I love sugar

Everybody comes to Hollywood

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Apologies to my loyal non-Californian readers who have been suffering through post after post about vegan food well out of their reach. Maybe you can think of it as the motivation you need to scrape some savings together and get away on holiday. Make Southern California your next vacation destination.

So really, these tempting posts of decadent dishes are a public service. My civil duty to inspire the plant-inclined people of the world to broaden their horizons.

To carry on in this completely selfless fashion, let me tell you what you are missing by not eating at Doomie’s Home Cookin’ in Hollywood.

Doomie’s is the FGV version of heaven. Vegan pulled pork sandwich served with mac and cheese? Check. Cocktails and cold beer? Check. Decadent vegan desserts and sweet treats? Double check.

If I lived in Hollywood, I would most certainly develop an unhealthy emotional relationship with this meat free restaurant. Their menu is what you would show someone wanting to understand the term comfort food.

The only thing that I can’t approve of is the fact Doomie’s offer cow-derived cheese on request. Their food is so utterly delicious and out of this world, offering dairy seems such an unnecessary concession. I can’t imagine that any diner would feel short changed by eating the vegan versions. It is all staggeringly good.

Check out my meal photos below, including the bonus photo of the jumbo vegan burger Doomie’s served me during the Los Angeles Vegan Beer Festival.

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How many snacks?

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I have been busy catching you up on the amazing meals I enjoyed during my recent Southern Californian vacation, but a lot of what I consumed wasn’t from any restaurant.

Check out the photos below of all the vegan snacks I got my chubby, queer hands on. There is a huge range of plant-based products featured, some of them are my old favourites and some are newly discovered tasty treats.

Do you like the look of any of the following snacks? Are any of your faves featured? If you could only pick one, which one would it be?

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Cake glory

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I wanted to share this photo for two reasons.

1. Oh my. Can you believe how amazing these giant vegan cupcakes look? I saw this incredible line up in Whole Foods Market San Diego and was more than impressed. Come on London stores, get on it. I want over the top vegan cupcake designs.

2. I didn’t buy one. I was so overwhelmed by the choice I actually couldn’t decide on one. I stood there for roughly five minutes and then walked away calmly. I am a bad FGV, for sure.

Which one would you have picked?

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Vegan ice cream wars strike

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We have a casualty.

The Vegan Ice Cream Wars are a brutal battleground and certainly not for those with a nervous disposition. It is a cruel world where creating a product that people enjoy is not enough. The prohibitive cost behind producing, promoting and distributing would make most people not want to get out of bed.

Darrelle and Phil of Razzle Dazzle Ices were brave enough to get out of bed. For the last three years, they have been creating their range of vegan ice creams and tirelessly promoting the products at vegan festivals all over the country.

Razzle Dazzle Ices even came along to my giant bowling fundraiser for Sea Shepherd back in January 2013 and shared their popular treats with attendees.

But the sad news has arrived via a Facebook announcement posted by Phil:

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Eat more chocolate

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I often enjoy strolling aimlessly around London. I pick a general direction and just set off. These random wanderings have helped me unearth some of the most wonderful vegan discoveries, as well as rediscover gems I had completely forgotten about.

It was during one of these unplanned strolls a few weeks ago when I came across the gorgeous and exquisite creations of The Chocolatier. I am fairly certain I had seen them at VegfestUK London last year but didn’t manage to get close to them due to the swarms of people converging on their stand.

This time I was able to find my way to the front of their table at an open air market just a block back from London’s South Bank.  While not being a completely vegan company, the majority of their handcrafted delights are vegan and oh so delicious.

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Cheap as chocolate

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It is a wonderful time of year. A time of year I always look forward to with great anticipation. No, not spring. It’s time for discounted vegan chocolate.

Here are two delights I picked up this week in the post-Easter sales.

How about you? What have you found in the chocolate bargain bins this week?

What was good? What was amazing?

I overdid it at the soda shop

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Here is some quick and tasty news for you.

Buy vegan soda in London that is delicious!

I have been hearing good things about new(ish) soda company Square Root and was keen to get it on my chubby tastebuds. This Hackney-based company make all their drinks by hand from seasonal ingredients and they sell them from a gorgeous vintage tricycle fitted out with taps from which they pour the tasty liquid.

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Best vegan cake in Europe

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I have been racking my feeble brain for a witty or whimsical way in which to announce this epic news, but I have been reduced to a quivering mess and can no longer think. I’m going to just have to come straight out and say the facts.

The best vegan cakes and desserts in the whole of Europe are now available in London.

If you have been loitering around these parts of the Internet for a few years, you should be able to recall this mammoth post I wrote about irresistible vegan cakes in Barcelona created by the magical company known as Lujuria Vegana.

Their cakes are absolutely peerless in Europe. I am a super fan.

Imagine then my sheer delight/shock/convulsions of hysteria when I was confronted by masses of Lujuria Vegana desserts sitting in the chilled fridges of the brand new Whole Foods Market location in Fulham. I almost fell over.

The range in Whole Foods is staggering in size. You can see by the photos below that I was completely unable to control myself and bought many varieties. I was overcome by a cake buying frenzy.

As far as I can tell, this particular Whole Foods Market is the ONLY place in the UK selling these gluten free and vegan desserts. I had heard whispers of them making inroads over here but this is the first time I have seen them on a store shelf.

Check out my photos (yes, I bought ALL cakes featured). Get to Fulham. Buy many cakes. Be happy.

Follow Lujuria Vegana on Twitter.

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In a swirl

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Finally. Oh, finally.

The Vegan Ice Cream Wars just got serious. Yes, we have enjoyed slurping away at chocolate, vanilla and other plain favours in the UK for years but what we desperately needed was someone to add a bit of excitement to proceedings.

Get the job done, Bessant & Drury’s.

I was waddling through Waitrose today when the familiar B&D packaging caught my eye as I passed the frozen food section. I almost passed without incident until I did a double take when I saw a magical word.

Swirl.

Yep, you got it. Vegan frozen dessert containing luscious fruit swirls all throughout. Mango swirls or coconut and raspberry swirl. Oh my!

The first photo shows the two flavours being considered while the second shows the fortunate flavour that made it back to my freezer. The raspberry is rich, decadent and lovely. I can’t wait to get back for the mango.

Good job, Bessant & Drury’s. You are winning the UK league of the Vegan Ice Cream Wars.

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swirlClick here for more tales from the frontlines of the Vegan Ice cream Wars.

 

More cake

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Can you remember a time when finding vegan cake in London was a struggle? Now it seems you can’t walk down the street without tripping over a piece of dairy-free sponge or accidentally eating half a dozen cupcakes. OK, that last one might be just me… and you can take out ‘accidentally’.

It seems the more cake vendors we get in the capital, the more up-and-coming bakers are inspired to get in on the act. It’s a fabulous win/win situation for fat, gay vegans and other cake aficionados.

The latest cake maker to catch my attention is the super friendly Kirsty of Garden of Vegan. Kirsty is a home baker turned business person looking to impress London with her cruelty-free cakes. She generously hand delivered a bag of her goods for me to sample and asked me to let you all know about her new business.

Here is what Kirsty had to say about getting your hands on some vegan cake:

“We began as wholesale but in an ideal world we want people to order directly from us. We are working on an online order form, but at the moment if people want to order they just email us at gofvegan@gmail.com or contact us via Facebook or Twitter and they can request a menu. Once they decide on what they want, they send us an email, we send them an invoice and they can pay on delivery.”

Kirsty also assured me she is proactively searching for cafes to sell her cakes. If you are a cafe owner or have a local hangout that could benefit from vegan cake, get in touch with Garden of Vegan.

Check out some of their creations below.

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