Musiccosmos

London’s first vegan patisserie opened this summer at Cafe Forty One. To celebrate Afternoon Tea Week, Healthista’s Marie Pan (a pastry-mad vegan) tried it – it kicks off our vegan baking special  I turned vegan a few months ago and now, whenever someone discovers this about me (I promise I don’t tell them within a few seconds of meeting), after the initial shock, they invariably ask: ‘What food do you miss most?’ That’s easy. Pastries. Meat was the easiest to give up, then fish. I’d watched several documentaries on Netflix; ‘ Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret ‘ was particularly striking to me, for its exploration of the impact of animal agriculture on the environment and graphic content on animal cruelty. After watching that, I couldn’t look at a steak or plate of sushi in the same way again. Giving up cheese as tough though, especially at first, because the animal cruelty is staring you in the face on a slice of pizza as it is with say, a plate of chicken wings. But the...

Gone vegan and want to bake some cakes that taste better than the original? Here are five vegan cake recipes for the weekend that your friends won’t even know contain no dairy, milk or eggs We’ve all been there: scrolling through Instagram, when suddenly you come across a beautiful chocolate cake. The icing looks smooth and velvety, the sponge both soft and moist, and it’s topped off with fresh summer fruits. You’re practically drooling over your screen. But hold on, it’s vegan? How did this food blogger avoid making a stodgy cake, without the use of eggs and butter? It’s just what you’ll get in the ‘desserts’ section of Heather Whinney’s new Virtually Vegan recipe book. Whinney’s cake recipes are all plant-based and built to be easy to follow. ‘As a vegan, searching for expensive or difficult to find ingredients can be really off-putting and take the joy out of cooking,’ says Whinney. ‘Vegan-specific products like cheese substitutes are wonderful, but if a recipe relies on t...

Healthy, tasty snacks that are also under 100 calories – is that even possible? Yes, and the Healthista team have become experts in tracking them down – Marie Pan rounds up our favourites  Often, snacking can be the downfall to one’s weight loss progress. Whether it be mindless snacking (of lots of ‘healthy’ foods – there’s over 600 calories in that tub of hummus) or not realising how many calories are in, say, one protein bar (and there can be up to 400 since you ask), snacking can lead to a steep increase in your daily total calories. The trick is to snack smart. Many foods can be more calorie dense, so they have a greater number of calories in a given volume or weight. In simpler terms, this means that they can be high in calories but not at all filling. Therefore, focusing on low-calorie but nutrient-dense and high fibre foods allows you to eat a larger amount of food while consuming fewer calories. Snacks under 100 calories don’t have to be just leaves and cele...