My buddy Quarrygirl alerted me to an article yesterday about InSpiral Lounge closing in Camden.
Well, it’s a little bit more complicated than that.
The article on the Kentishtowner website featured the following information:
Now serving meat
This ain’t cool.
One of the finest purveyors of savoury vegan food in London is now selling meat.
I have long been a champion of Koshari Street. This food outlet near Covent Garden has been selling their delicious vegetarian food for several years.
Their main offering was a sumptuous pot of lentils, pasta, fried onions, chickpeas and tomato sauce that is a staple dish in Egypt. I absolutely adore this food.
Unfortunately, Koshari Street felt the need to switch from a 100% vegetarian menu (all the savoury food was 100% vegan) and have started offering meat as an option.
I reached out to the restaurant to ask ‘what the hell?!’ and they responded by saying they aim to please everyone.
I’ve got two things to say about that:
- The animals you are serving up surely are not happy with this development, so you have instantly failed in your mission to please everyone.
- Your Twitter bio still features the phrase ‘Our food is 100% #vegetarian’. Reports of you serving meat go back a month or more, so I would think you need to urgently update your social media to avoid upset and claims of false advertising.
Koshari Street assure me that vegans can still eat the savoury tub of food as long as they stay away from the meat.
The major problem for the restaurant is a lot of us don’t want to anymore.
Vegan wedding
I recently answered a letter, in my role as resident agony uncle for Vegan Life Magazine, about how to deal with non-vegan guests at a vegan wedding.
My suggestion to the concerned reader was to throw the sort of wedding they wanted to throw. If people love and care for you, they will respect your wishes and enjoy the event.
That is exactly what happened during the wedding of Els and Matt. Josh and I were thrilled to be a part of the special event and Els was more than happy for me to share how wonderful the celebration was with all of you.
Check it out. This is what a vegan wedding looks like.
Jackfruit glory
Remember a few days ago when I posted about the best accidentally vegan product of 2015 being a cherry and bourbon sauce?
If you were too busy sleeping off your partying antics, you can check it out here.
Skip forward to today and I got my hands on the original version of this life-changing Jim Beam cooking sauce. Check out what we are having for dinner tonight.
Yes. Pulled jackfruit cooked in bourbon and BBQ sauce. Life is good.
The Jim Beam sauces are both suitable for vegans and available at Sainsbury’s.
Extra note: this photo originally appeared on my Instagram feed.
Vegan barleywine
This is some exciting news for lovers of drinking.
The always vegan-friendly Little Valley Brewery has just released a limited run of their brand new organic barleywine ale.
It looks like a real winner and at 10% ABV, you’ll need to take it easy with this one.
Here is what the brewery has to say about this decadent libation:
Eight of Europe’s finest hops and malts combine with fresh water from the Yorkshire Pennines to deliver a bottle conditioned barleywine ale that’s worth celebrating: rich, bold, dark, with hints of raisin and a strong malty backbone.
LVB X will continue to improve with age. Limited while stocks last.
Order online now and follow Little Valley on Twitter.
Eating in Glasgow
I am often found singing the praises of Glasgow. Well, not really singing because I can’t but I am known for seriously loving the city and its vegan food opportunities.
My recent-ish visit to the Scottish city had me all in a flap, trying to get my chubby paws on as much of the glorious plant-based offerings as possible.
Like I did with the following food/drink from The Flying Duck.
V Revolution still fabulous
Manchester. So much for which to answer. Or something like that.
A recent trip to the northern city was somewhat planned around a trip to V Revolution. Don’t know it? V Revolution is one of the finest examples of vegans doing fantastic stuff with food and making it an enjoyable experience, too.
The cafe is tucked away in the Northern Quarter and manages to churn out delicious burgers, irresistible hot dogs, ice cream floats, and the best nachos south of Edinburgh (yep, nothing beats Auld Hoose).
Scroll down to see what I’m talking about. These three photos are from my latest visit and looking at them you can imagine why the V Rev staff had to push me out the door at closing time. I didn’t want to leave!
Look who I met
One of the most enjoyable parts of the incredible vegan cruise I have been on during the past week was getting to spend time with one of my favourite vegans.
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is a one-person powerhouse. Her educational books, talks, public appearances, podcasts, and interviews are more than inspirational. Colleen has the rare ability to engage complete strangers with her disarming and charming conversational presentation style, leaving them happy to have heard her message of how to go and stay vegan.
If you have ever questioned if a person can be unapologetically vegan AND a nice person, you haven’t met Colleen. She speaks with complete authority when it comes to why and how people choose to live vegan, but never loses her compassion for other humans in the process.
The above photo was posted by Colleen over on her Instagram account. We had a fabulous time catching up as we cruised along the Danube with Vegan River Cruises.
You can get all the latest updates from Colleen by visiting her website, liking her on Facebook and following her on Twitter.
New vegan shop alert
I have been the announcer of bad news lately, telling you all about the closure of vegan and vegan-friendly businesses all over the country.
But finally some happy news.
A 100% vegan shop is now trading in Sheffield.
The Incredible Nutshell has everything a compassionate Sheffield shopper needs.
I reached out to the owners of Incredible Nutshell to find out a little more information about their store.
Here is what you should know:
Vegan Beer Fest UK
Hold on to your pint glasses, people. News doesn’t come bigger than this.
Following on from the meteoric rise in popularity of London Vegan Beer Fest which resulted in 1000 guests enjoying the 2015 event, I am thrilled to announce I will be taking the event around the UK in 2016.
Of course London Vegan Beer Fest will be back for a 4th year this July, but I will also be staging the event in Manchester and Glasgow.
The Manchester and Glasgow events will have everything that is adored about the London event, but also unique twists to suit the city we are in. That means attendees will be able to get hold of branded pint cups/glasses, beer tick sheets, exclusive merchandise, and close to 100 different vegan beers from around the country, as well as gorgeous vegan food cooked up by local food vendors and restaurants.
While final details will follow soon, I can tell you Glasgow Vegan Beer Fest will take place in August 2016 while Manchester Vegan Beer Fest will roll out in September.
You can follow the official Vegan Beer Fest UK Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. This is where you will get breaking news about dates, venues and tickets.