It has just been officially confirmed that the Frome Saturday Market (June 13) will return - a thrill for customers - along with a huge boost for stallholders.... none more so than passionate vegan and vegetarian cook Katy Harris.

One of the most popular stalls belong to Frome native Katy, who while spending decades cooking and inventing vegetarian meals, only started to share her food as a business in January 2019 - in response to being made redundant.

What was supposed to be a stop-gap job to earn some extra cash while she looked for another job the 40 year old's business really took off.

She told Nub News: " Ironically the market/meals got so busy that when the job I really wanted came up - I was too busy to even attend the interview. I loved being my own boss so much I decided to do it as a career and put my all into it. the business,"

Her inventive and colourful vegan and vegetarian meals were a huge hit, but then coronavirus struck and the market, along with all the events in Frome, was put on hold.

Katy puts everything into her cooking telling Nub News: " It is so much more than just a job for me. When people enjoy my food it makes me so happy, I put my heart and soul into what I do, so it matters so much to me. I have a passionate belief that vegan and vegetarian food can be wonderfully tasty, healthy ... and it can be good value.... when I cook I am myself."

Katy, who previously won a "Contribution to the Food Industry" at the Believe in Somerset Awards. says she will be delighted and excited to be back as part of the market.

Katy is a busy lady, she also works for Fair Frome and runs their community dining events (now offered as a take away service due to the coronavirus ) a job she took up just a month after starting her stall.

"Obviously, there will be many changes to the way it is operated but I can assure you, every measure will be put in place to make sure you are safe and that social distancing is followed. All my food will be pre wrapped and although I won't be accepting cash, I have a contactless card machine now. Can't wait to see you."

This is Katy's life food story about how she became a vegetarian.

"Jump back to 1985, I was five years old and had just started school. From a very young age I had disliked the taste of milk and when I started school, my teacher gave me the little carton of warm free milk with the blue straw and told me I had to drink it. I protested and said I didn't like it. She said I was ridiculous and that I "needed" milk for my bones. I was forced to drink it and immediately was sick everywhere (in my wooden locker actually) – that told her!

Jump forward a bit – 1989, I was nine years old. At school we were asked to do a project about something that was important to us. Unlike any of my friends I decided to do a project on battery hen farming. I handed out leaflets, collected donations from school friends for the charity and stuck posters up informing people of the terrible conditions that they were kept in. I knew then that meat eating or eating eggs wasn't for me. My parents were very supportive and let me make my own choices and from then on I was a non-meat eating, egg eating or milk drinking child in the 1980's (and still am to this day).

Being veggie as a student was tough. There was no jackfruit, tofu or different types of vegan milk, or veggie ready meals (and even if there was I wouldn't have been able to afford it), so I quickly learnt to cook for myself. I was probably one of the rare students that batched cooked veggie ready meals and froze them for later in the week. I was lucky enough over the summer holidays to work in a 5 star Hotel in Bath where I was placed on the "vegetarian section" in the kitchen, I excelled and learnt SO MUCH.

Fast forward to 2019. After a career in recruitment before kids and MANY job hops in the food industry, I have finally pursued my dream of cooking vegan and veggie food for the public with my very own business I am extremely proud of. So, when I write "vegan and vegetarian food cooked with love" on my slogans and advertising, I REALLY mean it.

I offer you no bandwagon jumping, just 30 years of authentic veggie and vegan cooking, experience, understanding and respect."