Hannah Dorman is an artist, writer & jewellery maker who has been living on and off boats for the past 20 years. Currently sailing with her husband, three teenage children and two cats in the Mediterranean, she writes about sailing adventures, mindful living and floating art studio life whilst exploring the many beautiful anchorages in their spectacular 58ft wooden sailboat Sea Snail.
I met Hannah on Instagram following our shared passion for plant-based food and sailing. found out later that she also made NZ her home (another point in common!). I love her art and jewellery and hope we share the same sailing ground at some point in the future where we can get to know each other better and share some yummy vegan food!
Let's learn more about her plant-based galley onboard their beautiful and impressive wooden sailing boat Sea Snail.
Can you tell us about your galley?
Our boat is a 1932 Danish-built schooner. She is an old wooden boat, slow and steady hence the name Sea Snail, but at 58ft she does have a lovely lot of space. When we made modifications during her refit, (my husband is a boat builder) we extended one of the bulkheads in the saloon galley area adding more galley space.
The galley is such an important area for me and I'm really happy with ours. It is situated on the starboard side just down the main hatch entrance. We reused all the existing cupboards when we changed the space with a few modifications but added shelves for storage jars and a spice rack. I found some woven baskets with handles which work well hanging over the sink between the saloon, for carrying fruit and vegetables.
One of my favourite decorative features is the wall tiles I put on the walls behind the sink and cooker, I found mini ceramic Moroccan tiles on Etsy, which add a great splash of colour. The general decor and making the boat feel cosy and homely are important to me.
What one thing would you change about your galley if you could?
I'd like to sort out the dish rack drainer so the draining works better, more jar shelving on the port side wall would also be great. I love having dried goods in jars, it's practical, easy to cook with, and I think they look pretty! The fridge cupboards area could be better utilised, and it would be great to have a freezer.
There are still modifications I'd like to make, but on the whole it's spacious and works really well for us as a family of 5 with pretty much fully grown children.
What are your three favourite ingredients?
That's tricky... there are so many favourites!
Chickpeas; are fabulous, nutritious, tasty and versatile, curry, chickpea chuna, soups, salads and of course houmous...I tried chocolate chip cookie dough made with chickpeas once and it was pretty good. Chickpea flour, if I can include that too, is great for quiche fillings, omelettes and fritters.
Nutritional yeast; My youngest and I eat this straight out of the jar! It's great for adding a cheesy flavour; Variations of cheesy sauces for use in Mac N cheese, lasagne and nacho cheese sauce. Great for homemade nut cheeses or dips, for coating kale crisps or toasted soy seeds and cheese & chive scones. I like to make a parmesan-style topping to keep in a jar, made with nutritional yeast, ground almonds, garlic & onion powder, and seasoning, great for sprinkling on spaghetti Bolognese. We use it a lot and it has the added win of containing vitamin B12.
Lentils; One of my favourite discoveries for lentils is making flatbread with them, so simple and great if you want a wheat-free alternative, just soak dried split lentils for an hour with water, season however you like and blend to a batter ( I have a recipe reel on Plant Based Galley Instagram) can be used for wraps, fritters and omelettes with additional veggies. Other favourites for lentils are Bolognese sauce, soups, puy lentils in salads and of course, dhal is a fantastic nutritious, cheap and easy meal.
Have you ever provisioned for a long passage? What did you learn? Would you do anything differently?
Yes, the first long passage we did was from New Zealand to Tonga, which was 9 days from the top of NZ. That was in 2012, when the kids were all under seven, and it was also before we shifted to being plant-based. Looking back if we had eaten the way we do now we would have had a more interesting menu as getting supplies in Tonga was tricky. Now we know the advantages of being able to create varied meals from dried goods such as seitan salami, chickpea flour omelette, dried soya mince Bolognese, mac n´ cheese using nuts and nutritional yeast, to name a few. We have found being plant-based really suits cruising in that way.
Before we left Northern Ireland this time for the Mediterranean, we stocked up on bulk items from an online wholefoods store with dried lentils, nuts, seeds, oats, pasta, herbs and spices, nutritional yeast, coconut milk powder, plant milk, dried soya mince, tins etc...we should've brought more vital wheat gluten as the one we got in Spain isn't as good.
Moving forward we would like a plant-milk machine, then we can make our own milk from nuts, oats or soya beans.
I'd like to learn how to make tempeh as that's been hard to find or expensive and is a favourite of mine.
We'd also like to invest in a slow cooker to reduce our gas consumption and now we're in the heat of Greece an ice maker is getting pretty high on the list!
Sharing a Meal with Family
What equipment can you not live without?
My griddle toaster! I wasn't sure how useful it would be, the kids wanted one to make toasties, but it's amazingly versatile. I cook marinated tofu steaks, roast peppers, courgettes and aubergine slices, make sweet potato fritters and griddle bread. I even cooked marinated jackfruit on it...I think there's more ideas to come....or a bigger one! Once we get solar panels the power consumption won't be such an issue.
A stick blender is also pretty essential, for making dips, dressings and smoothies. We have a bigger nutri-blender but it's a bit clunky to get out and most things can be achieved with the stick blender so I'm not sure I'd bring it next time.
Our Toaster has been well used and saved us on gas, we got it for free from the giveaway table in the marina shower block in winter in Cartagena.
Where has been the most difficult place for you to provision?
Tonga was the hardest place to provision with very basic supplies available in the shops, when we were there. The Mediterranean has been easy, Greece doesn't have the selection of seitan, tofu and vegan cheeses we got used to in Spain and Portugal but we've shifted to giant beans, houmous, salad, olives and stuffed vine leaves alongside what we make, so we're pretty happy with that.
What is your most loved recipe that you cook onboard?
My most loved recipe, probably for me, is a good curry but for a family favourite nachos are always a winner.
If you would like to know more about Hannah´s family sailing adventures, her plant-based cooking or her art and jewellery then you can find her websites and socials here:
Website: www.wild-earth-studio.com
Substack: https://artistafloat.substack.com/
Food blog: https://www.instagram.com/plantbasedgalley
Substack publication Artist Afloat and about plant-based eating and vegan travel finds on Instagram @plantbasedgalley.
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