Tuesday 1 September 2015

Rise and Shine! It's MoFo Time!

Good morning! It's Vegan MoFo time again and this year they've mixed things up a bit with daily prompts and the ability for people to sign up (or not) and participate via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Periscope, Snapchat etc etc as well as the usual blogging and vlogging platforms. The idea behind this widening of the net is that it'll enable more people to participate in what is, in my opinion, a super fun challenge as well as a great way to connect with people online and to show everyone just how great veganism is in the process.

Today's prompt, as you might've guessed from the title, is about breakfast! As my regular non-mofo readers probably know I've been living in a van in Europe since June 25th. I've been all over the place - from Brighton to Berlin, from Slovakia to Skopje and much much more. One thing that has been a constant companion throughout the trip has been soya (or soy, whatever) yoghurts which have made up the majority of my breakfasts in the van. Why? What's so good about these yoghurts? I hear you ask. Well, Europe has a really strong soya yoghurt game, nowhere compares. The yoghurts here are thick, creamy, not too sweet, or too coconutty (a huge problem in the US) and they come in a huge range of fun and interesting flavours. I would say that yoghurt and bread are the two things I missed the most when when I was in South East Asia for the first four months of the year and as I fly back there in around a month I feel like I needed to honour my one of my favourite foods by a) Writing about it here and b) Making sure that I eat as much of it as possible until the moment I go through security at Heathrow. Keep me accountable peeps!

Without further ado here's my rundown of the trip's greatest yoghurt moments.

When I was living in Brighton Alpro Creamoso Cherry yoghurts were my go-to but for some reason when I swung through the city in June there was some sort of horrible Creamoso drought. I couldn't even find the Peach flavour. It was almost a disaster but regular Alpro came to the rescue with their old faithful flavour Peach & Pear. These come in a four pack with Strawberry Banana which I hate because they're too sweet but thankfully Nick (my partner in crime for those of you new to the blog) loves them so it all worked out.

Eaten in Preston Park where we definitely didn't sleep, honest guv!

Our first detour of the trip (on day one, we're pretty renegade!) took us to Amsterdam where I learnt about Alpro Creamoso's mainland European flavours. I found the Apple Strudel and fell head over heels. It tastes like pie and is creamy yoghurt perfection.


I really thought that nothing could ever be better than a yoghurt that tasted like an apple pie but oh boy was I wrong. They also make a yoghurt that tastes like lemon pie. Lemon. Pie. Only one of my favourite desserts in the whole world and one that I really don't get to enjoy as often as I'd like.


This one had me wishing that the fridge in the van was just a little bigger as it's max capacity (if I wanted to fit in all of the other necessary food items) was three tubs. Sadness soon abounded as I haven't seen these since Vienna which was around five weeks ago now. I'm hoping to find and devour this flavour again as we drive back through Switzerland, France and perhaps Italy.

Sojasun have stepped in and filled the gap on occasion, not my favourite brand of yoghurt but a solid choice and Blueberry is definitely a fun flavour option. 


Joya are another favourite brand of mine, their yoghurts are slightly thinner in consistency than Alpro and they don't have a huge range of flavours but the ones they do have are great. I usually choose Peach or Strawberry but they also make Natural and Mixed Berry. I first discovered Joya in Vienna many years ago and they've been popping up in random spots ever since - I was particularly excited to find them in Belgrade when my yoghurt stash was running dangerously low, by Lake Bled where they were a very unexpected surprise, and in Bangkok when I hadn't eaten a yoghurt for three and a half months.

One of my favourite ways to enjoy a breakfast soya yoghurt is with granola. I usually stir the yoghurt to get rid of any lumps, cover it with as much granola as will fit in the tub and then once that's gone I add more. it's a great start to the day and I'm genuinely surprised that I don't have more pictures of the soya yoghurt granola combo. I suspect that it's because I really do not have my shit together in the mornings until I've eaten something!


Lastly Sojade are another Euro brand that I've been loving on this trip - they have the widest range of flavours for sure and I've previously enjoyed Cherry, Mango and Apricot and Guava and I'm currently working on a large tub of Mango Peach. Delicious.


After reading that I am sure that you're all in agreement that yoghurt makes the best lazy breakfast so lemme know your fave' brand or flavour so that I can check it out sometime!

Since I've been travelling and soya yoghurting my way around Eastern Europe wifi has been a little hit or miss, even getting my weekly blog post out there on time has been a challenge at times. Sometimes I'll go a few days without wifi and only find it at a cafe or bar when I only have my phone with me so blogging every day definitely isn't an option this year. Because of this I'm super glad that MoFo is officially happening on social media this year and as well as participating here when I can I'll be taking part on my Twitter and Instagram accounts. Follow me on one or both to keep up to date with my MoFoing and don't forget to use the official 2015 MoFo hashtag #vgnmf15 to tag your social media posts.

18 comments:

  1. I'm a bit jealous of your yoghurts! The really good ones in Australia are stupidly expensive and the supermarket ones are rubbish... Lemon pie yoghurt? Omg!

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  2. Yum! Australia has very poor vegan yoghurt options, which makes me sad. I really like the So Delicious ones I had in the US. Next time I get to the UK/Europe I will have to go on a yoghurt tour!

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  3. Yeah europe does have way better yogs than us and I think ours are pretty great! :)

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  4. Lemon pie? Apple strudel? Oh wow!! So far I've just found Sojade here in Barcelona, which is ok but I miss Alpro creamoso!

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  5. I really like Sojasun and I think I've tried and enjoyed Sojade when I went to Paris. Aside from that, all my favorite brands stopped their operations. BUT I discovered homemade yoghurt this year and it beats them all.

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  6. So many yogurts! All I can find in Canada are almond or coconut -though I like the coconutty flavor, the almond are too rubbery. I like mine unsweetened so I can flavor it if I want. I miss Whole Soy a whole freakin' lot!

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  7. The yogurt on your side of the pond is so much than over here IMO! When we were in Paris years ago I used to eat these amazing little soy yogurts that came in glass containers, and had fruit or chestnuts on the bottom for mixing in. They were the best <3

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  8. Yum! I can't believe you're managing to MoFo while travelling and I've not got it together at all this year.. oh the shame!

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  9. You're so right about the yogurt prob here. Whole Soy had my heart! God, it was so good. And now it's gone forever. Sigh ... The Silk brand is decent, although a tad sweet. But the coconut yogurts and almond yogurts are not my fave.

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  10. I'm not too big on yoghurts but the apple strudel and lemon pie could definitely convince me! Wow! Need to look out for these when I next travel!

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  11. That apple pie cremoso doesn't survive a day in this house, it's so addictive!
    And yaaaay for vegan mofo, I love this time of the year!!

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  12. Love this post! I really want to try that lemon pie yoghurt but I've only seen the apple strudel kind.

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  13. aw man!! I'm very happy with my amazing homemade soy yogurt, but I really do envy the glory of euro soy yogurt. Every time I am in Europe I just eat as much as I possibly can. Why don't we have that here in the US?? WHY???

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  14. I've never found a soy yogurt here in the US that I love. I'd love to try your Alpro yogurt!

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  15. I'm not a big yoghurt eater but would love to try those pie flavours. Hope they make it over to the UK.

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  16. I am so nostalgic from the time we lived in our van, I so badly want to do it again soon. I'm amazed at all the yoghurt choice! We have not that great a selection here, though it has increased lately with the coconut yoghurt craze (im not a huge fan of it though)

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  17. What a great idea! Personally I love soy yoghurt and I'm always so happy to try new flavours and brands when I'm somewhere else!

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  18. Super jealous of the awesome yogurt scene in Europe! I'm a huge yogurt fan. At the moment I've been really enjoying Tesco's vegan yogurts! Especially the creamy ones with raspberry coulis at the bottom.. Yum!

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