Our regular readers will have noticed that we haven't published any Meat Free Monday's for a few weeks.
This is because I am currently in Bali! We came for a holiday, and whilst Lee has returned, I've stayed on. This is because living standards on Malapascua are below a level that makes it very easy to work remotely. Bali, on the other hand is a digital nomad's paradise, and it's easy to see why.
This is my fifth visit to Bali. I know how things work here a little and knew that I could get the rest I needed here. You see, one of THE most important things to me, is food. I enjoy eating food, cooking food and learning about food.
The Philippines diet, is a direct contrast to a diet that I enjoy. When leaving The Philippines I felt lethargic and heading towards deficiencies due to lack of a nutrients.
So I am very very lucky that Bali, is my food heaven. There is a huge array of environmental restaurants, vegetarian and vegan restaurants here (to keep up with the yogi crowd). I honestly just love the Balinese food. Even the non environmental eating is an incredible base- with rich diverse declious flavours. This foundation of incredible flavour, has meant that it's been a pretty easy time for Balinese chefs to create something extraordinary with vegetables. Flavour artists they are indeed.
Bali is also incredibly lush and actually well developed. They have access to a huge amount of food variety, that grows in a lot of different climates that Bali is blessed with. Salad crops are abundant in the highlands. So, the food culture here is fully thriving. This abundance is something I am keen to learn more about in terms of development. Is a rich and delicious diet one of the reasons that Balinese people are so happy, so healthy? Balinese people are the happiest people on the planet. And there is research to suggest that food is linked to ability to be happy.
So, it's no wonder for somebody who loves food and adores environmental food/ diet that Bali is a mecca. And I've been fully taking advantage of this abundance of food and restaurants and cafes serving up incredible dishes.
I will follow up with a best of cafes that I have retreated to a lot in the past few weeks, watch this space.
In the mean time, here's a little snapshot of the food over the past few weeks. Click for descriptions. It's no wonder people rave about Balinese food, even the colour is a beautiful sight.
Even a few weeks into Balinese rest, I can feel a difference with eating such a varied and rich diet. You'll notice a small percentage of food I eat here in Bali will have animal products. Chicken salad, blue cheese at dinner and an accidental order of egg in noodles were the only animal products over a 2 week period. The vibrancy and abundance of the plant based food here, makes it not only easy, but delicious to eat veggies.