Lee Watson

Blogger of The Beach House Kitchen

Biography

Lee is the author of the new vegan cookbook 'Peace and Parsnips' and one half of the presenting team of 24 Hour Kitchen's 'Meat vs Veg'. Lee is a food adventurer who travels the world veganizing local dishes, combining two of his main passions; travel and cooking. Lee is based in rural North Wales, where he cooks at Trigonos, an idyllic retreat centre and organic vegetable farm. Lee lives with his partner Jane in the Beach House, from where he writes the blog 'The Beach House Kitchen' which focuses on local, seasonal produce given a regular global twist. When he's not playing with pots and pans, Lee enjoys running in the hills, yoga, gardening, poetry and playing his favourite Canadian guitar.

The Return of the Naked Chef

Jamie Oliver

Jamie burst onto the scene with so much energy and enthusiasm, it really influenced me in my early 20's. He made things fun and easy. Jamie recently said that the future of food is plant based and I've always respected his approach in food education and spreading a positive food message.

River Cottage Cook Book

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Hugh just seemed like such a dude, poodling around in his Land Rover singing the Who. I loved it when he raided hedgrerows and forests for a foraged dinner and always got stuck in with a smile! Hugh now promotes a more veggie based diet and is always an interesting read.

Gaia's Kitchen

Julia Ponsonby

I love the philosophy underpinning this book and its holistic approach to cooking. There are some classic veggie recipes here and its a lovely read with many heart warming stories.

Plenty

Yotam Ottolenghi

His food is so stylish and bursting with wonderful, bold flavour combinations. Always creative and super fresh. I like the way he brings his own character to a strong food heritage and strikes a balance between the two. Food from the Middle East is some of my favourite, with many recipes traditionally vegan. After all, it is the home of hummus!!

For the Love of Food

Denis Cotter

The title says it all really! This book shows Denis's creativity and passion for veggie food. An approach that highlights the importance of cooking from the heart, with love and appreciation. The food looks beautiful and is always packed with striking flavours.

Pure Vegetarian

Paul Gayler

It seems that Paul has been into seasonal veggie food way before it was even cool to do so! He is an amazing chef, so to read his veggie based books always brought much needed inspiration and encouragement. This is a very high standard of cooking, made accessible to all, with a diverse range of recipes.

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

This is a mammoth vegan cookbook highlighting the creativity and outrageous flavours possible in vegan cooking. The US leads the way in the modern vegan world and its books like this that make veganism accessible to all.

The Happy Pear Cookbook

David Flynn and Steven Flynn

There are so amazing Irish vegans/ veggies on the scene at the minute, Aine Carlin being another. These boys just have such a positive, infectious approach to healthy living and their recipes are always simple, nutritious and imaginative.

Vanilla Black: Fresh Flavours for your Vegetarian Kitchen

Andrew Dargue

Eating at Vanilla Black is always a mind blowing event for a vegan, its London's best veggie restaurant and the food is always inventive and sexy with loads of surprise touches. The cookbook reflects this perfectly.

Bought, Borrowed and Stolen

Allegra McEvedy

This is a lovely cookbook all about Allegra's travels around the world, much more than just a load of gorgeous recipes, it's a food-based adventure! I have 'borrowed and stolen' many recipes from Allegra over the years. Like most of these cookbooks, it's not vegan (or even veggie) but inspiration can be found in all sorts of wonderful (and occasionally weird) places and I love to veganize traditional or non-veg recipes. Its all part of the challenge and fun of being a vegan cook!

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What's playing in Lee's kitchen?

Reggae in the summer, Folk in the winter, Rock all the time.