Mexico

Vegan bakery

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Mexico City is intensely invested in vegan food. It is everywhere.

Street food vendors? Pizza shops? Ice cream parlours? Yes, yes and hell to the yes!

Mexico City has all of this and more. I would even boldly suggest the mega-city is up there with the untouchable plant-based locations of Portland, Austin, Berlin and Los Angeles.

Vegan food is such a serious concern here in Mexico City, you can even shop in a 100% vegan and gluten free bakery.

Check out these photos from my visit to Pan Gabriel in the leafy Condesa neighbourhood.

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Costco in Mexico

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As a vegan with a predilection for grocery shopping, I was totally in my element during a visit to Costco in Mexico City today.

Scroll down for photographic proof that I was almost overwhelmed by vegan choices in the mammoth Polanco branch of the retail behemoth.

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Goodbye from FGV

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London, it has been swell.

Almost exactly five years ago today, I started this little blog called Fat Gay Vegan and to say it has taken over my life would be an understatement of epic proportions.

The blog evolved into hosting community events such as London Vegan Potluck and London Vegan Drinks. I launched a successful vegan PR company off the back of the blog and quit my job as a primary school teacher. London Vegan Beer Fest was made possible thanks to the popularity of my blog.

The past five years have been a whirlwind of blogging, events, pop ups and meeting thousands of people from all over the city, country and world.

But the only constant in life is change. It is time for me to say a temporary goodbye to the city I have called home for the past five years.

I’m leaving London and moving to Mexico City for at least six months.

Josh and I adore Mexico City. Our hearts and minds never stray too far from el Distrito Federal and the past year has been spent making plans on how we can spend more time in our favourite location on the planet.

To cut a long story short, we are heading there in January 2016 for six months.

Fat Gay Vegan will continue as a blog and my monthly advice column will appear in Vegan Life Magazine, but the regular events I am known for will of course come to a halt. You will still get all the big UK vegan news on these pages, but it will be mixed with a little more Mexican flavour.

I will be back in the future (big plans for London Vegan Beer Fest to be announced soon!) but for now it is time to say farewell.

I would love to say goodbye in person to as many readers and event attendees as possible at my final parties before I head overseas:

  • You can join me for my 3rd annual Vegan Xmas Dinner this Thursday (December 17, 2015) for a wonderful 3-course meal and lots of cheesy Christmas music. Tickets are on sale here.
  • My farewell party is taking the form of the last ever Queer Vegan Disco on Saturday January 9, 2016. This will be just two days before I fly out of London. This party is set to be huge. It is the final QVD, the monthly party people have come to adore. Buy your tickets in advance to secure your spot on the dance floor.

Thank you to every single person who has read my blog and attended my events during these past five years.

If I don’t see you at the Xmas dinner or Queer Vegan Disco, I will see you in the future.

xx

Dulce María

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Estoy tan feliz que mi favorita pop star Mexicana, Dulce María, está hablando sobre elefantes. Comparten con sus amigos hispanohablantes.

I am very happy that my favourite Mexican pop star, Dulce María, is speaking about elephants. Share with your Spanish-speaking friends.

Y ahora una musica.

And now some music.

qvd bottom banner

Shop vegan in Mexico

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I recently named Mexico City as one of the best places on the planet for vegans.

This mega-city has some truly inspiring vegan enterprises springing up and is a must-visit destination for plant eaters all over the world. You can get delicious handcrafted food delivered by bicycle, have dinner served from a 100% vegan taco stand and visit one of the locations of a deliriously-cute falafel chain.

But it doesn’t end there.

I am thrilled to find out there is now a vegan grocery store in Mexico City!

My pal Kay is currently in Mexico City for work and has been sending me updates about the vegan scene. One of her more interesting finds is vegan grocery store called Vegattos.

Vegattos is a small store selling food, clothing, personal care products and more for humans, as well as toys and accessories for cats. The store helps to raise funds for rescued cats in Mexico City and has been opened since 2014.

Check out some of the photos sent to me by Kay.

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Vegana en la ciudad

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I included my favourite urban area on the planet in recent my top ten list of cities for vegans. I absolutely adore Mexico City, which is quickly becoming one of the hottest destinations for compassionate eaters.

I awoke this morning to a dreary London day, so the last thing I needed was a reminder of what I’m missing on the other side of the world.

Cue my pal, Kay.

Kay is currently working in Mexico City and making me extremely jealous with food photos, including shots of this vegan taquería called Por Siempre.

For anyone not familiar with Mexican street food, a taquería is a food stand serving tacos with freshly cooked fillings and sauces. I don’t think I could even hazard a guess as to how many taquerías there are in the Mexican capital.

Of course the overwhelming majority of taquerías in Mexico City serve mounds of horrendous meat, but Por Siempre is the glorious exception. It is a vegan taco stand!

Por Siempre is just one more reason why Mexico City is a must-visit destination for vegan travellers. Check out the photos sent by Kay and ‘like’ the vegan taco stand on Facebook.

It looks like it is doing a roaring trade!

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Eat vegan with non-vegans

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My partner Josh is climbing on board the blogging train today to give you some advice on where to go in central London when faced with dining companions who flatly refuse to go to an entirely vegan restaurant.

Thanks, Josh. Love you. xx

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Tacos sin carne

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I can’t believe I forgot to tell you about this wonderful organic food cafe and grocery store Josh and I visited in Mexico City.

Origenes Orgánicos is an extremely pleasant restaurant chain with two locations in Mexico City. The Colonia Roma setting fed us during our recent vacation and we enjoyed it so much, we went back for seconds.

A sign of a decent eatery is how well their menu is marked when it comes to vegan choices and how confidently the servers talk about those options. Origenes passed with flying colours on both counts. Our server even told us that the chipotle mayo accompanying our our complimentary bread basket was soy-based.

I found the prices to be a little on the steep side for Mexico (although inline with what I’m used to paying elsewhere), but you can’t argue with the quality, taste and freshness of what we were served. Check out the photos below and make sure to pay Origenes a visit when you are next in the city (c’mon, you know you wanna go!).

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Get looser

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Whenever I tell people I am going to Mexico or I say Mexico is the best or I proclaim that I wanna live in Mexico City, they more often than not say the same thing.

They say, “It isn’t very good for vegans down/over/up there”.

Well world, I have news for you. Mexico City has one vegan enterprise that places it squarely on the map as one of the best destinations on the planet for plant eaters.

Get ready to be jealous. Get ready to imitate the hell out of this. Just get ready.

Los Loosers.

Los Loosers is as simple as it is staggeringly-impressive. People make vegan food. People bag up vegan food. People deliver vegan food via fixed gear bicycle. In all of my travels in search of stomach satisfaction, I have rarely been so delighted, charmed and fulfilled by a food provider.

The menu is shared via social media between 9am and 10am every morning, Monday through Friday. Customers then message Los Loosers back expressing a desire for the food and a time is given for delivery. All the customer has to do then is be at the agreed spot at the agreed time to exchange money for food.

And it isn’t a lot of money. At time of posting, the menu item of the day will set you back just MX$65. That is about US$4.90 or GBP£3 for either a jumbo homemade sandwich or a bag of pastries. Including delivery!

Check out some of the items I ate during my recent vacation in Mexico City.

Delivery is made
Delivery is made

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