London can you wait?

Help a vegan business in London

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Got any spare cash?

Picky Wops is a much adored pizza business in London that is currently experiencing severe upheaval and they require community support.

Due to a series of bad experiences that include closing their Fulham branch, Picky Wops is looking for a new home. As you know, London is a brutal place to do business and that becomes infinitely more difficult when you are an independent vegan business.

Picky Wops are trying to raise £60,000 to secure a new restaurant location so they have turned to the goodwill of their vegan community.

If you can afford to spare some cash, please click here to donate.

There are some fantastic rewards on offer including pizza making classes and private catering from the founders.

You can also follow Picky Wops on Instagram.

City Vegan Lunch Market Christmas Edition

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Remember when we took over Guildhall in the City of London with our enormous City Vegan Lunch Market in the summer?

Well, guess what is back just in time for Christmas?!

Fat Gay Vegan (that’s me) is proud to announce City Vegan Lunch Market – Christmas Edition taking place on Friday December 21, 2018 between 11am and 2:30pm on Guildhall Yard.

We are showcasing one of the finest collection of vegan street food traders in the financial heart of London.

The line up for the day includes:

Hot food

  • Rupert’s Street – nutritious and delicious comfort food from the yellow van
  • The Green Grill – burgers, dogs, and comfort food
  • What The Fattoush – plant-based Palestinian street food
  • Cafe SoVegan – seitan wraps and mac n cheese
  • Red Tent Ethiopian – delicious and nutritious stews, curries, and more
  • Vausages – loaded gourmet hot dogs
  • The Nooch – burgers, sandwiches, and nachos!
  • Picky Wops – handcrafted gourmet pizza cooked fresh on site
  • Vegan Earthlings – vegan comfort food including sumptuous curries

Take home cheese

  • Nutkin – nut based cheeses that are current Venn Street faves
  • I AM NUT OK – gourmet artisan cheese taking the UK by storm

Cakes and treats

  • Vegan Delice – our resident superstar bakery at Hackney Downs with sweet treats to make you smile

Gift ideas including candles

Drinks

  • Clarkshaws – our resident brewery at Hackney Downs with refreshing brews to drink on site or take home

More traders to be announced soon. Line up subject to change.

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

Extra Xmas news: Saturday 22 and Sunday 23, 2018 will see us hosting a special Christmas version of Hackney Downs Vegan Market.

Vegan infiltration at Fortnum and Mason

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One of the most non-vegan luxury stores in the world has just started stocking a vegan cheese and spread brand!

Times are changing.

Fortnum & Mason is not known for progressive shopping and has long been criticised for making money from foie gras, however the upmarket department store has just thrown us a curve ball.

They are now stocking superstar vegan cheese brand, I AM NUT OK.

Angela from I AM NUT OK told me:

Our vegan foie gras and vegan cream cheese are now being stocked in Fortnum & Mason. We are the first plant-based alternatives they are stocking (a few steps away from a mountain of foie gras!). I feel like we’ve infiltrated a huge institution. It would be incredible if they started stocking more vegan things and moved away from the animal products.

2018 is full of vegan surprises!

You can see the exact location of the Fortnum & Mason flagship store thanks to Google Maps.

You can follow I AM NUT OK on Instagram. You can shop with them online.

You can also buy I AM NUT OK cheese directly from their stall at Hackney Downs Vegan Market this Saturday November 17, 2018. Click here for full market details.

Half price vegan lunch this week

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Wanna save some money on a tasty vegan lunch this week, London?

Buffalo Vegan Diner of Hackney is giving lunchtime diners 50% off their new lunch menu on Thursday November 15 and Friday November 16, 2018 between midday and 3pm.

Check out the menu below.

Buffalo has been getting rave reviews online so now this is your chance to find out what all the hype is about AND save some money.

You can see the exact location of Buffalo thanks to Google Maps.

You can follow Buffalo on Instagram.

New vegan chef training course

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There was a recent newspaper article sating that the UK was facing a vegan chef shortage as the population took plant-based eating to heart.

This announcement couldn’t have come at a better time for a new vegan chef school launching in London.

The Vegan Chef Institute is open for business and taking bookings.

Co-founder Chef Day Radley says of her desire to elevate vegan cuisine within the UK:

As a newbie vegan chef I expected to dive into a world where my fellow chefs adored their work; creating dishes with love, pushing back the boundaries of cruelty free food. How wrong I was. It was 2010 and I was working in my first pro-chef job. The kitchen was a maelstrom of grumpy, tetchy chefs, barking at each other whilst churning out food with as much care as a factory robot. Any love for food resided solely with me.
The rest of the ‘team’ were not vegan or vegetarian and couldn’t care less about cross contamination. They were grown boys stuck in a career that was the best of a limited choice given them at age 16; work as a mechanic, builder or chef. For many, becoming a chef seemed like the easy choice. The long unsociable hours, minimum wage and sweaty, greasy conditions soon makes it clear that it is far from easy. This is a persistent problem in UK kitchens and one that adds to our terrible reputation for a severe lack of culinary finesse. When you pair that with the vegan movement the consequences could be even more severe; it has the potential to limit the growth of veganism. As a vegan chef you are acutely aware that the dish you serve may convince someone to become vegan or help them to remain vegan. Each good plate of food adds weight to the vegan choice, it says ‘this is delicious, you are not missing out, so yes, you can do this’. For people on the vegan cusp that single plate could mark the deciding moment. For the V-curious, wanting to dip a tentative toe, if that dish is bland they will ascertain that ALL vegan food is bland and steer clear of it in the future. The culinary art of vegan, sustainable and compassionate cuisine needs to be showcased by talented vegan chefs.

Radley continued:

This is the reason I have created The Vegan Chef Institute with co-founder and health coach, Chantal Di Donato. The Institute launched on November 1st, World Vegan Day. Our mission? To provide the vegan movement with a progressive centre of learning and innovation so that we can develop a cuisine that it truly deserves and needs. We kick off the Institute with a fast-track vocational course designed to propel keen home cooks into their first job as a professional vegan chef. The combination of careful and personal tutelage, with an internship element to the course, will give students everything they need to take that first exciting step on the cooking career ladder.

The course runs from January 13th, every Sunday, for 12 weeks. Their kitchen site in Battersea, South London allows each of their 8 students their own station and hobs, with plenty of space to make and create. They will celebrate and showcase the work of the class at a student-led supper club. Family, friends and the vegan community will be invited to eat with the class.

You can find out more and book a place onto the course online.

You can follow the Vegan Chef Institute on Facebook and Instagram.

Special vegan Christmas menu with SpiceBox

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SpiceBox has just announced their menu for a very spicy Christmas that will be available at their test kitchen at the Hornbeam Cafe in Walthamstow from Thursday November 22 until Friday December 21, 2018.

The menu features their extra special Crimbo curry packed full of seasonal vegetables plus stuffing ball koftas and rich, decadent spices. Their parsnip pakora starter with cranberry chutney is the ultimate fusion dish and it wouldn’t be a Christmas celebration without mince pies so they are doing homemade chai-spiced mince pies with coconut ice cream!

Guests can choose two or three courses from the attached menu for £20 or £30 and that cost also includes a selection of their sides, breads and rices! And they also have some extra special cocktails including rum chai and a mango bellini.

Bookings can be made via their website or hello@spicelabs.co.uk. They will also be running their standard menus throughout that time period.

You can follow SPiceBox on Instagram.

Game changers at Temple of Seitan

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Super brief blog post to tell you about TWO very solid reasons why you should visit Temple of Seitan during November.

Reason the first is all about their special of the month. Take a look at this burger.

Vegan egg yolk, anyone?

Temple are magicians when it comes to food and this Brekky Burger is next level conjuring. You can buy it at both Temple of Seitan locations (Hackney and Camden) as well as the FGV section of Venn Street Market each Saturday.

News the second?

Temple is now stocking limited quantities of the best vegan donuts in the UK. Originating from Chester, the filled donuts by The Vegan Food Pod are the best you can buy and it is fabulous that they now have a permanent London home.

You can also find The Vegan Food Pod at the FGV section of Venn Street Market every Saturday.

Yay for tasty food!

Follow Temple of Seitan on Instagram.

Follow The Vegan Food Pod on Instagram.

HUGE Follow Your Heart giveaway

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London. This is HUGE news.

Superstar vegan company Follow Your Heart is teaming up with the original and best vegan market for a super sized vegan food giveaway this Sunday November 4, 2018.

Come along to Hackney Downs Vegan Market from 11am on Sunday and grab some of the finest vegan food products on the planet. FOR FREE!

There will be hundreds of Follow Your Heart products available for absolutely no charge, but you will need to be early to get the best pick.

The company has kindly sent the following:

  • Organic Vegenaise
  • Sriracha Vegenaise
  • Garlic Aioli Vegenaise
  • Pizzeria Blend Shreds
  • Cheddar Shreds
  • Organic Coleslaw Dressing

The products are not just great tasting, they are some of the best on the planet and are produced by one of the most ethical businesses you will ever see.

Hackney Downs Vegan Market Sunday edition traders will also be thrilled to see you, so please take a look at the line up online here and start planning your Sunday shopping and eating (the Saturday version is on as well if you want to make a full weekend of it!).

RSVP and invite friends over on the Facebook event page.

See the full Follow Your Heart range online and be sure to follow the superstar vegan brand on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Christmas party menu at Pho

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Pho, the Vietnamese street food restaurant, have just announced they will be launching a fully vegan Christmas set menu in some of their restaurants.

You can book their vegan set menu, which launches on 26th November, in six of their London restaurants plus Brighton, Cambridge, Guildford, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford and Reading.

The meal itself kicks off with rice crackers (and Christmas crackers!) before guests choose from a variety of their spring and summer roll starters. They also have a great range of mains to choose from, from their classic pho noodles soups to curries and other rice dishes, and wok-fried noodles, all served alongside mounds of lovely greens to share.

Even Pho’s Prosecco is vegan!

Get all the info and book your group reservation online here. The Vegan Christmas menu is available for groups of five or more.

And the Christmas set menu is available here as a PDF.

This sounds like the perfect place to go for office lunches, Xmas get togethers, and absolutely anytime you want tasty vegan food!

In their other restaurants, they will be serving their main menu as normal – which is already over a quarter vegan.

Coffee shop, cafe, and cocktail bar all-in-one

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Hey, London.

There is a new vegan cafe on Brick Lane called Beanuts.

Beanuts is unique to the UK in that all the fresh plant milks on site (16 kinds of milk rotating daily!) are made in-house and the menu is based around them as well as the milk by-products.

They have polish rye soup, mezze platters, sweet bites, and awesome cocktails (including vegan white Russian and whisky sour).

The freshly-made milks are squeezed from:

Grains – barley, oat, spelt, rice
Legumes – lupin, pea, peanut
Nuts – almond, cashew, hazelnut, walnut pistachio
Seeds – pumpkin, chia, sunflower, sesame, quinoa, hemp, flax

Beanuts will also sort you out with amazing breakfasts, a great lunchtime selection of delicious sharing platters, cakes, smoothies, and fabulous vegan cocktails or warmers for these cold evenings.

You can see the exact location of Beanuts thanks to Google Maps.

You can follow Beanuts on Instagram.