London can you wait?

New vegan pizza joint for West London

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In the massive vegan food revolution of the past few years, there have been parts of London that have been left feeling a little high and dry.

If you live in South Ealing or adjoining suburbs, you will understand what I’m talking about.

While Hackney and Shoreditch couldn’t move for vegan restaurants, South Ealing and Ealing Broadway peeps (which included me on and off) were left with vegan options from chain restaurants.

But all that is changing as a new vegan pizza place is set to open in the West London suburb.

Santa Maria is a non-vegan pizza restaurant with a bit of a cult following in South Ealing and they have always been rather accomodating to vegans.

They have become even more accomodating to vegans by opening a 100% vegan version of what they do!

Vergine Maria is set to open very soon just a few moments walk from Ealing Broadway. Details are a bit thin on the ground at the moment but I will keep you updated with whatever I can find out.

In the meantime you can follow the new Vergine Maria on Instagram to be the first to see the pizzas coming out of their ovens.

Mega 6-week West African cooking class online

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Made in Hackney is hosting a West African Plant Based Cuisine 6 week online cookery course taught by amazing vegan chef, TV & radio personality and author, Nena Ubani, aka Duchess Nena.

How exciting!

This incredible course will run each Saturday for 6 weeks from Saturday 9th January to Saturday 13th February 2021, 10.30am-1.00pm and will include:

  • An introduction to African cooking techniques for preparing authentic dishes and exciting flavours
  • Learn to make authentic plant based versions of a variety of West African dishes, including fufu, Mushroom Suya, fermented Attieke, Jollof rice and Okra stew
  • How to make West African sides including Ogi, Kelewele and Yam oven chips
  • Learn to make Zobo, a very popular Nigerian drink
  • Health benefits of each dish
  • Learn traditional cookery techniques using just your hands
  • How to plate, style and eat with your hands
  • Knife skills – how to peel, chop and slice like a professional
  • Opportunity to ask Nena questions
  • Recipe handouts

All funds raised go towards the Made in Hackney community meal service providing free nutritious, tasty meals to households who need them during these challenging times.

For more information and to book your place see the Made in Hackney website. Hurry to take advantage of the discounted early bird rate which ends on 24th December.

Follow Made in Hackney on Instagram.

Order vegan chocolate hampers

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How about buying gorgeous chocolate hampers AND supporting an independent vegan buisness.

You will do both these things by shopping with Copperhouse Chocolate, a 100% vegan chocolate shop and cafe based in London.

There are three fabulous hampers from which to choose, meaning there is something for that special someone in your life… and there are no rules saying that special person can’t be you!

Choose from the following hampers:

Copperhouse Chocolate gift box £36

  • Assorted peanut butter cups & caramels
  • Fudge
  • Drinking chocolate variety pack, including 3 different flavours to try
  • 2 single origin chocolate bars from our favourite bean-to-bar makers

Milc chocolate gift box £32

  • Chocolate box: cashew milk chocolates, filled with cashew butter or tahini filling
  • Madagascar cashew milc chocolate
  • Solkiki Hazelnut white chocolate
  • Ombar coconut chocolate buttons
  • Colombia 55% drinking chocolate
  • Fudge

Peanut lovers gift box £32

  • Peanut butter cups
  • Peanutty bar (our own take on a well known chocolate bar!)
  • Peanut fudge
  • Solkiki Salty peanut white chocolate
  • Madagascar 61% drinking chocolate
  • Raspberry dream drinking chocolate
  • Ombar centres raspberry coconut bar

Head on over to the Copperhouse Chocolate website to shop now and get a delivery organised ASAP.

Follow Copperhouse Chocolate on Instagram.

Vegan Christmas hamper from London independents

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Wanna put your money where your plant-eating mouth is and support independent business before this disastrous year comes to a close?

Mooshies London has launched a hamper filled with gorgeous vegan items and you can buy it for yourself, a friend, or an enemy. Hey, I don’t know how you get your kicks!

Each company involved in building the hamper is paid retail price for their item, so your money is directly helping these independent companies after what can be best described as an extremely tough year.

Launched from the Mooshies shop on Brick Lane, the hamper can be delivered nationwide. The hamper can currently be ordered via the Mooshies website with delivery scheduled for December 16 and 17, 2020.

Companies and products involved include:

Breakfast pot by @bexfast_
Jackfruit wings by @biffs_uk
Vegan chocolate by @darksugars
Kimchi by @eatchayclub
Cranberry cheese by @kindaco
Pesto sauce by @pickywops
Mochi balls by @vegan_yes
Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix by @vidabakery
Pick ‘N’ Mix by @sweetlifeldn @plantpoweredprince
Set of 5 sauces @mooshieslondon
Pick ‘N’ Mix by @mooshieslondon

Each company is a small independent business and local to Mooshies.

Instead of buying the products at cost price, Mooshies is purchasing them at retail to give each company a sale via their hamper. Mooshies takes no profit and does all the labor and dispatching themselves. It’s a way to keep all the small businesses in people’s mind while supporting each of these amazing companies.

Do it. Buy one!

The hamper can be bought via the Mooshies online shop at www.mooshieslondon.com/shop

Vegan southern Indian cooking class

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The fine people of Made In Hackney have put together another wonderful online cooking class taking place on Thursday November 12, 2020 between 6:30 and 8:30pm.

With a cost of £20 to join (£10 concession), all funds raised go towards the Made in Hackney community meal service providing free nutritious, tasty meals to households who need them during these challenging times. 

What is happening during the class?

Join chef Mark Breen for a tour of the taste, textures and aromas of plant-based Southern Indian cuisine, bursting with flavours from across this incredible region. The class will include:

  • Making a delicious tomato dal.
  • How to make the perfect citranna rice.
  • Making tasty coconut rotis.
  • How to temper and spice dishes using aromatic mustard seeds, curry leaves and chillis to give your dishes an extra burst of flavour.
  • Q&A
  • Recipe handout

Mark Breen is a classically trained chef who loves showing people how to cook what is seasonal, and at its best at any given time. His passion is teaching people how to cook with skill and enjoyment to create beautiful and tasty dishes that are good for your taste-buds, bodies and soul. When Mark isn’t working with Made In Hackney or as a private chef, he’s usually in the kitchen at home perfecting flavour blends or creating ferments and pickles.

Fee: £20 (£10 concession).  All funds raised go towards the Made in Hackney community meal service providing free nutritious, tasty meals to households who need them during these challenging times. 

If you are able to donate more than this, please visit the online fundraiser.

Once you have your ticket booked for the class, check out the ingredients list below to make sure you are prepared ahead of time.

INGREDIENTS LIST  

Andra Pradesh – Tomato dal (Serves 5) 

  • 200g red lentils
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • Spices – 1 teaspoon of cumin powder, coriander power and turmeric powder (or 3 teaspoons of curry powder)
  • 1 tablespoon of oil (preferably coconut oil)
  • 2 plum tomatoes, sliced (or half tin of tomatoes)
  • 1 inch of ginger, either chopped very small or grated (or one teaspoon of ginger powder)

    For tempering:
    1 tablespoon oil (preferably coconut oil)
    2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
    1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
    handful of curry leaves (fresh is best but dried is fine) 

Chitranna rice (serves 5) 

  • 300 grams basmati rice, washed
  • 1 of oil (preferably coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds. teaspoon turmeric
  • handful of curry leaves (fresh is best but dried is fine)
  • 2 tablespoons raw peanuts (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon red chilli flakes
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Southern Indian coconut rotis (makes about 5)

  • 200 grams plain flour
  • 100 grams desiccated coconut
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 1-2 green chillies, finely chopped (optional)
  • Sea salt 
  • 100 millilitres water
  • Coconut oil

EQUIPMENT LIST

  • Wooden spoon
  • Chopping board
  • Knife 
  • 3 Sauce pans
  • 1 frying pan
  • Hob
  • Teaspoon and tablespoon measure

Location: Zoom, details to be provided via email (usually the day before the class). Check your junk mail if need be!

Book your spot online now.

Follow Made in Hackney on Instagram.

Order vegan brownies for UK delivery

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Cake or Death bakery in East London sent me a box of the vegan brownies and I gotta say I was blown away.

The brownies were sensational and close to some of the best I’ve tried.

Cake or Death vegan brownies are available to order online and delivered hassle-free through your letterbox.

This paragraph from the Cake or Death website sums up the product perfectly:

Beautifully packaged in a hot pink leopard print, the Cake or Death experience is luxury treat, from it dropping on your doormat, right through to the last mouthful. These aren’t any ordinary brownies. Cake or Death brownies are everything a brownie should be and more; fudgey, indulgent and very moreish, all made with the very best quality plant-based ingredients. Both vegans and non-vegans alike are huge fans. They make the perfect treat for yourself or a friend.

I concur!

Cake or Death has a tempting range of flavours including:

  • Sea Salt X Biscoff
  • Biscoff
  • Sea Salt
  • Raspberry Caramel Blondies
  • Peanut Butter
  • Raspberry
  • Hazelnut
  • Fruit and Nut
  • Orange

Click here to shop for brownies or gift vouchers and be sure to follow Cake or Death on Instagram.

Extra note: European shipping outside the UK can be selected for £5 at checkout and gluten free options exist!

Vegan butcher to open in London

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The team behind Rudy’s Vegan Diner in Camden have cooked up a new surprise for you.

A vegan butcher!

London’s first permanent vegan butcher is opening its doors on World Vegan Day 2020. To celebrate the grand opening, Rudy’s will be giving away 100 pounds of free baycon on the day (November 1, 2020) to celebrate their new bricks and mortar spot on Islington Upper Street.

Wowsers.

Every customer gets a half pound of baycon until it lasts, so get that date in your diary.

Rudy’s Vegan Butcher will be selling homemade pastrami, dirty burger patties, cheeze sauce, and chilli-non-carne. You can recreate the specials you’ve had at Rudy’s and fill your cart with a rack of jack, lobstah salad, meatballs, chick’n lover pate, or shredded BBQ pulled porc.

Make sure you get your Christmas roast turk’y, too!

And if you are not located in London, you can order from the Rudy’s Vegan Butcher selection online as they deliver nationwide. All online orders made on World Vegan Day include a free pack of baycon.

You will be able to pile your online cart high with homemade scramble v-egg, black puddin’, and soysage patties.

Perhaps their new charcuterie selection will be to your liking. Smoked ham, salami de Provence, pepperoni, and of course the pastrami.

This is a lot of excitement to take in!

Follow Rudy’s on Instagram. Shop online via the Rudy’s website.

Rudy’s Vegan Butcher
206 Upper Street, London, N1 1RQ

Rudy’s Vegan Diner
729-731 Camden Stables Market, London, NW1 8AH

Hummus in glass jars UK delivery

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Many companies are listening to the concerns of consumers and are trying to get their products onto shelves without depending on as much plastic as they did previously.

One such food manufacturer is Chickee Food.

The London-based company recently sent me a care package of their fabulous vegan hummus flavours and I was thrilled to see them all house in glass jars.

I got the Spicy Pumpkin Hummus, Spinach & Herb Hummus, Beetroot & Rosemary Hummus, and Roasted Garlic & Thyme Hummus.

They are tasty!

You can buy Chickee Food hummus for UK delivery via their online store.

Extra news: you can visit the Chickee Food market stalls around London to reuse your jars! Eco friendly hummus for the win. Check out their other products and look out for new flavours coming soon by following them on Instagram.

London shop selling vegan product that isn’t actually vegan?

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What’s not cool?

When a company sells something as vegan when it isn’t really vegan.

One of my readers recently reached out to me with some information about Doughtnut Time in London selling a DIY vegan donut kit that included non-vegan ingredients.

The reader pushed Doughnut Time for clarification on the vegan status of this kit and this is what they found out:

I recently noticed that Doughnut Time were selling a vegan DIY donut kit which included Cookie Crisp cereal. As you know, most mainstream breakfast cereals are not vegan due to the vitamin D being derived from lambs wool. I contacted Doughnut Time to let them know this but they didn’t understand and said they looked at the ingredients and said there were no ‘active’ animal ingredients.

I then contacted Nestle to double check to make sure I was not wrong and they confirmed to me that the Cookie Crisp cereal is not vegan as it contains vitamin D derived from lambs wool. (They were actually very helpful and we’re able to tell me this immediately).

I then went back to Doughnut Time to let them know that Nestle confirmed to me that the product is not vegan because of the vitamin D.

They asked me to send them the correspondence between myself and Nestle, which I did. I also let them know that they could contact Nestle themselves to confirm. I advised them to stop selling the product or at least remove the Cookie Crisp as this is misleading to vegans.

They did not respond after this, however they are still selling the product labelled as vegan. They have added to the list of Cookie Crisp ingredients: ‘contains vitamin D’. This of course is not a resolution to the problem as they are still labelling a non-vegan product as vegan.

Since I was alerted by my reader, Doughnut Time has taken off a line in the item description that explicitly stated this kit was all-vegan. However, it still carries the (vg) label.

It also now features a disclaimer that the product contains vitamin D.

This blog post is just a heads up for anyone who has been confused by the labelling and marketing of the kit. It isn’t vegan now and has never been vegan.

As a company that markets a lot of products at vegans, it would be helpful if Doughnut Time had complete transparency and tell people they messed up.

A clear disclaimer on the product page that it isn’t suitable for vegans would also be the very lest they could do.

You can visit the Doughnut Time website online here.

Vegan ice cream made with coconut milk

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Apparently their is another heatwave coming for this weekend in London, so you probably should know about this vegan ice cream option in Angel.

Launched this summer by Copperhouse Chocolate, the rich and smooth ice creams are coconut milk-based. In even more tempting news, the chocolate ice creams on the menu are flavoured with their very own Copperhouse Chocolate drinking chocolate mixes.

That’s right, London. You have a vegan chocolate shop. You knew this, right?

Exclusively available in the Copperhouse Chocolate cafe in Angel, you can have a scoop with a brownie or waffles, try a milkshake, or they can fill a take-home tub for you.

Mint Chocolate ice cream, made using their Mintchievous Hot Chocolate, is one of the most favourite flavours for milkshakes. Other rotating flavours include Coffee Caramel, made with Monmouth Coffee and swirled with Coconut Salted Caramel, and Raspberry Chocolate made with Raspberry Dream hot chocolate and swirled with a homemade raspberry puree.

It all sounds fabulous!

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

You can follow Copperhouse Chocolate on Instagram.