Try it out Vegan gourmet cooking

SPEND A DAY LEARNING A NEW SKILL. MINDFUL AND MIND FULL ( IN A GOOD WAY)

YOU MIGHT THINK there’s little point in going on a vegan cookery course if you’re not even vegetarian but if, like me, you want to include more plant-based foods in your diet and cook more imaginatively without using meat, then you’ll find inspiration in bounds.

For an education in meat-free cooking, you can’t get much better than Demuths Cookery School in Bath and my course mates came from far and wide. Our day course was ‘Vegan Gourmet’ and we were given the task of creating a restaurant-standard menu with a mix of demos and plenty of practical work in the spacious, light-filled kitchen.

We started by chopping and pickling veg for kimchi (a great thing to have in your fridge to give stir fries and soups extra oomph) and a fennel, carrot and lime salad, then went on to make malfatti (spinach gnocchi) using homemade soya ricotta – made with soya milk and lemon juice and a (cheese-free) basil, hazelnut pesto.

Desserts can be tricky for vegans and everybody was amazed at how delicious our vanilla cashew icecream was and that meringues made from chickpea water (yes, really) looked and tasted like the real thing.

There’s a lot to get through, but you learn loads and pick up bags of tips and ideas on flavour combinations and cooking methods from very inspiring and encouraging teachers. And the best thing is you get to sit down and eat everything you’ve made at the end with your lovely new friends and a glass of wine or two.