Vegan night market and roller disco

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London, events rarely come along like this.

Join me for a massive party this Thursday night (July 6, 2017) from 6pm as Hackney Downs Studios throws open its doors for the annual Open Studios event. This is going to be so much fun.

Hackney Downs Studios is known as the home of Hackney Downs Vegan Market and the upcoming London Vegan Beer Fest, but what a lot of people don’t realise is it is also home to a lot of artists, workshops, stores and artisan producers.

Yes, the studios are real studios!

For one night a year, Hackney Downs Studios lets you get behind the scenes by touring all of the spaces and getting up close and personal with all the artist spaces. You can even get hands on with artists, makers, illustrators, designers, potters, record labels, gin distillers, architects, video makers and more.

Try your hand at live screen printing or get crafty with weaving workshops. There will be roaming theatre performances, live painting, exclusive sample sales, installations and music, food, drinks and dancing.

But what’s in it for vegan food lovers?

Food on the evening comes in the form of a vegan mini night market. Buy and devour food from this wonderful collection of vegan traders:

Need more to entice you down this Thursday?

There is a FREE roller disco taking place inside Hackney Showroom with a DJ and after party going on until midnight. Yes, a freakin’ roller disco that won’t cost you any money and they have skates to use on site!

It’s all sounds too good to be true. Hang out with artists behind the scenes, buy vegan street food, and get disco fever on roller skates. And it’s all for free!

You need to register for a free ticket online here so they know how many people are coming along. You can also RSVP/invite friends on the Facebook event page.

Extra note: Hackney Downs Studios is the site for the 5th annual London Vegan Beer Fest taking place on July 15, 2017. More info online here.

South London café turns vegan

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With chef’s hailing from Brazil, Portugal & the Caribbean, the team at Café Van Gogh are on a mission to bring original, authentic, home-cooked, 100% vegan dishes to customers. Their Sunday roast has already been featured in Metro’s best places for vegan Sunday roasts while profits from the café are reinvested into employability training, work experience programmes and food workshops for marginalised members of the local community. Café Van Gogh’s unpretentious, welcoming atmosphere paired with good value, hearty cuisine is attracting foodies from far and wide.

Café Van Gogh’s founder Steve Clarke is keen to democratise access to healthier options for all. After leaving a career in in social care, Clarke intentionally set up shop in an ethnically diverse and densely populated low-income area of south London, making fresh, affordable, plant-based meals accessible to surrounding locals as well as hardcore vegan converts.

Consumer demand for healthier vegan options is undeniable; but so is the demand for great taste. Café Van Gogh’s new summer menu wins on both counts featuring:

  • Sticky seitan ribs, with potato and pickled onion salad, grilled corn, “bacon” butter.
  • Sri-Lankan jackfruit and aubergine stuffed chapatti, served with dhal, pineapple chutney & a selection of salads.
  • Jerk plantain served with smoky beans, brown rice, mango salsa.

Steve said:

We can’t wait to share our new dishes with food lovers in London & beyond. Going 100% vegan is close to my heart and a lifestyle choice I believe in wholeheartedly, but this this isn’t just a personal decision; more and more customers have been asking for it. It’s just plain common sense to serve this demand. For me, the best bit is being proud of a menu that’s so full of real flavour. It seems to hook everyone, regardless of your diet choice.

The sentiment is shared by the café’s loyal customers across social media:

“I’m coming to my sticky seitan ribs today! So thrilled to have such a wonderful, tasty, vibey vegan place on my doorstep. – Jasmine Pender, local resident & customer

As a social enterprise, Café Van Gogh invests the profits made from café sales into dedicated food workshops, training and employability opportunities for marginalised members of the local community in Brixton.

To date social impact activities have included:

  • Providing chef and kitchen staff apprenticeships to NEETs
  • Welcoming field trips from the local primary schools, hosting experiential workshops where the kids taste and explore how raw nutritious ingredients transform into the deliciously diverse menu.
  • Offering a work experience programme to teenagers with learning difficulties from Highshore School putting them on the front line of food prep & customer service.

Café Van Gogh is supported by Big Issue Invest which supports a number of social enterprise organisations tackling poverty and disadvantage.

Café Van Gogh wants to say thank you to the loyal customers that have supported the café over the last year.

To celebrate going 100% vegan and the new summer menu, Café Van Gogh will be rewarding weekly surprise gifts to customers that post about the restaurant or snap their favourite dishes from the menu across Facebook, Twitter & Instagram using the hashtag #CafeVanGoghLDN from 1st – 31st July. More info can be found here.

You can visit Van Gogh Café online. Follow the café on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The closest Underground station is Oval. You can see the exact location of the café here thanks to Google Maps.

Vegan cakes for LGBT charity

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Pride news from superstar vegan bakery, Ms Cupcake.

In the past we have supported larger LGBT rights organisations and charities for Pride, but this year we wanted to help a smaller project in the hope that our donations could make a bigger difference – as well as giving the project some exposure so people could see the great work that was happening there.

This year the bakery is supporting Mosaic LGBT Youth Centre which is based in London – a registered non-profit organisation.

Who are Mosaic then?

“Mosaic LGBT Youth Centre is a London-based registered non-profit organisation, which is specifically designed for young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) people, as well of those who are questioning their sexuality and/or gender identity, aged thirteen to nineteen. We have three central aims – to support, educate, and inspire our young person.”

To help the charity, Ms Cupcake has created a special, one-off cupcake that they will sell across the whole of Pride festival at their Brixton shop (they are available to buy now). Proceeds from each cupcake will be donated to Mosaic.

The cupcake is a Red Velvet and Vanilla sponge mix, with rainbow coloured icing swirl, rolled in multi-coloured sprinkles, with glitter sprinkled on top.

Follow Ms Cupcake on Instagram.

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.

New vegan café for Southampton

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If you go to Southampton often or you happen to be based there all the time, you have now got a new reason to smile.

Say hello to the soon to open Café Thrive. Yes, it’s all vegan!

With an opening just weeks away (or maybe days by the time you read this), Café Thrive is going to be a very welcome addition to the Southampton vegan food scene with a location just off Queensway below Houndwell and Hogslands Parks. Actually, click here to see the exact location.

The menu for Café Thrive is absolutely stiunning and is packed solid with all day breakfasts, sandwiches, burger meals, stone baked pizza, Sunday roast dinners and milkshakes. They even have a separate menu for children!

Prepare yourself before you click here to view the menu online. You are not going to cope. (Warning: menu loads as PDF)

Let’s have a sneaky look at some of the food they have been posting on social media.

Our waffles come with a scoop of #dairyfree Ice Cream and your choice of toppings. Pictured: Chocolate sauce & banana.

A post shared by Cafe Thrive Southampton (@cafethrivesouthampton) on

Introducing another 2 of our Vegan Milkshakes: Matcha Green Tea, and Biscoff Caramel Biscuit.

A post shared by Cafe Thrive Southampton (@cafethrivesouthampton) on

Introducing two of our vegan sundaes, chocolate brownie and banoffee fudge. 🙂

A post shared by Cafe Thrive Southampton (@cafethrivesouthampton) on

Love pizza? So do we! And we have lots of toppings to choose from to create your perfect pizza!

A post shared by Cafe Thrive Southampton (@cafethrivesouthampton) on


Yes. It all looks amazing.

You need to follow Café Thrive on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay updated on exact opening times.

Yay for vegan Southampton!

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.

New vegan burger bar for London

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London. You are on a roll.

A brand new vegan burger business is set to open on July 1, 2017 (this Saturday!) in Camden Market and the food sounds and looks lovely.

VBurger is the brainchild of north Londoners Reuven Cohen and Amir Wayman, who have teamed up with chef Yossi Edri to open their first vegan burger bar in Camden Market.

The pair state that this is only the first of several VBurger outlets they plan to open, so it definitely feels as though London has some special to look forward to.

The menu being launched in Camden includes a beetroot burger, a falafel burger and a seitan cutlet burger. You can dress your burger up with vegan cheese or avocado and make a complete meal with skin-on fries, sweet potato wedges, coleslaw and decadent brownies.

Even better news involves the menu expanding some time after opening to include another five burgers.

This is fabulous news for vegan Londoners. We get a fast food burger joint from this Saturday and it looks like it is going to be a big deal. Get along 7 days a week between 10am and 7pm.

Follow VBurger on Facebook and Instagram.

New menu at Burger Lols

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You all know about the amazing vegan burger joint in Sheffield, right?

Burger Lols has been keeping people happy for a while in the South Yorkshire city and has amassed quite a number of fans and regular customers. Each one of these loving customers is going to be thrilled to see the new updated menu just released.

Check it out.

The menu sounds super exciting and the gluten free diners amongst you will no doubt be happy to see the specially created section.

Get along to Burger Lols as soon as you can and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Extra note: Tickets are on sale now for the first ever Sheffield Vegan Beer Fest. Click here to buy early bird tickets for just £4 plus small fee. Burger Lols will be the perfect place to head for a recovery meal the day after.

Superstar vegan meats in London

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This is HUGE news for Sgaia Vegan Meats.

The superstar food company has impressed people all over the UK (and the world with shipments heading to New Zealand recently) so it was only a matter of time before a big name store wanted in on the action.

Whole Foods Market stores around the UK are now stocking the Scotland-based vegan meat range. This is huge news for a completely independent vegan business that started so small just a little while ago.

If you are in London, the news gets better for you this weekend.

Sgaia will be at Whole Foods Market Piccadilly Circus all weekend handing out samples. You can visit them on Saturday (June 24) or Sunday (June 25) between midday and 3pm and 4pm until 7pm and try some of their plant based Mheats.

Get along and celebrate with this very deserving vegan business.

Follow Sgaia on Instagram.

Make vegan esquites – recipe

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A simple recipe for a Mexican favourite. Esquites couldn’t be easier or tastier.

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen or fresh sweetcorn 1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup diced white onion
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried epazote*

To garnish:

Chile powder
Vegan mayonnaise
Coriander/Cilantro
Diced white onion
Fresh lime

Instructions:

  • ​Place corn, stock, onion, oregano and epazote in a medium saucepan
  • Simmer for approximately 10 minutes
  • Serve in small bowls, ensuring each bowl has plenty of stock
  • Garnish according to taste. In Mexico, people sometimes add cheese and cream so you could experiment with vegan versions of these.

*This herb is common in Mexico but may not be easy to find outside North America. Try online or specialty shops.

Recipe and photo remain property of Sean O’Callaghan and may not be reproduced without permission. © fatgayvegan.com