Haus of FGV

Help a vegan comrade

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If you have read my book, you will recall the extremely poignant section contributed by Michele Kaplan.

Michele is an incredible activist fighting for better outcomes for animals and disabled people. The feeling of gratitude I have for her contribution to my book has never wavered.

Michele puts a lot of her energy and time into fighting for social justice causes, so it makes sense that when she needs a little bit of support we should rally around.

Following on from a health setback, Michele currently needs some additional at home support while she recovers.

If you know anything about US health care, you’ll know it can be extremely difficult at the best of times.

Michele needs our help to pay for some additional health aide hours and every penny, pound, cent, dollar, peso, or whatever you can spare is helpful.

Click here to donate online now.

FGV weekly wrap up

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Each week you can listen in as I give an informal wrap up of all the news printed on fatgayvegan.com over the previous 7 days.

Click here for my FGV SoundCloud page. This is where all future broadcasts will be hosted.

Listen to this week’s broadcast below. Includes news up until Friday March 30, 2018.

Vegan support/FGV rant

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If you follow me on social media, you might have noticed this post yesterday.

In case the post doesn’t carry across from Instagram for you, the basics involve me being fired up about all the vegan events taking place that are run by non-vegan companies.

There has been a lot of discussion about the way I said what I said, so I thought I would take a little bit of time to address some of the points here. I don’t have time to answer every post individually so I’m kinda condensing.

Q: Would you rather these people run events selling meat/dairy/armadillo shells?

Of course not.

I have championed for non-vegan business to sell vegan products and services for two decades. I would never make an argument for boycotting a non-vegan business that sold vegan products unless the company was problematic in other ways. This might include bad worker treatment, racism, sexism in advertising, or homophobia.

But offering a vegan meal in a non-vegan restaurant is VERY different to a non-vegan business running a high profile vegan festival or market. These events are using our strong community to make a lot of instant money from the goodwill of veganism. They are not simply welcoming vegans to their business, they are crafting and co-opting our culture and our meeting spaces in order to make profit with little or zero concern for what veganism means.

Q: Why does it matter if a non-vegan business is running an event?

When a vegan person or business runs a large market or event, the central focus is the vegan message. This is something that can be glossed over when a non-vegan develops an event.

Large vegan events run by non-vegans taking place in London generate a lot of income for their organisers. This income is then gone from the vegan community, to be spent by individuals and the businesses involved on non-vegan concerns. Some of this money is used to promote non-vegan food events run by the same organisers. Yes, money made at some large vegan events in London is being used to help sell dead animals.

However, vegan events around the country that are run by vegans keep the generated income within the community. Vegans spend money on vegan goods, products and services. We shop with local, independent vegan businesses. We support vegan charities with the money we earn.

Q: Why do you want me to boycott vegan events run by non-vegans?

I don’t.

The idea behind my temperamental rant grew out of frustration.

I had just seen an announcement about how a new weekly vegan market is to be launched by a company that also runs a market that showcases dead animals.

I am not suggesting anyone boycott this or any similar event but rather I’m expressing how frustrating it is to see these events being launched by non-vegans when they could be and should be vegan led.

Q: Why are you angry at me? I don’t have time/I have children/I am just one person.

I am not angry at any one single person and I don’t hate anyone.

I am frustrated with our community as a collective. Yes I understand how incredibly hard a lot of us work because I have been on the front line for a decade with thousands of others.

My statement was an angry-sounding plea to our community to organise. This plea is sympathetic of individuals who do not/cannot organise due to a multitude of reasons. This might include disability, illness, financial restrictions, family commitments, mental health considerations, and other situations.

What I am saying is that we HAVE to fight hard to organise big ticket vegan events on OUR vegan terms. We need to do this for the animals and for the financial security of our community.

I have been doing what I do for a long time and what upsets me is the attitude I see in a lot of people in our community when it comes to organising. A lot of us would like everything done for us, no matter where this takes our money.

I stand by this. A hell of a lot of us could be doing a hell of a lot more. If this doesn’t apply to you, good. You know what you do and I’m not speaking about you.

Q: Aren’t you a hypocrite because you tell us about new vegan products are at Tesco/Wagamama/Pizza Express?

Once again, I have been extremely open about how and why I share news from mainstream companies.

I think it helps many people with limited finances and/or mobility considerations to be able to have easy access to vegan options. They also help people make a transition or stay vegan.

I would have something very different to say if Tesco started a weekly vegan lifestyle show!

I often bookend posts about Tesco or other mainstream businesses by stating how I think we should shop with local, independent vegan business whenever possible.

Q: Didn’t you support Arancini Brothers when they weren’t totally vegan? What’s the difference?

Arancini Brothers were not running large scale events based around the vegan lifestyle. They were trying to find a way to transition their business to a completely vegan one and I was attempting to leverage my platform to push them the rest of the way.

Q: Isn’t this easy for you to say as a rich vegan making thousands from events?

I’m not in the habit of justifying my income to anyone outside of UK and Australian taxation entities, but I hardly make what you would call a lot of money. In fact, mine and my partner’s current combined income from running vegan events is less than what I used to earn on my own as a school teacher. Seriously… and we all know teachers aren’t paid enough, either.

I make less money than non-vegans running vegan events because I charge businesses smaller amounts of money to trade at my events because I believe in supporting independent vegan business. Because I want them to be able to make a living out of saving animals. This rarely happens when non-vegans run vegan events.

Q: If I am confused by all of this, can you explain just the basics again?

Yes.

I would love to see more vegans being the driving force behind events and markets that are explicitly vegan events.

These events are generating a lot of revenue and I would like to see this money fed back into the vegan community instead of sucked out of our pockets and used by non-vegans.

I am also concerned that non-vegans running large, visible vegan events work to diminish our vegan activist voices and remove animals from the centre of our message,

No, I don’t think you should boycott vegan events run by non-vegans but I would like you to consider how you can support independent vegan business in order to strengthen our fight to improve outcomes for animals.

I would also like to see more people becoming active in staging large scale, visible vegan events and markets. I say this with informed compassion, knowing that not every member of our community can contribute to events.

Q: Why should I care what you say?

You don’t have to. This is my opinion. It is not the law. I am not the vegan police. I’m just a fat guy trying to do what I think is the right thing. Take it or leave it.

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.