Viva Brighton Issue #59 January 2018

FOOD
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The Great Moshimo Vegan Challenge
The future is plant-based
You’ve no doubt heard
the headlines that
carbon emissions from
animal agriculture are
amongst the biggest
contributors to global
warming. And there’s
irrefutable evidence of
how overfishing and
our dependence on
plastic – and its careless
disposal – are decimating life in the oceans. The
facts are undeniable and we need to change our
ways. It’s environmentalism 101 to state that
choosing a plant-based diet is one of the most
environmentally responsible choices that we can
make but, vegetarian though I am, I’ve never quite
made the full commitment and become vegan. If
I’m (uncomfortably) honest, the main reason for
that is fear of missing out. I just don’t want the
inconvenient truth to inconvenience my social
life and in my experience the vegan option all too
often remains an afterthought.
But that looks like it might be set to change.
Brighton’s celebrated Japanese restaurant, Moshimo,
is taking their plant-based menu every bit
as seriously as their meticulously sourced sushi.
Having started the high-profile fish sustainability
campaign ‘Fishlove’ several years ago (remember
the naked celebs draped in various sea creatures?),
they’ve been asking themselves ‘what will we be
serving in 30 years’ time if we continue to overfish?’.
Their answer is to gently wean us off our
over dependency on animal protein by offering
an increasingly sophisticated selection of vegan
dishes on their conveyor belts. And they’re doing
their bit to bring others along with them.
In late November, I join a packed house of Brighton
foodies for the 7th
Great Moshimo Vegan
Challenge, where eleven
of Brighton’s most celebrated
eateries each design
a Japanese-inspired
– but purely plant-based
– dish. Their challenge is
to prepare 150 exquisitely
presented plates; our
challenge is to eat each
one without knowing who created it, scoring each
on presentation, taste and innovation.
The dishes are extraordinary and inventive and
together rival the swankiest of tasting menus.
Plates are served by 64 Degrees, La Choza, Silo,
Cashew Catering, CanTina, Chilli Pickle, Market,
Purezza, V-Bites and Lucky Beach, as well as
Moshimo themselves. Black rice arancini; smoked
sun-kissed tomatoes that tastes like salmon; a shiitake
nori taco. The standard all-round is excellent,
but V-Bites takes the top spot with their winning
dish ‘Ahira a Hero’: a meatless ‘duck’ and wild
mushroom gyoza dumpling with jerk ‘duck’ strips,
wasabi mayonnaise, beetroot powder, ginger water
and micro-herbs smothered in amaranth. It’s
delicious, packs an umami punch and is uncannily
duck-like. Moshimo come a close second, with
Purezza, the vegan pizza restaurant in Kemptown
(and the team behind the salmon-like tomato),
taking third place.
So if you’re thinking of going vegan this year – for
one day a week, for January, or for good – you’re
in the perfect place to do it. And you can cross
FOMO off your list of reasons not to. LL
Join them for Vegan Wednesdays, where Moshimo
members get 50% off all plant-based food (25% for
non-members). moshimo.co.uk
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