Vegan

London has a vegan chocolate shop

by

Copperhouse Chocolate has launched as a vegan chocolate shop and cafe this April!

For the past decade, hot-chocolatier and founder Juliet has hand crafted award-winning chocolate drinks and treats to excite chocolate lovers from all over the world.

As a vegan of 20 years, Juliet has tried to make sure these have generally been plant-based.

With the changes in the London vegan scene in the last couple of years and greater understanding of plant-based diets, the time has come to stop compromising by offering drinks with dairy – the new brand is entirely vegan!

The chocolate shop and cafe is centred around a unique collection of hot chocolates. Single-origin hot chocolates from Colombia, Madagascar and Ecuador have their own distinct tastes. For the range of flavoured hot chocolates, fruits and spices are combined to create flavours including Chilli con choccy, Raspberry Dream, Mintchievous. The award-winning recipes are made with only the finest ingredients, which have been carefully selected for their optimum quality, unique sweetness, and traceability to support social consciousness.

The hot chocolates and nut cups are all made onsite, with a window to the production kitchen offering an exclusive glimpse of the vast pools of melting chocolate being prepared. These are also sold in independent coffee shops around the UK – café owners and retail curators rely on us to ensure that their chocolate tastes as good as the coffee served in their shops.

To accompany the drinks, cakes are all made in house. All with a chocolate twist, banana bread with cocoa nibs can also be upgraded with yoghurt, fruit and chocolate sauce for brunch. Chocolate coconut tart is made with a raw almond base and filled with ganache while chunky cookies are free on Friday afternoons during chocolate happy hour.

The chocolate-inspired brunch menu includes savoury cornbread waffles topped with Mexican- style black bean chilli in mole sauce, healthy chocolate avocado smoothie bowls and indulgent orange-zest Jaffa pancakes drizzled with marmalade-maple syrup and chocolate sauce. Waffles can be customised with choice of toppings – choose to make it a dessert with ice cream and caramel sauce, or breakfast topped with fruit and nuts, all with added chocolate sauce.

Alongisde the retail packets of hot chocolate and chocolates made onsite, the shop area features a carefully curated lineup of bean-to-bar products by expert chocolate makers including Marou, Duffy’s and vegan white chocolate bars from Solkiki.

Located just moments away from Angel tube station, Copperhouse Chocolate promises a welcoming cosy space to relax with a comforting cup of proper hot chocolate, and offers a home for community groups, meetups, and gatherings to connect in London.

You can follow Copperhouse on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

See the exact location of Copperhouse Chocolate thanks to Google Maps.

Vegan Beer Fest UK says goodbye

by

London Vegan Beer Fest was created back in 2013 because the UK capital didn’t have a lot of large scale socialising events targeted just at vegans. Actually, outside of events such as VegfestUK and the Animal Aid Fayre, there weren’t many ways I can recall to celebrate with a vegan beer in your hand.

Following on from a visit to the original Los Angeles Vegan Beer Festival (created and run by Nic Adler and Quarrygirl), I was inspired to create something similar for London that was completely plant-based and focussed around beer.

It started as a small garden party in Bethnal Green for 200 people and over the next six years grew into one of London’s biggest annual vegan parties, welcoming thousands of revellers.

In addition, Vegan Beer Fest UK events were launched in Manchester, Glasgow, Sheffield, and Coventry.

But here we are in 2019 and the vegan landscape has changed drastically. No longer is a moderately-sized vegan event with curated food, beer, and wine offerings such a unique occurrence.

Just as Hackney Downs Vegan Market found itself unwanted due to the mainstreaming of veganism, Vegan Beer Fest UK events started to feel a bit superfluous in the current climate.

People can buy vegan beer in every single shop, supermarket, and pub in the country while High Street restaurants have made veganism more than normal and common. Large scale music festivals are even showcasing entire vegan food and drink sections.

Josh and I are extremely proud of the events we put together and hosted over the past six years and are sad to be wrapping them up, but it is important to be realistic about how the climate for these types of events has changed.

Vegan Beer Fest UK events are not planned for 2019. Who knows? Maybe you will see them return in a different format in the future.

Josh and I would like to personally thank a number of people who helped make these events fun and valuable community happenings over the past half decade.

Much love to the businesses, breweries, and food traders who traded with our events around the UK. Some of you travelled great distances to be a part of these special days and all of you worked tirelessly to prove that veganism does not mean something substandard.

We have eternal gratitude to our host venues. Thank you for taking a chance on us and giving our little vegan beer events safe and special homes over the years.

I can’t express how important the people are who helped us stage and run the events. Some of you were paid and some of you helped simply out of the goodness of your hearts. All of you understood the value these events added to our community. Thank you.

Follow Your Heart has been associated with our events for several years and this California company specialising in vegan cheeses and salad dressings (including the legendary Vegenaise) made our events possible financially. If you saw some of the margins we were running on most years, you wouldn’t underestimate the importance of Follow Your Heart‘s support. We send all of our love and gratitude to them. They are a big company that truly cares.

I send personal and heartfelt thanks to my dear friend Ricardo who has worked on the event design and posters for several years. He is an extremely talented designer and helped us forge a unique personality for Vegan Beer Fest UK events. His ideas will live on in the hundreds of t-shirts and tote bags bought by attendees during the last few years.

These events would have been impossible without all of the wonderful people who attended each year. Thank you for supporting us and for partying alongside us. You drank beer, you devoured street food, and you helped us raise approximately £1,000 for our featured charity Isla Urbana (securing clean and safe water for people in Mexico) through our Charioke rooms at the beer events. We couldn’t drag people away from those amazing charity karaoke sessions!

Lastly, I want to state just how grateful I am to Josh for the support he showed my initial idea of launching a beer festival. In addition, he needs to be thanked for the ridiculous amount of work he put into making these events happen each year. There were early mornings, long days, car journeys from one end of the UK to the other to meet deadlines, karaoke hosting duties, clean ups, stall building tasks, door and ticket collecting duties, and probably about two dozen more jobs that I can’t recall.

Honestly, running these events on our own was emotionally and physically challenging like few experiences I’ve had.

Josh did them all alongside me because he believed, as I did, that we were making special places for people to feel celebrated in their vegan lifestyle.

Vegan Beer Fest UK events were our way of helping to improve outcomes for non-human animals by making people feel good about their compassionate choices.

I look to the future with memories of these events firmly and fondly in my heart.

Free vegan ice cream in London

by

Dappa is a vegan soft serve ice cream company currently taking London by storm.

Not only have they announced a fabulous Summer residency in the capital, but they are giving away 100 free ice creams on Saturday April 20, 2019 t0 celebrate.

The residency kicks off this weekend inside Sourced Market, which is located inside St Pancras Station. They start serving from midday and will be there each week until the end of Summer from Tuesday through Sunday.

To celebrate their opening, they are giving their Instagram followers a chance to nab a free ice cream.

All of the details on how to claim your ice cream are contained in this Instagram post.

Get on over there to register but remember to be early on the day.

If the whole free ice cream extravaganza is too much for you but you wanna stay updated with Dappa, follow them on Instagram.

Glasgow vegan eatery now opening nights

by

Picnic in Glasgow to commence evening service!

Picnic was opened in late 2016 by Michelle Morrow, as a healthy and ethical alternative to the many other food outlets in the Merchant City area. With a 100% vegan menu – yet appealing to vegans and non-vegans alike – Picnic quickly established itself as an extremely popular place for breakfast, lunch or just a simple snack and a cup of coffee.

Picnic is currently the top rated vegan eatery on Happy Cow for Glasgow and is ranked 53rd globally by the same website.

Up until now, those seeking a vegan evening meal in Glasgow have had severely limited options when it comes to bistro style dining in a pleasant environment. Whilst Glasgow enjoys a relative abundance of vegan food outlets, the new Picnic evening menu will offer something fresh and new to the burgeoning scene.

From Saturday, April 20th, Picnic will be opening its doors from 6:30pm for its first evening service. There will be a brand new a la carte bistro menu with a carefully chosen selection of wine and beer – all 100% vegan.

Although working from a kitchen you could conservatively describe as compact, Michelle has devised a range of delectable and healthy starters, mains and desserts. You can view the menu by following this link.

You can follow Picnic on Facebook and Instagram.

I’m sure if these Saturday nights prove popular (and I’m certain they will), Picnic will start exploring expanding the night time openings.

You can phone 0141 552 8788 to reserve a table.

Vegan in Seville

by

Guest post by Mirel.

I hadn’t chosen to visit Seville for the food, but a quick Google told me that some gems awaited me in this tiny but perfectly formed city.

We stayed at the Hotel Fernando III on a bed-and-breakfast basis. Vegan breakfast options were pretty decent; a huge selection of breads, jams, dairy-free margarine spread, cereal, soya milk (already out on the buffet table), three types of juice, nuts, seeds and fresh fruit was all available. From the hot options the baked beans, fried tomatoes and breakfast potatoes were suitable for vegans too.

Directly opposite our hotel was a charming tapas bar called La Bartola. It had good reviews on HappyCow and it was in an incredibly convenient location so we decided to check it out. They had a small but interesting menu with all vegan items clearly marked and knowledgeable staff on hand to provide extra information if needed.

We had the aubergine bruschetta and the sushi, which was battered and deep fried. It sounded like sacrilege at first, but one taste was all the convincing we needed! It was utterly delicious with a crisp outer but still fresh and zingy in the middle. The baked aubergine on the bruschetta had been roasted to perfection before being topped with fresh tomatoes and rocket. It was something I could easily eat every day!

The old town is tiny and very compact so there isn’t much need for public transport, it’s best explored on foot. As we walked down one little road we stumbled upon a lovely little smoothie bar called Milk Away. They sell lots of healthy options like porridge, fruit pots, salad bowls and so on but we had a giant smoothie each. You can choose any combination from the dizzying selection of options they have or pick one of their suggested blends.

While strolling around, we saw vegan options being proudly offered in so many places, sadly we didn’t have time to try them all.

Our final stop was at Bar Alfalfa. A good friend of mine had recommended that we visit this place during our trip, this was the only recommendation we had. It lived up to our expectations with some truly special options packed full of flavour. We had the red pesto bruschetta, pumpkin soup and seeded red pepper hummus with toasted breads. I know nobody can go wrong with hummus but this one definitely surpassed expectations. They told us that the pesto was made from scratch on the premises and the bruschetta was generously topped with toasted pine nuts. The soup was the perfect consistency and came topped with a few extra vegetables.

UK favourite sweets in vegan versions

by

ConVEctionery is a new business that launched around a month ago and is already getting some amazing reviews.

Their popularity seems to come down to them creating products that we all miss from our non-vegan days and replicating them for vegans.

ConVEctionary made these treats for friends and family at first and the feedback was so sensational, they thought they had better let even more people try for themselves.

Check out these vegan versions of Jammie Dodgers, Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat fingers, and Rocky Road.

It all looks fabulous.

You can order for UK delivery and if you use the promo code EASTER, you can get a 10% discount!

Click here to order and be sure to follow ConVEctionery on Instagram.

Vegan nuggets in LA cinema chain

by

Back in December, Los Angeles city councilmember Paul Koretz introduced a bill that, if passed, would require entertainment and travel venues around the city to put at least one vegan dish on their menus.

The Fry Family Food Company and Los Angeles cinema chain Laemmle Theatres decided to get a jump on the passing of the bill and have partnered to bring delicious, healthy vegan products to three Laemmle Theatre locations around Los Angeles.

Family-owned Fry’s is a global plant-based food brand based in South Africa which sells its products in 28 countries around the world and is about to make its U.S. retail debut this spring. Laemmle Theatres, also family owned, is one of the most iconic cinema chains in Los Angeles with its origins dating back to the 1930s.

Fry’s Chik’n Nuggets, which are both non-GMO and gluten-free, are now available in Laemmle Theatres in Santa Monica, North Hollywood and Glendale.

This is fabulous news and I truly believe this is just the start of a new wave of vegan food catering in entertainment venues.

Extra news: some extra gossip on the grapevine suggests Laemmle Theatres will soon be introducing additional menu items from Fry’s including hot dogs and sausage rolls.

Follow Laemmle on Instagram and view movie times/locations online.

Follow Fry’s on Instagram and view their entire range online.

Vegan dining at Wembley Stadium

by

Guest post by Mirel.

Thanks to a huge stroke of luck, I was able to win a pair of tickets for the FA Cup Semi Final to watch Manchester City v Brighton & Hove at Wembley Stadium this weekend. As an added bonus, these tickets were for the Bobby Moore Club level and came with the full corporate hospitality package which is something I’ve never dreamed of experiencing before.

We submitted our dietary requirements in advance and Wembley Stadium confirmed this was all in hand. I had no further information about the food ahead of time, but hoped for the best and knew that if it was terrible we could always buy some tasty Indian food from nearby Ealing Road after the game. Online reviews rave about the hospitality experience and I couldn’t wait to try it out for myself.

Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted at the bag search before heading to the turnstiles and into Wembley Stadium. After our tickets were scanned, we were welcomed into the Bobby Moore Club by a team of well-polished and friendly staff who were waiting to receive us. They quickly matched up our ticket numbers with a table booking and a hostess took us across the restaurant to our own private table. A waiter was ready to receive us at the table, pulled our chairs out and offered us a glass of champagne.

After our glasses were filled, he said “May I just confirm that you are our vegan guests?”. We said yes and he handed us our menu for the day.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but this was instantly impressive. A 5-course fully vegan fine dining menu packed with delicious and inventive things; no portobello mushroom burgers in sight!

A bowl of olives and a bowl of luxury mixed nuts were already on the table so we placed our order for the meal and got started on the nibbles while we waited.

We were then offered a bread selection and our waiter kindly brought over an allergen sheet for us to check before we ate anything. The bread was produced in a bakery which also handles dairy so he alerted us to the possibility of traces, but dairy wasn’t used as an ingredient in the bread so that was perfectly fine for us. Instead of butter, we enjoyed the bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The restaurant was slowly filling up but there was no dip at all in the impeccably high levels of service. Our drinks were topped up and the starter arrived.

As a lifelong soup fan, I was guaranteed to love this course but it was even better than I anticipated. Delicately flavoured, the perfect texture and topped with a few baby pea shoots, this was a fantastic way start to the meal.

The main course followed and it was easy to see how much care had gone into the careful plating of this meal. The colours really popped and made the whole thing look so instantly appetizing.

The amount of flavour in the roasted and pureed vegetables was absolutely amazing. At first the portion seemed on the small side, but it was deceptively filling and beautifully done.

Dessert wasn’t groundbreaking at all, but it was still fresh and delicious.

It would have been lovely to have a slightly more inventive vegan dessert than a fruit salad. I wasn’t expecting an aquafaba meringue, but maybe a fruit crumble, a flapjack, some coconut yoghurt, or even some vegan ice cream which is readily available in our supermarkets these days.

After the first three courses were over, it was time for tea and coffee before heading out to our seats to watch the game. At halftime we headed back inside the Bobby Moore Club restaurant and the halftime snacks awaited us. We each had a plate with a falafel, some fresh vegetables and a pot of hummus to dunk them all in.

We headed back to our outdoor seats and watched the second half of the game, Manchester City were victorious with a final score of 1 – 0. It wasn’t over for us though as we headed back to the restaurant one final time to enjoy our post-game cheeseboard and one more drink before hitting the road.

I had been dubious about the cheese as we know that all vegan cheeses are not created equal. But this one was something special! It was really rich and delicious, but not overpowering at all. I didn’t ask but if I had to guess I’d say it was cashew-based. Either way, we absolutely loved it.

And just like that, our hospitality experience was over. It isn’t something I could have done without being lucky enough to win tickets but it was an incredible day and I enjoyed every minute. It was also impressive to see such excellent vegan options being offered in a place where the average guest isn’t a vegan. Top marks to Wembley Stadium and the Bobby Moore Club!

Wholesale vegan brownie

by

Brighton Bakery is a 100% vegan wholesale bakery based in Brighton.

Since 2015, they have supplied coffee shops and restaurants nationwide with trays of their banging brownies and freakin’ awesome flapjacks. This year, they have launched their best-selling brownie as an individually packaged product for sale in retail environments.

It’s a frozen product, which will have defrosted in transit to you so will be ready to eat!

The bakery is super stoked that their product is available from The Vegan Kind Supermarket which means that anyone in the country can now have the brownies delivered straight to their door.

You can follow Brighton Bakery on Instagram.

Vegan food at Butlin’s

by

Award-winning plant-based Oumph! is now on the menu in The Diner at Butlin’s Minehead and Bognor Regis resorts.

Oumph! is offered as a plant-based option in a selection of dishes on both the starter and the main course section of the menu.

“We are really proud of our exciting new menu in The Diner and are pleased to be offering our guests the choice of Oumph! as a vegan topping on our Traditional Tacos as well as the House Cobb Salad. Our new menu features everything from authentic American dishes and build your own burgers to delicious thick shakes, delighting our guests and providing great value for money,” says Jenny Cooper, Head of F&B and Retail Marketing at Butlin’s.

At Butlin’s one of the best things about getting away is giving yourself the time to do things you don’t often get to do at home, and Butlin’s know that sitting down together to enjoy a meal as a family can be one of those things.

Jenny Cooper continues:

“In the past year we have seen increased demand for us to offer a wider variety of vegetarian and vegan menu options. Oumph! is the perfect choice since it is very versatile and suitable in a range of different dishes. The fact that it’s not only vegan but also gluten-free is an added bonus.”

Dave Smith, Head of UK Foodservice at Oumph! and Food for Progress comments:

“We’re pleased to see that a family focused establishment like Butlin’s have chosen Oumph! to add value to their menu. No doubt this will be very welcome for the ever-increasing number of Oumph! fans among vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians.”

While you wait for your next family vacation at Butlin’s to come around, you can visit the Oumph! website and follow the brand on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.