Imagine opening a vegan store and then the world economy… well, the entire world itself, goes into shutdown.
Iwtopia in Wales did just that and they are still here to tell the tale.
They are survivors.
Sue from Iwtopia reached out to me from her independent business in Aberystwyth to let me know they are still hanging in there. I was so bowled over, I just had to share with you all.
Iwtopia is a vegan shop and deli, meaning you can stock up on all your essentials AND treat yourself to some gorgeous-looking vegan treats.
Head on over to the Iwtopia Instagram account to see photos of all the fab stuff Sue and the team are serving up.
If Facebook is more your speed, be sure to follow the shop to stay updated and be inspired.
If Aberystwyth is home for you (or nearby), you can even shop online for delivery. Head on over to the Iwtopia website to find out opening times and delivery details.
You can see the exact location of Iwtopia thanks to Google Maps.
Plant Based Planet, curated by vegan chef and writer Sareta Puri and content creator and blogger The Vegan Food Fiend, is being released in the next couple of weeks (date to be announced soon).
The book features 150 plant-based recipes from contributors representing over 100 countries.
But Plant Based Planet is more than just a collection of recipes. It is a social action project with two core aims:
To highlight the diversity in plant-based cuisine and the importance of honouring those from other nations, cultures and diaspora who share their heritage through food.
To support Food Empowerment Project, a food justice charity working to build a fairer and more equal food system for all.
Curators and editors, Sareta and Kym (The Vegan Food Fiend), came up with the idea after becoming frustrated at the lack of diverse stories and voices in plant-based cooking. The book showcases and amplifies the breadth of plant-based cuisine around the world, with recipes and food stories from a range of contributors from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
Belgian co-curator Kym said “Food is such a unique and meaningful form of communication and sharing. It’s important for us to celebrate and amplify a diversity of voices and stories, especially when it comes to plant-based eating, which has been practiced by cultures and religions around the world for centuries.”
Scottish-Indian co-curator Sareta said “The foods we make, share and eat represent us and our food histories. However, the most visible people sharing foods from across the world are often not from the communities or cultures which they are cooking the food of. We want this book tochange that and for people to become more aware of the political nature of food.”
Recipes include Filipino kare kare, Palestinian maqlouba, South African chakalaka and Swedish ‘meatballs’. The book features contributions from well-known chefs such as Tomi Makanjuola (Nigeria), WoonHeng Chia (Malaysia) and Liz and Joe from Eat Chay (Vietnam and Hong Kong), as well as other chefs, cookbook authors, bloggers and home cooks.
Each contribution includes a guided recipe, an introduction to the creator and a personal story about their dish and/or food heritage.
The book has also been created to raise awareness of and raise funds for Food Empowerment Project (www.foodispower.org), a food justice organisation that aligns with both editors’ values. Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.) seeks to create a more just and sustainable world by recognising the power of the food choices we make. Their work includes vegan outreach and education, tackling unfair working conditions and addressing lack of access to healthy foods in communities of colour and low income areas.
All profits from the book will go to F.E.P. and the curators hope to raise at least £5,000 for the cause.
All contributors to the book – including the editors – have participated on a voluntary basis, and the only costs incurred are for the digital hosting/sales platform and a limited print run. All profits after these minimal costs will go directly to the charity.
The book will be available to order from plantbasedplanetcookbook.com. To make it affordable for everyone, the e-book is priced at a sliding scale, from £5-15, and there is also a limited edition print run of just 200 copies available for £25 each.
Frank Dale Foods launched a bunch of new vegan frozen products including quiches. Click through to the post to see how their quiches looked when cooked.
Sweet Yourself Vegan send gorgeous vegan pick n mix boxes out from their super sweet headquarters and I was a fortunate participant. Get over to their Instagram account to see more.
OmniPork is finally making waves in the UK after creating a lot of hype around the world. The plant-based pork alternative arrived very welcome to my kitchen.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my recent haul. Follow me on Instagram to see what else I’ve been consuming.
One of my favourite things to happen during Veganuary 2021 was being asked by Oumph! to take part in their Plant It Forward campaign.
Being sponsored to cook with (and eat) food you love is the dream, right?!
If you don’t know, Oumph! is an award-winning business making delicious meat alternatives that are helping people go vegan and stay vegan.
The product range from Oumph! includes seasoned and unseasoned meat alternatives, making them versatile and suited for every occasion. If you are looking to make a gourmet meal, pack a quick snack, or fore up a BBQ, Oumph! has got a product for you.
Check out two of my recent Oumph! creations below.
The Pulled Oumph! worked perfectly in this warm potato salad.
You can ignore the cheeky lettuce in the first image. I’m really not sure what I was thinking, but I swapped it out for parsley in the final dish.
The creaminess of the potatoes and vegan mayo was the perfect accompaniment for the tangy Oumph!.
The Smoky Bits made from wheat are what you need for a solid pasta dish.
I upgraded some penne with broccolini, tomato, mushroom, and Oumph! Smoky Bits. I would eat this meal every single day.
Big thanks to Oumph! for getting me involved in this campaign for Veganuary. My tastebuds had a great time.
You can see the full Oumph! UK range on their website and follow them on Instagram.
I’ve been a HUGE fan of Califia Farms products ever since I first tried them during my trips to the USA. I’ve been consuming even more of them in Mexico over the past few years, so I was thrilled when they offered up a sponsorship opportunity to showcase them and shout out about their products being in the UK.
Califia Farms asked me to try two of their drinks available in the UK and spread the good word to you all. They said I was free to come up with my own approach and this is what I wanted to show.
Being vegan is not a compromise. Everything you love as a non-vegan, you can love as a vegan. Plant based is not second best. If you care about animals, the environment, or yourself, cutting dairy out of your life is something you have probably considered. I know most people reading this have already taken the leap, but some of you are still considering.
This blog post is my way of showing you how simple, accessible, AND NORMAL life is when you use a brand such as Califia Farms instead of dairy milk.
Every day I have a bowl of granola with fresh fruit and nuts. It is my one constant in life and I swing between fresh bananas and berries as my fruit of choice, but walnuts are always in there and pumpkin seeds from time to time. The Califia Farms Unsweetened Almond was the perfect topper. I was so impressed by this plant based drink, I wanted to see if I could use it in a cake recipe and… well, take a look. It worked a treat.
The Unsweetened Almond also was flawless in my 3-ingredient bechamel sauce served with vegan bacon, steamed broccoli, pan seared mushrooms, and gnocchi. I added black pepper and sweet paprika to take it up a notch.
Finally, I really wanted to show how plant-based milk alternatives such as Califia Farms can be part of celebration eating. I used their Chocolate Coconut Almond Blend to craft my dream shake topped with vegan whipped cream and cake sprinkles.
If you are looking to make the world a better place for animals and people, I suggest you ditch the dairy and stock up on vegan alternatives such as Califia Farms.
Click here to explore the full Califia Farms range online. Follow Califia Farms UK on Facebook and Instagram.
Legendary vegan food company Fry’s Family Food Co have just launched a new burger and they asked me to be one of the first to try it!
It’s easy to forget sometimes how influential the Fry family has been when it comes to getting people to go vegan and stay vegan.
Supermarkets are overrun with meat alternatives in 2021, but it is Fry’s that vegans like me have depended on over the past two decades. The family-owned and run brand showed me that veganism didn’t mean taste compromise.
If I wanted to eat something, Fry’s made sure it could happen.
As a long time fan of the brand, I was thrilled when Fry’s offered to sponsor me to showcase the new addition to their plant-based range. The Big Fry Burger is a coarsely ground plant protein patty (I love alliteration!) that is seasoned with the signature Fry’s blend of BBQ seasonings that you’ll know and love if you are an admirer like me.
Meat free burgers certainly aren’t in short supply in the UK but it is exciting to see one of the best plant-based brands on the planet join the fight with this thick, juicy patty.
See below to view the irresistible burger I made in my kitchen using The Big Fry Burger and be sure to follow Fry’s Family on Instagram.
You can currently buy The Big Fry Burger in the freezer section of Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.
In the massive vegan food revolution of the past few years, there have been parts of London that have been left feeling a little high and dry.
If you live in South Ealing or adjoining suburbs, you will understand what I’m talking about.
While Hackney and Shoreditch couldn’t move for vegan restaurants, South Ealing and Ealing Broadway peeps (which included me on and off) were left with vegan options from chain restaurants.
But all that is changing as a new vegan pizza place is set to open in the West London suburb.
Santa Maria is a non-vegan pizza restaurant with a bit of a cult following in South Ealing and they have always been rather accomodating to vegans.
They have become even more accomodating to vegans by opening a 100% vegan version of what they do!
Vergine Maria is set to open very soon just a few moments walk from Ealing Broadway. Details are a bit thin on the ground at the moment but I will keep you updated with whatever I can find out.
In the meantime you can follow the new Vergine Maria on Instagram to be the first to see the pizzas coming out of their ovens.
Somehow, 2020 felt like a blur I completely missed AND a gruelling marathon that never wanted to end at the same time.
It has been tough for every single person I know and excruciating for some.
The financial downturn caused by the pandemic meant that I had to relocate from Mexico to the UK in search of work. I am now in Sheffield, working and waiting out the pandemic.
I have given up trying to predict the future, so I wanted to take some time out of my day to look back on the most popular posts of mine from Instagram in 2020.
Most of them are happy and carefree, but a few are more serious.
Join me in taking a break from our collective unpredictable monotony by looking back.
They might be a tad difficult to see in that grid, so let me give you a closer look at my top nine Instagram posts of 2020 below.
The Vegan Society included a same-sex wedding on the cover of their magazine and when I posted a photo on my Instagram feed, it garnered more than 1,700 likes!
The fifth most-popular post from Instagram feed during 2020 was another supermarket haul share.
This time it was all about ten products I bought from Waitrose in Sheffield. You can click through all the photos in the post to make sure you don’t miss out on this popular post.
One of my favourite vegan brands on the planet made it to the number four spot on this list.
I shared news of a Vegenaise sighting in Tesco and I had a few lovely things to say about the groundbreaking product. It also attracted almost 100 comments!
Will’s Vegan Shoes sent me a pair of their WV Freedom Trainers and I am completely thrilled with them. Super comfy shoes! Will’s also have just launched a range of vegan-friendly suits and of course they have their wonderful grocery lines for online food shopping.
It is turning into a real one stop vegan shop. Visit their website.
I’m not a coffee drinker so I took this gift box into work to share with all the caffeine heads… and the bottles went down a storm.
Little’s sent me six of their instant coffees with flavours ranging from Havana Rum to French Vanilla. I heard nothing but rave reviews from my colleagues.
Made in Hackney is hosting a West African Plant Based Cuisine 6 week online cookery course taught by amazing vegan chef, TV & radio personality and author, Nena Ubani, aka Duchess Nena.
How exciting!
This incredible course will run each Saturday for 6 weeks from Saturday 9th January to Saturday 13th February 2021, 10.30am-1.00pm and will include:
An introduction to African cooking techniques for preparing authentic dishes and exciting flavours
Learn to make authentic plant based versions of a variety of West African dishes, including fufu, Mushroom Suya, fermented Attieke, Jollof rice and Okra stew
How to make West African sides including Ogi, Kelewele and Yam oven chips
Learn to make Zobo, a very popular Nigerian drink
Health benefits of each dish
Learn traditional cookery techniques using just your hands
How to plate, style and eat with your hands
Knife skills – how to peel, chop and slice like a professional
Opportunity to ask Nena questions
Recipe handouts
All funds raised go towards the Made in Hackney community meal service providing free nutritious, tasty meals to households who need them during these challenging times.
For more information and to book your place see the Made in Hackney website. Hurry to take advantage of the discounted early bird rate which ends on 24th December.
