Meet the non-stop vegan Northampton chef winning awards and helping those in need

Natasha Caton has been a busy woman since the coronavirus pandemic struck - despite losing all of her income basically overnight.

Making vegan meals for the homeless, creating cupcake kits for special needs children, fielding phone calls about how to make a cake without flour and handing out toys dressed as Santa are just a few things the Northampton chef has been up to this year.

Among all of that and more, The Loving Chef, who runs Sol Haven Farm in Moulton, also won three awards at the Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2020.

But it has been far from plain-sailing as Natasha's usual work of vegan cooking, masterclasses and more was either cancelled or moved online

"I'm very much a face-to-face person and tech is not my thing so to get everything online and order things online and book deliveries, it was a big challenge for me," she said.

"The first two months we thought, 'right lets re-charge, re-think and strategise,' and then we had to think about getting some income as my partner's contract finished three days before the lockdown and my income went to zero overnight."

Work soon came Natasha's way though, mainly by teaming up with Northampton Hope Centre to make vegan meals for homeless people in the town.

They were making between 70 and 120 meals a week of home-cooked and home-grown food.

"It really helped to know we were making a difference and just touching base with people," she said.

"The council did an amazing job putting them in hotels to keep them safe but feeding them is another issue. We did make a difference for people who can't help themselves sometimes.

Other charitable work included a vegan cupcake baking kit for a special needs charity in Leeds with all the ingredients and decorations for the children.

Before Christmas, Natasha did a five-week series on Zoom cooking her five favourite dishes for the festive season while fielding calls from people unsure how to cook.

"I've had calls from people who've had food parcels or been to the food bank who don't know how to cook so I'm suddenly doing a Ready, Steady, Cook with what they've got and go through things and how to cook things," she said.

"More and more people are going to food banks but they don't know how to cook, it's astonishing. It can seem so easy to cook but if you don't know how to do it, it's hard.

And over the festive period, she was making more meals for homeless people having successfully crowdfunded a project to make a kit bag and meal for every homeless person in Northampton.

As well as dressing up as Father Christmas and giving gifts to children who may not have got a present this year with the charity Earth's Lonely Angels.

"It's nice to support other people's organisations, it's all part of the Christmas spirit and to think there are some children who won't get a toy this year so seeing them come and pick up a toy will be heart-touching seeing their smiles," she said.

The work is not ending in 2021 either as January is the biggest month of the year for veganism so she will be showing people how to go plant-based online.

"January is normally my busiest month, we usually do a two-day intensive session on how to be a vegan and make it a lifestyle," she said.

"Things like making your own butter and nut milks and how to be healthy as there's a lot of E numbers and salt so go in to the details about how to be healthy.

"As well as thinking about block cooking and how to put meals together that are natural and calorific and tasty too. But everything will be online this year."

Natasha has always been close but never a winner in the annual Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards so she was thrilled to finally get a gold medal this year.

But she was not expecting to win three awards: Artisan Local Product of the Year gold for her sweet potato pie with spinach and tomato, Artisan Local Vegetarian/Vegan Product of the Year silver for her savoury vegetable pie and bronze for her chocolate and courgette cake.

"I'm really delighted, this year I wondered if it was going to be our year with Covid but I thought I'd give it a shot," she said.

"We've been nominated for the last three years, last year we were a finalist and the year before.

"Normally it's a bit gala dinner with black tie but it was a Zoom call this year because of Covid.

"It was really exciting to see how they have done it but it was really good to finally get a winner for a product that's so different being vegan."