Shoreditch loses vegan food stand

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Remember how excited we all were when the vegan kebab stand launched in Shoreditch?

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These delicious wraps from What The Pitta took Shoreditch by storm, but sadly a lot of good things have to end.

PUMP was the food court hosting What The Pitta but it appears the organisers had to close down the entire complex. This means What The Pitta was forced out of Shoreditch, which is obviously sad news for their hundreds of loyal customers.

As upsetting as this news is, all is not lost.

What The Pitta now has a permanent location in the Boxpark Croydon complex and in addition, if you live around the Hackney area, their completely-satisfying food is available for delivery.

Get over to the What The Pitta website for links showing the Croydon location and how to order in East London for delivery.

RIP PUMP. Long live What The Pitta!

Vegan work available in London

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Are you looking for part-time work with a vegan company in London?

Legendary vegan restaurant Manna of Primrose Hill is offering work for part-time waiting staff. The role of course requires you to be available for flexible shifts including possible night and weekend work.

Working in a non-vegan restaurant when you are a vegan has got to be a pretty bad situation in which to find yourself, so please email manage@mannaV.com if you are interested in having a completely plant-based job.

They are particularly interested in you if you have experience handling cash/cash registers/payment systems.

Superstar vegan restaurant in new music video

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There is a new band releasing music in 2017 called Dreamcar and I adore what I have heard so far.

Actually, I adored this band before I had even heard a beat or bar. Dreamcar is made up of Tony Kanal, Adrian Young and Tom Dumont of No Doubt, plus Davey Havok of AFI.

No Doubt has been one of my favourite bands on the planet for a very long time and I’ve written about Tony’s veganism in the past.

Now the latest music video from this new supergroup features veganism heavily, with the band heading into a venue called ‘Vegan Club’ to play a gig and even convening in a superstar vegan restaurant in Hollywood!

Check it out above!

Dreamcar is hanging out at Crossroads vegan restaurant on Melrose in Hollywood.

This is a lovely full-circle moent for the band as Crossroads was the location for their first meeting to discuss whether they wanted to move forward with the project.

Kill For Candy is a fabulous song made even better by the vegan-centric music video.

You can watch the music video by clicking here.

Follow Dreamcar on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Meaty vegan burger

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I live part of the year in London and part of the year in Mexico City.

Most of my time spent in those two cities is spent drooling over vegan food photos coming out of the USA. There are seemingly dozens of new plant-based products every week, a lot of which never make it to the UK or Mexico.

This week I find myself in California, so I’m wasting no time when it comes to playing catch up.

Number one on my list this trip was the Beyond Burger by Beyond Meat.

Tonight I visited my buddies Laura and Jonas for a BBQ session and thankfully they had plans to throw the Beyond Burger on the grill.

Check this out.

The Beyond Burger by @beyondmeat is AMAZING. One of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Looks like meat! #vegan

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That is one realistic looking burger, right?!

The Beyond Burger looks a lot like a minced meat patty and cooked up perfectly over the coals… although that probably had something to do with Jonas being an expert BBQ operator.

I don’t know when this incredible product will make it out to the UK and Mexico, but believe me when I say it will be worth the wait. It is close to being the best burger I have ever tasted.

You can follow Beyond Meat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

London pizza shop turns vegan

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London. Here is some news to make you grin.

One of the best pizza restaurants on the planet has turned vegan.

Picky Wops of Fulham has ditched meat and dairy in order to become the first 100% vegan pizza outlet in West London.

I asked the team over there what made them take the big step and they replied:

Because we cannot keep doing what we believe is wrong, we cannot keep sustaining cruelty! We believe that everyone should contribute in every reality, small or big doesn’t matter. That’s why we want be part of the change ourselves, with our restaurant. We are very happy!

The bases at Picky Wops are absolutely delicious, made with specially-crafted flour mixes that are baked to perfection. I wrote about one of my first experiences with the shop here.

Get along to Picky Wops for top level pizza now. Follow the shop on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

See the location of Picky Wops thanks to Google Maps.

PETA slams space scientists

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Wow.

PETA has pulled some questionable stunts in their time but this takes the dairy-free cake.

My cousin Muriel in Australia scanned this news article that appeared this morning in her local paper, The Porpoise Spit Bugle, and sent it over to me.

Have a read below, but the gist of the article is PETA’s attention-seeking stunt to have scientists rename the Milky Way.

Check it out and let me know how you feel about these type of publicity campaigns. Do they help or hinder our vegan cause?

New monthly vegan brunch club in London

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Hey, do you all know about Pesky’s?

This completely vegan food provider is the resident restaurant at The Yard, Hackney Wick. They serve plant-based cuisine that looks superb and I originally wrote about them back here.

Well, now I have some new news about Pesky’s and it’s fabulous.

Once a month, commencing Sunday April 9, 2017, Pesky’s will host a vegan brunch club.

The brunch consists of two drinks (Bloody Mary or Mimosa) plus the main meal of either decadent pancakes or a full English breakfast (with dessert and sides) for £18 in advance or £20 on the day.

You can buy tickets for the launch event online here.

Stay updated with all future brunch dates by following Pesky’s on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Huge promotion for dairy-free milk

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As far as mainstream promotions for vegan alternatives go, this is one of the best I’ve heard.

Offer people a free coffee outside a busy London station but only if they take one made with oat milk. Otherwise, they have to pay £2 for a black cup of coffee. I love it!

And it gets better. This promotion is running for an entire week!

Non-dairy milk superstar Oatly is hosting a super-sized coffee giveaway on the green at Boxpark Shoreditch (just next to Shoreditch High Street Station) between Monday April 3 and Sunday April 9, 2017.

The pop will run between 11am and 7pm Monday through to Saturday, with shorter opening times of 11am until 5pm on Sunday.

But what is going on at the marketing event?

Members of the public will be invited to watch skilled baristas create top quality coffees using the Oatly Barista Edition. Once they have been shown how to make the hot drinks to perfection and given a chance to win an Oatly t-shirt, they will then be given the coffee free of charge.

Oatly is undertaking this huge week-long advertising campaign to convince people that coffee without dairy milk is not a scary prospect and that it can actually be delicious.

Oatly will be pushing the message that choosing oat milk over dairy is a kinder, more compassionate choice that also has huge benefits for the environment.

The best part of the promotion happens when someone rejects the coffee with oat milk and asks for a black coffee.

Anyone refusing to try a coffee made with Oatly will be asked to pay £2 for a cup made black.

I absolutely love this cheeky approach to promoting plant-based alternatives to dairy. It is a sly payback for the countless times vegans have been asked to pay extra to get a dairy-free drink in coffee shops all over London.

You can wish Oatly well with their promotion over on Twitter and get along to the pop-up coffee shop in Shoreditch next week. You might even win one of these cute Post Milk Generation t-shirts in their giveaway.

Take some non-vegans friends with you. Free coffee might just be the thing that gets them to consider the switch!

UK ice cream shop going vegan!

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Amazing news!

An ice cream and dessert parlour in Withington, Manchester is turning into a 100% vegan establishment from April 4, 2017.

Ice Shack is set to impress as they bring 22 vegan ice creams (a mixture of sorbets and ice creams) into the parlour, as well as a counter featuring approximately 10 cakes!

All dairy ice cream flavours are being fazed out and removed as I type, in preparation for the huge new direction next week.

In addition, Ice Shack will feature a chocolate counter hosting more than 20 vegan dark, milk and white chocolate truffles, a raw chocolate bar range featuring five flavours, chocolate shortbreads and a vegan dog biscuit range with peanut butter and carrot treats.

Want a milkshake? You can choose between soy, almond or oat milk at Ice Shack.

In even more amazing news (well, for me anyway), the owners of the ice cream parlour have named a brand new flavour after me. Yes, me!

You will be able to get your fill of Fat Gay Vegan Mojito. I’m so excited to have a flavour named after me and super proud to be a tiny, tiny part of this incredible vegan business transformation.

If you live in Manchester, make it a priority to get along after April 4, 2017 and support this independent business. Ice Shack is basing everything on our community getting behind them so make plans and buy a lot and buy often.

Follow Ice Shack on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Show them all the love and thank them for everything they are doing to help reduce harm to cows. Amazing. I’m in awe.

Cuban food done vegan

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Los Angeles has long been one of the finest destinations on the planet when it comes to vegan eating, but it still manages to surprise a seasoned eater like me in 2017.

Tonight we dined with Equelecua in Inglewood and we were impressed, delighted and satisfied.

Equelecua claims to be the first and only vegan Cuban restaurant in the world and they are probably correct. When have you ever seen a vegan Cuban eatery?

The menu is rammed with specialties such as Arroz con Pollo, wings with garlic sauce, Cuban sandwich, and freshly-brewed fruit based sodas.

Just sampled some super tasty #vegan food at @equelecuacc in Los Angeles.

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Arroz con pollo at @equelecuacc #vegan Cuban cafe in LA tonight. xx

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The food above (vegan chicken with rice) tasted as good as it looks. Superb. If you ever find yourself in the area, Equelecua is the perfect choice for either a giant meal or a few quick snacks.

If you can’t get along soon, be sure to follow the Instagram page and marvel at all the wonder they create and share.