VEGANS ON THE ROAD

If anyone had told us five years ago that we would be teaching people all over the world how to cook vegan, we would never have believed it. We didn’t even know what vegan food really was, let alone wanted to eat it. I’d been a dairy and beef farmer for 18 years. My husband, Gareth, grew up hunting in Wales and had considered becoming a butcher.

But that was before we met in Whangamata and settled into suburban life. After a few years of long working weeks juggling different jobs, we had tired of the rat-race and yearned for a simpler life. So in 2016, we sold our suburban house – swapping it for a Mazda Bongo van named Ken – and just drove.

We hadn’t been travelling long when I started experiencing strange and unpleasant pelvic pain. I’d never had anything like it before and blamed it on over-indulging. Too much wine, not enough water, too many rich foods… But I didn’t have time to be ill. I was busy living the