One of my favourite left-overs is boiled spuds. Growing up I picked up a few spud habits from people around me that have stuck. For one, soup and spuds. Thick vegetable soup with a dollop of mashed potato (cold) is fantastic.
Another favourite was boiled spuds in a bowl with a good layer of milk and absolutely tonnes of pepper. I picked that one up for my granny, who rarely ate sweets unless there were visitors, but loved to pick out her peppery spuds. Since going on the soya milk, I haven’t quite enjoyed this as much. I have yet to get the taste for soya milk on it’s own, but now I’ve got something new: Spuds with soya butter and tonnes of pepper.
Awesome, in particular because the soya butter was bought at tesco! Up until a few months ago, all of the olive oil of other non-dairy spreads contained buttermilk, and thus were not vegan. This meant that we had to buy our soya spread in a health food store at about twice the cost. Now tesco sells Pure, regular and organic dairy free soya spread, and it’s fantastic. Quite creamy and salty, which is the perfect combination for a tasty vegan snack. Developed for the lactose intolerant, but enjoyed by vegans 
According to the website the Pure brand was developed for people with food sensitivities in mind, particularly those who have an allergy or intolerance to dairy. It’s free from:
- Dairy
- Artificial colourings & preservatives
- Added flavourings
- Gluten
- Hydrogenated oils
- GM ingredients
Pure is very nice, but like all vegan margarines I’ve found so far it’s made with palm oil (blamed for much deforestation threatening the extinction of species such as the Orang-Utans) and when asked about the source of the palm oil, they responded that they can’t really be sure it comes from sustainable plantations, although they are working on it. One good point to them for being honest (especially as some of their competitors just say “vegetable oil” rather than spell out palm oil), but still…
Below is the answer they emailed:
Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding the source of palm oil used in Pure Spreads. Our palm oil currently comes from a variety of sources including Malaysia, Indonesia and the South Sea Islands.
As a company, we are very aware of environmental concerns such as those you highlighted. Palm oil is an important food ingredient, however, there is much concern that not all palm oil is being produced in a sustainable way. We are keen to understand and to keep abreast of the situation and are affiliate members of the ‘Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil’ (RSPO) through the Margarines and Spreads Association (MSA). In 2004, the RSPO was established to address these issues and promote sustainable production and the use of palm oil. Members of the RSPO, who are involved in all aspects of palm oil production and usage, are actively promoting the use of sustainable palm oil and endorsing the principles and criteria of the RSPO.
Our oil suppliers estimate that we should be able to buy palm oil that is traceable to a sustainable source to RPSO criteria within two years. So at this stage we are unable to make any guarantees about the source of our palm oil.
We do not have an alternative to palm oil currently. When making a spread, a hard oil must be combined with a soft oil to produce a solid product. The hard oil can either be a soft oil which is then hydrogenated to make it hard (also known as a hydrogenated oil) or a naturally hard oil. The only hard oils available are palm and coconut. We choose not to use hydrogenated oils in any of the Pure range, as these are undesirable in the diet. Instead, we use palm oil in the smallest possible quantities in order to produce a solid spread. Most, if not all, other spreads contain palm oil and this is labelled as ‘vegetable oils’.