Provincial towns you jog round

Brewery list for Glasgow Vegan Beer Fest

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If you thought we were messing around with Glasgow Vegan Beer Fest, this blog post will set you straight.

The always amazing William Bros. Brewing Co. is curating the beer bar for our event and the list of participating breweries will leave you drooling.

The line up includes:

Windswept Brewing Company of Lossiemouth, Scotland – visit online
Tryst Brewery of Falkirk, Scotland – visit online
Fallen Brewing Company of Kippen, Scotland – vist online
Pilot of Leith, Scotland – visit online
Jaw Brew of Glasgow, Scotland – visit online
Tempest Brew Co. of Galashiels, Scotland – visit online
The Cromarty Brewing Company of Cromarty, Scotland – visit online
Drygate of Glasgow, Scotland – visit online
Loch Lomond Brewery of Jamestown, Scotland – visit online
Stewart Brewing of Edinburgh, Scotland – visit online
Top Out Brewery of Edinburgh, Scotland – visit online

Of course there will also be a lot of drink from William Bros. themselves as well as the much loved cider of Thistly Cross. Mono will be in charge of wine as well as non-alcohol drinks.

Full beer list will be announced before the event and every attendee will be handed a tick sheet featuring the entire rundown of drinks, as well as collectible branded pint cup to use on the day AND keep forever.

In addition, details of our food menus will be released very shortly with a stunning bar menu by Mono plus several special guest caterers who I know you will all adore.

Add to this some unique musical guests and we have one extremely unmissable event planned for Glasgow on Saturday August 27, 2016.

Buy your cheap advance tickets now and RSVP to the Facebook event page where you can also invite friends.

gvbflarge

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Glasgow food outlet turns vegan

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After only a few weeks trading as a vegetarian eatery, the owner of Kind Crusts in Glasgow has decided to turn her business into a 100% vegan sandwich shop.

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I reached out to owner Kathryn Veroni to ask for insight into her fabulous decision to go completely plant-based and here is her response:

As a vegan, complete food lover and notorious feeder, with years of experience in hospitality, I knew there was a clear gap in the market when it came to “fast food” suitable for vegans, vegetarians and people looking for healthier options. So, Kind Crusts was created. We only opened on Friday 1st July and have been very well received from the local residents of Dennistoun and vegans of Glasgow.

Initially when deciding on our menu, I had wanted to encourage non-vegans to try our products. The way I looked at it was; for every person NOT visiting the likes of [various highstreet takeaways], and choosing us instead, it was a win for the progression to vegan diets. To do this, I had chosen a dairy cheese and created a 95% vegan menu, with one dairy option for non-vegans. Within a few days of trading however, I quickly recognised that is wasn’t the correct decision for us. Although we would love to change the eating habits of the population, especially children, we want to do it in the way we always intended; through the provision of good, honest wholefoods. We shall use our knowledge of food and creative passion to form exciting sandwich fillings, salads and bakes, which alone, will be the reason people choose us.

Thanks, Kathryn!

I am thrilled with your decision to remove all animal products from your menu, but I’m sure the vegans of Glasgow are even happier. The menu is the stuff of vegans dreams, with decadent breakfast wraps and stuffed sandwiches making me a little bit jealous I don’t live in the Scottish city.

You can and should like Kind Crusts on Facebook. Or maybe Twitter and/or Instagram.

You might also want to take the time to check out the Kind Crusts menu on their website and take notice of how the shop gives discount to diners using their own coffee/tea cups!

VBF-TWCover

Vegan event in Maidstone

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Vegan events, festivals and fairs are EVERYWHERE in the UK. It seems you can’t get away from them (which is obviously a fabulous state of affairs).

Next on your list if you are keen to visit every single vegan event in the UK is the upcoming Maidstone Vegan Festival taking place this month (July 2016).

See the super colourful poster below.

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Looks like a wonderful day out. You can RSVP to the Facebook event.

Support vegan events in your town and city! Make an effort this summer to visit an event in a neighbouring area.

VBF-TWCover

Vegan café jobs in Glasgow

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Wanna work in one of the best and most-loved vegan restaurants in the UK?

Check out this ad for chef jobs at Mono in Glasgow.

EXPERIENCED VEGAN CHEFS REQUIRED 

MONO CAFE BAR
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

Full time & Part time positions
Full Time on variable shifts including evenings and weekends.
Part time evenings and weekends.

Job Purpose: prepare food by following Head Chef’s menu, instructions and procedures.
The right candidate should also be familiar with pizza, soups, vegan specials and desserts while the main focus will be on service, presentation of menu, prep and also maintaining the standard of cleaning, health and safety within the kitchen.

– A strong passion for vegan food culture with a will to learn
– A positive, flexible, hard working, reliable, enthusiastic attitude
– A great personality to bring to our team
– The ability to work calmly in a busy, fast-paced environment
– At least 2 years of kitchen and/or bakery experience
– Food & Safety Certificate

Please email your CV and cover letter to vsohenderson@gmail.com or hand in to MONO addressed to VSO-Head Chef

How fab is that?! This is perfect for people looking to be involved with food but don’t want to handle animal products.

Extra note: Mono is the location of the first ever Glasgow Vegan Beer Fest. Get a job there and you might be working at my event!

VBF-TWCover

New vegan baking business in Cheltenham

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How cool is this?

Gloucestershire Live has reported on this home-baking endeavour jointly run by couple Natasha and Susan called Flamingo’s Vegan Bakery in Cheltenham.

The food looks divine and anyone making cupcakes topped with vegan meringue is going to get top points from me.


The bakery offers a tantalising range of cakes, slices, cupcakes and biscuits all available to order on their website for local pick up.

Congratulations, Cheltenham. You’ve got vegan cake!

VBF-TWCover

Vegan food in Essex

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There is a vegetarian bistro in Leigh-On-Sea, Essex that has been popular with vegans for a long time and it is just about to get a second location.

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The menu of The Oak Tree Bistro is packed solid with vegan dishes and meals that can be altered to become vegan. It would be fab if the eatery adopted a fully plant-based approach but I’m sure vegans in the area are grateful for a line up that includes Japanese curry, grilled asparagus, garlic mushrooms, bangers & mash, lasagne and mac ‘n’ cheese.

You can click here to see the full menu.

But what of a second location?

Take a 30-minute drive northeast (if the traffic isn’t typically UK snarled) and you’ll land in Brentwood, Essex. This is the site of the soon-to-open second location of The Oak Tree.

Essex, you have some find vegan food to chose from! Follow the new Brentwood location on its own dedicated Facebook page for news and updates.

VBF-TWCover

Vegan business closed

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Do you remember when I wrote about GIVEkitchen? This food subscription service was designed to get vegan food to Liverpool while also donating meals to people in need. You can read my original post here.

I was alerted earlier today by a reader that the business has abruptly closed.

I popped over to the company’s Facebook page and found the following statement posted:

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Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your kind words and support.

You all deserve an explanation as to why Give has closed so abruptly today. The team at Give have put a phenomenal amount of effort in the last 15 months, into creating a successful online vegan business and a great vegan restaurant. Thank you to all our customers for supporting us. We have been busy.

Plus on the charity side you have helped us to contact and help various charities in Liverpool, Manchester and overseas, ultimately feeding a lot of needy people. You have helped us to champion the vegan cause and ethical treatment of all beings with out cruelty or death. We must sincerely thank our staff and customers for this. We can say that nothing we harmed and we fed lots of people to a high standard without cruelty in the time we have been opened.

While the business has been busy and turning over money, the start up costs have been high. We have been hit with some large bills this month. We have some debts as a result and everyone who has invested in the business literally has no more money left to put in. It is a real shame as we feel the love off our customers and with more funding we could have grown the business and helped a lot more people.

We were left in the position that today we could close the business but still pay all staff what is owning this month and refund existing orders. If we would have carried on, then due to cash issues, we may not have been in a position to do this. It would not have been fair to our customers and staff if they were left out of pocket.

The management and staff are really disappointed and sad that it has come to this but we literally have no more funds to invest.

If you would like to consider buying or investing in the business to allow us to continue or want to take over and keep the ethos alive we would be glad to hear from you by email to ask@givekitchen.com

Thanks again for your kind messages and calls. We will be in touch with charities, suppliers and call back people who have ordered next week.

Please have an amazing weekend.

Again from all the team.

Thank you 💚

That’s some sad news right there. I hope all the staff can quickly find replacement jobs.

VBF-TWCover

Vegan beauty’s where you find it

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You all read the Clacton Gazette, right?

No?

If you don’t, let me direct you to an article published this week about a vegan beauty parlour just launched in Colchester.

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The article, in part, reads:

VEGANS wanting beauty treatments free of animal products can now indulge at a specialist Colchester boutique.

Dionne Bartlett, 32, opened the Garden of Eden Beauty, at the Lucky Rose Tattoo Clinic, to service other vegans stuck for places which use vegan-friendly cosmetics.

Miss Bartlett’s beauty room, on Eld Lane, provides everything from manicures to waxing and facials, using only cruelty-free ingredients.

The qualified beauty therapist has been vegan for 15 years and became a vegetarian aged seven.

Click here to read the full news article (photo above from original article).

Click here to like The Garden of Beauty on Facebook.

VBF-TWCover

Vegan market in Leicester

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Nothing warms my heart quite like news of a vegan market.

I have recently been telling anyone who will listen that vegan street or farmers markets are the way forward, so I’m thrilled to hear that the first ever event of its kind for Leicester is taking place next month.

As the flyer says below, a diverse range of products will be available as well as lots of delicious plant-based food on June 12, 2016.

The best part? Leicester Vegan Market is being staged smack bang in the middle of the historic town centre, meaning it will enjoy extremely high visibility and will help expose a lot of locals to vegan choices.

You should RSVP to the Leicester Vegan Market Facebook event and make plans to get along to support this wonderful initiative.

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Why can’t vegans say ‘milk’?

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A member of an online vegan group I am a part of posted the following message. I asked Daniel if he minded me sharing it here in the hope someone can give him legal advice or insight based on their own experiences as a vegan business owner, either in Scotland or around the UK.

Daniel says:

Posting this to see if any vegan business owners have had a similar experience – I run Juice Warrior and today we had our first environmental health inspection in our new Bathgate premises. They are really not happy about us using the word ‘mylk’. We use this because we don’t like using the term ‘milk’ as in the beginning a lot of people thought we were selling dairy milks. We obviously want to completely separate ourselves from the dairy industry.

They have said ‘milk’ is a protected term by the dairy industry, so we are not allowed to use it as our milks don’t contain any dairy. Apparently this has been referred to the FSA and is going to be an issue with all the dairy free milk companies in the future.

They then said we can’t use the term ‘mylk’ as it sounds too much like milk and it’s a made up term. We pointed out that’s a bit ridiculous as there was once a time when ‘Cola’ didn’t mean anything. It really just became an argument over semantics.

The inspector used to work in a meat factory and I feel he had a problem with us from the get go – constantly backing up the meat and dairy industries and trying to tear apart the raw juice/dairy free industry.

Our kitchen and machinery are kept beyond spotless and if you were to walk in it would look like it’s never used, so we pointed out that we found it frustrating that if you were to walk into a meat factory there would potentially be blood and faeces on the floor. He said this doesn’t matter because you can kill all of that in a frying pan…

He may have a point, but we couldn’t help but feel alienated and wished there was more support for vegan businesses. It seems biased that the meat industry can get away with having blood and guts on their floors but we are being warned that if our carrots go near our apples before cleaning, we could be shut down. Obviously, we make sure we separate our roots vegetables from everything else, it was more the way he said it to us.

I read in a magazine lately of a plant based lobby for vegan businesses starting in America – does anyone know if there is anything like this in the UK yet?

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Get in contact with Daniel on his website or via Twitter if you think you can assist.

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