As the plant based revolution continues, the most recent cuisine to be veganised is an eagerly awaited summer highlight that makes for a perfect social event. Whether it’s at a park, on a beach, or even on a college-provided grill, there’s nothing like watching sizzling coals of the barbecue in the warm sunshine (safely, of course). Move over meat eaters, because this summer, vegetarians and vegans have a license to grill.

Meat has long hogged the barbecue, with the slow cooking tradition holding great significance to the African-American community (highlighted in the recent Netflix show “High on the Hog”), and many other countries have their own versions of open fire cooking – think tandoori, Mexican grill, or kebabs. While grilled meat has long been appreciated by people around the globe, the growing popularity of meat replacements is reflected in UK supermarkets. Tesco’s “Wicked” brand recently launched vegan skewers, made with pea protein, as have the expanding “THIS” range, and with vegan halloumi and burger alternatives on offer too, you can be sure that there’ll be no more plates piled high with salad for non-meat eaters. 

That’s not to say that salads, or any vegetables, need be neglected this summer: MOB Kitchen’s Peri Peri Sweet Potato salad is a perfect example of a spruced up, flavourful side dish. With roasted sweet potatoes with a herby kick, fresh celery, peppers, sweetcorn, tomato and coriander, this salad is balanced and will definitely complement a PB-BBQ. A grilled peach salad with crumbly cheese and rocket, or something more citrussy can be a great way to add acidity, sweetness, or some of your 5 a day into a barbecue too. You can even spice up a corn on the cob with Peri Peri seasoning, or make a “Masala Corn” in the style of Indian street food, with butter (or alternative), chilli powder, honey and lemon juice. 

Homemade vegetable skewers are a classic, but can seem bland or boring if they’re not done right. Seasoning your veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper before they hit the coals is imperative – and mix up the flavours too! Try oregano and lemon juice on diced aubergines, courgettes and peppers for a Mediterranean skewer, or slather miso paste on slices of onion for an Ottolenghi-inspired umami sensation. Add cayenne or chilli powder for a bit of spiciness, with an extra squeeze of lemon once they’re cooked to give the spices a facelift.

Marinating might seem like a lot of effort with little reward, but it can actually reduce the amount of work you have to do once the grill or barbeque is on. For vegetarians, this is the trick you need for soft and delicious paneer tikka, and can be replicated with tofu. Marinades are essentially layers of flavour, they need at least 6 hours in the fridge to sink in so that delicate spices aren’t overpowered by smokiness from the grill. 

A popular marinade in North India is Hariyali – literally meaning ‘green’, because of the fresh herbs it includes. Start by cubing 400g of your paneer or tofu, then add 4 tbsp of ginger and garlic paste, followed by 2 tsp of turmeric powder – this is the first marinade. Cover this, and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then add the juice of one lime, and let it sit for another 10 minutes. In this time, use a blender to prepare the third marinade, consisting of 2 handfuls of cashew nuts, 6 tbsp of plain yoghurt (dairy free is fine!), 1 cup each of fresh mint and coriander, 2 tsp of cumin seeds or powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp poppy seeds, a few cardamoms and chillies, plus a pinch salt and pepper. Feel free to taste the marinade to check if it needs adjusting – it should be fairly hot.  Finally, add the thoroughly blended bright green mix to your paneer or tofu, before refrigerating it for at least 6 hours. This marinade will be worth the effort when you taste the flavour it imparts!

Lots of the new veggie and vegan options for a barbecue are sure to be popular with meat eaters too, but if you’re someone whose diet has long been ignored at these summer celebrations, this year might just be your chance to hog the best options on the grill.

Published in print on 09/06/2021

For many colleges, formals are finally back on the menu. Whether that means donning your gown for the first time in a year, or a more relaxed opportunity to enjoy hall food without plastic screens muting any hopes of a conversation, the return to inside dining has been much awaited by many. For many freshers, this term offers the prospect of their first formals ever – and with it, the promise of a normal student experience, though it may well feel overdue. So, although some college chefs have kept us entertained over lockdowns with Instagram posts and student-friendly recipes, their time has come to shine and plate up Masterchef-worthy creations for halls filled with hungry students who have been eagerly waiting for their chance to be a food critic.

Last Friday, I attended my college’s first formal of Trinity and was overwhelmed with nostalgia as I filed into the hall with the 49 other lucky ticket holders. I felt as though I’d won a golden ticket, though I’d have to wait until dessert for a taste of dreamy chocolate. The familiar sight of candlesticks sitting side by side with the cheapest bottles of Pinot Grigio made me grin from ear to ear; after a long stretch of unfulfilling student experience, going back to normal is like clouds parting to reveal sunshine. Even given the variance in hall food prices, it does feel like a real privilege that a hallmark of the Oxford experience is a three-course meal for about a fiver – impossible to forget as I marvelled at the starter of whipped goats cheese, beetroot, and pickled fennel salad, served with the well-loved bread and butter and a slice of toasted ciabatta.

For mains, the omnivores among us were served a slow cooked lamb shank, tender enough to slide off the bone, while vegetarians such as myself received an eggplant steak with a scored king oyster mushroom. I particularly loved the use of mushroom on the aubergine, it lent it an umami earthiness and slightly beefy flavour to the otherwise wholly vegetable based dish. Served with crushed new potatoes, seasonal veg and herby jus, both of these options were really popular- the food lived up to the high standards we had set for our first formal back in college. In the last few years, many restaurants and takeaways have upped their veggie and vegan game as a result of skyrocketing demand for plant-based alternatives. This trend seems to have extended to college kitchens too, as this was undoubtedly the best vegetarian (and vegan friendly) meal I’ve been served in hall. Each dish had an almost identical vegan counterpart, so rejoice vegans, at the end of boring salads and fruit plates!

As someone with a certified sweet tooth, I’d been looking forward to the dessert from the moment I walked into the hall – although I cook a fair amount of my own food, the precision and luxury of formal hall desserts remain firmly out of my territory, and always feel like a real treat. We were served a blackcurrant and raspberry chocolate bar, filled with mousse, alongside a scoop of fresh raspberry sorbet. The perfect combination of sweetness and tartness rounded off my first formal of Trinity term and reminded me of all the good yet to come, despite the sour bits of the pandemic we’re all keen to leave behind.

All in all, my first formal of 2021 was a great experience, leaving me feeling grateful to have been back in hall surrounded by friends, and far from the desk at which I ate most of my meals during virtual Trinity. The menu was thoughtfully curated, making use of seasonal and local produce, and it was clear that the vegetarian and vegan alternatives were given just as much consideration. I’ll definitely be trying to grab a ticket for the next formal at my college – and I’d recommend you do the same!

Published in print on 26/05/2021

The LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers was launched in 2013 with the aim of seeking out and fostering emerging talent within the fashion world. Each year, the winner receives  €300,000 and mentorship from LVMH and the runner-up (or winner of the Karl Lagerfeld/Special Jury Prize) also benefits from this mentorship, as well as a grant of €150,000. With this incomparable support, winners consistently graduate from the realm of ‘up-and-coming’ to fully established and revered designers. This is evidenced in the success of past winners such as Jacquemus and Marques’Almeida which now have their shows sandwiched between century-old houses at fashion week.

Before the winners are announced, however, a short-list of finalists is released. Within the group of the 2021 finalists, we find Nensi Dojaka and RUI. Nensi Dojaka is a designer from Albania and based in London. Having graduated from Central Saint Martins, she was swept up by Ssense, producing a capsule collection with them in 2019. She has recently finished a stint with the so-called ‘talent incubator’ Fashion East. Rui Zhou, the designer behind the eponymous brand RUI, describes herself as from “a small city surrounded by mountains and trees in China”. She now works in Shanghai, having studied at the Tsinghua University, Beijing and Parsons, New York. Although the background and education of these two designers are contrasting, their works similarly challenge the rules of womenswear and create new definitions of femininity.

Speaking to the LVMH panel, Rui described the aesthetic of her brand as “based on the relationship in between fragility and strength” and this definition could equally be applied to Nensi Dojaka’s work. In the latter’s garments, this fragility is created by the straps which hold the pieces together. The concept of the strappy little black dress is taken to its extreme, as she criss-crosses thread-like straps (too slight to be called ‘spaghetti’) which precariously hold up the main body of the item. From this precariousness arises a provocativeness as it seems that the garment could snap at any moment. As the wearer can be confident that the structure of the item is not as delicate as it appears, this endows them with a secret strength which raises them above any viewer who dares to think that they will see more. This effect is also achieved by Rui’s pieces which consist of star-like panels of fabric held together by tenuous links adorned with crystals or beads. The placement of this adornment visually symbolises the beauty of this fragility, but also physically strengthens the most delicate parts of the garment, thus representing the designer’s vision of fragility and strength existing in harmony.

The shapes which arise from the structure of these pieces hint towards a playfulness within this new vision of femininity and this partly derives from the use of asymmetry in the work of both these designers. In some of Nensi Dojaka’s most recognisable pieces, she connects the straps in such a way that the panels of fabric sit at wonky angles. This adds to the provocative nature of the garment through making the function of the structure seem even more miraculous. In other pieces, she stays strictly symmetrical, but a playfulness is maintained through intricate layering. For example, in one of her bodysuits, three layers of sheer fabric are placed on top of each other to form a bra. As the transparency of this fabric is lost through this layering, an element of modesty is born out of the sensuality and this ties into the symbiosis of fragility and strength.

Rui Zhao similarly experiments with symmetry and asymmetry. In the symmetrical pieces, the shapes that are formed in the negative space of the fabric are perfectly circular, making the overall effect rather cute and fun, contrasting with the severity of the geometry in Nensi Dojaka. In others, spiky and asymmetric layers are chaotically intertwined as if the wearer has accidentally become tangled in a cobweb. As well as showing playfulness and experimentation, the construction of these shapes is a testament to the technical prowess of these designers.

It is easy to get wrapped up in the fragile technicality of these pieces, but one must remember that they are made to be worn. Nensi Dojaka and Rui Zhao did not forget this. Their radical femininity is reflected in the way that their clothes accentuate the body, wrapping themselves around the curves and contours of the figure. This flattering fit was not accidental and it is clear that the designs were created for real bodies rather than coat hangers. Nensi Dojaka uses adjustable straps which allow you to precisely fit the item exactly how you desire. Whereas adjusting the straps on a normal piece of clothing would change how high or low the garment fits on your body, the sheer number of adjustable straps on each item means that you can transform its whole appearance through playing with the endless permutations. Rather than using adjusting devices like Nensi Dojaka, the materials used for the RUI collections are inherently adjustable. This is because they are extremely stretchy, meaning that they change shape to fit whichever body they wrap themselves around. This is evidenced through the range of the bodies used in their campaigns which in itself points to an inclusivity in this femininity – it is not limited by the boundaries of gender or size, but willing to be embraced by all. The downside to these wonderfully stretchy fabrics is that they are thoroughly unsustainable (polyamide, nylon, spandex etc.), but Rui Zhou reassures the LVMH judges that sustainability is something she would focus on if she won the prize.

Unsurprisingly, I am not the only one who is obsessed with this new style of feminine dressing. It only takes a scroll down the Instagram accounts of these designers (@ruiofficial.me and  @nensidojaka) to see that celebrities have been lapping up their striking pieces. Emily Ratajkowski was recently pictured in a signature-style Nensi Dojaka minidress and other big names such as Bella Hadid, Emma Corrin had come before her. For her Rolling Stones cover, Dua Lipa was pictured in a RUI bodysuit, leggings and gloves and even the insta-famous ‘robot’ @lilmiquela has had a RUI top superimposed on her CGI body. When a robot is sporting your work, it surely means that you have captured the zeitgeist. This celebrity popularity does, however, betray a lack of accessibility to these clothes. RUI’s prices start at £180, and that is just for a single sleeve and the cult minidresses of Nensi Dojaka cost around the £800.  Perhaps this is reflective of where the designers are in their careers. Having won the LVMH prize, Grace Wales Bonner collaborated with Adidas allowing her to reach a different audience outside of the sphere of high-fashion and I wonder whether RUI and Nensi Dojaka could follow a similar trajectory. For the moment, we may just have to admire these clothes from a distance like works of art. Even if we cannot wear them ourselves, they are still able challenge our understanding of femininity and inspire us to find strength in fragility and to dress to reflect this.