Taking the long way around

A better vegan airline meal

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Here is a quick post to share info that I meant to share about a month ago.

Apologies for the slow posting.

I do have some reasons for being slack, but the most convincing is that I not only moved from London to Mexico City but I also just moved into a new apartment in Mexico City. I have been running around trying to get my living situation sorted.

But enough about me looking for sympathy.

On my way to Mexico City, British Airways served me one of the most satisfying vegan meals I’ve ever had in the air.

Check it out.

I know it might not seem that impressive for regular eating, but as far as in-flight meals go it was superb.

Josh and I both marvelled at how tasty the dish was and it is definitely the most planned and considered meal I’ve had on an airplane. Flavoursome and packed with tofu and vegetables. I’d eat it everyday.

Good stuff!

Big time vegan chef job

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Here is some big employment news out of the Netherlands.

It might just be the huge change you are looking for in your life!

Chef required for SNCKBR Utrecht

About SNCKBR:

With sustainable ingredients, SNCKBR serves comfort food that is finger licking good, moderate in fat, free of refined sugars and E-numbers, and where possible gluten-free and low in carbohydrates. SNCKBR offers a wide variety of dishes and is always free of bullshit. It is not even prepared in an environment where bullshit is processed. Ditto for our cocktails. It’s the good, the bad and the healthy. SNCKBR Utrecht, unlike the other branches, is 100% VGN.

Your profile:

You are a chef with an extreme passion for healthy, Plant Based food. You have completed a culinary education and at least 4 years experience as a chef. You are someone who is already involved in or wants to join the healthy food, Plant Based movement. You are stress resistant, a great planner, respond to what the day brings you and you love to work with people from other cultures.

What we offer:

In addition to a competitive salary and employment conditions, we offer you the chance to work in Europe’s largest Plant Based restaurant. You will get international experience, live in the Netherlands near Amsterdam, and work amongst a passionate, international, food loving team.

Tasks and responsibilities:

Full responsibility for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Develop new dishes and define recipes
Managing, training and organizing the kitchen team
Managing suppliers
Purchasing/ cost monitoring

Requirements for this function:

Education/ degree in cooking
At least 4 years of experience in the kitchen at management level
Excellent leadership skills
Wide knowledge of Plant Based ingredients
Speaks fluent English
Good knowledge of Excel – MS Office, order box and in-one
Teacher diploma

SNCKBR Utrecht will open it’s doors from March 2018 at:

Vredenburg 28 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Job Type: Full-time

Required experience:

kitchen: 4 years
Required language: English

Click here to apply online.

Barcelona is your next vegan destination

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I just got back from a few days in Barcelona and Sitges. What I’m about to tell you is old news to most people, but I’ll say it anyway.

Barcelona is outstanding for vegan food.

I couldn’t possibly run through every vegan business in the city. There are so very many so I’ll leave it to you to add your favourites in the comments below.

I just want to share some of my new favourites with you.

Check these out:

La Trocadero is a superb vegan fast food restaurant located just steps from Sagrada Familia. The burgers are tasty, the nachos are loaded and the juices are refreshing. Eat in or takeaway. This is a must visit spot.

 

Next up is an exquisite late night bar called Bar de Retro. Every single drink served is vegan and this spot also has a limited bar menu featuring burgers, hot dogs, nachos and olives. The soundtrack is 80s pop and rock plus if you get the right night you might even witness an improv theatre performance or swing dancing social. This is the place to be.

 

My next tip isn’t a vegan place, but Gelaaati di Marco in the Gothic Quarter has a huge selection of vegan gelato. You need to get a large tub!

 

The perfect quick bite on the go has to be the vegan falafel spot located at the back of the Boqueria food market. Tasty and quick.

 

Finally, we need to take a quick 20 minute train ride to the seaside town of Sitges. The town’s first 100% vegan restaurant opened just weeks ago and it is outstanding. Spice Garden is a showcase of some of the finest curries and side dishes I’ve tasted anywhere. Coupled with vegan friendly veggie restaurants and a health food supermarket brimming with vegan products, Sitges is more than a worthwhile stop during your Barcelona trip.

 

 

Enjoy this gorgeous city, its food and its friendly residents.

Amazing vegan food in Amsterdam

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Amsterdam really has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years. While not so long ago vegan visitors had to seek out the few decent places, today that same visitor is spoilt for choice.

One recently-opened example is the Vegan Junk Food Bar, which doesn’t really need a description as it’s all in the title.

And it’s as tasty as it looks! Pictured below is a “golden crunchy seaweed sandwich” (a burger really, but filled with these crispy nuggetty bits of deliciousness) and “Loaded VJFB” fries, which came topped with all sorts of crazy goodness.

Prices are as expected for Amsterdam, and it’s proven so popular that they frequently sell out before closing time, so if you’re going (and if you’re in Amsterdam, you must) don’t get there too late.

Follow Vegan Junk Food Bar on Instagram.

Vegan food truck destroyed by fire

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Here is some terrible news about an independent vegan business and some good news on how you can help.

A few days ago the Homegrown Smoker food truck in Portland, Oregon was completely destroyed by fire. As the business stated on their fundraising page, they have been working toward opening their first bricks and mortar location after trading for years from the truck.

The truck is a write off and the jobs of the 9 people employed by Homegrown Smoker are on the line.

We need to rally as an international vegan community and get the money together to help Homegrown Smoker get back on their feet. The business needs cash fast to stay on track with the permanent location plans and to keep their employees in the fold.

After 8 years of putting everything they have into creating delicious food for their neighbourhood, it is our duty to give something back if we can afford it.

Please the campaign widely and let this photo of their gorgeous vegan food be your incentive to help them.

Click here to donate to the fundraising campaign and follow Homegrown Smoker on Facebook and Instagram.

A visit to Wiz Kid in Philadelphia

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You’ve probably already seen FGV’s previous proclamations about Vedge in Philadelphia being the best restaurant on the planet (see here and here)! Well when I heard that the founders Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau had opened a small fast-food outlet in the new Whole Foods on Pennsylvania Avenue in Philly, I knew I had to investigate! Check out my visit to Wiz Kid:

The menu is small but perfect. I of course picked the ‘Wiz Kid Philly’, a cheesesteak-style roll with seitan and mushrooms. Oh, and how could I pass up the fries topped with cheeze wiz?

Kate and Rich must have magic powers! There is nothing of theirs that I have tried which hasn’t tasted exceptional and Wiz Kid was certainly no exception! How do they make food taste this good? What is their secret? I want nothing less than world domination for Kate and Rich!

Check out Wiz Kid’s website to see the full menu and be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I believe they’re opening a second location in Center City soon!

Vegan Cheese Revolution at Orchard Grocer, NYC

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You may have seen my post from last week about all the amazing vegan food that I sampled in New York City during my 48-hour visit earlier this year… but there was one place that was so impressive that it deserved a blog post of its very own!

Orchard Grocer in Manhattan’s Lower East Side is one of the best-stocked vegan stores I’ve ever been to in my life, which just happens to share a retail space with a vegan shoe shop. It is filled to the brim with incredible products that are hard to find anywhere else. I was so full from my previous eating that I didn’t even get to try the house-made sandwiches but I’ve heard REALLY good things about them from others. Anyway, enough chit-chat… check out these photos:

Orchard Grocer, NYC

It was so overwhelming seeing this many incredible vegan products in one spot. Check out my Instagram video of the cheese selection:

My visit to @orchardgrocer in #NYC earlier this year #vegan #vegancheese #vegannyc

A post shared by joshleuner (@joshleuner) on

For those who have visited Moo Shoes in NYC previously, you’ll be interested to know that Orchard Grocer actually takes up half of the store. Moo Shoes is now using just half of its original space while Orchard Grocer takes up the rest. Read more about Orchard Grocer on their website and be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram. Happy drooling!

Vegan dining on a ferry

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My buddy Barry (who is the founder/owner of More Than Meat) just got in touch with some wonderful news.

Barry sent photos of the gorgeous vegan cuisine he was served while aboard Viking Line, the company that runs ferries from Stockholm to Helsinki.

As part of their Spring and Green menu, Barry was able to order a 3-course set menu that he describes as utterly delicious.

Check out the menu and the food photos below.

If you find yourself in that part of the world, perhaps you want to check out these vegan offerings. Vegan food on a boat!

You can read more about Viking Line online.

48 hours in New York City

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Earlier this year I was in New York City for just two days and obviously had to eat as much vegan food as possible in that time period. So without further ado, here is a photo-heavy collection of what I ate.

First stop: 100% vegan Champs Diner in Brooklyn where my dining companions and I devoured the following:

Champs Diner – BBQ Tempeh Wings
Champs Diner – Sweet Potato Fries
Champs Diner – Hangover Hashbrowns
Champs Diner – French Toast Slam
Champs Diner – Amazing vegan milkshakes

I love Champs so much. Everything was delicious and I can’t wait to go back to NYC just for them!

Next up was Superiority Burger in the East Village:

Superiority Burger – The famous Superiority Burger. Tasty but tiny.
Superiority Burger – Burnt Broccoli Salad
Superiority Burger – A broccoli rabe side

Overall I wasn’t blown away by Superiority Burger. Everything was tasty but the fact that they aren’t 100% vegan and that they have tiny servings would probably keep me from going back in a hurry. However, they did redeem themselves by having a poster of Divine on the wall:

Superiority Burger – Divine was watching over us!

Still a little peckish, we excitedly remembered that 100% vegan Dunwell Doughnuts now have a location in the East Village just minutes away from Superiority Burger…

Dunwell Doughnuts in the East Village, NYC
Outrageous deliciousness from Dunwell Doughnuts
Dunwell Doughnuts – Choc chip doughnut… out of this world!

Dunwell Doughnuts are amazing and they have locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan so there’s no excuse not to try them. The staff in both locations are lovely and our upon entering the shop and seeing my eyes glaze over at the sight of so much vegan deliciousness, the server correctly summed up the situation as “an embarrassment of donut riches”. How very true!

It could have been the same day or it could have been the next… it’s all a blur. Either way, at some point during my 48 hours in NYC my sister and I decided to head down to Nolita/Chinatown to try the pan-Asian dishes at 100% vegan LuAnne’s Wild Ginger.

LuAnne’s Wild Ginger in NYC
Wild Ginger – Fresh Rolls
Wild Ginger – Crispy Wontons
Wild Ginger – Pad Thai
Wild Ginger – Basil Garlic Eggplant with String Beans

On my final morning in NYC, I was catching the train to Philly from Penn Station. Rather fortuitously 100% vegan The Cinnamon Snail now have a permanent location in The Pennsy, a kind of tricky-to-find food court in the Penn Station/Madison Square Garden complex. FGV has written about The Cinnamon Snail food truck in the past and I was certainly no stranger to their delicious sweet and savoury offerings. Seeing them with a permanent location was very exciting and their amazing array of sweet treats had me drooling.

The Cinnamon Snail at the Pennsy
The Cinnamon Snail – an incredible array of sweet treats

I had to start with the savoury offerings and I got the incredible Korean BBQ tortilla…

The Cinnamon Snail – Korean BBQ Seitan on a grilled tortilla

… while my dining companion got the Red Curry Grilled Tofu roll:

The Cinnamon Snail – Red Curry Grilled Tofu roll

As expected, everything was incredible and of course I couldn’t leave without two delicious donuts:

The Cinnamon Snail – donuts!

So that was my 48 hours in New York City. What good spots did I miss? Where should check out next time?

Vegan in Samoa

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My friend Kay travels the world like no one else I know. She is always sending me photos from far-flung destinations and tempting me with gorgeous vegan food shots from her journeys.

Kay’s latest email included these shots of a vegan café and juice bar in Samoa!

Take a look at not only the fab food, but the beautiful decor as well, at Krush Juice Lounge.

HUGE thanks to Kay for these photos.

You can follow Krush on Facebook and get along to the café next time you find yourself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.