Family vegan treats business

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Just a quick post to share news of a family-run vegan baked goods and chocolate business that will deliver to your home or workplace.

Fliss’s Fancy is not just a online shop where you can order tasty delights, it is also a way for owner Emma to have a meaningful way to remember her daughter who passed away.

Let’s hear from Emma:

I set up my business in September after making a few treats for my husband’s uncle who is a vegan. I was dairy free at the time. After losing my daughter, I didn’t want to put any animals or humans through what I went through. After learning more and more about the industry, I am now vegan myself and feel so much better for it.

I set my business up in memory of my daughter Felicity. I’ve sold at the West Midlands Vegan Festival and I’m looking into appearing at a few more events next year. I sell mostly online and have enjoyed amazing feedback from people who are shocked that they taste the ‘same’ if not better than dairy versions.

I was donating my money I got from the business to our Just Giving page as we had been in the media because of what happened to our daughter (hospital negligence). We’ve now raised that money so I will now be looking at sending a percentage of money I make to charities. This week I’ve donated to the Lullaby Trust.

You can order Emma’s treat at her online shop and follow her business on Instagram.

Before you head off to another part of the Internet, let’s look at some photos of her food.

Vegan cafe set to expand

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Here is a success story worthy of a bit of hollering.

The Fields Beneath is an absolutely adored café and coffee shop in Kentish Town, London. The outlet got a whole lot of positive press earlier this year when it became fully vegan.

Yes. An already super busy and well-respected coffee emporium ditched dairy and they haven’t looked back. 2017 has been a bumper year for The Fields Beneath and now they are looking for some community help so they can expand in 2018.

You can read all about the fundraising campaign here, but the basic facts are simple.

The Fields Beneath plan on opening location number two and they already have half the funds they need. They need our help to raise the rest of the cash.

You can be part of history by helping to establishment London’s first chain of vegan coffee shops!

Of course you can just give some spare change if you believe in supporting independent vegan business, but you can also pick some from a line up of impressive rewards that includes a year-long supply of coffee, dinner and a movie at the cafe, or a limited edition art print.

The Fields Beneath have less than a month to raise £30,000, so please dig deep if you can and share this campaign far and wide. Click here to donate.

Follow The Fields Beneath on Instagram.

V in the Park

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Do you enjoy camping? Is Scotland a place you like to be?

This campaign might just be of interest to you.

A group of incredibly active people in Scotland are raising funds to host the first ever V in the Park event, an outdoor vegan camping extravaganza taking place in July 2018.

Watch the video above or if you don’t want to or it doesn’t work, you can get on over to the fundraising campaign page for more info.

One of the best aspect of this fundraising campaign is that the rewards are all tickets, camping passes, and parking permits related to the event.

Click here to support the initiative and grab your passes now.

Vegan pop up in Brixton

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In case you’ve missed the almost-reportable levels of spam I’ve been sending out to the universe, I’m here to tell you that I have a book being published in January via Nourish Books.

I’m also here to tell you that you can help me celebrate this book achievement AND eat some delicious food at an exclusive pre-launch supper being hosted by Café Van Gogh on December 12, 2017.

Tickets for the event are £30 plus booking fee and for that price you will enjoy a gorgeous 3-course meal and take home an advance copy of my book Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t.

Click here to book your ticket. The dinner will run from 7pm until 10pm.

I’m thrilled to be able to support this eatery in the important work they do in assisting vulnerable and marginalised community members when it comes to finding meaningful, rewarding and enriching catering employment.

Join me for a wonderful meal and let’s support this crucial café and follow Café Van Gogh on Instagram.

If you cannot attend the meal but would still like a copy of my book, you can pre-order your copy online.

Vegan Christmas treats in Coop

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I often make a joke at this time of year where I say I do not celebrate Christmas, but I do celebrate cake/chocolate/etc.

Check out these photos and understand why I’m in full celebration mode right now thanks to the Cooperative supermarkets here in the UK.

Vegan Baileys Christmas Hamper

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I was sent a gift this week that I suspect quite a few readers will love.

I reported a while back about the new vegan Baileys and how it is now available through Whole Foods Market stores in the UK.

Well, now you can get your hands on a bottle even if you can’t get along to one of those stores.

Online retailer The Goodness Project is currently selling a Christmas hamper that contains the vegan Baileys as the centrepiece.

The box contains a bottle of the drink, truffles, biscotti and chocolate.

The web retailer is also selling single bottles of the drink and you can order your own supply by clicking here.

New vegan food outlet in Oxford

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Dear Oxford, UK.

You have a brand new vegan eatery opening this Saturday (November 25, 2017)!

Here is a little piece of info from the owner of Happy Friday Kitchen:

I’m Lola. I’m 24 and have been vegan for two and a half years. I decided to open a vegan restaurant offering people veganised versions of their favourite comfort food on Cowley Road in Oxford. We’ll be serving vegan comfort food including pizzas, burgers, burritos, nachos, mac n cheese, Buddha bowls, and lots of fresh baked goods every day. There will also be cocktails, craft beers and hot drinks, as well as a small retail section selling vegan food products and gifts.

This place sounds fabulous.

Like the Happy Friday Kitchen Facebook page and follow them on Instagram.

See the exact location thanks to Google Maps.

Now, let’s look at some of the food to be served. I’m drooling!

Vegan on the radio

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In case you missed it, you can listen back to The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4 right here online.

The show description is as follows:

The number of young people turning vegan is rising. Grace Dent meets some of the people opening vegan eateries and finds out how creatives are using social media to further the “vegangelical” cause.

Grace goes to the Hackney Downs Vegan Market to speak to Jay Brave who argues that adopting a vegan diet is as much about personal autonomy and challenging the status quo as it is an ethical step. He delivers a few bars of ‘Vegan Shut Up’, his parody of Stormzy’s ‘Shut Up’ released on World Vegan Day, and tells Grace why veganism is becoming big in the London grime scene. She also speaks to Sean O’Callaghan AKA Fat Gay Vegan who set-up the market and has seen its popularity grow, and gives his reaction to the mainstream restaurants who are falling over themselves to come up with vegan menus.

Ian Theasby and Henry Firth from Bosh! create simple and imaginative vegan recipes which are filmed and broadcast to over 1.4m Facebook users. Toby Field visits them at their studio to find out what fuels their idea to create plant-based options and to ask why they keep out of the argument around the ethics of veganism.

Maria Rose has just opened a vegan cafe in Barnstaple and explains how it’s slowly creating a more enlightened scene in North Devon.

So is this just a trend that’s fine for the hipster herbivores of Camden, or can it gain traction across the country and start a food revolution?

The episode will probably only be online for a limited time, so apologies if you follow that link and it’s no longer there.

Order the FGV boot

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As you probably already know, I have a vegan boot.

Yes, a Fat Gay Vegan boot is in the world and it is fabulous.

I tried a pair on today and I’m totally in love. Check it out.

The boots are made in collaboration with brand new ethical apparel company Workers Playtime and we have a very limited run that can be ordered right now.

The size run starts at European 36 (UK 3) and goes up to European 46 (UK 12). The upper is patent microfibre, the sole stitching feature is pink, the lining is a pink fleece, and you even get a pair of pink laces.

This really is the boot of my dreams. Use your festive gift receiving excuses to get yourself a pair!

Order online now and your new pair of FGV boots will be sent directly to you straight away.

You can see close up shots of the boot and order your pair online here.

Free sound and mixing opportunities

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This is VERY cool.

Steve of Friendship Vegan Shoes wanted me to share some amazing information with London’s vegan community.

I’ll let him explain it in his own words.

I don’t know if you know but before Caroline and I set up Friendship Vegan Shoes, I had 41 years in the Music industry as a recording engineer and some of that time was spent directing and producing TV shows.

I retired and went into vegan shoes but we recently set up a world class surround mix studio as we get invited to mix for film and TV commercially.

Now we get empty days in the surround studio so Caroline and I want to give these studio days away free of charge (and include an engineer where and when needed) to film and programme makers we would align with such as vegan animal rights and environmental action groups.

Here is a link to the studio page and the photo (below) shows the Fairlight EVO system control desk.

The studio can mix content from Mono to 7:1 surround and is acoustically treated and very comfortable to work in, and without fear of repetition we offer it free of charge to film and programme makers when we agree with their mission.

I’d be really grateful if you can share this message. My experience is when budget gets tight the first thing that suffers is audio post production, but nowadays audio is half the picture!

Follow Friendship Vegan Shoes on Instagram and reach out to Steve and Caroline if you are in need of sound mixing for your ethical project!