Life is never really easy, but the past few years have been a struggle and a half.
We have all been through a lot and some of us have experienced immense pain and hardship, so it is nice to know we can still reach out to help each other in times of trouble.
During the afternoon of February 18, 2022, storm Eunice collapsed a very large chimney stack onto the kitchen roof of vegan cafe The Plant Base in Tunbridge Wells. The sound was reportedly impressive and the damage was definitely extensive.
The vegan business does have insurance but that will only go so far and they really don’t want to be starting from scratch again for the second time in a year, so they are asking very nicely for anything we can do to help.
CLICK HERE to donate to the emergency repair fund for The Plant Base.
As the only 100% plant based restaurant in the area, The Plant Base customers travel from far and wide to eat with them and they want to reopen as soon as possible.
Nobody loves hosting an online cook-along quite like Made in Hackney so you know their upcoming Cooking with Aquafaba class is going to be informative AND fun.
Taking place virtually on Saturday 19th September, 2020 between 11:00am and 1:30pm, Cooking with Aquafaba is set to be a masterclass all about the food ingredient that has had plant-based chefs buzzing for the past few years.
The suggested donation for this online class is £20 but any donation amounts accepted. All funds raised go towards the Made in Hackney community meal service providing free nutritious, tasty meals to households who need them during these challenging times.
The class will take place via Zoom with details to be provided via email (usually the day before the class).
Need more info about the event?
Join raw plant based chef, Bruna Oliveria, to learn all the tips and tricks for using aquafaba as an amazingly versatile vegan egg replacer.
The class will include:
How to make a tasty fluffy vegan omelette
Make a light airy vegan chocolate mousse using only natural sweeteners
A chance to ask Bruna questions
Recipe handout with a bonus recipe for making egg-free meringues
For ingredients and equipment needed see below
About Bruna
Bruna Oliveira is a raw chef and the founder of London Nut Cheese Co. She studied Naturopathy and Naturopathic Nutrition at CNM London in order to pursue her passion for healthy and natural living. Bruna loves creating delicious recipes with the aim of inspiring people to transform their lives through making positive changes in their diet.
Click here for more information and to book your ticket now!
Unless some breaking news of unexpected hugeness comes along in the next few days, the follow list shows the most-read blog posts on fatgayvegan.com over the past 12 months.
Let’s count down the top ten starting from the 10th most read:
10. My exclusive look inside the new Temple of Seitan location in Camden drew big numbers, landing them just on the top ten list. Click here to see original post.
9. Owners of Loaf BnB in Northumberland were attacked by online trolls. My post showcasing the abuse and lending vocal support to the business drew in thousands of readers. Click here to see the original post.
8. You all can’t get enough of Temple of Seitan, can you?! A few days after the post sitting at number 10 on this list, I shared more exclusive photos from inside the Camden location and this time it came in even higher. Click here to see the original post.
7. It is no surprise that my ‘best things to eat in London’ list came in strong in the year’s end. Vegan are ravenous and insatiable! Click here to see the original post.
6. I had a mini meltdown/rant on Instagram a few months ago about non-vegans running vegan events, products, and services simply for profit. This blog where I elaborated on my rantings was extremely popular. Click here to see the original post.
5. Big news this year that almost broke the vegan Internet involved Heinz baked beans. The original flavour are vegan but we were all told by the company that the sugar free version are not?! Click here to see the original post.
4. It’s not uncommon for an old post to hit the top ten in subsequent years, but I was surprised to see this post about vegan mince at Tesco come in at such a high placing when it was originally published in 2014! Click here to see the original post.
3. Another oldie that just won’t quit is the post from 2016 all about why toilet paper is sometimes not vegan. It stirred things up back then and is still keeping them coming back in big numbers. Click here to see the original post.
2. Once again an old post has garnered HUGE numbers. My post from 2017 about LoveSeitan launching a new seitan company in the UK is bizarrely popular. Click here to see the original post.
1 . By far the most read story on this blog during 2018 was this April piece I wrote about why, after decades of being a super fan, I could no longer support pop singer Morrissey. This piece went viral with tens of thousands of viewers from all over the planet. Click here to see the original post.
Thank you for joining me for another year of product talk, community activism, and delicious food photos.
As long as you keep coming back, I’ll be here waiting.
In celebration of Veganuary 2019, All Star Lanes is collaborating with Biff’s Jack Shack and creating a one-off menu showcasing Biff’s vegan junk food. Featuring the signature and infamous Crispy Fried Jackfruit, the menu will run across all All Star Lanes’ sites from January 8th- February 3rd.
Dishes will include Biff’s Wingz – formed of jackfruit and an ingenious sugar cane ‘bone’ – which guests can dress up with a selection of sauces. First off is Soyz in the Hood which covers the wingz in a sensationally sticky maple, soy and ginger garlic glaze with red chilli and crispy onions. Another option is the Cheezy Barbie sauce which gives you wingz smothered in a bourbon infused BBQ sauce, beer cheeze and spring onions. Prices vary from 2 wingz for £6 to 4 for £10.
The one-off burger special, ‘El Jackitan’ (£9) combines a jackfruit patty with zesty guacamole, tortilla chips, nacho cheeze, beef tomato, red onion, maple chipotle hot sauce and torn coriander. Add a side to your order with the ‘Dirtbag Melt’ (£) – skinny fries covered in beer cheeze, topped with seitan ‘bacun’ and sweet pickle sprinkles.
The menu will be served across all All Star Lanes’ sites in London (White City, Brick Lane, Holborn, Stratford) and Manchester from 8th January-3rd February 2019.
Shayna Weisz and fellow students at Middlesex University have won a hard-fought campaign to have live animal displays banned on their campus.
This inspirational story shows what hard work and a belief in being kind can achieve. I am thrilled for Shayna to tell the story in her own words below.
Reindeer on display at Middlesex University
Our victory by Shayna Weisz
I am thrilled with this news.
It’s taken such a lot of hard work over the past year. They really didn’t make it easy for us – I joined Middlesex University in North London last year, and as soon as I heard about their upcoming Christmas market featuring live reindeer, I started off writing politely to the event organisers about my concerns and encouraging others to do the same. They simply dismissed us, so I decided to organise a peaceful but powerful protest where myself and others stood with signs and handing out leaflets surrounding the reindeers’ pen at the event, where the poor animals stood with no stimulation for 8 hours straight, surrounded by the noise and the crowd. We also noticed that they were transported to and from our campus in the back of a van.
Student protest at Middlesex University
Most people attending the event easily saw the validity in what we were doing as soon as we explained it, and agreed with our stance – including teachers and professors who stopped by and praised us for what we were doing. This was very encouraging, so following that we started a university-wide petition – although there were so many rules in place for how and when and where we were allowed to collect signatures, that it took a full 6 months to gather the required amount for it to pass.
We were informed that it was the biggest petition ever run at the university, and that the motion now had to go to a referendum. So we had to campaign again, but finally, with 60% of the students voting in favour of our motion, it passed just last Friday – specifically calling for a ban on all live animal use as entertainment on campus. For the first time in 12 years there were no reindeer at their annual Christmas market and this will also eliminate the future use of owls who are usually chained to little stands on World Book Day and caged exotic reptiles on Easter.
Reindeer on display at Middlesex University
Moving forward
For more information about the suffering of reindeer at festive events, you could check out Animal Aid’s recent campaign where they’ve done a while undercover exposé of the industry, and have lots of facts about the detrimental effects on the animals’ health and wellbeing.
I’m over the moon that all this hard work has paid off and that my University won’t be having live animal events anymore, but I really think it’s also important to get the word out there about this important step they’ve taken, in the hope that other institutions will be inspired to do the right thing and follow suit.
I’m absolutely grinning from the news of a brand new vegan grocery store having opened in Coventry.
The Green Unicorn is situated in the super-cute shopping district called FarGo Village, located just east of the the city centre (like, strolling distance).
I asked Nikki at The Green Unicorn to give us a small insight into what her store is all about and this is what she had to say:
I’m very passionate about veganism and can’t wait to help start spreading the vegan message. I’m planning to provide support to new vegans for Veganuary and help influence the other retailers in FarGo Village to embrace their vegan customers. Fargo Village is a creative retail village in the city centre and attracts a customer base from all walks with regular events such as food festivals and film screenings. I’m keen to work with our onsite vegan brewery, The Twisted Barrel, for more vegan events.
How rad is that?!
A vegan store and a vegan brewery/bar in the same location coupled with a big desire to support new vegans. I love this sort of shit.
You want some photos of this greatness now?
Like the Facebook page of the Green Unicorn and shop with independent vegan traders. Do it!
