If you love wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, served straight from a retro food truck, then you’ll want to hear about Vherbalkitchen.

This plant-based pizza truck was co-founded by Dan and Simone, a couple bringing Neapolitan pizza to festivals, fairs, and pop-ups across the country – including our events.

We caught up with Dan to hear all about their journey, favourite pizzas, and what it’s like life on the road.

What inspired you to start vherbalkitchen?

Back in 2018, after years in the catering industry with limited creative control, Dan and Simone decided to launch their own business.

Simone and I both turned vegan together in 2016. Being a chef and becoming vegan really reawakened the spark and passion I had lost for catering – it felt like starting again.

What’s your favourite part about running a food truck?

The freedom to move from place to place and interact with customers. But most people don’t realise how much work goes on behind the scenes.

You only see the trailer and the pretty photos on Instagram, but in reality, there’s always something happening in our prep kitchen – if not every day, then almost every day.

What’s been your most memorable Vegan Fair so far?

Cirencester last year, it was probably our 2nd or 3rd event. This was the one where we really got to meet everyone and chat to all the regular traders, who are now all our friends!

We’re coming along to a Vegan Fair for the first time. Which pizza should we try?

Everyone has their favourites! If you’re asking me then it would be the Truffalo Pizza, but Simone loves Nduja Pumpkin. Our new summer special ‘Eddie Guerrero’ was very popular and has been an instant sellout wherever we go. Now it’s getting colder, expect to see our Miso Dauphinoise Pizza make a comeback!

How do you source ingredients, and can you recommend any of your favourite brands?

We make our vegan mozzarella in-house using cashews. While most of our toppings come from local suppliers, we also work with a specialist supplier for Italian produce to ensure top quality.

For commercial vegan cheeses, our favourites are Honestly Tasty, Julienne Bruno, and the classic Cathedral City Vegan Cheddar.

What’s your favourite thing about trading at Vegan Fairs?

The people, the traders, and the food!

When we’re not serving pizza, we love supporting other businesses. You can’t go wrong with a caramel oat latte and doughnut from goldenglaze for breakfast, or a pastry from Lamina Bakery. We also love an occasional Hot Dog from Big Tony (The Vegan Street Diner), a Gourmet poke bowl too, and a samosa from Soy Ahoy!

Have you seen a shift in how people react to vegan food over the years?

The shift is always changing depending on where you go. We trade at Bath Rugby on matchdays, and you would expect that sort of crowd to be a bit sceptical about vegan food – but we always sell out there and we’re the first fully vegan trader. We’ve been welcomed with open arms.

have you faced any challenges as an independent vegan business?

Being self employed can be a bit lonely at times, I’d much prefer to be in a kitchen full of people. That's why I make the most of chatting to everyone when we’re in the trailer.

So, if you’re coming along to a Vegan Fairs event, don’t forget to stop for a quick chat!

When you’re not making pizza, what’s your go-to meal?

Our favourite meal to have as a couple at home is a peanut butter ramen bowl that Simone makes, it's delicious!

What’s next for vherbalkitchen?

We’ve got a few Vegan Fairs booked in for autumn/winter. We’ve come off the back of a crazy summer, we had an amazing time at Vegan Camp Out and sold 1,250 pizzas! It was amazing.

We’re back at Bath Rugby for the next 2 seasons and will be doing more pop-ups at Electric Bear Taprooms. We’re also looking forward to events with Coppershell Animal Sanctuary, and we recently announced a restaurant pop-up in Frome at Projects which sold out in less than 24 hours.