I Don't Eat, I Devour

Poke bowl is the new health food trend of 2017. A traditional Hawaiian seafood preparation, poke bowls have clear Japanese influences and showcase beautiful, thickly-cut fish chunks. Regular poke bowl with Salmon, $12 The idea at Poku is similar to other places which offer poke bowls (such as health food chain About Life), and it's brilliant in its simplicity: Choose a protein (raw fish such as king fish, salmon and tuna, or go vegan / vegetarian with sweet potato cubes) Choose a base (at Poku the choice is between bamboo rice, sweet potato noodles, zucchini noodles and kale; I have seen barley and quinoa elsewhere) Choose toppings (vegetables, herbs, spices) Add a sauce Optional 'premium' extras such as avocado, fish roe, green mango etc and voila, you have yourself a poke bowl.  The one item on Poku's menu which was previously unfamiliar to me was bamboo rice - what on earth is that?! A bit of googling tells me that it's the seeds of bamboo fl...

The vegan bandwagon has been well and truly powering along for a couple of years now, and there are more options than ever for those who choose to adopt a plant-based diet. I am not a vegan, but I have been curious about the new crop of vegan restaurants popping up in the trendy suburbs of Sydney and am keen to discover how they are able to attract food-lovers while denying patrons any animal product. Prior to the vegan diet becoming popularised, one of the main reasons why I turned my nose up at vegan food is that they often try to fake animal products instead of allowing vegetables and fruits to speak for themselves. The sound of 'imitation beef' or 'no-meat steak' was quite off-putting to me, because being as familiar as I already am with tofu, I simply don't think they pass off as meat. However, the repetoire of vegan chefs have expanded well beyond soy products, so it's time to give vegan food a fair try.  Let's start with 'mylk'-based d...