How do I survive Veganuary with Tobias Camman and Jasper Demollin

In the context of New Year's resolutions, I thought: I'm going to join a trend too. For a brief moment, about a millisecond, I thought about Dry January, but then I concluded that I actually have enough self-knowledge to know that this will never work for me. So that's why I'm taking a different approach: I'm giving Veganuary a chance.

And for that, I got to grill Tobias Camman and Jasper Demollin a bit. Why them? Because they opened a pop-up restaurant called De Kleine Vegan in collaboration with Thuisbezorgd.nl yesterday and today, and because Tobias cooks vegan dishes like a star and Jasper has been living vegan for years. Nice: all proceeds from this pop-up restaurant go to the Food Bank. If you live in Amsterdam, you can still order here today. Be quick, though, because yesterday they were completely sold out, the first batch even within five minutes. Whuuut.

So it's clear: people want vegan. But how do you prepare that for yourself, how do you keep it up (my big pitfall), how do you come up with dishes... In short: how do you tackle it? I asked Tobias and Jasper.

How did you come up with inspiration for these dishes?
Tobias: Vegan food doesn't have to be forced at all, which many people think. They only think in terms of meat substitutes, while there are dishes around the world that are already standard vegan. That's why I chose those kinds of dishes. These are dishes from outside Europe because we in the Netherlands are really about meat and cheese. I didn't come up with new creations: these dishes already existed and were largely vegan. So we came up with three very tasty boxes with dishes from Asia, South America, and the Middle East.

How did the first time cooking in a professional kitchen compare to your own kitchen?
T: Well, it was exciting, you know. At home, you usually cook for two people, now I was suddenly trying to portion out batches of kimchi. That was quite different, but very fun. Of course, I had a lot of help from Peter Gast (Chef Graphite in Amsterdam, ed.), which helped a lot. The kitchen here is of course quite different from your kitchen at home, but he guided me through it and was there at every step.

Does it make you want more?
T: Well, I get distracted easily and get bored quickly, so I don't know if I see myself standing in the kitchen for the next forty years. And cooking is really a profession, you know. I'm going to try to find some intermediate forms, hybrid solutions so that I can combine it. I do think it's nice that what we do, this concept, is so well received. There are already a lot of vegan restaurants that also deliver, but not really in a way like we do now. I think this is really the right moment for it. There is still little comparative material, but the demand is definitely there.

You're not vegan yourself, are you going to participate in Veganuary?
T: I'm going to do my best, but I can't promise to stick to it fully vegan. I no longer eat mammals, only very occasionally a piece of fish. Dry January is definitely not going to work for me, so this has more chance. (Same Tobias, same, ed.)

Do you have any tips for doing Veganuary?
T: Point one: don't think in terms of meat substitutes. No, think about how you can make that plant or vegetable as tasty as possible. Put the love you put into meat into the vegetables. And two: there are already many substitutes in nature. Instead of protein, you can use the liquid from chickpeas, for example. And if you need whipped cream or cream, you can put fatty coconut milk in the fridge for 48 hours and then it separates. You can use that as a base.

Jasper, you live vegan. Did you help Tobias in the kitchen?
Jasper: Haha, no, it's better if I don't do that. No, I helped with the deliveries on the bike. Quite a fun side job, by the way. I did that with an electric bike so I went pretty fast, and sometimes you're on the road for quite a while. I seriously enjoyed it.

How do you cook vegan for yourself and how do you keep inspired?
J: I'm really not a hero in the kitchen and actually cook very little, I order a lot. But luckily there are many vegan options nowadays. And when I do cook, I often choose meat substitutes and I honestly find them just as tasty. Those from De Vegetarische Slager, for example. I really don't taste the difference anymore. When I participated in Expeditie Robinson, I thought so much about food, also about animal products, and that was the first time I really felt like it again. I promised myself to treat myself to a Bali steak from Loetje when I came back. And then that was actually such a disappointment. It wasn't nearly as good as I had in my head and I immediately had a stomach ache the whole evening afterwards. From that moment on, the need for animal products completely disappeared, which makes it easier.

Image: Instagram @Jasper Demollin