The Sharaf's vegan falafel stall visits Stroud

Instead of my usual ‘Breakfast Bap’, which I try to rush out and buy before the hoped for rush of customers, I decided to follow Helena’s suggestion of a falafel ‘wrap’. She’d spotted that there was a small ‘mini festival’ of vegan food stalls on the forecourt of Stroud Subscription Rooms, which is a suitably Stroudie thing to find.

I walked down there briskly and having spotted the falafel stall I didn’t even take in what the other stalls were offering. I walked up to the gentleman on the right of the picture and asked for a wrap, which his colleague then proceeded to prepare creating the falafels in real time. I asked him about their business and he explained that his father Sam Sharaf had come from Palestine to study in England, where he met his future wife, who was Irish, and they settled in Cheltenham, just ten miles from Stroud. Now as his eldest son he is carrying on and expanding the business and I wish them every success.

I've always loved falafels ever since trying them in Istanbul in about 1973. Later they became a staple takeaway food for me, very often from a cafe in Charing Cross Road, when I was working in Soho in the 1980s and 90s. There is a falafel store in Stroud already, but the idea of gluten free falafels particularly appealed to Helena. I gave her a taste of my wrap when I returned to the market and she suggested that we buy some of the packets of raw mixes that you can see here on the front of their stall. She bought four out of the five different mixes. 

After they gave me the wrap I headed off, but then swiftly turned around and asked them if I could take a picture, partly for my blip but also to just remember them by. They were very happy to pose as I held my wrap in one hand and snapped just one picture with the other! I didn’t adjust any of the settings and hoped for the best, as I was in a hurry. I think it has turned out reasonably well, except for the incredibly potent red colour cast! The falafels on the other hand were stunning and really full of delicate flavours. I’d highly recommend anyone to buy the raw mixes online.

You can get them from their website here,  from which I copied this short history of their family business.

SHARAF NATURAL FOODS… THE TRUE STORY.
In 1940, at the tender age of nine, Mohammed Sharaf, had to leave school, after the death of his father in Nablus, Palestine. He asked his Mum to make him falafels like the ones his father and grandfather used to make, so he could sell them to help support the family. The falafel sold really well, particularly amongst the British police and army personnel who were stationed in the area and who then started calling him “Little Mo, the Falafel boy”. When Mohammed grew up he started experimenting with various herbs and spices until he perfected a unique flavour that no other falafel maker in the area was able to match. His falafels became so popular as they were the best and visitors to the city would come to his shop so they could taste that unique falafel . In 1978, Sam Sharaf, Mo’s eldest son, migrated to the UK and in 1992 he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.  He started making falafels and expanded the product range by developing different blends of herbs and spices and applying them to traditional British products.