Helen Lawrence, a 48-year-old vegan cookery expert, relocated to the Aude region of southern France two years ago, motivated by a combination of family ties and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on her previous business. Lawrence, originally from Winchester, England, has a long-standing commitment to vegetarianism and veganism, a lifestyle choice she adopted at the age of ten amid growing environmental and animal rights awareness.

After completing a one-month intensive culinary course following her A-levels, Lawrence gained experience working in various establishments including a gastropub, a French bistro in Winchester, and the Holiday Inn at Gatwick Airport. During this time, as vegetarian dining became more mainstream, she frequently contributed vegetarian dishes to menus. She then spent two years in Toronto, Canada, where she worked in Little India while honing vegan recipes that excluded eggs and dairy, noting the city’s vibrant vegan food culture.

Returning to the UK, Lawrence spent seven years at Demuths, a vegetarian restaurant and cookery school in Bath, advancing from head chef to instructor. When the owner retired in 2019, Lawrence purchased the business, but the onset of Covid-19 forced prolonged closures, hindering efforts to expand the enterprise.

During the pandemic, Lawrence lived on a farm near Slaughterford, Wiltshire, where she became a parent after formally adopting a friend’s teenage daughter. The pair later moved to Bristol, where her daughter pursued studies and began working. However, Lawrence’s French heritage and family connections eventually drew her to France. Following the death of her Parisian grandmother, an inheritance enabled her uncle, Anthony, to acquire a traditional farmhouse in Le Somail, a village on the Canal du Midi.

Familiar with the nearby village Ventenac-en-Minervois from previous cookery holidays, Lawrence appreciated the region’s Mediterranean climate, vineyards, olive groves, and historic villages. With her uncle’s encouragement, she established a vegan and plant-based cookery school called Melusine, operating from a converted barn on the property.

Melusine offers six-week intensive diploma courses twice a year, providing training for prospective vegan restaurateurs, supper club hosts, yacht chefs, and food enthusiasts. Classes include practical lessons on crafting plant-based alternatives such as ricotta and mozzarella from nuts and soy. The school attracts an international clientele, including participants from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, India, Turkey, and Ireland. Courses also incorporate visits to local markets, olive oil producers, and organic wineries.

Despite her enthusiasm, Lawrence acknowledges challenges in promoting veganism locally. She notes that the area’s culinary culture remains heavily meat-centric, including hunting traditions, and she has encountered only two other vegans in two years. Unlike more developed vegan scenes, the region currently lacks any vegan restaurants, and she compares France’s plant-based movement to Britain’s vegetarianism in the 1980s. Lawrence hopes that improving her French language skills will help her engage more effectively with local residents and encourage participation in her courses. She also observes a gradual shift toward organic food cultivation in the area.

Lawrence credits her EU passport, obtained through her French ancestry, with simplifying her move amid post-Brexit restrictions. To improve her language proficiency and social integration, she has joined an amateur dramatics group in a nearby village. While she continues to visit the UK to see her daughter and maintain friendships, she recognizes the need for time and commitment to fully establish herself in her new environment.