it's published in December. Here's a sneak preview.
A Lifetime of Vegetarian Living...
Owner of Ponsonby News and a vegetarian for more than six decades, Martin Leach shares the childhood experience that inspired his decision to stop eating meat, how vegetarian dining has evolved over the years, and his favourite places to eat in Auckland.
How long have you been vegetarian, and what originally inspired you to make the change?
I've been vegetarian since I was seven I'm now 73, so I've been vegetarian for most of my life.
I grew up in a small town, Feilding, near Palmerston North, and we had a paddock. My father bought this beautiful lamb home one day. There were six of us kids, and we all loved her. We called her Mary.
One day, my father said, 'Mary is getting a bit too big for this paddock now, so I'm going to take her back to where she came from.' He even took us kids on a half-hour drive to the farm where she'd been born and pointed out a sheep, saying, 'That's Mary, second on the left. She won't come to us now.'
Then, the following week, we were having our Sunday roast, and as we sat down to lunch, my father said, 'I hope you're enjoying Mary.' He'd had her slaughtered. We were furious. I hated my father until I was in my 50s. I've forgiven him now, but it was just an awful experience, and that's when I became vegetarian. I was the only one out of my siblings.
What was it like being vegetarian when you first started, and how different is it compared with today?
When I first started in the 1960s, my mother found it difficult having a vegetarian child, so she used to make me lots of omelettes and vegetables. She always made sure I was well fed. She cooked yams, potatoes, leeks, cabbage – there were always plenty of vegetables on my plate. Compared with now, though, it's so much easier. Most restaurants have vegetarian, vegan or plant-based options on their menus. In fact, I get a bit angry and surprised when I see new restaurants making no effort, because it's really not that difficult. I don't go to those places because there are so many wonderful restaurants in Auckland offering great options, like East in the CBD, Forest in Mt Eden, Gorilla Kitchen on K Road, or Avodi on Mackelvie Street. Little Bird, Khu Khu, Mudita on Ponsonby Road.
Has your diet changed or evolved over the years?
The only real change I've made is that I went vegan for about 10 years, but gradually started eating eggs again. I don't consume other animal products like milk, for example. I drink soy milk, which is so much like cow's milk. I have it with homemade granola every morning for breakfast. Working at Ponsonby News, you have a strong connection to the local community. Have you noticed vegetarian and plant-based food becoming more visible in Ponsonby and the surrounding areas? It is changing, and there are a lot more conscious people now. But there are still plenty of restaurants opening that have a lot to learn and could make a bigger effort to include more vegetarian and vegan options on their menus.
Do you have any favourite vegetarian restaurants, cafés or dishes in Auckland?
Every Saturday, we go to Gusto, the Italian restaurant, and I always have their vegetarian pizza. And this isn't very Italian, but I always add pineapple and black olives to it. Delicious! The roasted eggplant dish at Cassia is also superb. You'll wish you'd ordered two! They've just relocated to Albert Street.
What do you think is the biggest barrier to people becoming vegetarian?
I think people just don't know where to start. What we do is keep a list of 20 dishes on the fridge. So, when we're unsure what to have for dinner, we look through our list for inspiration and then go out and get the ingredients. We buy our food every day rather than filling the fridge. And with vegan cheese, I always say grate it and put it in the freezer.
What would you say to someone who is interested in eating more vegetarian food but feels unsure about where to start?
Get inspiration from cookery books or menus when you're looking through them at a café or restaurant.
I mean, it's very easy to Google recipes. For example, I was looking at recipes for vegan fish yesterday, and there are quite a few. They're mainly made from tofu, which I'm not a big fan of generally, but it is delicious when you crisp it up.
What would you most like to see change for vegetarians in New Zealand over the next decade?
I'd like to see more restaurants being conscious of the fact that vegetarians and vegans don't want to have to ask for a special option when dining out. We want it to be there on the menu already.
Ideally, there should be more than one option, including a starter and a main that don't rely on tofu.
I look at a lot of menus from other countries for inspiration, like London, where I lived for 30 years, as well as Sydney, Melbourne and Bali. There's so much wonderful vegetarian food out there, and I'd love to see more restaurants in New Zealand embrace it. Vegetarian food shouldn't be an afterthought. It should be something everyone can enjoy, whether they're vegetarian or not.
https://www.vegetarian.org.nz/veg-living/magazine
