Armed with a headband and her Lucy & Yak dungarees, Amy is the gal
behind Relish Vegan. Based in the ‘beautiful’ city of Bath, she’s gone from
culinary school to hosting supper clubs for our friends on their shared
hen-do (yep – 3 of them got married in the same year!)
I’ve had the pleasure of receiving one of her Brownie boxes which is such
a treat! Who would have thought you could get brownies delivered just like
letterbox flowers? Always got to have a true crime podcast on the go as well!
Food to me is a comfort and something to look forward to. I’m always thinking about and planning my next meal and since being vegan, food has become even more exciting than it ever was before!
Amy, Relish Vegan
What does food mean to you?
Food has always been a really important thing in my life as I think it gives your day structure (especially in quarantine!) and it’s a time where you can stop what you’re doing and just enjoy.
Do you genuinely cook every meal from scratch?
Absolutely not! I go through phases where I really do want to cook everything from scratch, but if I’ve been baking all day, I’m all about the ease. Nothing wrong with pre-made pastry or tomato sauces in my opinion (or a chippy tea!)
How do you create vegan recipes (do you use alternatives to non-vegan recipes? or start from the beginning)?
I always recommend to people, particularly when baking, to use a recipe that’s already veganised but alter it to fit. Vegan baking isn’t anywhere near as specific as normal baking so you do have a lot of freedom with swapping things in and out.
When it comes to savoury dishes a lot of the time I see a meaty recipe that I like the sound of but just switch out the meat for crispy tofu/meat alternative or swap the cream for vegan cream. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but most of the time it’s pretty tasty!
What was the first ever commissioned cake you made?
I think my first proper commissioned cake was for my close pal’s wedding (no pressure!) I’d always done ridiculous cakes for people’s birthdays but that was definitely one of the first one’s I was paid for and it was for two of my closest friends so it will always be really special to me.
You started supper clubs, is this something we can look forward to? How did the first one go?
Supper clubs were amazing! I’m such a feeder and it was a great opportunity to try new things and meet new people. The reason I stopped doing them was purely because I was getting too many cake orders to be able to do the 2+ days of prep that they required! I’d love to do them again in the future at some point because I think my cooking skills have really improved in the last two years. Watch this space.
Is cooking something you can get better at, in your opinion?
Short answer:
Longer answer: I do believe that the more you practice and the more you experiment, the better you get. If you do it often then you’re able to tell what things you can chuck in, what things work and what don’t, and whether or not something will taste nice. Once you’ve got a good repertoire of recipes I think it’s much easier to switch things in and out and build upon them.
The highlight for me was probably my first ever tiered wedding cake. I was absolutely terrified and watched about 103,348 videos on youtube on how to stack cakes. The fact that people trust you with such a huge thing and the incredible feedback that I got afterwards made it a real highlight for me.
Amy, Relish Vegan
What’s an ideal cooking environment?
For me I’m happiest when I’m in my nice open kitchen, door open, suns out and with a big pot of coffee.
What do you do to de stress?
We’re really lucky to live in the countryside so to destress I love to take the dog for a walk through the fields. It’s totally silent and there’s never anyone around and it’s blissful. I also watch a lot of vegan youtubers ‘what I eat in a day’ videos for inspiration!
Where is your favourite restaurant, locally and also abroad?
Locally, I’d have to say Nourish which is an incredible totally vegan restaurant here in Bath and their blossom fish in chips will never not blow me away.
Abroad, it’s gotta be T’s Tan Tan in Japan (if you know, you know!)
We are enjoying cooking up a storm! If you want irresistible food inspo then be sure to head to Relish Vegan’s website. We’re also following her recipes, time lapses and cooking tips on Relish Vegan’s Instagram @relish_vegan. It will not disappoint
