One of the most enjoyable parts of the incredible vegan cruise I have been on during the past week was getting to spend time with one of my favourite vegans.
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is a one-person powerhouse. Her educational books, talks, public appearances, podcasts, and interviews are more than inspirational. Colleen has the rare ability to engage complete strangers with her disarming and charming conversational presentation style, leaving them happy to have heard her message of how to go and stay vegan.
If you have ever questioned if a person can be unapologetically vegan AND a nice person, you haven’t met Colleen. She speaks with complete authority when it comes to why and how people choose to live vegan, but never loses her compassion for other humans in the process.
A photo posted by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (@joyfulvegan) on
The above photo was posted by Colleen over on her Instagram account. We had a fabulous time catching up as we cruised along the Danube with Vegan River Cruises.
You can get all the latest updates from Colleen by visiting her website, liking her on Facebook and following her on Twitter.
At least a few times a week I am asked to name my favourite, must-eat vegan dishes in London.
The list of food and drink I can’t live without in the capital changes now and again, but here is the current crop of things that make me go “Yummers!” in London.
Get ready to work your way through Fat Gay Vegan’s Top 13 Things to Consume in London.
Almost exactly five years ago today, I started this little blog called Fat Gay Vegan and to say it has taken over my life would be an understatement of epic proportions.
The blog evolved into hosting community events such as London Vegan Potluck and London Vegan Drinks. I launched a successful vegan PR company off the back of the blog and quit my job as a primary school teacher. London Vegan Beer Fest was made possible thanks to the popularity of my blog.
The past five years have been a whirlwind of blogging, events, pop ups and meeting thousands of people from all over the city, country and world.
But the only constant in life is change. It is time for me to say a temporary goodbye to the city I have called home for the past five years.
I’m leaving London and moving to Mexico City for at least six months.
Josh and I adore Mexico City. Our hearts and minds never stray too far from el Distrito Federal and the past year has been spent making plans on how we can spend more time in our favourite location on the planet.
To cut a long story short, we are heading there in January 2016 for six months.
Fat Gay Vegan will continue as a blog and my monthly advice column will appear in Vegan Life Magazine, but the regular events I am known for will of course come to a halt. You will still get all the big UK vegan news on these pages, but it will be mixed with a little more Mexican flavour.
I will be back in the future (big plans for London Vegan Beer Fest to be announced soon!) but for now it is time to say farewell.
I would love to say goodbye in person to as many readers and event attendees as possible at my final parties before I head overseas:
You can join me for my 3rd annual Vegan Xmas Dinner this Thursday (December 17, 2015) for a wonderful 3-course meal and lots of cheesy Christmas music. Tickets are on sale here.
My farewell party is taking the form of the last ever Queer Vegan Disco on Saturday January 9, 2016. This will be just two days before I fly out of London. This party is set to be huge. It is the final QVD, the monthly party people have come to adore. Buy your tickets in advance to secure your spot on the dance floor.
Thank you to every single person who has read my blog and attended my events during these past five years.
If I don’t see you at the Xmas dinner or Queer Vegan Disco, I will see you in the future.
With more than 50% of tickets for my 3rd annual Vegan Xmas Dinneralready gone, you will need to be fast to secure a spot once people get a look at what we are serving on the night.
Kath and Roger have won over a lot of hearts and stomachs at Kabaret @ Karamelin North London since they started expanding and developing the vegan menu, so I’m thrilled to have them on board as the main chefs for my Christmas extravaganza.
Check out the food line up for this one-night-only special event taking place on Thursday December 17, 2015:
This is a big weekend coming up in Glasgow and I’m thrilled to have plans to be there.
If you haven’t heard, the first ever Vegfest Scotland is roaring to life on both Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December, 2015.
Like all VegfestUK shows, the Glasgow version in the SECC is set to be rammed with tasty food vendors, vegan companies, educational talks, debate panels and more.
I have my own FGV stall across both days of the show where I will be selling t-shirts and postcards. 15% of sales from the t-shirts is being donated to vegan community kitchen Made in Hackney.
If you are visiting the show on Sunday, you can also join me for an informal talk on how to begin a vegan blog. I will be discussing my tips for getting an online platform up and running and I’m looking forward to answering questions.
You can join in this session from 1:30pm Sunday December 6th, 2015.
You might remember the sad news I featured on my blog a short while ago about my friend, Indira.
Indira is one of the most compassionate people I have had the pleasure of meeting and I was deeply saddened to learn she had been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer of the liver.
Indira reached out to me this week to ask if I would allow her to post a piece of writing she has compiled on the emotional struggle of being a dedicated vegan faced with medication which has undoubtedly been tested on animals.
Vegans and animal lovers all over the UK and the world have been surprised by the new #TerryTheTurkey advertising campaign employed by phone company Vodafone in the lead up to Christmas 2015.
The advert is a unique concept for a TV commercial.
The short film shows a family having a turkey living with them, jumping through time to highlight how the bird is growing larger as the seasons change.
Just when the viewer thinks the winter snow and a trip to the garden shed is a sign that Terry is to be killed and plated for Christmas dinner, the twist emerges to show the family have used their Vodafone-powered technology to source a nut roast recipe thus saving the life of the family turkey.
Great news, right?
Photo: VodafoneUK
I didn’t find many like-minded people online when I voiced my concern that this advert was problematic in that it was still using live animals for the purpose of profit-making dressed up as entertainment.
Many of my Facebook followers expressed the opinion that this advert was a positive message, yet after reading their insights I still thought it was more loaded than just the nice message of saving the life of an animal.
I decided to find out a little more about the ad-making process and reached out to the people who made the #TerryTheTurkey advert.
Following is a short Q&A I carried out via email with Vicki Maguire. Vicki is the Deputy Executive Creative Director at Grey London, the agency charged with devising the Vodafone Christmas campaign.
Vicki kindly took time out of her extremely busy schedule to answer the following questions I put to her:
1. Your advert has given a lot of compassionate people something to smile about as it shows a turkey being given a second chance at life when a family opt for nut roast. How was the concept first devised? Was it inspired by any vegans in the office or by a team member’s personal life perhaps?
Christmas is the season of goodwill. Vodafone’s technology brings people together. We thought we’d take a different tack.
Our dad uses technology to rear a turkey, by the time Christmas comes around he’s part of the family. Sometimes technology gets bad press for making people self obsessed. This ad demonstrates that couldn’t be further from the truth.
We were sitting around talking when Howard, a guy in our team, told us a story of how a friend of his had become vegetarian when his family found a live chicken. I think there’s something about being that close to an animal that brings out your protective instincts.
A couple of us are vegetarian and two are vegan, but non of us are having turkey this year! Our Director Kevin Thomas is a die-hard veggie, that’s why the script appealed to him.
2. What a lot of people don’t know is that Terry is actually played by eight different birds throughout the advert. Did all of these animals come from the same place? How did your team source the turkeys for the campaign?
We picked an accredited British breeder who had turkeys at various stages of development. The story goes from young Terry to fully mature Terry. I’ll be honest and say I used to think turkeys were ugly, but now I love them. They are actually very smart and they love playing football.
3. The happy ending for the eight Terry turkeys is that they are now all living a life of peace on Farm Animal Rescue Sanctuary in Warwickshire. How did the team decide where the turkeys would end up?
As soon as we picked up the phone to Farm Animal Rescue we knew they were the ones to give our Terrys a good home. Their love for their charges really shines through!
4. Even though the advert has only been live for a few days, the online reaction has been phenomenal. Apart from helping your client raise awareness for its brand, is there anything else you hope for from #TerryTheTurkey campaign?
We’ve been blown away by the reaction to the campaign. It’s funny when you see it in an ad break also selling turkey for £3 a kilo. It makes you think about what really matters at Christmas.
In all seriousness we are having nut roast! A turkey is for life, not for Christmas.
Watch the video above and let me know what you think in the comments.
I am grateful to know the turkeys used in the advert now live in a sanctuary and that many people are being exposed to the idea of compassion for animals.
However I am staunchly opposed to the use of live animals in entertainment and advertising, especially when the animals in question have been sourced from a professional breeder. Buying or sourcing animals from breeders creates demand and puts money into the pockets of people profiting from commodifying animals.
What do you all think? Does the good done by the #TerryTheTurkey advert outweigh the negatives or as vegans should we always have a strong stance against the use of animals in advertising?
Would your opinion be different if the product being sold to us via the advert was actually a vegan product (such as the nut roast) and not a phone service?
Not only am I excited to be presenting my 3rd annual Vegan Xmas Dinner on December 17th, but I am also thrilled to announce a very special guest sponsor for the event.
I was asked by the Metro online to give my opinion on a school in the USA transitioning to only vegan food being served by its canteen.
As you can see from the screen shot above, the story was featured prominently on the front page of the website. It has to date been shared more than 8,000 times and is still listed on their trending story list.
I am THRILLED to bring my legendary night of camp delight to The Flying Duck. Long established as a monthly night in London, Queer Vegan Disco enjoys a limited one-night-only engagement in Glasgow on Friday December 4, 2015.
Join your host FGV (that’s me!) for a rollicking few hours of pop, indie, dance, alternative, rock, top 40, 90s and more.
Tickets for this club event are set to disappear quickly, especially as they are priced at just £3 when bought in advance online.
Queer Vegan Disco is proud as punch to be part of the city-wide The Only Way Is Ethics celebrations and the same weekend as the first ever Vegfest Scotland.
Get your tickets. Rally your friends. We are going to make your bones move like never before.
Queer Vegan Disco. Friday December 4th, 2015. 11pm until 3am.
Invite your friends to QVD Glasgow via the Facebook event.
If tickets don’t sell out in advance, they will be £5/£3 concession on the door.
