Crisps, biscuits and other vegan treats I'm loving right now

Being the switched on type you are, you've no doubt heard about the whole 'eat clean' movement. I'll be honest with you here, I appreciate the idea of eating minimally processed foods, but some days, I just want to eat a bag of crisps, and if that means I'm eating dirty, so be it.

Thanks to leaving my job to become a student, the time I have to cook and prepare meals has taken a vicious tumble. Sometimes, it's all I can manage to find the nearest vegan thing and shove it in my face.

Case in point: the fancy grain-and-bean based salads I used to take to work for lunch have been replaced by that most depressing of English staples, the sandwich, eaten out of a plastic tub on a bench somewhere. So, if I feel the need to tart up my bread-based lunch, I reach for some Ten Acre crisps - which are handily sold on campus.

The 'cheese and onion' flavour, despite having no animal ingredients, is a pretty good version of the milky version that I remember from my pregan days. To be honest, I used to hate cheese and onion crisps, so the fact that I rather enjoyed these perhaps suggests that they're not an entirely faithful reproduction. That said, what would you rather eat - authentic or tasty? I'll pick tasty over authentic every time.

I also enjoyed these vegan chicken crisps, but I found the branding a bit problematic - chicken soup saved the day? Did it? I thought it mainly killed chickens.

This is one example of the problem I guess vegan food manufacturers face - shout about veganity and raise awareness, or keep it on the down low, get more people eating their products and save more animals, but at the same time, not make those buyers aware that's what they're doing. I'm not sure what side of the argument I fall down on, and I'm glad that Ten Acre have their vegan credentials clearly on the back, but I wish the name of the crisps didn't feel pro meat. Or am I just being oversensitive? Quite possibly! Ten Acre are the most popular all-vegan crisp brand out there, and I'm happy that they're there.

My university also sells their popcorn, which I am also fairly partial too - including this wasabi flavour. Hot enough that you know it's wasabi, not so hot you're still feeling it the day after (you know what I mean). 

Another vegan find on campus is Rebel Kitchen's mylk, which there are a few flavours of in the library canteen. I'm crushing on the matcha flavour. I like matcha, but buying some to drink at home is waaaaaaay too expensive for this poor student, so Rebel Kitchen is as close as I can get these days. And very nice it is too.

If I really want a treat though, this is combination I turn to - Lucy's Maple Bliss biscuits and a cup of tea. Everything goes better with a cup of tea and a handful of biccies. If I had to face down the apocalypse, this is exactly how I'd choose to do it - with a brew in my hand and some snacks for good measure.

Sadly, these aren't sold on campus. The only place I can find them is at Whole Foods in Piccadilly, which means they're not as often a visitor to my house as I'd like them to be. Still, that makes them a rare treat and one I always appreciate.