The UK

Well it’s over a month since I said goodbye to Norway and returned to the place I used to call home, the UK. Life here seems quite unchanged. Walking into a store to be able to buy vegan options off the shelf felt a world away from what I had left. Each day consisting of planning menus from scratch and making sure I had the ingredients I needed from stores often an hours drive away. I must say the first few weeks I have lapsed a little into laziness. A carton of carrot and lentil soup, vegetable spring rolls and tofu stir fry from the local Chinese take-away, ready made hummus as often as I desired whilst waiting to buy a blender and I even enjoyed being able to pick up vegan wine, crisps and a whole host of things probably quite bad for me. I guess that’s called the settling in period!

I feel at home again now and the fridge is nicely stocked. I bought way too much on the first weekly shop for the family. All the veg I had not seen for years went straight in the trolley, it’s odd to get excited about green beans, curly kale and beansprouts but I don’t mind admitting my curious pleasure.

The children starting school and preschool was also a great experience. School dinners, courtesy of their schools vegetarian cook took away a year or two’s worry about the kids diet. In Norway Heidi would only eat bread at nursery, despite efforts to take in food for her. So each night we had to try and get all the needed nutrients into one meal – not easy. Now I know they are eating healthily and well. Heidi has put on weight and Miller needs to be dragged from the lunch table. On the odd night it’s good to know they can have beans on toast for their dinner at home and not feel guilty about it.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still tough to get vegan options everywhere, yet people seem more open than I remember. A local cafe in the small place where I live, selling breakfasts, offered to get us vegan sausages, a fair-trade cafe has opened in my parents town, selling hummus and carrot baguettes. It seems a long way away from last year in a large Norwegian town where all I could find to eat after an extensive search was a dry bread roll.

So as you can tell, I am enjoying the culinary diversity I can get here and have a feeling things are changing for the better. It doesn’t stop my friends saying ‘Bloody hell, what can I feed you?’, but I don’t mind so much now I am in the knowledge I can travel with a pot of hummus and some pita bread in my bag. I guess I’ll have to cook for them soon, although after a month off, maybe I need some practice!

I’ve also been living with no internet since leaving Norway and the break has done me good. I’ve written 3 kids books and been keeping up the yoga practice. Maybe I just have to find a happy balance.