A food enthusiast who spent years selling food at music festivals is to turn a former delicatessen in Harleston into a café specialising in vegan food.
Suffolk-based foodie Erasmia Kyriakou, 44, is behind plans to open The Hungry Cat Cafe at 25 The Thoroughfare, the South Norfolk town's main shopping street.
Work is set to start on transforming what was previously occupied Cook & Co delicatessen into a plant-based eatery after she was granted permission by South Norfolk Council to change the use of the Grade II listed building from a shop to a café.
Ms Kyriakou spent seven years touring a horsebox converted to sell food to festivals up and down the UK but after the death of her partner she has decided to put down her food-loving roots in Norfolk by opening her first permanent premise.
She said: 'I'm really excited. I have been searching all over Suffolk and into Norfolk looking for the perfect location and this was the best shop I saw. Though I don't know Harleston very well I thought I would just give it a go and hope that people like us.
'Everything will be all 100% vegan food and things like bio-degradable package. I am very strict with those sorts of things. It's a passion of mine really especially since I became a vegan but also because I am from a Greek upbringing so I grew up around home cooking every day.
'I'd love to spend all my time cooking but unfortunately at the moment I have a desk full of paperwork for the café. I'm forward when we open hopefully before mid-March so I can return to the food.'
How vegans have more choice than ever in NorfolkThe café, which will also do takeaway food, will serve a mixture of vegan burgers, wraps, salads, sandwiches and cakes together with more substantial fare.
She said: 'Twice a week we will be having a speciality dish, like a lasagne or a Greek dish. I am also going to be supporting people like Tofurei from Norfolk who make vegan sausage rolls. But otherwise it is going to be home cooking.'
Ms Kyriakou said reaction to her plans had mostly been positive. 'There have been a few negative comments on social media, but I think people now seem more open to the idea of vegan food and we hope to appeal to everyone,' she said.
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