I decided before Christmas (in fact, way back in September) that once I was settled into my new flat (it’s lovely, thanks for asking) I was going to set myself a series of eating challenges. Not in the Man v Food sense, but rather see if I could manage a certain amount of time living to a certain diet.

I’m the first to admit that when it comes to dietary requirements (that aren’t of an allergen nature) I am extremely closed minded, ignorant and quite frankly, intolerant. It stems from working for a Michelin-star restaurant group about 5 years ago, and having customers scream at me for us not being able to offer an exciting and innovative 10 course tasting menu catering to the needs of a gluten-free vegan who hates mushrooms. I mean, come on!

I believe that humans have grown and developed for thousands of years to eat meat and the produce of animals. Meat is a wonderful source of protein, it’s natural and it is delicious. As are dairy products and eggs. I get that it isn’t to everyone’s preference but for me, heaven is a rare cooked steak (preferably from Hawksmoor) with a side of bone marrow and a dessert of fluffy pistachio soufflé and a cheese board. In fact, i’d like that RIGHT NOW please.

However, in a bid to broaden my horizons in 2017 (and use as many cliches as possible) I’m going to try and educate myself better on these dietary requirements with a series of fortnight long experiments: 2 weeks going vegan, gluten free, sugar free, nut free (harder than you’d think from what I can tell) and raw!

Throughout these experiments I want to gauge a few things in particular:

• What are the financial implications of these dietary changes?
• What are the social implications ie: dining out, parties, entertaining and will everyone start to hate me?
• How will it affect how I cook at home?
• How will it affect my health and weight? ie: will it make it look like a Victoria Secret model?

I also want to become more aware of what I put in my body. I don’t tend to take note of the ingredients included in my food, but rather just clock the calories and fat content. So these experiments are going to see me actually having to take note of what I’m actually eating and become more aware, so that’s going to be pretty cool.

So what am I starting with?

As it is January and there are many others currently partaking in Veganuary (and therefore there are a lot of recipes, tips and infographics floating around the internet) I’m starting with veganism. Two weeks of no meats or animal products. Now I know that it might seem strange to only be doing this for two weeks when there is a movement dedicated to veganism which lasts the whole month, but to be honest, a month just isn’t convenient for me; I have restaurants to review in January, events to attend and I’ve had food in my fridge that was going to go to waste had I not eaten it all last week. Also, I was pretty drunk on NYE and ordered cheesy chips at 2am. I would have already been off to a very bad start had I decided to commit to Veganuary.

I think 2 weeks is enough to get a good idea of the financial, social, practical and health effects, and so much more than that is just self torture. So for the next two weeks (in fact, I started yesterday) I’m going to be embracing the life of a vegan. I’ll be keeping a bit of a video diary too (so you can see the pain in my face which I expect to arrive by day 5) and will keep note of the recipes and meals I have each day.

So wish me luck… I’m already craving a bloody big burger.