Harvey Nichols' vegan supper club a sign of the times says chef Gaz Oakley

The social media celebrity chef hosts the special event later this month
Catching on: Gaz Oakley says veganism moving faster than vegetarianism movement

A vegan social media star today said he is certain the current food trend will become mainstream in the UK quicker than vegetarianism did in the 1990s.

Cardiff-based chef Gaz Oakley will serve a hand-crafted five course menu at Harvey Nichols in the flagship Knightsbridge store’s first animal product-free dining experience later this month.

The 25-year-old, known as ‘Avant-Garde Vegan’, who worked in restaurants in the Welsh capital as a teenager, and has since grown a following of more than 250,000 foodies on YouTube in under two years, where he shares recipes and tips.

He said: “I literally went vegan overnight, and just stuck with it ever since.

“My friends in particular were shocked, and that’s part of the reason why I started the work, showing my friends what I was eating, and then people wanted the recipes and the dishes, and it grew from there really.

“Even two and a half years ago when I first went vegan, people seemed to be a lot less knowledgeable about veganism, but I walk in anywhere now and everyone knows about it. It’s become more and more acceptable.

“I think veganism is going to grow faster than vegetarianism did. It is going to be even bigger in a short space of time.”

The chef takes inspiration from ancient traditions - including Buddhist monks - and insists his meat replacements taste as good as the real thing.

He said: “I make steak using an ancient recipe which was formerly used by Buddhist monks.

“They traditionally used a meat replacement called wheat gluten, and I just glaze it with porcini mushrooms, shallots, red wine. Then I cook it in a broth and grill it and you have the texture and the taste of a flame-grilled steak.

“It tastes like steak without the cruelty that actual steak comes with.”

Oakley is serving his favourite dish for 47 guests at the iconic venue. The one-off ‘vegan supper club’ will include amuse-bouche, the vegan ‘fillet steak’ Wellington and a faux-fish Camden Ale batter fish and chips wrapped in The Vegan Daily newspaper.

“I can’t wait to get my chef whites back on and do a proper service,” Oakley said.

Simon Youden, General Manager at Harvey Nichols said: “We are thrilled to be working with such a talented chef to celebrate Veganuary.”

The event will be held at 7pm on Tuesday January 23 on the Fifth Floor Terrace. Tickets £45, including complimentary drink on arrival

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in