being vegan: The Last Day

I had meant to write everyday about my 30 days of self-imposed veganism, about how it had affected my day-to-day routine, my health, moods, weight and happiness but the truth is that after the first week it really wasn't that big a deal. Not eating fish, meat, dairy and eggs (are eggs covered by "dairy"?) was surprisingly easy, largely I suspect because I'm quite a fussy eater anyway in that I don't eat a great deal of processed food and tend to cook from scratch.

The biggest potential change will be my attempt to extend the care I've been taking in planning what I eat and examining food labels back to my non-vegan diet. I've said that overall I'll eat less meat and when I do I'll *try* to make sure it's free-range. By and large this probably means not eating out or just not eating meat when I'm out as I have yet to find a Chinese restaurant offering organic or free-range products. Quite a few times I've looked at the food labels on processed food in the super-market to see whether I could eat it and not and although they may have passed the no eggs, no dairy, no animal product tests the sheer number of additives has put me off buying them.

Maybe the most useful thing to write about going forward is how I get on trying to be a more ethical eater following my bout of veganism. Watch this space.

The New Diamond

America's Hardest Prisons on 4oD
Originally uploaded by Catfunt

OK, so from the outset I'd just like to point out that the picture has nothing to do with this entry - it's just eye candy but I suspect a lot of the inmates in America's Hardest Prisons are fans of Chinese food which is what they sell at the New Diamond. Very excellent and reasonably priced Chinese food.

We ate aubergine hotpot - a kind of delicate aubergine stew with small slices of pork in a rich sauce, sliced pork with pickled vegetables, bolied rice and tea which came to 19UKP plus service. The hotpot's from the chinese language end of the menu and if you're interested in trying more than the usual Chinese menu fare it's worth asking for recommendations. It'd be best to have an idea of what sort of things you'd like (hotpot is a fairly safe bet but check it's not one of the weirder ones as not everyone likes fish lips hotpot).

Decor's pretty good for a Chinese eaterie and the staff and unfailing sweet, helpful and patient. If I want a lunch of duck and crispy pork on rice for less than a fiver I'll still go to the Canton but for anything smarter it's the New Diamond from now on. I give it five stars.

Some user reviews from london-eating here.

Time Out's review here.