The Game Changers - Get Tickets Now!

Long awaited is an understatement for the release of the film The Game Changers.  We first heard of the film back in February 2018, and with its European premiere announced to be not long after that, we were expecting to have seen it many months ago.  Seventeen months on we hear the news that we can finally all get a chance to see it at its 'Global' premiere on 16th September.  Better still for us, the premiere is making it to our Cornish shores, along with dozens of other venues across the country.  Tickets are now on sale.

Why are we so hyped about this film?  Well it is a film that is pushing in a completely different direction to most other films so far that have extolled the virtues of a plant based diet.  Cowspiracy, What The Health, Earthlings; they have all had a massive affect in promoting and demonstrating why a plant based vegan diet is holistically advantageous. The Game Changers takes this to a different level; literally, with a roll call of top sporting names who have reached the peak of their performance through a plant based diet and without the animal protein myth being held up as a necessity in order to do so.  Top of their game winners included in the film are Lewis Hamilton and recent repeat Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic.  Sadly Fiona Oakes, British distance runner and four times world marathon record holder, didn't make the final edit whilst Tim Shieff, once Ninja Warrior winner and freerunner star, has presumably been edited out due to his decision since the shooting of the film to abandon his vegan lifestyle amid personal claims it hindered his performance.  I guess we will all be watching the result of that one closely.

As fairly active people ourselves, and long term vegans, we have a particular interest in The Game Changers.  Although far from elite in our sporting endeavours, we'd like to think that our diet choice has at least contributed to what activities we do attempt, especially in our slightly more advanced years.  I'm prone to deciding to go for a reasonably lengthy run at times without a huge amount of training beforehand (like the day I decided to run the whole 17 miles of the Camel Trail just because).  There is no doubt that mental attitude has a lot to do with it but how much is diet a factor too?  It seems that The Game Changers may offer a whole lot of scientifically researched answers to that question and more.  

The Game Changers also offers another platform for well known and respected vegans to promote the benefits of a plant based diet and, in this case, in a very dramatic and powerful way.  It would be extremely hard for long term doubters to argue that you couldn't survive and thrive on a plant based diet when you have world champion sportsmen and women facing you down!  

For details on how to get your hands on tickets, check out The Game Changers website but be quick as it seems it is going to be a one night wonder on 16th September.  Venues are listed for the whole of the UK with the only offering in Cornwall at the time of writing being at the Lighthouse Cinema in Newquay (luckily for us only 5 miles away but we would have travelled for this one!).  There is mention of Wadebridge and St Austell viewings (confusingly listed as St Austell, Newquay on the site!) but as of yet the only tickets that you can seem to purchase are for the Newquay viewing.  Of course we have already got ours for the best seats in the house!  See you there!

Japizza!

Sometimes food inspiration strikes seemingly out of nowhere, and you just have to go with it.  This was the case recently when my love of Japanese and Italian food combined to form the idea of creating a Japanese inspired pizza.  After all, if noodles can travel from China to Italy as the legend goes, then why can't pizza travel from Italy to Japan?  And if a pizza can be made 'Hawaiian' for example, simply by adding a slice of pineapple or two, then why not?  The ideas started to form.  It had to have a sourdough base, because pretty much everything dough based in our house is made the sourdough way now.  Then it had to include a few Japanese inspired toppings like tofu, miso, seaweed, aubergines, mushrooms, and spring onions.  So far so good, whatever happened it should be edible at least.

As I was making the sourdough bases I couldn't decide on toppings, and had more than enough ideas for one pizza, so decided to make two instead.  One seaweed based, and one with the tomato sauce replaced with miso tahini spread, a macrobiotic favourite.  They turned out to be quite different from each other, and yet both were tasty enough to want to make again soon.  The miso tahini spread one in particular was very 'cheesy', and Scooby said, "it tastes more cheesy than cheese".  The seaweed based one tasted very much 'of the sea'.  Both were very clean tasting, and went well with a couple of simple salads, one simply of lettuce and mayo, and a carrot one included below.  These experiments yielded some good results, and these won't be the last Japizzas we make!

At the time I had no idea if there was such a thing as a Japanese pizza, but had heard of Okonomiyaki which is sometimes called Japanese pizza, even though the main resemblance is the shape. It's more like an omelette though, and is based around eggs, cabbage, cheese, and mayonnaise.  Maybe that could be veganised and revisited another time?  I have since learnt that the Japanese do in fact have a few fusion versions of pizzas, but they are hard to source outside the big cities, and usually consist of seafood based ingredients, as well as having the usual Italian staples on offer.  Could this possibly be the first vegan Japanese fusion pizza ever?  We will now keep our eyes peeled for mentions of Japanese pizza on social media, but remember... you saw it here first!

Seaweed Tofu Aubergine Pizza

Pizza base (we made our own sourdough ones)

Seaweed tartare/paste (we used Marinoe brought back from Brittany but a U.K. alternative might be Parsons Laverbread

1 finely chopped spring onion

Thin (5mm) slices of tofu (we used half a block of Taifun smoked almond and sesame)

Thin (5mm) aubergine slices (approx. half an aubergine)

A drizzle of oil

Spread the seaweed tartare/laverbread on your base, and sprinkle the chopped spring onion over this.  Add the slices of tofu and aubergine, and add a drizzle of oil on top.  Cook in a hot oven for 15-20 mins.

Miso Tahini Pizza with Mushrooms, Peppers, and Aubergines

Pizza base

Miso tahini spread (mix 2 tbsp miso, 1 tbsp tahini, 2 tbsp water, and half a spring onion finely chopped).

4 thin aubergine slices

2 medium mushrooms sliced

1/2 a red romano pepper sliced

A drizzle of oil

Spread the miso tahini sauce on the base, add an aubergine slice in each quarter, and add the sliced mushrooms and peppers on top.  Add a drizzle of oil, and cook in a hot oven for 15-20 mins.

Carrot Salad

8 carrots grated

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 1/2 tbsp brown rice vinegar

1 tbsp Tamari soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp Nori seaweed flakes

Mix everything together and let sit to marinate for 30 mins before serving.

Enjoy!

A Rush of Raspberries and a Resulting Random Dessert

We are having the best crop of raspberries we've ever had. Even sharing them with our local mama blackbird isn't a problem as there is more than enough for all of us (okay we admit it would have been hard for us to have disputed that anyway given that we have the option of dropping to the local shops for our food and she hasn't!).  It's nice to share though (I might have to have a word about our smaller supply of strawberries with her though).

Every day we have more to pick.  Some are making it into morning smoothies, some popped straight into the mouth and some squirrelled away in the freezer for out of season fruity treats.  This evening though I decided to busk it and use some with an impromptu dessert.  I only had what we had in our cupboards to work with but given that our cupboards always seem to have an ample supply of random ingredients, it wasn't too hard.  I had also enjoyed a glass or two of chilled vino blanco in the sunny garden beforehand so ease of dessert recipe was quite important too.

Here is what happened........

Get In There Before Mama Blackbird Raspberry Dessert

Take a small handful of raspberries and drop into the bottom of a glass.  Drizzle with some Vegan Honea.  Let's see, what happened next?...... Ah yes, I chopped up some hazelnuts and chucked them on top.  I then spooned about 4 teaspoons of The Almond Collaborative 'Yoghurt' on top.  Then I decided to add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar (we had some rather lovely hazelnut balsamic at hand for this).  Then I sprinkled on top some porridge oats and followed it with a pouring of Creamy Oatly Single Cream.  Somehow I thought that a drizzle of maple syrup would round it off.  I was naughty but not wrong.  Pop into the fridge and then eat as desired.  Enjoy!