IndyEats goes live for Veganuary expert panel event

Hannah Twiggs hosted our first IndyEats virtual event to discuss all things vegan with Bettina Campolucci Bordi and Rohini Bajekal

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

With the Veganuary 31-day challenge about to pass its 2 million signup mark, more people are aware of plant-based lifestyles than ever before. But knowing where to begin can still be a minefield, even if you’ve dipped your toe into the diet before.

At our first IndyEats event this week, we spoke to Bettina Campolucci Bordi and Rohini Bajekal, a plant-based cook and nutritionist respectively, about all the ways you can make Veganuary, and a vegan lifestyle beyond January, work for you.

Bettina shared an excellent starter recipe with us: her chickpea omelette, which uses a combination of chickpea flour, bicarbonate of soda, apple cider vinegar and salt to replicate the texture of the egg. It’s also a great way to use up whatever veg you’ve got leftover in the fridge, and it’s super affordable.

This led us into a discussion of what other alternatives were out there. Cheese was the number one concern for our audience - how to live with the fake stuff, or how to live without it altogether. Thankfully, Bettina had another recipe up her sleeve for that. Her truffle cashew cheese was a big hit with James Martin on his TV show as we saw, and it’s definitely one you should try at home.

Rohini talked us through the nutrition side of things, including how to make sure you’re getting enough protein, calcium and other nutrients you might be missing. The main takeaway from this was to eat as many whole foods as you can, and try to ensure you have a balanced diet.

We were also able to address some questions from the audience, including how to make veganism work for your family, how to ease into it, and is there a good vegan Yorkshire pudding recipe out there? Spoilers, we have one here.

Watch the full event recording below