London vegan news, reviews & events
See this and other photos over on my Instagram account.
One of the greatest fears for a lot of people looking to make the leap to a vegan lifestyle is the lack of pizza. Surely humans cannot exist without this crucial dish? Fortunately for wannabe vegans, Basilico make it possible for you to be able to consume pizza without hurting anyone.
The giant pizzas at Basilico are legendary. The first time we ordered an 18 inch delight, I squealed with joy. We have been enjoying the cheese-less margherita on and off for a while now but had somehow overlooked the fact the pizza crafters also make a mouth watering roasted vegetable pizza with vegan cheese. Oh yes.
I apologise if you are hungry. These photos are going to be difficult to view. Put yourself out of your misery and order an 18 inch vegan vegetarian pizza featuring Veganic grated cheese today. Basilico will even deliver it for you if you are local to one of their eight branches.
24 hours on, I am still a bit worn out from hosting my vegan New Year’s Eve dinner for 70 people at Saf Restaurant & Bar. It was a lot of hard work, but well worth it. Every single guest looked to be having a fantastic night out.
My pal Luke has kindly offered to stop by and give you his take on the evening. You can follow Luke on Twitter and check out his blog.
Tell us what you thought, Luke.
My Vegan Ice Cream Wars feature is only sporadically updated due to the lack of diversity in the UK vegan ice cream market. We need more variety.
It is this lack of choice that is forcing me to include gelato in this category. However, the gelato flavours at Oddono’s Italian ice cream parlours are not going to make it appear as if I have stretched the category too wide.
Oddono’s is a company with half a dozen locations scattered around central London and almost-central London. They make all their vegan and non-vegan desserts on site and you can even peek into the preparation areas at some of the locations to see the magic in action.
Do you enjoy cooking with tempeh and tofu? What about taro? Do you use a lot of bean curd skins in your kitchen? If yes is your answer, you will adore this supermarket in central London brimming with ingredients from Korea, Thailand, Japan and countries across Asia.
On a recent ramble along Queensway, a bustling street springing from the northern side of Hyde Park, I was delighted to see a shop front emblazoned with the words Oriental Supermarket. Well, I was delighted by the idea of the food inside but slightly confronted by the use of the word oriental. It always strikes me as an old-fashioned term used to frame entire cultures as mysterious and intoxicating.
But you didn’t come here for pseudo-sociology, so let me crack on with vegan food talk.
The European Parliament elections are coming up in 2014 and vegans the world over have the extremely rare opportunity to help London get animal activists elected.
The Animal Welfare Party has been formed to bring the issues vegans care about to the European Parliament. The party predicts it needs approximately 140 000 votes in London to gain a seat. Before I tell you how you can help, let’s find out a little bit more about the elections.
Some details from APCOForum:
In each Member State of the EU, everybody can vote to elect their Member of European Parliament (MEP). In some countries they’ll vote for an MEP in their region or city, in others they’ll vote on a national list meaning their MEPs represent the whole country, rather than a specific area. Potential MEPs will come from a wide range of political parties, from right to left, and will also include some independent candidates.
Whether you think the EU is a good or a bad thing, or somewhere in between, this is your chance to have a say. Despite what people say about ‘unelected bureaucrats’ making all the rules in Brussels, those people really just put a proposal on the table. It is then MEPs (who you elect directly) and representatives of all 28 Governments (who you also elect) that make the final decision on most issues. Your Government might like to ‘blame it on Brussels’ when things don’t go to plan, but they are part of Brussels too, so why not hold them accountable!
So, we kinda know what the elections are about but maybe we are not sure what the Animal Welfare Party are hoping to take to the table. What policies do they plan to influence? Take a look at these few talking points from their manifesto.
Some of the key policies of the party include:
The election takes place on May 22nd, 2014 and the Animal Welfare Needs your help in the following ways:
I know it is a bit confusing but if every vegan or animal-concerned person reading this was to share, donate and vote (if eligible), we can get the Animal Welfare Party across the line.
So, you are hunting around for a niche dining experience. Think you have seen it all? Think again. Leading London-based secret supper club expert The Vegan Ronin is hosting a special lunch that will have you redefining your understanding of the word exclusive.
Before I explore the actual food component of this limited event, I want to quickly let you know only five people will be able to book a space just in case you want to skip ahead of my ramblings in order to book instantly.
OK. Down to business.
The Vegan Ronin proudly presents a five course gluten-free Japanese lunch. Oh yes!
In an intimate setting, the fortunate and tiny group of diners will be served the following menu:
Make haste and get on over to the booking page. Once you have registered, you will receive notification on how to secure your booking.
See my own personal experience of eating at a Vegan Ronin event.
Unless something drastic happens such as a Veggie Grill opening in Soho or a Native Foods Cafe popping up on Regent Street, I will probably never again eat vegan food in another central London location other than Koshari Street.
Koshari Street is what vegan London has been lacking. Affordable, quick and incredibly tasty food to eat on the go. Every single person I know who has eaten there cannot sing its praises loudly enough. It is beyond game changing. It is the best vegan food in central London.
You know about London Vegan Drinks taking place in Whole Foods Market Kensington this Thursday, right? No? It takes places on Thursday December 19th, 2013 between 6pm and 10pm. We normally have more than 100 friendly people in the room.
So now you know. Read more about it here.
But there is something you would have no way of knowing and that is the amazing line up of companies coming along to let us sample their vegan products on the night. Check them out:
Vintage Roots with vegan sparkling wines
inSpiral with vegan cakes
Dip Society with vegan dips
CoYo with vegan ice cream
Booja Booja with vegan truffles
Come along to London Vegan Drinks this week for a tasty, social event like no other on the planet!
Can you believe it? I’ve only just made it into one of the longest-standing and most-loved vegetarian restaurants in London. Shame on me.
Mildred’s of Soho is one of those places I always told myself I would get to one day. It was always just around the bend. Days turned into weeks turned into years and I still hadn’t put my fat foot through their doorway.
A few weeks back, I decided to break the drought and discover why Mildred’s is such a popular eatery for people deciding to give meat a miss.