Vegan food truck by the beach

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Vood Bar is a fabulous vegan food truck set to impress in Cornwall very soon!

The truck is re-opening after a Winter break on April 5, 2019 with a little re-opening/anniversary party at Polgoon Vineyard and Orchard in Penzance (all their wines and ciders are vegan!). The party will take place between 4:30pm and 7:00pm.

Following on from the opening, you will be able to find the food truck either at their usual pitch at Sennen Cove during the weekends from 10:30am to 6:00pm (more days during school holidays) or at local festivals/events.

The food business updates its hours regularly on social media so that people know where to find them. Follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

When the Summer season picks up, they’ll be open Wednesday until Sunday with longer hours.

The Vood Bar menu is designed around the kind of food people want to eat by the Cornish seaside, using local ingredients. Truck operators Zel and Shardae love travelling and love trying out vegan versions of traditional dishes when they travel, so they wanted both locals and tourists to be able to have traditional Cornish experiences, such as eating ‘fish and chips’ on the beach, when visiting them.

Their regular menu items are:

  • Cider-battered ‘tofush’ and battered chips, served with tartare sauce and lemon (and they’ll be introducing an optional extra of pea fritters this year)
  • All day breakfast bap with streaky seitan, scrambled tofu, veggie sausage and garlic mayo
  • Bean and mushroom seitan burger with a Cornish BBQ ale sauce (optional extra of cashew cheeze and streaky seitan)
  • Cornish pasties – ‘traditional’ or cashew cheeze and onion
  • Hummus and crunchy veg wrap with Cornish dukkah

Vood Bar also serve various cakes and biscuits such as rosemary-infused lemon drizzle cake or G&T cupcakes.

This year they’ll also be adding a few extra regular menu items such as a balsamic tofu, avocado and mango salad wrap and blueberry bran breakfast muffins.

Vood Bar make everything themselves (besides the bread, which we source from a local baker) – all of the tofush, seitan, cashew cheeze, pastry, sauces, sausages, everything!

Let’s all go to the beach!

Home delivery Yorkshire puddings

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If I tallied up the requests received through my blog and social media over the years, one of the top ten topics asked by readers would have to be vegan Yorkshire puddings and where to get them.

If you are not from the UK and are currently having a WTF moment, Yorkshire puddings are savoury pastries that are served with traditional roast Sunday or festive dinners.

Yorkshire puddings are used to soak up the excess gravy and they are delicious.

Sadly, all store bought Yorkshire puddings I’ve ever seen are non-vegan and we have all been struggling to make our own with varying degrees of success.

But now there is a light at the end of this tunnel that has been barren of vegan Yorkshire puddings.

Mabel’s Vegan Yorkshire Puddings is here to save the day.

Mabel’s offer classic AND gluten-free versions, and all of their Yorkies are palm-oil free. In better news, the packaging is compostable plastic and they also use eco-flo biodegradable filler for shipping.

Mabel’s Vegan Yorkshire Puddings are based in Manchester and ship UK-wide. Shop online now here.

I’ve seen size comparison photos on their social media and the Mabel’s Yorkies are HUGE!

You can follow Mabel’s on Facebook and Instagram.

Help a Mexican business flourish

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Times are tough for independent vegan businesses and they need a lot of support to get started.

This is no more true than in Mexico City and one very special vegan baking company is about to take the leap into opening a permanent store front.

Le Muf is a small 100% vegan company offering artisan, creative pastries of the highest quality.

The business started three years ago in a home kitchen, baking orders for friends and acquaintances, and eventually transitioned into making food and desserts for events, bazaars, festivals, and coffee shops.

Veganería Le Muf has grown a lot recently and it is time to take the big step and move to a professional space, to have a fixed point of business.

If you can support Le Muf by donating even a few pounds/dollars/pesos, you will be helping to put an independent vegan business on the map.

They need to raise about £1,200 to cover opening costs and have already passed £500 with about a week remaining of the campaign.

Click here to donate.

If you are interested in claiming a reward, Le Muf has created a range of gorgeous notepads, totes, and stickers. Alongside baking classes and food, these rewards are attached to various donation levels.

How cute is all that merch?!

Support the opening of this fabulous vegan business in Mexico City and be sure to follow them on Instagram.

Black Cat has a second London venue

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The team behind Black Cat, Hackney’s oldest and arguably finest vegan café, have taken over the kitchen at Roadtrip & The Workshop.

Although London can luckily claim a few vegan pubs, this is the first time a bar, and a late night one at that, is catering a fully plant-based menu. (FGV note: I might argue that Karamel in Wood Green is the first)


The aim is to offer approachable vegan food to the multifaceted clientele of the Old Street location, from gig-goers to the followers of sports on the big screens to those looking for a meal to go with their night out in Shoreditch.

Black Cat will be serving up “tapas without borders”, a menu combining vegan versions of traditionally Mediterranean dishes with hints from other parts of the world.

The menu has been tested and served at their Hackney premises, and some have even been served at benefit gigs, music venues, gatherings, and special events.

Regulars to Black Cat need not be disappointed on their first jaunt to Roadtrip & The Workshop: Black Cat’s burgers will be also available and new dishes will appear weekly on the specials board.

Prices range from £3 for freshly-cut chips to £8.50 for the delicious cashew buttermilk corn-crusted seitan burger. The small sharing plates average around £6.

This will be the first vegan residency at Roadtrip & The Workshop, and the venue has gone to great lengths to ensure that diners can not only eat plant-based foods, but that the drinks menu matches the ethics behind the food!

All wine and beers behind the bar are vegan, as is most of the cocktail menu, which is clearly labelled while the venue works with existing suppliers and brands to clarify and find alternatives for its full back-bar of spirits and liqueurs.

Black Cat’s head chef, Nacho, commented: “We’re delighted to be able to bring our food to Old Street, and the whole team are excited to reach as many people as possible to highlight how going out eating vegan is affordable, easy, and most importantly, it can be enjoyed by anyone!”

Carla, who manages the café with Nacho, added: “We’ve been on the lookout for a second site for Black Cat, and when Paul from Roadtrip & The Workshop got in touch, we knew this was the perfect place to bring our tapas menu to. We are super excited and thankful for this opportunity given to us by the venue.”

Both Black Cat venues will be open simultaneously and can be booked for large parties, birthdays, or other celebrations.

Follow Black Cat on Instagram.

Photos used in this post were taken by Al Overdrive.

Gorgeous vegan café in Puebla

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I just spent a couple of days in the Mexican city of Puebla with Gil and was pleasantly surprised by the vegan food options.

Puebla is only about two hours driving from Mexico City and makes a great weekend getaway if you are in this part of the world.

There are inexpensive buses between the two cities leaving almost constantly.

But the food, you ask?

Cafetería Tambien is a super cute eatery nestled within the trees surrounding a large hotel just outside the downtown area.

The menu is completely vegan and focuses on nutrition. Even the mocktails are designed to stimulate digestion. Everything we tried, we loved.

Check out the photos below and be sure to follow Cafetería Tambien on Instagram.

Sustainable event in London

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A sustainable awareness event featuring music, food, and fashion is taking place in Clerkenwell on Saturday April 6, 2019.

Positive Planet is powered by the same people who brought London the popular Style Yourself Sustainable and Vegstock events last year.

Music on the night is from Besureis, Queen V, and more while there will be talks from passionate individuals bringing conversations about climate change, animal welfare, and veganism to the limelight.

A sustainable and responsible fashion display will end the evening and across the night attendees can enjoy pop up stalls selling sustainable fashion, vintage goods, vegan food, and refreshments.

Click here to explore ticket prices.

Extra note: kids go free!

New interview with FGV

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I am thrilled to be included in the latest issue of Snack magazine.

This Scotland-based publication showcases the best cultural and food events in the country, as well as giving insights into latest music, fashion, and pop culture news affecting the region.

For some reason, they thought my opinions on veganism needed to be heard and I’m so glad they reached out.

The magazine is wonderful.

Please take a moment to explore its pages. You can view a digital version of the issue online here.

It’s crunch time for independent vegan business

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I will sound like a broken record with this blog, but this needs to be repeated.

Please make an effort to spend your money with independently-owned vegan businesses.

The health of our communities depends on it.

A Guardian piece from a few years back states that when we spend £1 with a small or medium-sized business, 63p stays within the local community. However, when we spend that pound with a larger business from outside the community only about 40p stays in the area.

23p might not sound a lot but it adds up when we start to look at amounts spent on High Streets and in stores around the UK.

Estimates are usually way above £300 billion when it comes to calculating how much money the UK spends with bricks and mortar stores each year. Imagine if we were able to keep a larger chunk of that money in our local communities?

Indie business owners would have more cash flow to secure their longevity, pay fair wages to local people, spend their profits on other local products and services, and add to the cultural wealth of their neighbourhood.

Spending money when and where you can with local business helps keep your community thriving and drives up social capital.

Remember when I started London Vegan Potluck in Brixton? It was a local independent business that gave us the space to use. It was Ms Cupcake being supported by paying customers that allowed them to let us use their resources for free.

London Vegan Drinks is a long-running and much-loved social event hosted in Karamel, an independent vegan bar and restaurant in Wood Green. If this venue closed due to lack of customers, I would be seriously concerned for the future of this event.

When you shop at our FGV sections of Venn Street Market and Walthamstow Sunday Social each week, you are directly supporting the livelihood of local businesses. Business that have bills to pay. Businesses supporting families. Business dealing with the same outrageous rental costs as the rest of us.

If you have money to spend on groceries, products, and services it is crucial to the ongoing social and financial health of our communities that you spend as much of your budget with locally owned businesses.

I know it can be tough as a lot of us are time poor and an one time only weekly shop saves effort, but here are some simple suggestions for keeping a little bit more money local:

  • If you pass a fruit stand or independent green grocers during your daily commute, make this your shopping location of choice for fruit and vegetables. Do this once or twice a week to avoid having to cary too much on public transport
  • Make a promise to visit at least one independently owned vegan eatery once a month if you can afford it and go through with your plans. Start a dining club or group to join you in the pledge
  • Need a haircut? Look on local supermarket message boards and online chatrooms for experts who offer home haircuts at reasonable prices. Choose this over budget salon chains
  • Start a buying co-op on your street or with nearby friends to get pantry staples such as flour, tinned food, and bulk items at greatly reduced rates from Suma
  • Drink tea and coffee throughout the working day? Find a locally owned café even if it means having to go slightly out of your way to bypass a chain business
  • Support local and indie book stores. They are disappearing at breakneck speeds and we can stop this in our neighbourhoods. If it is gift giving time, buy from a bookstore instead of online retailers. Local bookstores will often sell other gift ideas too
  • If you must shop online for time restraints or mobility reasons, buy from independent retailers via The Hive. This hub lets you shop for music, books, DVDs, and gifts before fulfilling your order from High Street stores
  • Pledge to visit a vegan market at least once a month. They are now all over the UK
  • Take time to shop with vegan grocery stores. If you are unable to visit in person, many stores now offer delivery to local residents

In closing, do what you can and when you can to keep cash in your community.

It really is the least we can do as active community members.

Vegan snacks at Heathrow Terminal 4

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Here’s a super quick post to show you some of my vegan haul at Heathrow Terminal 4.

Airports used to be a sad place for vegans, but WH Smith in Terminal 4 is really stocked to the brim with vegan goodies.

The following products helped me survive the 11 hour flight to Mexico City.

What do you think?

New vegan menu for Leeds

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Leeds based vegan eatery Knave’s Kitchen will be launching their new menu on Tuesday 12th March, 2019.

Get along to the party for free samples of the full menu from 6-8PM and a buy one get one free offer for all new cocktails, all night.

With a focus on flavourful, comforting and down to earth food, Knave’s mission is to provide delicious vegan food to diners of all persuasions. Since its opening, Knaves has hosted a run of sold out supper clubs including collaborations with Berlin’s Stone Brewery and Leeds Indie Food as well as appearances at a number of events like Halifax’s Chow Down and Vegan North at North Brew Co.

Located in legendary Leeds dive bar Oporto, Knave’s is rapidly approaching its first birthday and is ready to unveil a brand new and exciting menu for this year. Created thoughtfully and meticulously by head chef Sam Thomas, the new menu will feature dishes like ‘Jerk & Palm’, a serving of jerked jackfruit, creamy Jamaican curry and coconut rice all crowned with a crispy plantain skewer, ‘Sea Shepherd’, a delicious Beer-battered Nori tofu fillet served with mushy pea-mayo and crisp baby gem in a salt & vinegar bun, ‘CFC’, corn flake-battered seitan goujons, Brazilian slaw, and chive ranch, wrapped in a toasted flour tortilla and lots more.

Yay for good eating Leeds!