AS someone who once found it hard to fit in five fruit and veg in a week, nevermind a day, I could never have imagined that my name would find itself on a vegan restaurant booking form.

In fact I had often thought it impossible to comply with the "five a day" aim, seeing as drinking several pints of orange juice to fight off a hangover only left you with one solitary score on the fruit and veg chart.

Growing up - through no fault of my mother - I opted for a daily evening dose of meat with only a mild mouthfull of greens. This meal came after a day spent at school where the food of choice was usually sandwiches, crisps and plenty of chocolate in the Whitecross High canteen.

But as a broke foreign language student living in southern Spain, something happened when a mixture of little income and an average vocabulary left me with no choice but to eat the only thing that was on offer in Andalucian homes and tiny cafes.

Hidden in the hills above Córdoba, most daily menus offered just one starter and one main, meaning that my uncultured mouth was "forced" to try such oddities as asparagus, olives, chickpeas and butter beans.

I also remember, on one particularly hungry afternoon, being presented with a complimentary plate of beef tomatoes in a backstreet bar.

As a teenager these would have been ignored but, being free and also starving, I tucked in.

The result was a revelation as the sea salt and olive oil combined to produce a sensation that was far superior to even the best brand of salt and vinegar crisps.

Here I was stuffing the fruit down my face as if it were a doner kebab but, of course, there was not a spot of regurgitated meat or chilli sauce in sight. I ordered another San Miguel immediately just so I could get my hands on some more free tomatoes. How my world had changed.

And so more than a decade on from my Spanish education I find myself eagerly looking forward to attending a "raw vegan three course meal" in, of all places, my hometown of Hereford.

The food comes courtesy of Rosie Purdye who, through her Raw Food Rosies enterprise, has moved into Muzey's Cafe on Bridge Street for a day.

The pop-up pitch alongside Hippy Foods promotes the healthy nature of the food claiming, for example, that the ingredients strengthen immune systems and foster better sleep.

The first drink offered on arrival certainly looks in keeping with the healthy mix. And the carrot juice with its sweet limey taste was the perfect accompaniment to the Herefordshire mushroom starter.

Served in a dreamy garlic and cashew sauce, the mushrooms were led out on top of "living onion bread" which contained far more flavour than your average loaf from Hovis.

Nutty in taste, the bread was also filling, going against the carnivore myth that vegan food just leaves you skinny and hungry.

Mushrooms also featured in the main course - although this time the fungi came grated and served with dairy free apricot and almond cheese.

Creamy and sweet, but not overpoweringly so, the dainty delights mixed perfectly with the salad leaves and smoky cauliflower couscous.

The final course was a banoffee custard tartlet and proved vegan puddings can be fun. Layered with smooth date caramel and banana cashew custard, a drizzle of dark cacao sauce provided a sweet taste that was far from sickly.

My only complaint was the size as I could easily have eaten two. But maybe that was just me harking back to my old days when no amount of chocolate would leave me full.

In fact, one of the most pleasing aspects of this meal was the post-dinner feel. There was no need to walk off – or sleep off – any sluggishness commonly found after eating a Sunday Roast.

And this was feeling of being contently full was, according to chef Rosie, far from accidental.

She said the different cooking methods of soaking, sprouting, blending and dehydrating ingredients to give them a cooked effect while preserving all the nutrients, enzymes and goodness means diners are better placed to maintain a healthy weight.

She also confirmed that the five-a-day feat can be achieved pretty much in one sitting - without any need for pints of orange juice.