time (this boat runs on Ukrainian time obviously) we were summoned for breakfast.. which was a small plate of some of the worst looking non-foods I have ever seen (plastic omelet, a distressing pink sausage..). I ate my single slice of tomato and cucumber, drank tea with lemon (there isn't even coffee) and couldn't even make myself eat the terrible white bread. Fortunately I massively overstocked on supplies so I actually won't starve. (There's no wifi but I still have 3G because.. we're still in Georgia. Still.)
published: 2018-07-29T09:36:00+04:00
tag: vegan
tag: food
tag: georgia
tag: ferry
tag: travel

tales-from-the-black-sea
type: Article
content: Walking to the port from Batumi is not super easy. It's not far - about 20 minutes from the cable car - but not a pedestrian friendly route. Also the layout of the roads is different from what I could see on maps.me. If you think you can follow the road around, you can for a while until the pavement literally crumbles into nothing. I traipsed through smashed up concrete on the side of the road for a while, as I thought that was the only way, but eventually it was just fenced off, just as the road starts sloping up and curving around to the left. It's a big and busy highway, so I didn't fancy walking along the side of the road. I contemplated squeezing past the fence, but then wondered if I'd fare better on the other side of the road, presuming of course I'd be able to cross back again when I reached the actual port. By this point there was a large bollard in the middle of the road, so I backed up to where the pavement was whole again, and there was no bollard, and crossed. It became apparently on this side that the road forked; one sort of side road, which initially I thought was more of a layby for trucks, ran alongside the main highway. There was clearly no pavement on the other side of the highway either, so I walked along the layby road a little way.. and a little further. I'm not sure why some instinct told me to keep going, even though it was really not clear where it led, because this turned out to be right way. The layby turned into a real road which went under the curving highway and.. led to the port! There wasn't any real footpath here either, but it was much much less busy than the other road, and vehicles that did pass were going a lot slower. Under the bridge/highway there was a carpark of sorts; pass straight across that and over the next road, and the ferry waiting area appears. It was visible due to the huddle of other soggy passengers under a small shelter. I saw two friendly looking people with bikes, and confirmed they are waiting for the ferry. …
name: Tales from the Black Sea (aka the ferry from Batumi to Odesa)
published: 2018-07-31T15:32:00+03:00
tag: vegan
tag: ukraine
tag: georgia
tag: travel
tag: ferry
tag: transit
tag: life
tag: food

tbilisi
type: Note
content: I made it to Tbilisi a little late (it should be a 6.5 hour bus from Batumi), because the bus stopped for a few silly reasons. Little things like cows in the road.. roof is leaking rain.. side of the bus opened and suitcases flew out and had to be rescued from mountainside.. Then I accidentally didn't get out in the city center - because I didn't think the bus was stopping in the city center. And ended up at a bus station in the south I was entirely unprepared for. I found myself surrounded by taxi drivers, one of whom told me there is no metro connection here. He may have been biased, but it sure looked like a wasteland. My general desire not to get into a taxi had the effect of reducing taxi prices by 5 GEL every minute until I gave in and took a taxi to the old town. This was still not the right place, and I walked through the rain to the vegan cafe, to plan the rest of my night. (Current status: pizza coma.)
published: 2018-07-15T20:58:00+04:00
tag: vegan
tag: georgia
tag: travel
tag: bus

tomatoes
type: Note
content: Georgia's fresh tomato game is very strong, but pickling them whole is next level. (And they make a great midnight snack.)
published: 2018-07-26T00:08:00+04:00
tag: vegan
tag: food
tag: travel
tag: georgia

vegan-in-georgia
type: Article
content: "Shemomechama" is a Georgian phrase, translating roughly to the passive "it happened that I ate everything." I like to think of it as "I accidentally all the food." Which is very much what happened during my two weeks in Georgia. Traditional (or, some would argue, modern-tourist-adapted-traditional) Georgian food is actually vegan heaven. When you peer around the meat and cheese, you discover a whole world of beans, bread, potatoes and mushrooms. They do great things with veggies, particularly aubergine, and I've never had such spectacular and simple salads. My usual 'vegan in' posts are a list of places to eat, but in this case I'm going to do a list of dishes, most of which you can get in any random Georgian restaurant you find on the street. At the end I'll also list a few places across Tbilisi and Batumi that I thought were particularly good. Other things to note about Georgian cuisine is that it's generally served family-style.. that is, huge plates, ideal for sharing. If you're eating on your own, you really must resist ordering many dishes even if they look like sides because this is too much food. If you're with a group though - even a meat-eating group - it's ace. Because so many totally normal common side dishes and well-loved mains are vegan! On more than one occasion I sat back and let other people order a bunch of stuff, and there was always stuff I could eat. Fasting One of the reasons Georgian food is so vegan-friendly is because of the Orthodox fasting periods. Wednesdays, Fridays, and many many special occasions, many adopt essentially a pesca-vegan diet - they can't have any food from land animals. As a result, many restaurants have a 'fasting menu', or at least understand the concept of vegan if you ask if something is okay for fasting. And since Georiga is not the kind of country to add secret fish to things, ordering anything from a fasting menu that isn't explicitly fish is pretty safe. Lobio Lobio is bean stew. It comes in a clay pot, and is d…
name: Shemomechama (Vegan in Georgia)
published: 2018-07-29T01:46:00+04:00
tag: travel
tag: food
tag: vegan
tag: georgia

week-in-review-5
type: Article
content: Returned to Tbilisi from the Rachuli mountains. Ate much more food. Did a walking tour, went on the cable car, walked to the giant cathedral. Took a train from Tbilisi to Batumi. Holed up in a nice AirBnB apartment for a few days to work and chill. Went on the Batumi cable car too. Ferry delayed; one night in a hostel. Boarded the ferry to Ukraine, and lived on it in the port for 12 hours and counting..
name: Week in review: 23 - 29 July
published: 2018-07-29T10:10:10+04:00
tag: food
tag: georgia
tag: week+in+review
tag: travel
tag: vegan
tag: ferry

peanut-milk
type: Note
content: I thought I'd tried all the plant milks by now but yesterday I discovered PEANUT MILK and yes it was everything I dreamed.
published: 2018-08-03T09:22:00+03:00
tag: food
tag: https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/vegan

vegan-in-ukraine
type: Article
content: One evening I spent with a table full of locals, including a variety of dietary preferences, trying to think of a Ukrainian dish that was ordinarily vegan. The criteria being that you could walk into any Ukrainian restaurant and order it without modification. Nobody could come up with anything. The closest we got was borsch without meat - nobody was sure how common it would be, but seemed fairly confident you can request it without. And you need to make sure they leave it to you to add sour cream, and don't dollop it on for you. Someone said they were sure in some places varenyky (dumplings) must be vegan, but I understood the traditional recipe for the dough to involve both eggs and sour cream. Nonetheless, there were a handful of lovely vegan cafes in Odes and Lviv, so I did not starve to death. Vegano Hooligano (Odesa) There are two branches, though I only visited the one closest to the train station. The food is healthy Asian-inspired-fusion. A variety of soups, wraps, burgers, salad bowls and cakes, featuring lots of tofu. Also an extensive drinks and breakfast menu. I ate in a couple of times and took food to go on the train. There's an English menu, and one of the waiters was very friendly and happy to speak English. There's power and wifi, and plenty of seating, and they take card. Zelen (Odesa) A vegetarian cafe near the train station... which was not open during the hours on happycow. True (Odesa) A fancy feeling place, pescatarian, with everything well labelled and an emphasis on health. Lots of raw dishes, and many of those containing honey can be veganised. I took the waitress's recommendation and ate a very delicious mushroom steak with lentils. It was a pretty big portion. Also latte with hazelnut milk. Agrus (Lviv) A vegan (except for occasional honey) bakery 30 seconds from my hostel. I had breakfast here several times and afternoon snacks too. There is a lot of space, power and wifi, and they also sell various eco products like bags. On one occasio…
name: Vegan in Ukraine
published: 2018-08-07T09:30:00+03:00
tag: ukraine
tag: vegan
tag: food
tag: travel

aesthetic
type: Note
content: Why is the aesthetic of vape shops globally the same as vegan restaurants?
published: 2018-09-14T14:18:00+03:00
tag: life
tag: vegan

curonian-spit
type: Article
content: Remember that time I walked to the (Kaliningrad) Russian border from Poland? I wanted to do that again, from the Lithuanian side. This is a slightly longer ordeal, requiring better transportation than feet. Long story short, I didn't actually make it to the border, but I did see it from the top of a sand dune. I got pretty close though. Anyway, I'm sure that border is less exciting than the Polish one, because you can actually cross it (in a car, not on foot). The Curonian Spit is not connected to Klaipeda, but the ferry takes 5 minutes. They run every hour, from 0700 out, up to 2215 returning. It costs 1 EUR return for foot passengers, or passengers with a bike, and you can buy tickets from the machines at the port in Klaipeda old town. I rented a bike from my hostel for 24 hours for 5 EUR (we managed to lower the seat all the way so I could just about use it). Most bike rental places in town are 10-12 EUR. The spit is well furnished with cycle paths, in various states of decay, but mostly well-maintained. This route is pretty popular. The northern most coast is an enormous long sandy beach. Very glorious. It's backed by epic dunes, and you can only access it at designated points from cycle paths running down the middle, because tramping around on the dunes is a no-no. Large portions of the spit are also do-not-enter nature reserves. After I got off the ferry in Smiltyne, first I went right/east (not the direction of Kaliningrad) to check out the other end of the spit for completeness. There's a sea museum, a dolphinarium (ugh) and the start of the beautiful beach. I pushed my bike along the beach for a while, which wasn't so bad on the wet sand, until I could join one of the main cycle paths, peeking out between the dunes. It was easy sailing for a while; the path was in good repair, and either flat or any ups were well compensated with excellent downs. It weaves through the forest, with views of dunes on the right and pine trees on the left, or sometimes trees on…
name: Cycling the Curonian Spit
published: 2018-09-11T14:17:00+03:00
tag: vegan
tag: curonian+spit
tag: travel
tag: lithuania
tag: cycling

vegan-in-estonia
type: Article
content: Tallinn There are a small number of veg*n places in Tallinn, and many places are vegan friendly. Loads of regular coffee shops and cafes clearly mark vegan options on their menu; varying quality though, if the reviews on happycow are anything to go by. Also many homemade ice cream shops have vegan flavours. Despite staying there for a few weeks I didn't actually try them all (I was having a budgetarily-challenged month, for a start). Food in Tallinn is fairly cheap overall, but the vegan places are a bit pricier, and cafes and coffeeshops in the old town certainly are. I mostly cooked for myself. Groceries Biomarket seemed like a good candidate for vegan supplies, but actually there was very little specialist stuff there, and it was pretty expensive. They have bulk grains and organic food. But many of the same things can be found for much cheaper in regular supermarkets. Plant milks are common in all supermarkets, but not particularly cheap. Rimi is the cheapest for everything. You'd be hard pressed to find a litre for less than €2, but you might if you shop around for special offers. The food shop in the basement of Solaris has a good selection of not-meats and not-cheeses, and other vegan goodies. They're in their own dedicated display near the front of the store. Everything else here is more expensive than Rimi though. Vegan mayo in a squashy packet can be found in Solaris for 79c and Rimi for 65c. This is the cheapest vegan mayo I've ever seen. The sachet is not as big as a jar but one lasted me for 3 weeks. Tofu seems to be expensive everywhere. I never found it, but apparently if you look hard enough it's cheap in Rimi. Veg Machine Behind Balti Jaam train station, through the market and into the main hall on the left. It's a small stand with a few seats and healthy all-vegan junk food. The pulled sweet potato burger looks fantastic. But for €4 I had a cheesy tofu melt sandwich. Toormoor Also in Balti Jaam, right behind the fruit market in the entrance, this is…
name: Vegan in Estonia
published: 2018-09-05T22:00:00+03:00
tag: tartu
tag: helsinki
tag: travel
tag: food
tag: vegan
tag: estonia
tag: tallinn

wrong
type: Article
content: Holy Donut has this thing called a 'freak shake', one of which is vegan. It looks fantastic in the picture and description so finally I managed to give it a try. The only thing 'freak' about it though is how many things are wrong with it. Get it together people. Issue 1: They were out of coconut cream. No dairy cream is not okay. So okay, I go without. I resent that it's still more expensive than the non-vegan ones though. Issue 2: The chocolate crumbs were glued to the inside of the glass, with chocolate. How am I supposed to eat this? I object to such delicious chocolatey goodness being used solely for decoration. I chipped them off with my spoon and made a mess everywhere. Issue 3: Chocolate may look good swirled around the outside of the glass, but it set rock solid in the cold soy milk. I made a lot of noise and not much progress chipping away at it with my spoon. I. Want. To. Eat. The. Chocolate. Issue 4: The menu advertises 'lots of bananas'. There was only half a banana involved in the whole affair. How can I count this as a portion of fruit now? I spent a long time eating this milkshake and eventually got most of the chocolate out. It was a loud and messy process, and people definitely looked at me funny. In conclusion: I do not recommend the Holy Donut 'freak shake'. Also it was €7 which is EXCESSIVE. I had such high hopes.
name: Everything wrong with this Holy Donut milkshake
published: 2018-09-24T20:20:00+03:00
tag: holy+donut
tag: vegan
tag: food

vegan
type: Collection
total items: 573

https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/vegan
type: CollectionPage
items: wrong
items: aesthetic
items: curonian-spit
items: vegan-in-estonia
items: vegan-in-ukraine
items: peanut-milk
items: tales-from-the-black-sea
items: week-in-review-5
items: port
items: vegan-in-georgia
items: khinkali-2
items: lobiani
items: tomatoes
items: tbilisi
items: georgian-dish
items: false-alarm
name: vegan
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