Anne O’Connell
This blog is pretty much about food! It includes recipes, food in the news and restaurant reviews. It’s also about travel, gardening and books, but mostly only when those things include food…
I am a writer and film maker with a special interest in food, cooking and collecting recipes. I am the author of ‘Early Vegetarian Recipes’ and the website Offmotorway.co.uk. I have also written articles for BBC Good Food magazine and The Vegetarian. I run a (very!) small food company called hollyfoods, selling home-made chutneys, jams, chocolates and biscuits at food fairs, usually at Christmas.
I have been a vegetarian for as long as I can remember and these days try to cook vegan and gluten-free as much as possible, for health reasons as well as being concerned for the welfare of animals and the planet. I do still indulge though, and love coffee and chocolate!
offmotorway 
31 comments
Comments feed for this article
November 29, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Joanne Jones
I found your site after doing a search for one of Hugh F-W’s recipes. I agree with you he is so inspiring and refreshingly honest and believable in the celebrity chef world.
Anyway I didn’t write to talk about Hugh, it was to congratulate you on the web site content and great recipes. I have been vegetarian for as long as I can remember. I’m 48 and according to my mum refused to eat meat from the age of 3. I was given the ‘two veg’ without the meat and a glass of milk with every meal but never felt the urge to give up. Apart from the spells when I have lived alone and cooked purely vegetarian food, I have always been amongst avid meat eaters, including my parents and latterly my husband and children. One daughter retains her love of meat but the other took my lead, aged 9 and has been veggie for 11 years. She has a bizzare dislike for onions however and I use the same hand blender I made her baby food with to mince up the cooked onion before adding other ingredients.
I am pleased to have found your site and will continue looking for ideas from now on. thanks Joanne
November 30, 2011 at 10:24 am
Offmotorway
Hi Joanne, thanks for your lovely comments and I’m glad you like the recipes. My story is similar to yours – a very early dislike of meat despite a meat-eating family. But I was lucky enough to marry a vegetarian!
My mum also doesn’t eat onions (or garlic. Or cheese. Or spices) so my veggie cooking is challenged when cooking for her. I’ll bear you in mind and add a few more onion-free recipes to the site in future!
December 19, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Alessandra
Hi,
I’d like to invite you to join Radical Dining Society which is all about creating dining experiences and a radical and innovative way. So If you like good food in interesting ways, with great company, request your membership here! http://www.radicaldiningsociety.com/register adding manually (do not copy and paste) the following invitation code: RDSxx4x002 This will give you a 4 months free upgrade when you sign up! We’ll be starting events in the New Year and it would be great if you could spread the word!
Let me know please if you’d like to post about it, I really love your blog so that would be amazing!
I look forward to hearing from you
Best Regards
Alessandra
January 31, 2012 at 7:53 pm
EatFree
Hi Anne! Where is your small business located?
February 1, 2012 at 10:00 am
Offmotorway
Hi Reshma, good to hear from you and thanks for your enquiry!
hollyfoods is based West London (see the website here: http://www.hollyfoods.co.uk/ ), and hollyfoods chutneys and jams are available at Par Ici in Twickenham (http://www.parici.co.uk/ ). I run occasional stalls at food fairs around Surrey, Middlesex and the surrounding areas – the website will have details of any fairs coming up.
February 2, 2012 at 2:56 am
pondblog
Thanks for the like! Looking forward to reading your blog.
February 3, 2012 at 10:40 am
Offmotorway
thanks for dropping by, I hope you find stuff to enjoy!
February 7, 2012 at 4:22 am
lijiun
Hi! Great to know you are promoting vegetarian diet! Thumb up! This is the fastest way to save our mother of earth! Cheers!
February 8, 2012 at 10:21 am
Offmotorway
Thanks for your support and the great way you too promote vegetarianism!
March 20, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Veggiewitch
I nominated you for the Inspiring and Versatile Blogger Awards. You can read about it here: http://veggiewitch.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/inspiring-and-versatile/
Peace,
Veggiewitch
March 21, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Offmotorway
Thanks Veggiewitch! I’ll go and read all about it!
March 21, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Veggiewitch
*happy dancing*
May 25, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Promenade Claire
Hi Anne, lovely to connect with you, I can see I have lots of great reading to catch up on! And what a fascinating book, it must have been fun to research
May 28, 2012 at 1:58 pm
offmotorway
Hi Claire, great to hear from you. I loved researching the book. I did most of it in the British Library in London, which is such an inspiring place (well, I love libraries generally!)
July 16, 2012 at 5:12 pm
pondblog
Thanks for visiting my blog! I see you have tons of incredible posts that will keep me (omnivore, but mostly vegetarian) and my husband (vegetarian) occupied for many, many hours in the kitchen. Looking forward to trying them out.
July 16, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Offmotorway
Thanks for visiting, I hope you’ll find some veggie inspiration!
December 29, 2012 at 12:34 am
bookvolunteer
I’m nominating you for an award in my 6pm post tomorrow. Great blog!
April 11, 2013 at 7:21 pm
Sophie33
You have a loverly blog over here! I am NoT a vegan nor a vegetarian but eat, cook & bake vegan 5x/week & so does my hubby! Greets from a fellow foodie from Belgium!
April 12, 2013 at 12:55 pm
offmotorway
Hi Sophie, always good to meet a fellow foodie! Thanks for your lovely comments.
July 31, 2013 at 8:26 am
genevieveyam
Hi Anne! Everything you do sounds like my dream job! Great to see another person running a great veggie blog. Thanks for stopping by Life Is Like A Dumpling 🙂
July 31, 2013 at 10:20 am
offmotorway
Thanks, yours is a great blog too, and your (one) dream of opening a bookshop/café is also a wonderful one. Shame it’s so hard to be financially sustained while also being creatively sustained!
October 5, 2013 at 6:44 am
celestedimilla
Hey there! I found your site through Sophie’s Food Files. How very cool that you’ve published a book!! I’ll be checking it out after I write this note. Anyway, I’m vegan, and I always love connecting to other veggies! Celeste 🙂
October 7, 2013 at 1:21 pm
offmotorway
Hi Celeste, thanks for visiting. I’m looking forward to reading more about your journey to full veganhood!
January 20, 2014 at 5:11 am
ohlidia
So glad you stopped for a visit… it has led me to your great blog!
January 20, 2014 at 11:27 am
offmotorway
Thank you, I loved your blog too!
May 20, 2014 at 3:04 pm
roytanusree
Hi Anne, Feeling great to connect with you and your lovely blog! Thanks for the like. 🙂
May 20, 2014 at 5:45 pm
Offmotorway
Thanks for getting in touch Tanusree, I was delighted to discover your blog too!
February 10, 2015 at 1:21 pm
Sophie33
Congrats on your book! It sounds very interesting too!
February 10, 2015 at 3:13 pm
offmotorway
Thanks Sophie, it’s been very exciting!
August 11, 2015 at 1:02 am
Gail Dorna
Beautiful Inside and Out 🎭🎭🎭. “Premio Dardos” Award!”
The Premio Dardos {means Prize Darts in Spanish} Award exists to acknowledge the values that every blogger shows in their effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day. If you choose to participate, please follow the link to
http://snapshotsincursive.com/2015/08/10
October 8, 2015 at 12:17 pm
365dniwobiektywielg
Nice to meet you in the design blog world
Regards Luke