Haus of FGV

FGV mentioned in Look magazine

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If you had told me a few years ago that I would be mentioned in a glossy UK fashion and lifestyle magazine, I would have slapped you with a seitan sausage.

But here we are.

My book Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t has just been mentioned in LOOK magazine in a column about things people should be watching, readings, listening to, etc.

It is a little bit surreal to be mentioned on the same page of recommendations as the BRIT Awards, but I’m thrilled that the vegan message (or even the idea of it) is potentially reaching hundreds of thousands of people.

If you are interested in seeing this column on paper with your own eyes, you can buy LOOK in basically every shop in the UK and in some parts of Europe.

Much love to Jillian at my publisher who has been working overtime to get this book some incredible exposure.

You can buy your own copy of the book via Amazon, Foyles, WH Smith, and your local book retailer.

Queer Vegan Yoga

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Queer Vegan Yoga is here.

Following on from many talks I’ve had with friends and people I’ve met at events around London, it became clear to me that our city needs a body positive yoga class designed for the LGBTQ+ community and our friends.

I also wanted it to be delivered and taught by a vegan.

Queer Vegan Yoga is a collaboration between Fat Gay Vegan, yoga teacher Tatum De Roeck, and venue The Well Garden located at Hackney Downs Studios (home of Hackney Downs Vegan Market).

Starting as a special event on Saturday March 10, 2018, Queer Vegan Yoga is an affordable space for people to explore what yoga can do for them even if they have felt excluded from other yoga classes in the past.

Spots are £12 and you can book for either 1:00pm or 2:30pm by clicking here.

This class is for all body types with a ‘vegan lesbian yoga teacher’ who is committed to inclusive teaching. Here is a little bit about Tatum:

Tatum was a Londoner living in LA picking up lots of jobs and cliches, she was an actress/waitress and a vegan lesbian yoga teacher. Then she got some cancer and her relationship with yoga changed. Her mat became a place of sanctuary, she couldn’t do all the poses but her mat was a place that accepted her even when bald, itchy, tired and sore. She now lives in London and is passionate about creating fun classes in which everyone can be themselves. She believes we don’t need to adapt our bodies into yoga poses but rather yoga should adapt to each of us.

Tatum and FGV

Queer Vegan Yoga is a class committed to exploring yoga that is beneficial to each individual regardless of body size, gender identity, or sexuality.

The first sessions of Queer Vegan Yoga will take place at The Well Garden on Saturday March 10, 2018 at 1:00-2:00pm and then 2:30-3:30pm. You can book a spot for either of these classes online now.

You can also RSVP and invite friends over on the Facebook event page.

You can now go to an inclusive yoga class AND the best vegan food market in London on the same day!

Julio

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If you have been a reader (or Patreon supporter) around these parts for a while, you will know about my dear friend Julio.

Julio and I have been close friends ever since the first time we met in 2009. I love him dearly and couldn’t ask for a better friend. He is one of the reasons why I live part of each year in Mexico City.

Some of the rewards I had been sharing on Patreon (and on here) were cooking videos starring the two of us. Julio and I loved making them, mostly because we got to goof around together.

But sadly Julio became very unwell last year and our videos together came to a sudden end. I tried to carry on by myself for a while but it just wasn’t the same.

Thankfully, Julio is now feeling a lot better and this photo was taken of us last night. As you can tell, we had a marvellous time laughing and catching up.

I am really keen to get more videos made for you all as a sign of my appreciation for all the support you give me in keeping the Fat Gay Vegan show on the road.

Julio and I plan on getting creative again for you soon. Thanks for your patience and sorry for the delay on videos.

I’m sure you’ll agree that the most important thing is that my friend is happy and smiling again. Julio is one of the most important people in my life and I’m so thankful that I get these opportunities to share him with you.

You can see all of our videos together online here and you can pledge a small monthly amount via Patreon to help me keep putting my energies into being Fat Gay Vegan.

FGV at a festival

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I’m doing my best to spread the vegan word and my latest collaboration is going to spread it to a lot of people to whom I’ve yet to spread it.

I have been invited by the good people of Bestival to curate a vegan food corner!

What is Bestival?

Bestival is a multi-day festival combining live music, DJ sets, performance, art, visuals, and so much, much more. It is billed as the most colourful show on Earth and it has something for everyone… and then some!

The 2018 outing of Bestival takes place at the stunning Lulworth Estate in Dorset on August 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The musical line up is fantastic with announced acts including Grace Jones, M.I.A., Plan B and London Grammar.

But what about FGV and this vegan food corner?

Each year, Bestival hosts a food tent called Feast Collective and this year they are adding a vegan corner curated and hosted by me! I’m so thrilled to be asked to bring a handful of my favourite vegan food traders together in one spot to make sure no vegan at the festival is left behind.

It will also be a wonderful way for me and the traders to do a spot of sassy vegan outreach to non-vegan festival goers who will be tempted by an amazing line up of succulent things to consume.

If you have always wanted to go to a summer music festival but were worried there would be nothing to eat, Bestival 2018 is for you.

The four-day event is obviously centred around camping (like all good summertime festivals) and there are plenty of options to explore in this regard. I will be on site for most of the festival and would love your company.

Click here to visit the official Bestival website where you can explore entertainment line up, tickets, payment plans (yes!), and all other relevant information.

Extra note: I forgot to mention this earlier but I will also be presenting a talk in the Bestival Literary Tent on one of the days. It will be loosely based on my book Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t.

Good times!

You can also follow Bestival on Instagram.

On the radio

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I was recently invited onto an Internet radio show called So Totally Vegan.

You can listen below.

If you want to skip to my section of the show, you can go to the 13:57 mark.

 

Save money on the FGV book

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You know about my book because I never shut up about it, but I have some extra book-related news that is fresh and exciting.

For some reason, WH Smith has my book available at a special price for online shoppers who use a discount code.

If you use the code FGV18, you will be able to buy Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t from the online WH Smith online store for £4.99.

Click here to get my book at a discount!

Change in social media policy

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As of today, any non-vegan business that contacts me to share information about vegan products and services will be asked for a fee.

I have been running this blog for more than 7 years. It was designed to (and still does) help promote independent vegan business, support people in their decision to live a vegan life, and promote not-for-profit and for-profit vegan events run by me and other vegans.

As veganism becomes a more accepted part of our society, I find myself under ever-increasing pressure to spread news of developments. News is coming in thick and fast.

Non-vegan restaurants, stores and businesses contact me every day asking me to share their information on my blog and social media accounts. Every business in the UK is scrambling to grab some vegan income.

Answering these emails and sharing the content takes up hours and hours of my time each week. I’m finding myself responding to sometimes hundreds of requests from vegan and non-vegan businesses each week.

As there is just one person running the FGV platforms, it is too much work for me to consider publishing every piece of information that comes my way. It is especially too much work when you consider that I don’t ask for money to blog and some of these non-vegan businesses are making huge profits.

Well, I didn’t used to.

Going forward, any requests from non-vegan businesses to share their content will be met with a request for a fee. If any payment is made, this will be clearly indicated on the blog post or social media post.

10% of any payment received from non-vegan companies will be donated by me to Isla Urbana, a charity dedicated to building clean water infrastructure for people in Mexico City.

I will continue to support and share information for vegan businesses, charities, organisations and individuals at no cost.

Extra note: some news from non-vegan businesses will be shared at no cost if and when I think it is important or significant. Or if I feel like doing it.

My book in bookstores

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When I was a young child in Australia, it was a dream of mine to be a writer.

I didn’t consider how it would happen or when or what was even involved, but I was simply drawn to writing.

I entered writing competitions at my local area shows and I even once won a prize for having a poem published in a newspaper.

Fast forward to now and here I am with a published book many decades later.

Thank you to Tsouni of Yes It’s All Vegan for letting me use this photo she took of the vegan section of Foyles on Charing Cross Road in Central London today.

It means more to me than I can explain to see my book on the shelves of a ‘proper’ bookstore amongst titles by people I love and adore… and some I don’t! LOL.

If you would like to grab a copy of my book from Foyles and help me continue to live out my childhood dream as it comes to life, you can order online or even order online to collect in your nearest store.

Foyles has my book in Stratford Westfield, Charing Cross Road, Bristol, Waterloo London, Birmingham, Chelmsford, and Royal Festival Hall London stores.

Click here to order for delivery or collection from Foyles. The website tells you how many copies of my book remain in each store. Maybe we can even give one of the stores a sellout situation?!

FGV cupcakes

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Here is a super quick post to say thank you to south London cafe, Cupcakes & Shhht.

The Elephant and Castle cafe hosted an intimate get-together today to celebrate the launch of my book. It was a lot of fun chatting and getting a chance to say hello to a few friends and news faces, but the crowning glory of the evening was the cupcake selection.

The gorgeous vanilla and coconut cupcakes had mini edible front covers of my book on top of the frosting.

Check it out!

Please take a moment to follow Cupcakes & Shhht on Instagram so you can keep updated on their latest news, including an upcoming pop-up in Old Street!

You can join me at one of the book events coming up this week in London and Coventry. See all the dates and events online here.

If you would like a copy of my book, you can order online here.

A non-vegan place turns vegan: Day one

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I am super excited about getting down to the newly-vegan Old Street branch of Arancini Brothers tomorrow (Thursday January 4, 2018) for their grand re-opening.

It is also the official launch of my book and they just shared this post of the stock arriving:

I reached out to owner Dave to see how the soft opening went yesterday and he said:

Even though this area is a ghost town at this time of year, we had a queue out the door between midday and 2pm. There were lots of customers loving the FGV Burger and we didn’t get a single complaint from our regular meat eating customers. It has been a great start to our vegan project!

Such good news!

Click here to see the full menu plus some food photos. Hopefully I’ll see some of you at the grand re-opening/book launch tomorrow. If you can’t make it tomorrow, Arancini Brothers Old Street will be 100% vegan for the entire month of January and maybe longer if it works out for them.

You can also order my book online here.