Being vegan is something that began early on in my life. Growing up with a French/Spanish background, which revolved largely around family meals, which were heavily meat based, was not entirely appetising to me. It is always something I have felt strongly about and stopped eating meat at the age of 12. At the time and for several years to follow, it was very hard to be able to find people who accepted vegetarianism, especially from somebody of such a young age.

Soon after, I made the decision to become vegan and have been ever since. But for me my dietary choices were more than a lifestyle choice, they are how I believe we should be eating not only for the animals but also for the planet and ourselves.

It was then that I found PETA and became really interested in the work they do. I volunteered for them and did several campaigns, which were great but just a starting point for me, I wanted to do more! I decided a career change from being a dancer was in order so that I could make more of an impact with my life and so Rootmaster was created.

The idea stemmed from a passing comment by a friend of mine about travelling to the various festivals within the UK in a bus and selling water, umbrellas or wellies. The comment was more in jest than anything else but it got me thinking. The immediate image of a bus conjured up in my mind was that of a Routemaster. I have always loved them and find them not only beautiful but such a wonderful and traditional part of London and the removal of them from the streets is a huge loss. I then thought of what I would do from inside my bus. Uninspired by the ideas put to me initially and knowing I would never be passionate about selling wellies or water, I decided to sell vegan food. It seemed like an obvious transition for me and I was definitely fuelled by my passion and belief that most people believe vegan food to be unenjoyable and boring. As a great lover of food who enjoys eating, I wanted to disprove this theory and felt the best way to do so was to create an entirely vegan menu which was not advertised as vegan. Instead of writing it everywhere, we just present our menus to people and have found that people are much more open minded to this approach. My main target was not the vegan community as I knew they would find us, what I wanted was to show the carnivores that they also could enjoy vegan food. As a result of this, the majority of our customers are not vegan but return on a regular basis for food they enjoy.  I believe we have certainly managed to get people thinking and have had a few people tell us they have stopped eating meat altogether. I do plan to publish a Rootmaster recipe book in 2010, which will feature a large amount of delicious recipes from our archive!

We still have a long way to go but when I look at how far veganism has come since I first decided to try it, feel really proud of they way the world sees us today. It is no longer strange, taboo or something that will leave you malnourished and deprived. It has become more and more accepted worldwide and is not only accepted but something that you are no longer looked at with a blank expression when you say it out loud to somebody. There are a few people and organisations that have inspired me along the way who have made great changes to the world through their work. The 2 that I have in my mind as I write this are PETA and John Robbins, Author of Diet for a new America, The food revolution and Healthy at 100. People like this make me realise I am not alone in trying to reach my goal and I will continue to do my part to help make this change in the world.

Rootmaster is located in Ely’s Yard, The Old Truman Brewery, Hanbury St, London, E1 6QL.

For reservations please call 07912 389 314 of book directly through the website.

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