Mouth-watering vegan treat at The Donkey Sanctuary

For the second year, The Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth will be one of the award-winning venues celebrating the incredible food and drink on offer throughout the region as part of the Taste East Devon food and drink festival in September.

The Donkey Sanctuary’s Taste of the West award-winning restaurant The Kitchen will host ‘Sowing with Donkeys’ on Thursday 15 September, and invites diners to enjoy a delicious two-course vegan meal from a specially prepared menu using locally sourced seasonal produce where possible.

Diners can choose between two mouth-watering menu choices prepared by the resident sanctuary chef and his team: forest fungi wild mushrooms, mushroom duxelles, slow roasted tomato and rosemary focaccia with black garlic dressing, or roasted butternut squash with gnocchi, sage pesto, squash puree, toasted pine nuts, crispy kale and Italian-style hard cheese shavings.

For dessert there is the tempting choice between apple and blackberry almond granola crumble with vanilla custard and Lyme Bay winter gin and blackberry coulis, or Lyme Bay spiced lugger rum panna cotta with baked cinnamon figs, rosemary shortbread and fig leaf syrup.

Following lunch overlooking some of the resident donkeys in their paddocks, diners are invited to take a gentle stroll around the Sidmouth sanctuary with one of the charity’s conservation team.

Set in East Devon’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, visitors will hear how donkeys are integral to sustaining biodiversity on sanctuary land, and how more ways are being explored in which donkeys can help manage habitats, and in turn benefit from living in an enriched environment.

Biodiversity is essential for supporting life and the natural processes that make the environment more resilient, and the resident donkeys are being increasingly involved when conservation tasks are carried out.

Wildflower meadows are one of several types of habitats that are being improved at the sanctuary. They are home to many species and provide a massive benefit to a wide range of insects, including pollinators and, in turn, the wildlife that feeds on them.

Participants in the Taste East Devon festival, held from 3-18 September, are located across the region including The Donkey Sanctuary. The 16-day event culminates on 18 September with an afternoon of food and live music in the grounds of The Pig at Combe near Honiton.

Tickets for the Sowing with Donkeys event cost £18.50 plus booking fee and include the two-course lunch and conservation talk. Tickets are limited and pre-booking is required. To book, please visit: https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/events/15-09-2022/sowing-with-donkeys