Pulse Check: Hazal Yılmaz

The Vegan Gazette
Apr 28
2 min read

Updated: May 15

I recently found inspiration wandering around Southeast London. A walk from Peckham to Nunhead, followed by Brockley and Deptford, introduced me to an array of Kurdish, Iranian, Georgian, Jamaican, Ghanaian, and Ethiopian veggie restaurants.

After years of trusting doctors who insisted that vitamin D and iron must come from animal products, I’ve discovered a bounty of plant-based sources: beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, spinach, walnuts, apricots, prunes, raisins, and more.

The dish I can’t live without: Pad Thai. A classic I can’t resist. Got a neighborhood gem, dish it out!

My favorite vegan hangout: Pocket’s in London Fields—a perfect marriage of fluffy pita bread and crunchy green falafels. You can read more about it below.

A vegan-friendly spot I like to go to with my non-vegan friends: Bubala, Soho

The book that made me vegan: Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach by Gary L. Francione and Anna Charlton.

I could eat fried noodles, sichuan style at Tofu Vegan every day.

After midnight you can find me at Jumbi, Jazu, or any other South East Hi-Fi bar discovered recently.

The thing that surprised me most as a vegan: The vast universe of mushrooms, especially recipes featuring lion's mane mushrooms (Hericium erinaceus).

I’m vegan, but I still wear wool products that I bought from thrift stores years ago.

A fellow vegan you must meet: Emel Ernalbant, my co-writer for The Vegan Guide: 50 Essentials, published in Turkish for Turkey’s audience. She now lives in Manchester and is creating Greens & Others, the city’s first plant-based community cookery school.