SOULVEG: Indigenous man opens vegan catering business in Melbourne

Interview by Claudette Vaughan

Abolitionist: Where did you come from Nick? Have you been involved with the Melbourne Vegan Movement?

Nick: I’m actually from Shepperton in Northern Central Victoria and I’ve been in Melbourne the last four years. I’ve also been vegan for the last four years and it’s just now that I am actually meeting a lot of other vegans individually and through the various animal liberation organizations. It’s terrific to see how much is actually ‘out there’.

Abolitionist: Tell us about your new venture, SOULVEG.

Nick: SOULVEG is a catering company. It’s run Melbourne wide and I also do a lot of wholesale and retail work as well. It’s 100% vegan and I get a lot of work from people who eat meat but want to try something healthier. We are really spreading the word out there as a multi food caterer. Already we have served thousands of people vegan food already, they love it and my business is constantly growing.

Abolitionist: Who’s your niche market – corporate people, other vegans etc?

Nick: We pretty much can do something for everybody. For corporate functions we do sandwiches but we also do a lot of large scale catering for fitness events like bike events, kickboxing clubs. We’ve also done several events for the ‘Free Trade’ people. There are so many diverse people in the community who are concerned about healthy living so we intend to broaden our market as we go on.

Abolitionist: What’s your philosophy behind SOULVEG Nick?

Nick: Healthy food can be tasty as well. Many people fear eating vegan because they don’t want to miss out on tasty food but that is such a misconception and I really want to get out there and break that down. If people are willing to try my food it may just be the first step to them eventually turning vegetarian or vegan.

Abolitionist: What are your menus? I noticed on your website that there’s a wide variety to choose from?

Nick: We have several different themes so we usually ask the organiser to choose a theme, whatever appeals to her or him then we will set the dishes around that. For example, Italian and Mexican, Mediterranean, African. Moroccan and Indian re all popular choices.

Abolitionist: Without being condescending Nick it’s terrific that an indigenous man is doing this. Is veganism quite rare in indigenous culture?

Nick: As far as indigenous people and veganism go there are a lot of us out there but it seems as if we’re not. I’ve meet indigenous people right across Australia, people that are vegetarian and who don’t eat dairy and meat. It’s slowly becoming more popular but because everybody lives so far about it gives the impression that we’re not ‘out there’.

Abolitionist: Christmas is coming up. How can people get in contact with you for all those office and healthy functions Nick?

Nick: SOULVEG has a website. www.soulveg.com.au
Or they could call the business number. 03 9547 4231

Abolitionist: We wish you all the very best with this venture.