Vegan cafe offers free summer lunches for children

Chris Woodward, who runs Brixton Yoga Kitchen in Leamington Spa, hopes to encourage children to try new foods

A vegan cafe is offering free lunches for children during the school summer holidays, in order to encourage them to try new foods.

Brixton Yoga Kitchen in Leamington Spa will offer the free meals on Thursdays for children accompanied by an adult.

Chris Woodward, the cafe’s owner, said he hoped to give children a chance to try vegetables they might normally shun, at no extra cost to their parents.

"We want to give a bit of variety,” he added.

The cafe's rotating menu includes dishes such as dhal with cauliflower and polenta pizza

The cafe changes its menu every week, with dishes including dhal with cauliflower, tofu tacos and a polenta pizza.

“[Children] will often say: ‘We don’t like cauliflower, we don’t like peas’. But you [can] hide them away a bit, put them in a different dish, give them some different flavours,” Mr Woodward said.

"We think that kids should try these things, even if they maybe don’t like them.”

Mr Woodward’s offer comes against the backdrop of the Paris Olympics - where the event's organisers have vowed to increase the proportion of plant-based ingredients on offer and put on the greenest Games in history.

Mr Woodward said he was vegan mainly for environmental reasons but he didn’t expect other people to give up animal products entirely.

“It’s more [about] if you can put a few more plant-based options in front of kids, get them eating it, and for yourself, for parents as well,” he said.

“Small changes make a big difference.”