Haus of FGV

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.

FGV book tour

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Join me for some events to celebrate the launch of my first-ever book, Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t. 

 You will be able to buy a copy of the book AND hopefully grab something to eat.

 The dates and venues are:

  • Thursday January 4
  • 11am until 2pm
  • Arancini Brothers Vegan Opening
  • Buy the book, eat from the new vegan menu and say hello to me as the Arancini Brothers Old St location turns completely vegan. This date has its own Facebook event.

 

  • Saturday January 6
  • 6pm until 8pm
  • Cupcakes and Shhht
  • Come and hang out with me at this newly vegan cafe in Elephant and Castle.

 

  • Sunday January 7
  • 3pm until 5pm
  • Veganhq
  • Stop in for a bite to eat and buy a copy of my book at this South Ealing location.

 

  • Monday January 8
  • 5pm until 7pm
  • The Green Unicorn Vegan Store
  • Join me in this fabulous Coventry grocery store. They will be selling the book and the event even has its own Facebook event: click here!

 

  • Wednesday January 10
  • 6pm until 8pm
  • Ms. Cupcake
  • Buy the book AND buy some special FGV themed baked goods at the Brixton shop.

 

  • Thursday January 11
  • 7pm until 9pm
  • The Canvas Cafe E1
  • Hosted at this Brick Lane newly vegan cafe, you will be able to buy a copy of the book from my publishers who will be on hand especially for the event.

If you are unable to make any of these events but still want a copy of the book, please click here or on the banner below to buy online. Also look for the book in your independent book stores, health food stores and major book retailers. If they don’t have it, you can ask them to order it for you.

The Facebook event for the tour can be seen here.

Introducing the FGV Burger

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News you can eat.

As you have probably heard, Arancini Brothers Old Street location is turning 100% vegan for January 2018.

The entire menu is becoming plant-based for Veganuary (and hopefully longer) and to celebrate, they have added a burger they are calling the FGV Burger.

Check it out.

The FGV Burger features the famous mushroom zucchini risotto patty inside an organic bap plus double cheese, pickles, crispy onion, ketchup and mustard.

I’m absolutely drooling.

This is the burger of my dreams and I’m thrilled to see my name on their new vegan menu.

You can get your hands on the FGV Burger at Arancini Brothers Old Street location all month long. See the full vegan menu online here.

The soft launch for Old Street turning vegan is January 2, 2018 with the grand vegan re-opening in conjunction with my book launch is Thursday January 4. I’ll be there on January 4, so please say hello.

Hope to see you in store where you can grab an FGV Burger and an FGV book!

If you would like to buy the book but cannot make it to this celebration, you can buy a copy online here.

Best nine of Instagram 2017

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As I do at the end of each year, I like to share the most popular photos from my Instagram account from across the previous twelve months.

As you can see from the list below, Wagamama made the list three times and bizarrely the same dish made up two of those posts! If you work at Wagamama and you make a lot of money, I won’t say no to a monetary showing of appreciation. I didn’t post those pics for my own financial return, but holy shit did you people get some incredible PR from me this year.

Some of the entries are surprising (that popcorn chicken in at number 3 and those tiffin bites appearing AT ALL?!) and it is extremely telling that eight of the nine photos feature products from huge, non-vegan multinational companies.

If you need proof of how mainstream and commodified veganism and plant-based eating has become, this list might just come in handy.

Enjoy reliving these most-liked moments from 2017 and if you don’t already, follow me over on Instagram for new adventures in non-animal living in 2018.

Here we go, starting with number nine and counting down to the most popular:

Number 9.

Number 8.

Number 7.

Number 6.

Number 5.

Number 4.

Number 3.

Number 2.

Number 1. The most-liked photo of 2017 on the FGV Instagram account

And finally, here are the top nine in a handy grid for a recap if you need it.

See you all next year!

Another FGV book reading

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Here is book reading number 3 from my VERY SOON to be released book, Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t  (you can see readings number 1 and 2 online as well).

You can order your very own copy of my book online here.

Stay tuned for more readings and book launch events such as the official launch at the Arancini Brothers vegan reopening celebration on January 4, 2018.

FGV reading part two

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With the release of my first ever book just days away, I am celebrating by sharing some short excerpt videos.

In this video, I briefly read from the Ethical Vegan chapter of the book and discuss the use of non-inclusive language by mainstream vegan activists.

You can click here to buy the book online. If you are in London on January 4, 2018, click here to discover how you can join me at my official launch day celebration.

You can also see my first video reading here.

An FGV reading

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My new book is almost out in the world and I’m getting excited!

Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t is the culmination of a lot of work and dedication, so I’m keen to see what kind of reaction it gets after it is published on January 4, 2018.

To celebrate the impending release, I’ve decided to share a series of readings from the book.

The first one is below.

You can click here or on the image below to pre-order your own copy.