Porterfield Harriet - Eat the Rainbow: Vegan Recipes Made with Love

Ive loved food for as long as I can remember, and Ive always been extremely enthusiastic about eating. My first word was gone, quickly followed by more. Food makes me happy; the creative process of cooking brings me so much joy. Whether its experimenting with a new recipe, discovering a new flavour or decorating a pretty tart, something about it helps me tap into my creative energy. Ive always had a bit of a sweet tooth, which is where my nickname Bo comes from (I used to have a thing for a certain brand of fizzy jelly sweets). Theyre still made with gelatine so I cant enjoy them as a vegan, but the nickname has stuck.

I was raised vegetarian but, when my parents divorced, my dad started occasionally cooking meat at home. My diet became less varied when I started eating meat, which ironically is the thing most people think happens when you turn vegan. During my teen years I missed the hearty vegetable stews and soups and homemade sweet treats my mum used to make and found myself being drawn back to vegetarianism. When I was 17, I was a vegetarian again and had been reading a book about hidden animal ingredients in E numbers and additives. One day, on my weekly shop, I decided to see if I could buy only vegan groceries. It seemed like a fun challenge and a necessary step to take. It just didnt sit right with me to call myself an animal lover while willingly taking part in their exploitation. I knew that if I cared about animals in any way, I had to turn my back on the dairy industry, too. Aside from the cruelty involved in the meat and dairy industry, I knew that incorporating more plants and wholefoods into my diet made me FEEL better, both mentally and physically.

As a passionate home cook, I was excited to see what new recipes I would be able to try. Back then there wasnt much choice for anybody who wanted to adopt the vegan lifestyle. There was one type of dairy-free milk if you were lucky, and barely any vegan cheese or yoghurts in the health-food shops, let alone the supermarket. This lack of choice helped me become a capable home cook as I had to make most things from scratch. It motivated me to try making my own milks and cheeses and experimenting with veganizing recipes, which was a relatively new thing back then.

I moved to London for my retail management job in 2007. There were so many more places to eat out, plenty of vegan choices in supermarkets and loads of inspirational recipes and blogs online. I began baking vegan cakes and cookies from home and the name Bos Kitchen was born. I intended to start supplying cafes, though I quickly realized this would be very labour intensive and not something I could fit around my full-time job in the West End. I still loved baking though, and I wanted to find a way to make a living out of it but just didnt know how.

My dreams of becoming a vegan baker and cook were put on the backburner for a few years while I was busy working in the Big Smoke. Instagram blew up around this time and I started to follow some of my favourite recipe creators. I was drawn to bright, easy -to-follow, colourful vegan recipes. I started my own account @bos.kitchen but wasnt able to post much content as my studio flat in London was incredibly tiny. You had to pull the stairs down from the ceiling to get to the bedroom and there was only space for one person in the kitchen, and no natural light at all.

My mum moved abroad and I left London to return home to Leicester and move into her place while she was gone. The house has tons of natural light and white kitchen surfaces and walls perfect for food photography. I started taking simple overhead shots of my dishes with my phone: it was really basic, with no fancy props or lighting involved. I was still working from home full time and just taking pictures on my lunchbreaks, purely for fun, with no expectation of it becoming a career. Over time, however, I built up a vast collection of images on my social media and gained a few followers.

Eventually, brands started offering me products in exchange for recipe collaborations and I was able to start charging brands to work with me. I couldnt believe it! I taught myself the basics of food photography and saved up for my first digital camera. As my knowledge expanded, my photography improved and I developed my own visual aesthetic. With lots of practise and a whole ton of failures I was able to grow my social media following to over 100k followers within a couple of years. Although my style has evolved over time, Im still drawn to bright, colourful food shot in natural light. Beautiful colours, art and music always fire me up and I find immense joy in evoking a feeling through the visual interpretation of my food. I prefer to work alone, often with my favourite music on in the background, and lose myself in creating for a while.

I love the visual process almost as much as creating the recipe itself. I truly believe you eat with your eyes first. If you can make something healthy look really appealing it makes eating well a whole lot easier.