HENRY Firth and Ian Theasby are what you'd call sprightly. The Yorkshire-born housemates and business partners are the irrepressibly positive minds behind 'social media sensation' BOSH!
The plant-based recipe platform has had more than 1 billion views to date, and the duo, both 34, are now on their second cookbook, BISH BASH BOSH!
"It had to be called BISH BASH BOSH!" says Firth, throwing his arms into the air gleefully.
This one, they explain, is full of all their favourite meals – especially ones nicked from restaurants, takeaways and childhood memories; ones they'd wanted to "veganise" but hadn't managed to squeeze into their debut collection.
It's only been 12 months since the first BOSH! recipe collection was released, but in that short time, the friends have seen a major shift in attitudes towards veganism and the availability of plant-based products.
In the first book there was no seitan, little jackfruit, and "we didn't really do any of these quirky fake meats, we just wanted vegetables", they note. But this time around they've been vegan adventurers. Expect seitan burgers, 'pulled pork' jackfruit and 'tofish' finger sandwiches.
"The landscape has completely changed," says Theasby. "Now you can go into Sainsbury's and buy banana blossom, whereas before you'd walk in and barely find jackfruit, and now jackfruit's a staple."
The general feeling and chat surrounding it has developed too. Firth believes we've got to a place "where it is OK to eat vegan 'chicken nuggets' and to present them at a dinner table to a meat-eater – and not have to have an argument about it".
In fact, when a few years ago they might have come up against quite a bit of griping and hassle from non-vegans, these days, not so much. Partly, Firth reckons, it's "because our stance is quite chill", and even little knocks from family and friends have practically subsided. "The mocking in the last two to three years has kind of stopped," he muses. "More and more people are trying a little bit of vegan food, and it's becoming more and more OK to dabble."
Theasby admits that some people "still don't get vegan food", so part of their plan with BOSH is to make the whole no-animal-product lifestyle more alluring, and one way to do that is to go huge on plates that are kaleidoscopic with colour.
"It's good to package it in a nice colourful way," says Theasby. "Colour is a great way to promote plant-based food," adds Firth. "Less beige, more rainbow."
After all, even though it's more than possible to survive solely on chips as a vegan, Firth is adamant: "You won't thrive."
"It'd be really, really easy to be an unhealthy vegan," agrees Theasby – but that's not their style, hence chapters on nutrition and meal planning, so you can find a healthy balance that suits you.
The potential health benefits of veganism weren't what first drew them to it though. For Theasby, he was on a "crazy" challenge that eliminated meat and booze from his diet, for which Firth "ridiculed him". And then they watched Netflix documentary Cowspiracy on a huge screen – and that was it, for both of them.
"I remember at the end of it, just being [like], 'Woah, oh my God, I've got to go vegan'. I was really annoyed," recalls Firth, who, four years ago, would be found happily munching down on steak or fish and chips.
"I was annoyed because I loved what I ate and I didn't want to make the switch," he says, but after Cowspiracy, he realised he couldn't call himself an environmentalist and not go vegan. "Best decision I ever made," he says with a huge grin.
"It's great because you feel so good. Two, three, four days in, there's this lightness of being that stays with you, that helps you persist – as long as you're not just eating pasta and chips."
For Theasby, the main continuing annoyance for him is the effect veganism seems to have on his hair – seriously. "You have to go and get your hair cut more, because it grows faster," he says. "I used to go once every five weeks, now it's every four."
Hair troubles aside, confront them with a person who says they don't like vegetables and the duo will crush you with optimism.
"They need to come round and have dinner with us," yells Firth, as Theasby starts explaining how to blend mushrooms down into a creamy sauce for pasta, so you don't even know mushrooms were ever involved.
Firth then starts stabbing his finger at all the different dishes on the cover of the new book, saying: "If you don't like vegetables, that pizza's good for you, that 'pulled pork', lasagne, cheesecake – to be honest there's only one thing on there that even looks like vegetables [their tomato and avocado heavy 'nuevos rancheros' breakfast]."
You can't argue with them. They even tackle Brussels sprouts. "Indeed we do," says Theasby. "And we don't just take them on, we beat them down, haha."
:: BISH BASH BOSH! by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby, photography by Lizzie Mayson, is published by HQ, HarperCollins, priced £20. Below are two recipes from the book for you to try.
ROASTED SWEET POTATO TAGINE
(Serves 6)
1kg sweet potatoes
3tbsp olive oil
2 medium red onions
1 fresh red chilli
2 garlic cloves
6cm piece fresh ginger
30g fresh coriander
100g dried apricots
2tbsp harissa paste
2tsp ras el hanout
2tsp ground cumin
2tsp ground coriander
1/2tsp sugar
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
200ml water
1 x 240g tin chickpeas
Salt and black pepper
For the lemon and almond couscous:
1 preserved lemon
1 1/2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1tsp ground cumin
300g couscous
400ml boiling water
50g flaked almonds
20g fresh coriander leaves
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Roast the sweet potato: chop potatoes into 3cm chunks. Spread over a baking tray. Drizzle with one tablespoon of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the red onions. De-seed and finely chop the chilli. Peel and grate the garlic. Peel the ginger and grate. Pluck the leaves from the coriander, put them to one side and thinly slice the stems. Roughly chop the dried apricots. Drain the chickpeas.
For the tagine, place the saucepan over a medium heat and add the rest of the olive oil. Add the onions; fry for four to five minutes, stirring, until starting to soften. Add the chilli, garlic, ginger and chopped coriander stems and stir for two minutes. Add the harissa paste, ras el hanout, cumin, ground coriander and sugar and stir for one minute.
Add the chopped tomatoes and water. Lower the heat and simmer for seven to nine minutes. Stir in the drained chickpeas and apricots. Put the lid on and simmer for eight to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Take the lid off the pan, taste and season. Add the coriander leaves and roasted sweet potato and stir. Reduce the heat to low and put the lid back on.
To make the couscous, halve the preserved lemon and put it into a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil, cumin, couscous and boiling water. Cover with a plate and set aside for eight to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, spread the almonds over a baking tray. Bake for four minutes, until lightly browned. Finely chop the coriander leaves.
Remove the preserved lemon and fluff the couscous with a fork. Reserve a quarter of the toasted almonds and a quarter of the chopped coriander leaves and fold the rest into the couscous. Taste and season.
Divide the couscous among bowls and top with the tagine. Garnish with the reserved almonds and coriander and serve.
NEW YORK-STYLE BAKED STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE
(Serves 10-12)
400g cashews
120g light digestive biscuits
120g ginger biscuits
100ml light olive oil
A pinch of salt
300g dairy-free white chocolate
2 lemons
340g silken tofu
300g icing sugar
2tbsp coconut oil
3tsp vanilla extract
400g strawberries
50g golden caster sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C and base-line a 23cm springform cake tin with parchment paper (don't grease the sides). Put the cashews in a pan of hot water and boil for 15 minutes until soft and rehydrated (alternatively, soak them overnight in cold water). Drain.
Put the biscuits in a food processor and blitz to crumbs. Add the oil and a pinch of salt and pulse to mix. Tip into the lined cake tin and press firmly until well compacted and even. Bake for 15-20 minutes; remove and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 110C and put the tray back in.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Leave to cool a little. Separate two tablespoons of the chocolate from the main batch.
Zest the lemons into a liquidiser then cut them in half and squeeze in the juice. Add the main batch of chocolate, silken tofu, drained cashews, icing sugar, coconut oil and vanilla extract; blend until smooth.
Lightly brush the biscuit base with the reserved two tablespoons of melted chocolate. Pour over the cheesecake mixture and shake gently to level it. Put the tin on a hot baking tray in the oven and bake for 80-90 minutes, until set but still slightly wobbly in the middle. Remove from the oven and run a thin spatula or knife around the edge to separate the cake from the tin, then leave it to cool to room temperature. Transfer the cheesecake to a plate. Refrigerate.
Hull the strawberries and halve or quarter. Put them into the medium saucepan with the caster sugar on a medium heat and stir until the sugar melts and strawberries soften slightly. Cool then pile on to the cheesecake.
