London vegan news, reviews & events
I was rushing to a meeting yesterday when I realised I was hungry. How could I possibly get through a professional discussion without some form of sustenance?
The only vegan-friendly store standing between me and my meeting was Marks & Spencer, so I popped inside to see what was good for eating on the run.
Check out what I found.
How’s this for a UK first? You can book a tour of the giant Whole Foods Market store on Kensington High Street and you will be led around the complex for approximately an hour by their in-house Healthy Eating Specialist.
Oh, did I forget to mention that the specialist is a super friendly vegan named Maura? How cool is that?
Maura is in charge of all the cooking demos and food education that take place in the Kensington store. As a vegan, she makes sure plant based eating is front and centre of everything she does.
I recently booked a tour with Maura and was impressed by how she was able to personalise the experience for me. She really explored the vegan options available for me based around my love of quick meals and snacks (and maybe some beer). Maura pointed out products that matched my love of food and she often referred to my ethical choices. I didn’t feel like my health was being questioned and the nutrition information was pitched just right. I was interested in everything she showed me.
That’s not to say that she wouldn’t be able to cater for the health-conscious vegans out there. Maura explained how she loves to talk with store visitors about making the most out of the bulk section, vegan food nutrition, cooking vegan food from scratch and how she can even email you follow up recipes based on ingredients you discuss with her in store.
It really is a fantastic experience being taken around such a huge supermarket by a vegan food specialist. There is no pushing animal products. Maura is completely relaxed and helpful. The tour is flexible enough to feel inclusive for long term and new vegans alike.
The tour costs nothing and there is no pressure to buy anything at the end.
Maura of course welcomes non-vegans to tour the store with her. It is such a great way for people teetering on the edge of veganism to get a helping hand. This would be a perfect blog post to pass on to those people in your life who you know could be comfortable with vegan food if they just had a little more information.
Maura is definitely the person with that info.
Email Kensington@wholefoodsmarket.com if you are keen on taking the tour with Maura.
Here is a super quick vegan product update for you.
I have just discovered Marks and Spencer sell their own brand of vegan margarine. It is terrific to see the spread (I’m so funny!) of vegan versions of everyday grocery items. More and more high street retailers and large supermarket chains are getting in on the act of making sure they have plant-based versions of high demand items.
Has anyone tried the new M&S spread? What do you think?
I know that Marks and Spencer have for a long time shared a list of products that are suitable for vegans (usually available in a pdf format), but I’ve never noticed them using the ‘v’ word on any actual grocery packaging.
Until now.
Josh sent me the following photo taken to his recent stroll through the M&S Ealing Broadway location. The word vegan can clearly be seen on this houmous packaging.
I am not sure if this is the start of a new trend by the retailer or a one off. The only products I have previously seen marked vegan in store were bottles of wine.
Do you buy anything from Marks & Spencer that carries a vegan label?
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.
This post is one of the shortest in the history of my blog.
I simply wanted you to know about this Christmas-themed product at Tesco. I was too scared to try them, so I am hoping someone can post a review below. They honestly look vile.
Apparently they are only available until December 23rd so get in quick (if you can stomach them) and let me know your opinion below.
I’m going to tell you about a vegan location in London that you probably have never heard of and if you have, you probably have forgotten. I forgot. I used to visit this location back in 2001, but it had since slipped my mind. This little gem of immense community and plant-eating importance should be a weekly destination for every compassionate shopper in the capital.
Vegans and vegan-curious, I give you FareShares.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN or read on for more details
Do you remember when we all joined together as one vegan superpower and got Holland & Barrett to reverse their decision to not stock the Fry’s Vegetarian frozen vegan product range?
Well, we are about to flex our collective plant-based consumer muscle once again to ensure the same vegan food options are available all over the UK… in Sainsbury’s!
What is this campaign all about?
Consumers choose foods free of animal products for many reasons. Scientific evidence suggests the production of plant-based food contributes significantly less to environmental damage and climate change than animal farming.
Many religions require devotees to adhere to meat and dairy free diets during certain celebrations. People often choose a diet free of animal products for ethical reasons as they don’t agree with modern factory farming methods. Health is another major factor. A plant-based diet is completely free from cholesterol.
With plant-based food choices becoming increasingly popular amongst UK consumers, it is time for major food suppliers such as Sainsbury’s to answer this call for more vegan choices in their aisles. Brands such as Quorn and Linda McCartney have monopolised veggie shelves in UK supermarkets but very few of their items cater to people who want animal-free food. Quorn and Cauldron have the biggest presence of any veggie brands in the UK. The trouble is, they are the same company and clearly have little interest in serving the vegan community. Most of their products are not animal-free and those that are, are not even labeled suitable for vegans.
We don’t want egg in our food. We want burgers, pops, pies, schnitzels, sausages, sausage rolls, chunky strips and everything else made by Fry’s Vegetarian because it is all vegan!
What can you do?
Click here to sign the petition to urge Sainsbury’s to carry vegan food by Fry’s. The petition will be sent to Sainsbury’s on your behalf.
Add extra steam to the campaign by emailing the following Sainsbury’s contacts to strengthen your request:
sarah.lich@sainsburys.co.uk Category Product Developer
alison.atkin@sainsburys.co.uk Buyer
richard.hall@sainsburys.co.uk Head of Frozen
andy.phelps@Sainsburys.co.uk Category Manager
Post a link to this page everywhere. Facebook. Twitter. Pinterest. Google+. Tumblr. Post it on message boards and your own blogs. Email it to family and friends and enemies. Get everyone you know to take one minute out of their day to sign the petition. Use any part of the text on this page in any way you see fit.
Leave a comment below letting us know if you have emailed/signed the petition/heard back from Sainsbury’s. Like all big businesses, they are not going to take notice unless we have big voices.
I don’t plan my eating around religious concerns, unless you consider indiscriminate vegan overeating a religion. My food consumption, like all areas of my life, exists outside organised religion.
But my food atheism certainly doesn’t prohibit me from benefiting from belief systems that instruct devotees to separate their animal products when eating.
Enter Kosher Kingdom of North London.
Guest post time again. Josh is super excited about a new range of vegan products that are changing the shape of high street shopping and he really wants you to know.
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It’s a vegan revolution – no really!
Tesco supermarkets across the UK are now stocking a range of vegan foods under their own branding. If you had told me 12 months ago that my local supermarket would shortly be stocking their own range of melting cheeses, cream cheeses, yoghurts, creme caramel etc. all labelled as vegan, I wouldn’t have believed you. Are you as amazed as I am? I think it’s revolutionary that a high street supermarket would be pushing an entirely vegan range of milks, cheeses, yoghurts etc. and giving up a whole bay in their dairy aisle to display them.
I think one of the main challenges for people including more plant-based foods in their diet is availability. Of course most vegans are used to shopping around and getting their groceries from a variety of sources (supermarkets, Holland & Barrett, independent stores, online etc.) but I know a lot of people prefer to do one weekly shop at the supermarket, so this could be a real game-changer.
Now down to business… here’s a summary of what’s on the shelf: