Vegan Dining, Tree Hostel-Style

As if the Hostel in the Forest wasn't amazing enough, they're also very vegan-friendly, offering a mostly-vegan communal dinner every night, fresh out of their Soul Kitchen. Everything is homemade with love and as many homegrown and local ingredients as possible.

We ate outside each night on picnic tables by string- and candle- and torch-light.

It was late and dark when we ate, though, so be prepared for some flashy pictures.

Dinner the first night consisted of a giant salad and these amazing corn cakes with a chunky salsa-relish-chutney. I really want to recreate these and eat them every day until I'm sick of them.

The vegan chili was also delicious.

After ya dun scrape ya plate, ya help out in the kitchen.

I don't have any pictures of this, but I'll just say that that first night, I never had so much fun washing dishes before. Madonna's "Like a Virgin" will always bring images of dancing with dish towels and singing loudly over the sounds of sprayers and the clangs of pots and dishes.

My friend Brandon helped prepare the salad the second night. He's a chef and showed off his mad "I'm a chef" knife skills.

Another amazing salad with broccoli leaves, tomato, and grapefruit, along with jasmine rice and sesame broccoli, and a most heavenly tomato-basil-topped lentil loaf.

To say that the food at the hostel was amazing and comforting and delicious would be an understatement. Eating with the other guests was fun, too. Always good conversation, often interrupted with random enthusiastic compliments about the food.

I want all of my dinners to be like this.