Vegan MoFo day 21 - Three things I'd never live without: Cake, tea, and beer

I like the title of today's MoFo. I'm on an island and I have all my nutritional needs met? Sounds a lot like my life now, living in Britain and that. Last time I checked it was an island, albeit a pretty large one.

I'm kind of hoping that my nutritional needs are being met by fruits, veggies, pulses and all that sort of thing, rather than some sort of tiny supervitamin pill, because I've chosen three really frivolous things. 

If I was being a grown-up, I'd be telling you about how I'd choose things like asparagus, ripe cantaloupe, or shiitake mushrooms. Maybe I'd say that with miso, garlic, and lemon, I could make all those plain veggies into a feast every night. 

But those wouldn't be the things I choose. These would be:

Beer

When I was kid and I first tried beer, I couldn't believe people would drink it without a gun against their head.

Now, if I'm going to be a castaway, I'm not facing the future without all manner of beers at my disposal. I'm hoping it's a desert island I'm stuck on, because I'd fashion myself a hammock, crack open one of my endless supply of beers and watch the sunset. I'd love a crisp lager or a herbal wheat beer.  

If it's some windswept place racked with sleet and desolate landscapes, then I'd build a fire and open a thick, bitter stout or a treacly porter. 

If I'm not going anywhere for a while, I'm going to settle down to my island life with a beer in my hand.

This is one of my favourite beers at the moment - Pressure Drop's Wu Gang Chops the Tree. (There's a great story behind that wonky name - it's all explained here.)

Cake 

You know all those questions you get the first time you tell someone that you're a vegan? I remember going out for dinner with someone for work who said with horror: "You're a vegan? That means you can't have caaaaaaake!" When I'd stopped laughing, I said that no, vegans very much have cake, and explained all the myriad things we can use to replace eggs. 

London's got some great vegan cake places - Ms Cupcake, Cookies and Scream, I'm looking at you - and more and more non-vegan places are starting to stock plant-based delights too.

I can't walk past a place selling vegan cake without buying a slice. Nothing says indulgence - or happiness - like a good bit of sponge and icing. If I can have endless cake on this island of mine, then I'm not feeling so bad about being stuck there.

Tea

And if I'm going to be eating all that cake, I'm going to need a vat of tea.

For you folk that are coffee drinking, I get you. I like coffee too. First thing in the morning, there's a french press with my name on it and if I've been out for dinner, I want a sharp and bitter espresso to finish things off. 

But for any other hot beverage to pass my face, it has to be tea. Green, white, herbal, or builders, I can't get through a day without innumerable cups. 

Doesn't matter whether I'm having salad or haute cuisine, I want a cup of tea next to me. Being stuck on an island? I'd drink to that.