The owner of Northern Ireland’s longest-running fully vegan catering business has told how restrictive restaurant menus are limiting opportunities for vegans to eat out.
More than a decade ago, Sheena Bleakney (57) founded Truffleupagus Vegan Yums with the aim of offering delicious, creative and unpretentious food that appeals to both vegan and non-vegan customers alike.
Speaking to The Irish News, Sheena explains that while most restaurants now cater to vegans, many of their options are still limited.
“First and foremost, fair play to places that are providing vegan options, but I do think they are missing the mark,” she says.
“I did a little survey on my Instagram page a while ago and what that showed was there’s a lot of vegans aren’t eating out anymore because the food is too basic or too straightforward.
“A lot of restaurants in the past were riding on the wave of what appeared to be a trend. Now they assume it’s over - but it isn’t. People just don’t have enough choice.
“There needs to be more inclusive menus. I don’t think you need to separate the vegan dishes from the non-vegan dishes - just have an incredible range of food that will suit both vegans and non-vegans.”
Sheena’s passion for plant-based living began early, becoming a vegetarian at 14 and transitioning to veganism five years later, inspired by a growing awareness of animal welfare issues.
“When I was a teenager my sister and I used to read these fanzines and I remember coming across one where there was an image of a cow being hung upside down by the ankles,” she recalls.
“I was always a massive animal lover and as soon as I saw that picture, that was it. I said to my mum, ‘I’m a vegetarian.’ I had no idea what that really meant or what I was going to eat, but it just felt like something I needed and wanted to do.”
Initially thinking it was “just a phase”, Sheena’s mother told her that if she was going to be a vegetarian, she’d have to start cooking her own meals - a decision Sheena credits with sparking her love of food and cooking.
“I’d already been doing a wee bit of cooking with my granny, making things like marmalade and Christmas cakes, but making my own dinners and experimenting with different flavours and textures was really what kicked it all off for me.
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“Admittedly when I first started there were a lot of chips involved, and then I developed this salad that had cottage cheese on it with some lettuce and different vegetables thrown in along with some crisps, because at the time we were only allowed one packet a day, so that was my way of sneaking another one in,” she laughs.
In 1986, Sheena started putting her growing passion for food into practice when she and her sister, along with a group of like-minded young people, opened Giro’s - a vegetarian and vegan café, drop-in centre and venue space in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter.
The collective-run café quickly became a focal point of the city’s alternative scene, where Sheena began producing food for customers while local bands used the space to rehearse and perform.
“It wasn’t really until I started cooking stuff for Giro’s that I started believing in myself a bit more and realised I had a bit of a knack when it came to making things,” she says.
“That gave me the confidence to keep pushing the boundaries and exploring new flavours.”
Despite her early commitment to veganism, Sheena admits the journey wasn’t entirely linear, having reverted to vegetarianism after having her son at 21.
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“When I first went vegan at 19 there was almost like a wave of veganism happening,” she explains.
“But when I became pregnant it became very difficult because there wasn’t the same information about veganism that there is now, so I went back to being vegetarian and brought my son up vegetarian. Then 12 years ago I went vegan again.
“It felt like a much stronger connection this time round because it was my choice rather than trying to fit in.
“And once again it was seeing something that had happened to a dairy cow that made me make the change because I realised being vegetarian just wasn’t enough.”
Reconnecting with veganism reignited her creativity in the kitchen and eventually inspired her to launch Truffleupagus Vegan Yums after spotting a gap in the market for high-quality plant-based chocolate.
Since then, the business has continued to grow and expand, offering a variety of vegan dishes which Sheena has served at weddings, birthdays, festivals and markets.
“My son was about 20 and was getting ready to leave home and I knew I was going to be on my own a wee bit more, so I thought ‘what can I do to fill this time?’ and that’s when I went back to food and cooking.
“I started out just making truffles, which is where the name of the business came from. I had about 15 different flavours and over time people started buying them.
“Then eight or nine years ago the Vegan Festival came to Belfast and randomly a friend of mine was serving soup at it and had a little bit of extra room at their stall and offered it to me to sell the truffles.
“So I made 25 bags of chocolates, and they sold out in an hour, and that gave me such a buzz and from that minute it just started to grow and hasn’t stopped since.”
Over the years Truffleupagus Vegan Yums has become known for incorporating familiar flavours and textures into its dishes, dispelling the myth that vegan food is “bland and boring.”
“I love working and experimenting with different flavours,” says Sheena.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to travel and try various vegan foods from loads of different places, and that’s definitely helped influence and inspire me.
“For example, I recently did a no G.O.A.T curry and all the flavours I used were taken from Jamaica, and I always try to make things like that as authentic as possible, only vegan.
“And I do the same thing with our beef and Guinness pie, which doesn’t use any actual beef but is always a success with non-vegans because the flavours and textures are familiar.”
In addition to running her catering business, Sheena is also involved in vegan activism and gives talks and cookery demonstrations in schools.
She believes it’s “vital” for young people to have an awareness of animal welfare and the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.
“I think it’s so important to talk about the benefits of veganism in schools - not just for us as humans but also for the animals.
“A big part of staying vegan is remembering why you made that decision in the first place, and I think young people need to know about what’s happening to animals because I know that’s what hit me when I was 14.”
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Looking ahead, Sheena hopes to continue using her business to “broaden people’s horizons” when it comes to vegan food.
“Sometimes when I’m doing markets people will come up and go ‘well that looks lovely but I’m not vegan’ and walk on - but you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy the food,” she says.
“So I’d love to get to a stage where I could sell my food and people don’t even notice it’s vegan. I want it to appeal to everyone.”
See @truffleupagusveganyums on Instagram or visit sheenableakney.com.
