London vegan news, reviews & events
Los Angeles is the danger. If you are vegan, you need to get to LA to experience what it is like to live without restriction.
I am currently in the area to attend Los Angeles Beer Fest and eat what I can. This city is a vegan mecca and plant-eaters are not sidelined or treated as an afterthought. Vegan is front and centre.
One shining example of LA’s love for vegans is the glorious Viva la Vegan supermarket in the Ocean Park Blvd. neighbourhood near Santa Monica.
My bag is packed (almost) and the excitement is starting to kick in. This Friday I am jumping on a flight to Southern California for a brief vacation and lots of sunshine.
I have grand plans that include seeing Steven (one of my longest-serving and dearest friends) who now lives in San Diego, drinking/eating my own weight at the LA Vegan Beer and Food Festival and taking in some live performances by my favourite artists (Jill Sobule and Suzanne Vega).
This blog post isn’t just to boast about my fun trip. I also wanted to let you know about the special travel-size personal care products I purchased from Superdrug for my journey.
I have written on a few occasions about my love for the cruelty-free value to be enjoyed by shopping with Superdrug but this is my first mention of their travel range.
Almost anything you would want or need for a holiday can be sourced in this mini size. The bottles and containers come in under the allowed volume for cabin inclusion, meaning you can pack them in your hand luggage. This is fantastic if you only want to travel with one bag. No waiting around at the luggage carousel and you still have everything you need.
Of course it is all incredibly inexpensive. You have got to love Superdrug for their commitment to making cruelty-free care products at low prices. Everyone can afford to be vegan on holiday!
Josh abandoned me a few weeks back for a trip to the USA. As punishment for leaving me alone, I have instructed him to write the following post about one of his favourite food experiences from his visit to Philadelphia. (So many jokes… I am grateful for the post and I love Josh)
It all looks fabulous! Take it away, Josh.
Mi Lah Vegetarian Restaurant in Center City, Philadelphia had been on my to-eat-at list for several months after a friend of FGV’s posted an Instagram pic of her vegan Bánh mì from there and I have been dreaming about it ever since. One day earlier this month while I was in the city of brotherly love, I decided to head to Mi Lah to check out the Vietnamese sub that I had been dreaming about for so long.
Right in the heart of Philly, this 100% vegan restaurant has an extensive menu and some tempting lunch specials. Of course I already knew that I was going to order the Bánh mì whereas my mum decided to go for the fried rice with cashews, tofu and vegetables. We also decided to split a starter of deep-fried mushrooms with an agave-mustard mayo.
All three dishes were outstanding and far exceeded our expectations. The Bánh mì was mind-blowing with delicious marinated tofu coupled with pickled cucumber, vegan mayo and grated carrot dressed with a lime/ginger vinaigrette… all crammed into a light, crispy roll… I’m drooling just thinking about it now.
I regret not making it back to Mi Lah for the brunch menu which looks AMAZING but I’m sure the opportunity will present itself again.
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!).
I often get asked (by people aware of my love for the city) how easy it is to source vegan food in Mexico City. I usually answer that it is easy if you know where to look, which doesn’t help if you don’t know where to look.
That’s where this blog comes in. I like to share information about plant based foods in Mexico and (un)fortunately I have just come to the end of a short vacation, meaning I have more eating advice to disseminate.
My latest discovery is a friendly falafel outlet called El Rey del Falafel. Located in the neighbourhood known as Condesa, this fast food outlet is one of two store fronts for The King of Falafel in the Mexican capital.
I rocked up in the evening with Josh, Julio, Carlos and Lety following a theatre performance in nearby Polanco. Nobody in the group had eaten at El Rey del Falafel and the anticipation was high based on our experiences with the 100% vegan falafel shop Falafelito just a few blocks away.
Let’s just say the king of falafel is really the king. The food in El Rey del Falafel was outstanding.
I have just woken up from an afternoon nap in my rented vacation apartment in Mexico City. In a short while I will be getting dressed and having a few sips of mezcal before heading out for some early evening drinks in the nearby gay cantinas.
But you didn’t come here to hear about my leisurely holiday. You want to see gorgeous photos of enticing vegan food, right?
When have I ever let you down? Keep scrolling to see a fraction of the food I have been busying myself with here in Mexico. This city does have vegan dining-out options but what follows is a small selection of my self-catering creations with a few store bought snacks thrown in for good measure.
Enjoy.
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Josh is popping in to tell you about a new vegan recipe collection we got our grubby hands on this week.
Take it away, Josh…
I love Christmas. Actually that’s a complete lie. I bloody hate Christmas and the orgy of capitalist consumption that it involves. But I DO like having a couple of weeks off work: time to try out new recipes and basically eat and sleep intermittently throughout the day and avoid the outside world in all of its grey, present-buying frenzied misery.
So when my friend Leigh Drew in Australia sent me her latest cookbook a couple of weeks ago, I happily flicked through the pages working out what I was going to make when I finally had some spare time at home. I’ll let you know which two recipes I chose, but first let me tell you about Leigh.
This post serves two functions.
Firstly, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my love of Mexico. I adore it in so many ways, some of which have been highlighted here on my blog. You might recall:
All this is great, but you are probably still wondering why I’m dragging you down memory lane.
Josh and I have just booked a short vacation for Mexico this February and I want your help. Are there any places you know of that I must visit during my trip? Obviously I’m more concerned with eating, but I am open to all suggestions. Tell me best places for groceries, wonderful vegan meals you’ve enjoyed or even cultural or sightseeing tips. I want it all!
¡Vamanos!
I feel kinda guilty.
I’m not trying to suggest that a blog post from me would have saved this company, but taking two years to write a review certainly isn’t getting them any attention they could use.
I was trolling through some old holiday snaps (imagining myself in the sunshine somewhere), when I came across these pics of a completely vegan food truck that once fed hungry highway commuters just outside of Miami, Florida.
Josh and I paid a visit to the Mac’n Food Truck a couple of years ago on a journey between Miami and the Florida Keys. This gorgeous looking truck was positioned in a nondescript parking lot just off the South Dixie Highway outside of Miami and we were so keen to eat that we lined up to be the first customers of the day.
I make no secret for the respect I have for Ms Cupcake and the hard work Mellissa Morgan has put in to make her brand one of the most respected independent businesses in London. Notice I didn’t say ‘vegan’ before businesses? That’s right. Ms Cupcake is in the majors.
One of the secrets to their success has surely got to be the relentless attitude to keep creating new products and new ways to get them to people.
Take for instance their new mail order service.