FGV guide for single men

Hey! Yes, you. Single, straight vegan man. Come over here for a moment. I have something I would like to talk to you about.

You know how tough it can be as a single vegan, right? It is difficult to find time and situations for romance. You want to be in a relationship and you can’t imagine fostering intimacy with a non-vegan.

You might be thinking the answer to this situation is to go to as many vegan social events as possible and approach as many women as you can.

Wrong. Treating vegan social events as your own singles hotline leads to women feeling harassed, annoyed, objectified and unsafe.

But maybe you have no idea what I am talking about. Well, good news follows below.

I have taken time out of my intensive eating schedule to lay down some common pointers on how you can be a valuable and valued member of your local vegan community. The tips detailed below will help you rise from the ranks of creeper and sex pest to the lofty heights of respected and respectful member of your social group.

Fat Gay Vegan’s Guide for Single Straight Vegan Men

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New Year’s Cheer

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.

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Gluten free Japanese secret supper

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.

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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:

  • Lotus chips, yuzu spinach salad, seared daikon, ginger-miso aubergine and Japanese potato salad
  • Tofu course: fresh tofu, yuba, agedashi dofu, ganmodoki (Buddhist tofu patty), tofu sesame salad
  • Tempura zaru soba with all the fixings
  • Traditional meal ender of mixed miso soup, rice and fresh pickles.
  • Sesame brittle and daigaku imo (candied sweet potatoes fries)

Make haste and get on over to the booking page. Once you have registered, you will receive notification on how to secure your booking.

  • When: Saturday 25th January, 2014 – 1:00 -4:00 pm
  • Where: Finchley Central, North London
  • Cost: £35 pre-pay donation
  • Drinks: A Japanese aperitif is included – BYOB permitted

See my own personal experience of eating at a Vegan Ronin event.

Tasty tasty

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!

Vegan beer night in Shoreditch

Can you ever have enough vegan beer? If you said yes, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. If you said, “No, FGV. There can never be such a thing as too much vegan beer!” then I’ve got news to make you smile.

Get down to east London this Saturday (December 14, 2013) for a festive vegan beer pop-up bar put on by the good folk of Pitfield Brewery. There will be microbrewed craft beers on the bar including their limited run Christmas beer, Hoxton Scotch Bonnet, as well as a DJ spinning some tunes.

Limited run vegan Christmas beer
Limited run vegan Christmas beer

Of course all that vegan beer is incentive enough to attend this cool event, but it gets better still. The Pitfield Brewery Christmas Party is being held in the slightly-spooky venue known as The Ditch, located in the basement of Shoreditch Town Hall. Located at 380 Old Street, the venue is a short 5 minute stroll from Old Street Underground Station (take exit 2 out of the station).

The party starts at 7pm and runs until midnight. Oh, I almost forgot. The party will cost you nothing to enter. Yep. FREE ENTRY!

 

NYE with FGV

Make your last meal of 2013 extra special as Fat Gay Vegan partners with vegan cuisine leaders Saf to bring you a New Year’s Eve supper club to be remembered. Book now or read on for more details.

Saf Restaurant & Bar (located inside Whole Foods Market on Kensington High Street) serve some of the finest plant-based food in the UK. Every item featured on the Saf menu is world class and lovingly-prepared by the staff.

This exclusive New Year’s Eve event will see Saf closed to the public and will feature a 3 course meal (2 options for each course) with a fizzy welcome cocktail all for £30 (+fee) per person. Fat Gay Vegan (that’s me!) will greet and host throughout the dinner.

There will be time to mingle around the bar and diners can purchase extra wine, cocktails or beer from Saf. All alcohol served in the restaurant is vegan and there are gluten free drink options.

The event will commence at 7pm and come to an end at 10pm, allowing diners time to spirit away into the night to ring in midnight with friends and loved ones.

View the evening’s menu below.

Book now to be part of this special meal.

Limited availability. No refunds.

See my recent review of Saf here.

Deep Fry and Friends: Vegan Day of the Dead Supper Club

My mate and all round good person Kip from Messy Vegetarian Cook has stopped by to let you know her take on my recent 2nd Annual Day of the Dead vegan supper club.

She even took fab photos for you to drool over. Thanks Kip!

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Another event organised by Fat Gay Vegan, the second annual Mexican Day of the Dead supper club went off without a hitch.

Día de los Muertos—Day of the Dead—is a Latin American holiday that originated in Mexico to remember and celebrate the lives of those who died. Food and friends are a central theme in the holiday, and this supper club lauded both.

The dinner comprised of five courses (six if you count the hibiscus tequila cocktail): esquites (Mexican sweetcorn salad, a typical street food), smoky lentil soup with fried plantain, potato taquitos (deep fried stuffed corn tortilla rolls), seitan in hibiscus mole sauce with cacao nibs, and cinnamon rice pudding.

FGV in the middle
FGV in the middle

While I think it’s safe to say the overall diner favourites were the taquitos and lentil soup, what stood out most to me was the mole sauce. This rich preparation is the end result of a laborious task of toasting, grinding, and mixing a number of latin ingredients. Aside from the necessary chili component, other popular ingredients include nuts, seeds, chocolate, various spices, bread, and various fruits and vegetables. A mole can be incredibly complex, so to know someone painstakingly prepared it from scratch made the whole meal worthwhile for me.

Many thanks to chef Julio for his efforts and skill in the kitchen, and for his enthusiasm in presenting the food and culture of his country with such passion. Hats off also to Josh for his help and to Sean for hosting such a great evening. Also a massive final thanks to all of the companies who donated to guests’ take home goody bags.

I’m already excited about next year’s supper club!

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Visit Messy Vegetarian Cook online

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A Very Vegan Christmas – the prequel

When I announced plans for a vegan Christmas dinner in conjunction with The Gallery Cafe, I kinda knew it would be popular. What I didn’t know is that all 50 tickets would sell out more than a month in advance of the event!

xmas flyer copy
Push harder, Superman!

With every ticket long gone and people emailing me daily about joining a waiting list, I have decided to add another night for this festive dinner.

The Gallery Cafe will be closed exclusively for this special event on Thursday December 12th, 2013 from 7pm where diners will enjoy homestyle food created by the cafe staff just for us.

Go here now to check out the menu and buy tickets.

Be fast!

Feel like winning?

My vegan Day of the Dead party has been months in the planning.

Huge goodies bags have been assembled for attendees. My friend has designed the menu based on traditional recipes and he has flown all the way from Mexico City to be with us. The room is decorated. We have an altar for offerings to the departed. The food is crazy delicious.

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It is going to be a phenomenal party starting at 4:30pm today in central London. How would you like to join us for free?

The marvellous people at Cool Chile Co have donated two tickets (valued at more than £80) to be given away today!

Mexican ingredient champions
Mexican ingredient champions

This is a simple competition with very few rules:

  • You must follow the Cool Chile Co on Twitter
  • Once following, you need to tweet them and tell them when you last ate Mexican food
  • You need to include the hashtag #FGVwin
  • Winner is responsible for their own transport and must be able to get to Holborn in central London by 4:30pm today (Saturday November 2nd, 2013)
  • Winner will receive two tickets to attend the 2nd Annual Day of the Dead vegan supper club and two goodie bags.
  • There is no cash substitution for this prize and the prize will be drawn randomly from eligible tweets – the judge’s decision is final (FGV and Cool Chile Co.)
  • Only enter if you are certain you can attend
  • Winner will be notified via Twitter at 1:30pm

Get tweeting. Tell your friends to tweet so they can bring you if they win.

If you do not win but would like to attend, there are roughly four tickets for sale from here.