V Café Shows That Veganism is Becoming an Institution

Published on: 16 May, 2019
Updated on: 18 May, 2019

Veggie food is now mainstream – and veganism is heading the same way

Ash Aspect reporter David Reading pays a visit to Guildford’s new vegetarian café and considers the current trend towards veganism.

You could say I started my career in the catering industry. Well actually, I was a washer-upper at the City Café in Guildford for a few months in the late 1960s. This was the small restaurant run by my grandfather, George Reading, in Onslow Street.

The staple items on the menu included oxtail soup, steak and kidney pie, lamb chops and ham, egg and chips. We were all meat eaters then. How things have changed. You are no longer considered a freak if you tell people you’re fond of beetroot burgers. And ordering a soya latte is completely normal behaviour.

Chefs Nick Humble (left) and Ian Loffel – the creative force behind V Cafe.

Here in Guildford, the opening of a new vegetarian café that also caters for vegans is just one of the signs of radical changes in people’s eating habits. V Café is joining a trend towards plant-based food driven by people’s concerns about good health, climate change and animal welfare.

The café is situated at the Guildford Institute in Ward Street and takes over from Beano’s, the much loved veggie café that closed in December 2018 after 37 years.

Although veggie catering is nothing new, the present trend towards veganism does mark a further shift in direction. The interest in the Veganuary campaign, in which omnivores and vegetarians sign up annually to try out veganism for a month, shows how fast veganism is growing.

Staff in action during a busy lunchtime

Given this level of interest, V Café seems likely to thrive. The team is led by chefs Nick Humble and Ian Loffel, who have been friends since they were at secondary school together in Middlesex in the early 1970s. Both have been high-flyers in catering.

Nick has 40 years’ experience in the industry and has held top positions such as catering manager for KPMG, which required him and his team to deliver thousands of covers daily. Ian also has an extensive catering background, which includes the role of chef at both The Savoy and Claridge’s.

Nick, who describes himself as a flexitarian (someone who primarily follows a veggie diet but occasionally eats meat or fish) said: “Clearly there has been a dramatic move towards vegetarian food over the last 30-odd years. There was a time when all a vegetarian could get was cauliflower cheese or a baked potato. The original veggie café at the Institute ran for over 35 years so it shows what great foresight they had.”

My own special interest in V Café was triggered by an experiment with veganism. This began with a casual conversation with my mechanic. It transpired that both of us suffered with joint pains – his own problems being caused by years of playing rugby and working in awkward positions, day in day out, while fixing people’s vehicles.

Today he is an avid ambassador for the vegan cause, claiming that the new diet has transformed his health for the better. In my own case, it’s so far so good. Going vegan isn’t that difficult. All the major supermarkets have embraced veggie and vegan requirements with a host of alternatives to animal products, such as soya, tofu, jackfruit and Quorn (of which there is a vegan variety).

You need to carry out your own research to avoid missing out on essential nutrients such as calcium, iron, vitamin B12 and Omega 3 fatty acids. My own decision to eat oily fish as a heart benefit resulted in my daughters labelling me a ‘Pilchard Vegan’. So as you can see, I’m not a 100 per cent convert.

Veganism now appears to be getting into the mainstream, as vegetarianism did a few decades ago, and concerns for climate change are part of that picture. It’s hardly true to say that V Café are leading a revolution – after all veggie diets started to gather momentum as long ago as the late 1960s – but it is heartening that they are giving people the ethical alternative that they desire.

Those who enjoyed eating at Beano’s should be more than a little relieved to find that the good work started 37 years ago is continuing. Visit the V Café website for more information: https://www.guildford-institute.org.uk/v-cafe-at-the-institute/