How to live a plant-based life with co-founder of Clean Kitchen, Verity Bowditch

You may have seen Verity Bowditch gracing your TV screens as part of Made In Chelsea, but what you may not know is that she is a co-founder at Clean Kitchen, the plant-based, eco-friendly and sustainable food brand offering takeaways all over London.

I chat to Verity all about how she (alongside Mike Pearce) came to start and cultivate Clean Kitchen, what sustainability and opting for a plant-based diet can really do to change your carbon footprint, her recent partnership with dating app MeetCue and silliness behind the scenes of Made In Chelsea.

What made you first want to become a business partner for Clean Kitchen?

When Mikey asked me, I knew I wanted to become part of Clean straight away. I saw it as a perfect fit for me as I truly believe in the benefits of a plant-based diet. I have a huge compassion towards animals having been brought up with lots of rescues at my parent’s home in Dorset, and I saw Clean as a perfect way of trying to open people’s eyes about what they are eating. I could really see a vision with me driving the brand for the right reasons, and for it to be at the forefront of the plant-based revolution - making a real difference.

Do you think plant-based diets are the future (especially in light of documentaries like Seaspiracy focusing on reducing our consumption of fish but also in relation to meats)?

Yes I do - it’s the single biggest way of reducing your carbon footprint. We have until 2050 to revert the global warming crisis, and if everyone went plant-based, the threat of the earth rising to a temperature it cannot survive at, lessens. However, I do understand that this is quite unrealistic as people live to their own beliefs and what is convenient for them, which is totally understandable. The way forward is to make small changes first through constant education. Cutting down especially on beef (as they produce a vast amount of methane contributing to global warming) would be a significant help. 

What does sustainability mean to you? And do you think it’s possible to eat sustainably 24/7?

Sustainability for me means living whilst having the lowest impact on the planet, without contributing to global warming. Being completely sustainable is pretty hard going and a lot of compromises have to be made. However there are simple ways most of the population could become far more sustainable, for example only 33% of households in London actually recycle. Eating sustainably is another simple change most can make to their lifestyle. A Clean Kitchen burger produces 86% lower carbon emissions than a standard beef burger. Plant-based food is more and more available now, and as someone who has been vegetarian their whole life, I can say; yes it’s possible to eat sustainably all the time! The question is if people really want to. 

You helped spearhead the Clean Kitchen partnership with Compassion in World Farming, can you tell us more about it?

This is one of my favourite things to talk about! As Clean started to generate enough money to be able to help more with charity, I got in touch with the CIFW immediately. Their main focus is to stop factory farming. I saw this as the perfect way to spark conversation with our audience to discuss if people knew where their meat had come from.

A lot of people don’t know how much unnecessary torture and suffering can happen for a meal. I wanted to raise awareness that if you are going to eat meat, you should check that it hasn’t been factory farmed. We created the Compassion Burger, and donated all profits to the CIFW - which they were extremely grateful for. Our relationship with and support for them will continue as long as Clean exists – watch this space for some exciting stuff coming up with them soon!

Do you have any tips on people looking to live more ethically and how to start?

Firstly, there are some really good Instagram pages you can follow which provide tips and advice on how to live more consciously, like @thezerowasteguide and @easyecotips. Following a couple of these will remind you now and then of something you can do. They definitely have helped and inspired me.

Other than that, try to have in the back of your mind what affect your action could have. For example, do I really need to buy that, am I going to waste that food, where does this come from? I was brought up with this drummed into me, which I’m so grateful for. Furthermore, I think to create the thought process of trying to be ethical, you have to understand why you are doing it and feel a passion to want to. As cliché as it sounds, I think a good way to trigger that is to watch the heart wrenching documentaries that really open your eyes to what we are doing with the world. 

As much as we love Clean Kitchen (and we really do), we also wanted to sneak in two different questions, the first is about your recent partnership with MeetCue, and it’s a simple one. As single women in the UK, why should we be looking to MeetCue as a dating app?

Haha! Sadly I’m actually not single, I have a delightful boyfriend. I became part of MeetCue as I saw that it was solving problems of current day dating, which I’ve never seen another app do in such a great way. You match on MeetCue, however you don’t do too much messaging as the app creates a date (chooses location, activity and time that suits both parties) so boom! You can tell straight away if you are going to vibe or not. A date only lasts 30 mins so you’ve got a good get out clause. It’s the dating app for people who genuinely want to find a partner, which I think is most of the single population after that lockdown! It launches end of summer so make sure you get involved!

As a regular MIC cast member, what’s the silliest thing you’ve ever done behind the scenes?

Oh my gosh hahah, we’ve all been up to no good! Because it’s a job but also your reality, when you are on a trip or abroad it’s just like a holiday. I think the most misbehaviour happened in Cape Town where we managed to sneak out of our accommodation and hit up the clubs. We also spent a month filming in BA in Argentina, where we spent our days scooting around, eating empanadas and drinking margs, it was so fun!

We always ask this one in our interviews, but what other women inspire you personally?

That has to be my mum! She’s a best friend come mentor. She’s always taught me to work hard, do what you believe in and what makes you happy. Whenever I have a bit of a crisis she’s the first person I call, with that life experience she always comes up with the best solution. She has such a positive outlook on life and always reminds me that anything is possible, you just have to work hard for it.

Here’s a fun one, if you had to invite three people to dinner (plant-based, obviously) who would they be and why?

Oooh I love learning so I’d get all the info I could from David Attenborough, then maybe Richard Branson for some tips and advice for Clean Kitchen, and Paris Hilton - she has a great story to tell, business acumen, loves dogs and is a party girl so we would have a lot to talk about!

What’s next for Clean Kitchen? Anything we need to look out for? And how can our readers join the Clean Kitchen Club?

Next up is the opening of Clean Kitchen Camden in July. We’re all working so hard to pull this off as it’s our first sit down site. It’s a double story restaurant in Buck Street Market which is the UK’s first plastic free, eco-market. Get down to Camden as soon as it’s open and try it out! We’re also at Box Park Shoreditch, Wembley and in Chelsea and Battersea on Deliveroo.