Roya Bishop introduces us to café Roya and her vegan lifestyle and shares a few of her favourite recipes
Roya Bishop, 34, from Beeston, has been in the cooking business for the last ten years and has made her passion into a job by creating new vegan recipes each week from starters to desserts in her very own restaurant at the Cafe Roya.
Roya turned vegan when she was seven and when her sister became vegan as well, it inspired her to cook vegan dishes at home for them both.
“My favourite vegan dish would be Ravaiya curry or a Mexican burrito – I recommend strawberry or watermelon margaritas to go with vegan BBQ food,” she says. “I like adapting meat dishes into vegan meals – Vegetarian Living magazine have been a great inspiration towards my cooking.”
She uses Beeston company Fred Hallam to deliver her fresh vegetables every morning as she wants to support local industries.
Roya has cooked for some famous people over the last decade and guests such as Shane Meadows, director of This is England and Channel 4’s The Virtues, as well as fellow Nottingham star Vicky McClure. She’s also welcomed actor Anna Friel, writer Graham Caveney, Henning Wehn comedian and Emmerdale actor Roxy Shahidi.
And, as well as an ethical approach to eating, Café Roya is working towards a plastic-free environment.
“We try and do as much as possible, we use paper straws and recyclable napkins and our takeaway packaging is biodegradable. The takeaway cutlery is compostable, bottle tops get saved for art projects and we recycle everything we can.”