Planting The Seed

Pioneers of Cheshire’s plant-based eating scene, the duo behind Hale favourite, The Garden, are on a mission to make vegan food appealing to everyone

- Katie Mulloy & Alisha Davis

Now that Amy Shepherdson has polished off her cashew nut rarebit, the kind of vegan take on a classic dish The Garden in Hale specializes in, we’re discussing how far the vegan food movement has come. I glance at the blackboard of drinks on offer above the gleaming beast of a coffee machine – it’s not just your usual roster of frothy caffeine hits here. Nor was it five years ago when the café first opened. I wonder how that went down? Surely, people can’t have walked through the door back then and demanded a green matcha latte? Amy, 33, who opened The Garden with friend-turned-business-partner Kate Mosley, laughs, ‘Yeah we didn’t sell too much of those in the beginning,’ she agrees. ‘Now every other one [we sell] is either a matcha latte or golden milk [made with turmeric].’

It is symbolic of our changing attitudes toward food. Last year more than 250,000 people signed up for ‘Veganuary’ – the global challenge to eat only vegan food for the entirety of January. For The Garden it’s been an evolution – to begin with, their customers were primarily female but it’s much more of a mix nowadays. ‘People are much more accepting of vegan food nowadays,’ says Kate. ‘We always see a big influx of customers after there’s been a Netflix documentary on veganism or the impact of meat consumption on the environment.’