Six months into dating my now-husband, I was faced with a challenge: cook a dinner that was vegan, delicious, and just a little bit special. Sounds simple, right? I mean, how hard could it be to make a plant-based meal that didn’t feel like a compromise? I’d grown up surrounded by food, parents in catering, a lifetime of kitchens, but somewhere between career changes and adulting, the joy of cooking had slipped away. I hadn’t planned or hosted a proper dinner in years. So when New Year’s Eve rolled around and I decided to cook us something memorable, I was equal parts excited and terrified.
Let’s rewind a bit. I was still very much a meat-eater. Sure, I was happily eating vegan with him, for ease, mostly, but I’d spent a good chunk of my life teasing my sister for being vegetarian. I didn’t own nutritional yeast. I couldn’t pronounce “seitan.” The idea of a cheese board without cheese? Unthinkable. But there was something about this moment, this first New Year’s Eve together, that made me want to try. Not just substitute ingredients, but genuinely make something that felt right. Something that celebrated where we were, without either of us feeling like we were missing out.
Mexican food seemed like a no-brainer. Bold, colourful, naturally full of beans (literally). I loved the flavour profiles, smoky, spicy, zesty, and it felt festive enough for an occasion. But how to make it more than just tacos and guac? How to turn a cuisine I already loved into a full, showstopper meal that just happened to be plant-based? I didn’t want it to scream “vegan.” I wanted it to whisper, You won’t even notice.
I planned the menu like a military operation. There would be canapés, a starter, mains with sides, and of course, dessert. If we were going to do this, we were going all in. I hunted down ingredients I’d never used before, vegan crème fraîche, chipotle in adobo, masa harina, and rediscovered the pleasure of losing hours in the kitchen. There was something addictive about the challenge: keeping the essence of the food I loved, but completely reinventing the way I made it.
What made it magical wasn’t just the food, though the food was excellent, if I do say so myself. It was the atmosphere: fairy lights, music, a good bottle of wine (or two). We laughed through the prep, clinked glasses over enchiladas, and fell asleep far too full but impossibly content. That meal did more than feed us; it set the tone for everything that came after. The next year, we did it again, with a different cuisine and menu. And then again. A tradition was born. One menu turned into ten. A ritual turned into a recipe book.
In fact, this very meal became the first full menu featured in our cookbook, A Journey Around the World. It only felt right. That Mexican feast was the seed that grew into what we now call the Grub Club, our way of sharing themed menus, plant-based cooking, and the stories behind the dishes. The book features the full Mexican menu, start to finish, complete with canapés, mains, sides and a dessert that still makes my husband’s eyes light up every time he sees it on the table.
As a sneak peek, here’s what was on the menu: crispy tostadas with refried beans and avocado, a warming bowl of sweetcorn and poblano soup, black bean enchiladas smothered in smoky tomato sauce, lime and coriander rice, roasted sweet potatoes with chipotle-lime dressing, and for dessert, a rich, fudgy Mexican chocolate tart with a hint of cinnamon and chilli. All 100% vegan. All 100% indulgent.
Cooking that meal flipped a switch in me. It reminded me how much I loved cooking, not the functional weeknight dinners, but the immersive, creative, slightly obsessive planning that goes into a feast. And it also showed me that vegan cooking wasn’t about restriction. It was about imagination. Finding new ways to build flavour, layer texture, and create a sense of occasion, all without relying on animal products.
We didn’t know then that this would be the beginning of a decade-long (and counting) tradition. We certainly didn’t know we’d write a book about it. And we had no idea it would eventually grow into a blog, a community, and something far bigger than our little kitchen.
But here we are. And this is where it all began, with one Mexican feast, a little bit of tequila, and a whole lot of love.
