It started with a dare.
About a year ago a friend bet me I couldn't go a full Monday without eating meat. I'm not sure why that was the challenge — I think he assumed I'd cave by lunchtime. I didn't. In fact, I had one of the best meals I'd cooked in ages that evening: a big pot of lentil soup with crusty bread and a glass of wine.
The next Monday I tried again, this time intentionally. I found a mushroom curry recipe online, spent about 40 minutes in the kitchen, and ate something that genuinely surprised me with how satisfying it was.
By the third Monday it was a ritual. Over these 12 months I've built up a collection of recipes I actually look forward to making. That's when I started writing them down properly — first in a notebook, and now here.
I'm not a chef, a nutritionist, or an environmental scientist. I'm someone who loves food and cooking, who happened to stumble into a habit that turned out to be genuinely good — good for my health, my bank balance, and my conscience.
When I was 28, I became a vegetarian and committed to it for 12 years. During that time, I discovered a deep love for vegetarian cooking and the creativity it inspired. However, when Michelle and I decided to travel around Europe for two years, it became very difficult to maintain a vegetarian diet. Despite the challenges, I still enjoyed veggie food and wanted to keep it as a central part of my life.
"You don't have to be vegan to make a difference. You just have to be willing to try."— Paul