UK shopping village gets a vegan cafe

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Do you remember the excitement when I told you about the shopping village in Coventry, UK where you could find a vegan brewery and a vegan grocery store?

That original blog post about Fargo Village absolutely blew up, with a huge number of readers from all over the UK and the world wanting to find out more.

But that was then.

BIG news coming out of this already very vegan-friendly shopping village tells us that there is now a 100% vegan café on site. How great is that?

Three vegan businesses located within the same shopping village.

Totally Vegan describes itself as a ‘100% vegan cafe serving everyday, affordable food and drink to support you and your family’s vegan journey’. Sounds like a positive outlook to me!

Nikki who runs the Green Unicorn vegan grocery store in Fargo Village had the following to say about the new café:

Totally Vegan opened in early February to queues out the door and many satisfied customers (their lemon and blueberry cake is to die for and they makes a gorgeous chickpea flour quiche too) – and their sausage rolls are so good they’ve even got the non-vegans clamouring for them!

Nikki also let me know they are hosting their own vegan fair in the shopping village this April. Coventry certainly is taking to this vegan malarky, right?!

You should like Totally Vegan Café on Facebook and follow them on Instagram.

Yay for vegans taking over shopping villages!

Extra note: the photo in this blog post belongs to Totally Vegan and is reproduced here for promotional purposes.

New vegan makeup brand in UK

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One of the most common talking points I see online amongst vegans is makeup. They wanna know which brands are vegan and they wanna know where to buy them.

Knowing what demand there is for vegan makeup in the UK, I’m expecting a huge amount of interest in this post about Guilty Free.

Guilty Free is based in Nottingham and is committed to eco-friendly, vegan makeup. Their range includes much of what you’d expect from a cosmetics brand including bronzer, lipstick, gloss, eye shadow, blusher, foundation, eye liner and concealer.

I don’t understand a lot about makeup science, but Guilty Free products are trumpeted as being mineral-based with no perfumes, dyes, chemicals or preservatives. So it sounds like you can be kind to animals and your skin at the same time.

Check out some of these gorgeous products.

It looks so fabulous. Makes me wanna start wearing makeup again (my teenage years were exquisite).

You need to see the entire Guilty Free range on their website, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

Yay for vegan makeup!

Extra note: all of these images belong to Guilty Free.

Make and sell vegan donuts

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Super quick post to tell you about a part time vegan job with one of London’s most-loved street food vendors.

If you’re an experienced baker and have worked with enriched dough, shoot an email over to peanutbutterbakery@gmail.com with your CV and a little bit about you. This is a part time position mainly on weekends.


Yes. Everything Peanut Butter Bakery makes is incredible and you could be a part time component of this winning team.

Extra note: exclusive announcement regarding my Hackney Downs Vegan Market on March 18, 2017… Peanut Butter Bakery will be trading!

Vegan burger at London kitchen takeover

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You all know about my buddy Vanessa and her delicious food business called Essential Vegan, right?

Over the past few years, Vanessa has taken her incredible brand of hand made plant-based cuisine to all corners of London and beyond. She works so incredibly hard.

Remember her triumphant pop up café on Portobello Road? Or may you dined with her at her stand in PUMP Shoreditch. Of course a lot of you ate Vanessa’s food at VegFestUK London.

Now Vanessa has announced her next food adventure and you should put this one in your diary.

Essential Vegan is launching a 6-week kitchen takeover in Hackney at popular food and drink venue, Haunt, from March 14, 2017.

Haunt is a super chilled out bar that is beautifully decorated and only a short stroll along Stoke Newington Road from either Dalston Kingsland or Stoke Newington Overground stations. Click here to see where Haunt is located thanks to Google Maps.

Look at how beautiful this venue is:

Not only will you be able to devour and savour gorgeous, gourmet vegan food made by Essential Vegan, but it will be the ONLY food being served inside Haunt for this 6-week period. So you won’t have to sit next to anyone chomping down on animal products.

Ready to see the menu?

Vanessa is adored for her seitan burgers and as you can see in the menu, she is launching her new Essential Gourmet burger.

It’s like her original burger but taken to the next level with aged vegan cheese and special sauces. Check it out:

I’m drooling.

The menu also features a special line up for weekend brunch, served between midday and 3pm.

If you have the means to enjoy this food, make a special effort to join Essential Vegan for this limited kitchen takeover. As it is less than a 10-minute walk to Hackney Downs Vegan Market, I predict that area is going to be EXTREMELY busy on March 18.

Visit Essential Vegan online (super rad recipes), like them on Facebook and follow via Twitter and Instagram.

Find more info on Haunt on their website.

Tegan the Vegan London

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Being half a world away in Mexico City for half of every year means I miss out on a lot of incredible vegan food developments in London.

Of course I’m reporting as much as I possibly can, but I can’t physically get my greedy hands on a lot of the new and interesting stuff. If I’m completely honest, it does lead to a slight case of FOMO.

Take Tegan the Vegan for instance.

Tegan has been burning up the east London vegan scene for a little while now, but I’m yet to taste any of her amazing-looking food due to my globetrotting ways.

You can find Tegan the Vegan getting involved in all manner of events around the UK capital (and sometimes slightly further afield) and everyone I know who has tried her treats can’t stop raving about her skills. Tegan seems to have something very special going on.

There is often a weekly cake and vegan cheese menu posted via the Tegan the Vegan Facebook page and if you live in her catchment area, you can place an order for home delivery.

Check out this sample menu below.

OK. Before I make myself completely starving and jealous, let me give you a few links so you can get involved with this vegan food business on the rise. Get in on the ground floor before Tegan is recognised as London’s next vegan superstar!

Like Tegan the Vegan on Facebook. Follow Tegan the Vegan on Twitter and Instagram.

Now I’m going to spoil you with one of my favourite photos from Tegan’s Facebook page. Enjoy.

Extra note: Tegan’s incredible logo was created by Alex Bertram-Powell. See his art here.

All photos and images are property of Tegan the Vegan and reproduced here for publicity purposes.

Review of Sanctuary London

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The talented, funny and fierce-as-fuck Tatum has written a guest blog post for me today. After you read it, you really should follow her on Instagram.

Sanctuary review by Tatum:

Sanctuary sounds like a spa but it’s actually a ridiculously delicious vegan restaurant.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been seeing beautiful Instagram pics of burgers and milkshakes. I became a bit nervous that my time spent drooling over the pictures had raised my expectations ridiculously high. What could live up to that? Sanctuary did. Several times over.

The restaurant is about a five minute walk from Fulham Broadway station and only ten minutes away from GreenBay vegan grocery store. We went early on a Friday evening and were in luck to get a table. The restaurant has a casual vibe and is decorated with cute pics of animals, I particularly liked the lamb with the sweater called Ismael.

From the tapas menu we ordered the croquetas filled with Shiitake and portobello mushrooms which came with a tartare dipping sauce. They were delicately fried and the mushrooms had a creamy consistency. It made me think of how well the chef at The Sanctuary could also make a jalapeño popper.


For the mains we had to have the much-pictured burgers. After some deliberation, because it all looked so good, we settled on the Hippo Rampage. It had bacon, guacamole, cheese and smoky onions on a beef style burger with a bun that looked like a pretzel roll. It was a transcendent burger eating experience. The Hippo Rampage had every flavour you’d ever want with a burger plus that special x factor quality, when your tastebuds are perfectly sated and at the same time ravenous for more.

We didn’t get just one main dish we also got Saving Nemo which is the fishiest fish burger I’ve ever had. The first bite was heavenly but some kind of magic happened because with each subsequent bite the flavours got even better. I’d recommend getting the sweet potato fries option over the regular.

The desserts were almost sold out but we got the last brownie and ordered a blueberry cheesecake milkshake. It was a a brilliant way to end the meal. The milkshake had cream cheese in it which is why it ricocheted off the scale of creaminess.

There is so much else to try on their menu and we are planning to eat our way through all of it. For the next visit I have my eye on their croissant sandwich and the Vegan Fish and Chips. Oh and the vegan chorizo melty sandwich, now thats made me hungry all over again, ok I’ll have to stop now but in conclusion go to The Sanctuary. At the rate I’m going, I’ll probably see you there.

Follow Sanctuary on Facebook and Instagram. Visit their website.

Delicious horchata recipe

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Support these videos via Patreon.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup plain white rice*
  • 4 cups of water
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 cup of plant milk**
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
  • 1⁄2 cup of sugar

Instructions:

– Place rice in a large bowl and cover with four cups of very hot (but not boiling) water
– Break up the cinnamon sticks and add them to the bowl
– Allow to cool for about an hour then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight or for at least three hours
– Once soaked, place the soaked rice, cinnamon sticks and water into your blender jug
– Add the plant milk and the sugar
– Blend for at least 11⁄2 minutes, ideally longer, until your Horchata is smooth and there are no chunks of cinnamon
– If your Horchata is very thick, feel free to add some more water or plant milk to it
– Pour over ice and sprinkle with ground cinnamon before serving

* In Mexico, plain long-grain white rice is most commonly used but you can experiment with a mixture of different rices to produce different flavours. Almonds, walnuts and other nuts are sometimes added to the rice before soaking so try different mixtures according to your taste. In Spain, Horchata is commonly made with tiger nuts/chufa.

** We used a vanilla soy milk but any other plant milk will do. If you don’t use a vanilla-flavoured plant milk, you may want to add a teaspoon of vanilla essence to your Horchata before blending.

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

Meat lobbying body to sponsor LGBTQ event

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Activists in Australia were left stunned and upset following the announcement by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras committee that the meat lobbying board in Australia had joined as a major sponsor.

Mardi Gras has developed into a major cultural and political behemoth over recent decades, with the 2017 event set to attract hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people and their supporters across the two-week festival.

For the majority of participants, the highlight of Mardi Gras is the huge world-famous parade that sees more than 10, 000 participants rollicking along the city’s Oxford Street in a eye-dazzling show of queer culture. It is a reminder that the advances in the fight for LGBTQ rights were hard won in struggles going back decades.

Mardi Gras is a space to celebrate the community rising up against oppression and that is why the involvement of Meat and Livestock Australia is horrendous.

I can’t really say it better than the people who started a petition calling on Meat and Livestock Australia to be removed from the Mardi Gras line up, so let me use the words of Katrina Fox (author and journalist) and Janine Curll (food law and regulation PhD candidate):

We are proud, longtime members of the LGBTQ community. We love Mardi Gras and we love equality.
That’s why we are horrified at SGLMG’s new sponsorship deal with Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA)’s ‘We Love Our Lamb’ brand.
We believe SGLMG’s involvement with MLA goes against the progressive social values Mardi Gras espouses. MLA is a powerful lobby group that works in many forums to ensure the meat industry is minimally or relatively unregulated with respect to the diverse range of animal welfare concerns in industrialised food systems.
Over the past 5 to 10 years, the issue of animal welfare and animal rights has solidified as the campaign of the 21st century for equality and justice for all living creatures. People have woken up to the cruelty that is the Australian meat industry. The concern about ethical meat production is evident throughout the marketplace.
MLA is doing its best to delegitimise the concerns of many ethical consumers and SGLMG is supporting this work through the sponsorship deal.
For MLA to encourage the community to perform the ‘lamb dance’ – choreographed with moves named after dismembered lamb parts – and join the Parade in celebration of this cruel industry is an affront to many in 2017.

The above text has been borrowed from the petition site on which Katrina and Janine are collecting signatures to present to the Mardi Gras committee.

As Mardi Gras parade is fast approaching, I implore you to sign the petition online here immediately and share this blog post or the petition with as many people as possible.

Please also take a moment to voice your concern to the Mardi Gras committee via Facebook and Twitter. Tell them that the press release from Meat and Livestock Australia in which they state lamb is ‘the dish that brings all Australians together and celebrates inclusivity’ stands in stark contrast to the anti-oppression message of Mardi Gras. Commodifying the slaughter of sheep is not something to be celebrated at a cultural and political event that has risen from the historical hardship and destruction of LGBTQ people.

Queer liberation is not an opportunity to promote an industry that is only profitable thanks to the mistreatment and killing of millions of non-human animals.

Queer liberation should not be for sale, especially when the buyer is a corporate lobbying group whose sole purpose is to convince the public that non-human animals should be mass farmed and slaughtered in unfathomable numbers.

I grew up in Australia as a gay person and I know that Mardi Gras exists to remember those who were rejected by families, scorned by communities, experimented on by doctors, sent to prisons, excluded from mainstream constructs of happiness, beaten in the street, and murdered in their neighbourhoods and homes.

Meat and Livestock Australia. Get your bloodstained, money-hungry hands away from our celebration.

The following is the instructional video published by Meat and Livestock Australia to encourage people to learn the ‘lamb dance’. As mentioned on the petition page, each dance move is named after a ‘cut’ of lamb.

Vegan revolution in Sudbury

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Need some anecdotal evidence that veganism is on an unstoppable roll in the UK?

The English market town of Sudbury, Suffolk now has two 100% vegan eateries. Yes. Two vegan food outlets in a regional town with a population hovering around the 20,000 mark.

Incredible!

First up is Cradle. This restaurant is a social enterprise which ploughs profits back into community-minded projects such as food waste solutions and local gardens.

Take a trip to the Cradle Facebook page and scroll through some of the cuisine photos. It all looks delicious, creative and rather fancy. You can also visit their website.

Next up we have Kind Cuisine, a more relaxed looking café serving soups, salads, cakes and drinks.

Owners Linda and Mark are on a mission to show locals how to eat plant-based foods in order to protect animals and the planet.

You should follow Kind Cuisine on Facebook and Twitter.

If Sudbury can do it, so can your town.

Get active and start vegan food opportunities, especially businesses that fold back into the community. And if you can’t start your own business, make the effort to support the businesses that do spring up when you have the means.

If you don’t live in Sudbury but have the means to visit for a few days, put some cash into the economy by dining with these two vegan establishments. If you can’t make it along, consider a kind word of support on their social media pages to let them know their commitment to veganism and their local community is appreciated.

Vegan fish and chips in a gay bar

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London, you had better rush out to this event.

Independent bars and businesses struggle uphill to survive in the UK capital. Rent prices are absurd and the general cost of living is extortionate.

These sky high costs are the reason why we have to get out of our homes and support local business. If you’ve got the means to do it, for fuck’s sake do it.

Use it or lose it.

In the spirit of guilting you into supporting other Londoners, I’m thrilled to let you know of a very special event taking place in Camden tonight (Wednesday March 1, 2017) and every first Wednesday of the month going forward.

This is what you need to know.

Queer Goes Nothing is a fab monthly night of live acoustic music in the heart of Camden at new LGBTQ venue, Her Upstairs.

Not only should three incredible independent bands get your interest up, but the kitchen in the venue is being taken over by BigV London. Yep, BigV is the vegan burger stand adored by regulars at Borough Market.

However…. (this is where it gets interesting)

For their involvement in tonight’s version of Queer Goes Nothing, the BigV people will be serving vegan fish and chips.

So you have live acoustic bands, a vegan business selling vegan fish and chips, a fab Camden location AND free entry.

If you have a few quid spare and are in London and you DON’T go to this event, please don’t bother coming to my house for Christmas. Two reasons: I don’t celebrate Christmas and I probably won’t be talking to you.

RSVP and invite people on the Facebook event page.

Her Upstairs should be followed on Facebook for upcoming version of this wonderful night plus other interesting happenings. You can see the bar location on Google Maps.

BigV can be seen here.