Blackpool cafe celebrates World Vegetarian Day with a touch of cool jazz

With some 14 per cent of the UK population now said to be vegetarian and a rise in the popularity of vegan food over the past two years, the owner of the Cosy Jazz Cafe in Lytham Road is encouraging everyone to consider swapping chicken for chick-peas to help the environment

Musician Josh Samuel who opened the cafe a year ago said there were so many benefits to vegetarianism, form health and wellbeing to being more environmentally friendly.

World Vegetarian Day was founded on October 1 in 1977 by the North American Vegetarian Society who said that plant-based diets can help reduce the risk of major killers such as heart disease, stroke and cancer as well as helping the planet by the more efficient use of land to grow plants instead of cattle which are a major source of green-house gas emissions.

It added that the cutting down of rainforests to provide pasture for cattle and the meat industry was a major issue and that growing crops preserved fresh water, fertile topsoil, cut pollution from cattle slurry and also saved animals from slaughter.

According to the UK's Vegan Society, the number of vegans in the UK soared from 150,000 in 2016 to around 600,000 in 2019.

Josh Samuel said: "I would most certainly encourage everyone to look into vegetarian and vegan diets. Especially people concerned about the environment and also those concerned about their health.

"One of my customers is an established doctor here in Blackpool and he often refers patients to the cafe."

Josh, who renovated the formerly empty unit himself as well as doing the interior decor and most of the paintings said the jazz theme complemented the vegetarian ethos.

He said: "Before this I was on the cruises in the Mediterranean, playing music for six years. I love jazz and a bit of funk, nice and relaxing. There are so many different genre's within jazz. People are surprised by the music in here. They tell me they find it relaxing and soothing. We also do music events and improvisations.

"I opened the cafe in the middle of the pandemic so business has been a bit up and down, but it is going well now. I don't think there is another vegan cafe in town and I am told this is the only jazz vegan cafe in the world. It actually opened on the great Charlie Parker's birthday, August 29, which I thought was very appropriate.

"I am getting some great reviews. I think people are surprised by how good and different the menu is and at the moment people are interested in health matters because of the pandemic. I have incorporated healthy smoothies and health-boosting ingredients into the menu."