I love getting free gifts and I love it even more when those gifts are in the form of boxes filled with vegan treats!
Vegan Junk Box is a new monthly subscription box out of the UK focussed on plant-based sweets and treats that are sometimes difficult to locate in stores.
The company gifted me with a box in the hope that I would like it enough to share the news with you all… and guess what?
I’m sharing the news with you!
And you can even get a discount on your first box as an FGV reader.
The monthly box costs £13.99 but you can get £5 off your first box by using code ‘FATGAYVEGAN’ at checkout.
Visit the Vegan Junk Box website now to investigate now and decide if this monthly box is for you.
I think you would be hard-pressed to find an industry struggling as much as independent brewing right now.
What an absolute sack of shit year it has been.
The bars and pubs that breweries rely on for moving most of their stock have been closed or are themselves on the verge of closing forever. Taprooms at breweries, normally a direct line of selling, have been closed on and off all year.
I decided to treat myself to a delivery from my favourite vegan beer producer as an act of solidarity during this unprecedented time… and I’d like to think of few people reading this will do the same thing!
Brass Castle is an independent brewery in Yorkshire.
If you ever attended any of my Vegan Beer Fest events around the UK, you’ll remember Brass Castle as a regular trader. They even ran the jumbo bar at the London outing of the event a few years running.
Every single beer produced and sold by Brass Castle is vegan, including all the gorgeous cans in their 12 Days of Christmas beer advent calendar!
This box is a 12-can selection pack of various Brass Castle faves, hidden behind advent calendar-style doors. All the beers are vegan-friendly and certified gluten-free.
The pack comprises:
Pilsen Thrills 3.9% Pilsner (440ml can)
Hoptical Illusion 4.3% Citra/Comet Pale Ale (330ml can)
Well Wisher 4.5% Citra/Columbus Golden Ale (440ml can)
Dune Bug 4.7% Lemon & Samphire Gose (440ml can)
Fruit Lupe 4.8% Mosaic/Blueberry Pale Ale (440ml can)
I have extremely fond memories of running Hackney Downs Vegan Market, especially when I think of all the wonderful independent traders we helped nurture and grow.
The market was a real hotbed of innovation and vegan advancement.
One brand that I particularly recall as both original and stunningly popular is Kinda Co.
Kinda Co took vegan cheese to another level and it has been exciting to watch their growth ever since. The company combines the familiarity of your favourite cheeses with plant-based innovation/vegan trickery to make products that are simply exceptional.
Think I’m overselling Kinda Co? Then find out for yourself by ordering one of their exclusive cheeseboards for Christmas.
The cheeseboards from Kinda Co are available in three sizes. Choose from The Mini, The Middle, and The Magnificent. Prices range from £27.50 to £68.50.
I was really taken by the look of The Magnificent (pictured above).
The Magnificent includes:
Farmhouse 120g
Cranberry 120g
Summer Truffle 120g
Garlic + Herb 120g
Smoked Farmhouse 120g
Paprika Chilli 120g
Red + Black Pepper 100g
Sour Creme + Chive Spread 130g
Nacho Dip 240g
Faux Lox + Dill Creamy Spread 130g
Rosebud Preserves Spiced Plum Chutney 198g
The Fine Cheese Co. Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Sea Salt Crackers 125g
It’s a vegan cheese dream come to life!
All Christmas cheeseboards from Kinda Co will be delivered on December 22 and 23, 2020. Someone will have to be at the delivery address to take the parcel. They ship UK wide.
All Christmas cheeseboards are also available to collect in person from the Kinda Co kitchen in Hackney Wick between December 17 and 22 if you are in the area.
Extra note: all block cheeses can be frozen and all cheeses should be kept in the fridge until served.
Click here to order now. They will sell out quickly so don’t think about it for to long!
Wanna put your money where your plant-eating mouth is and support independent business before this disastrous year comes to a close?
Mooshies London has launched a hamper filled with gorgeous vegan items and you can buy it for yourself, a friend, or an enemy. Hey, I don’t know how you get your kicks!
Each company involved in building the hamper is paid retail price for their item, so your money is directly helping these independent companies after what can be best described as an extremely tough year.
Launched from the Mooshies shop on Brick Lane, the hamper can be delivered nationwide. The hamper can currently be ordered via the Mooshies website with delivery scheduled for December 16 and 17, 2020.
Each company is a small independent business and local to Mooshies.
Instead of buying the products at cost price, Mooshies is purchasing them at retail to give each company a sale via their hamper. Mooshies takes no profit and does all the labor and dispatching themselves. It’s a way to keep all the small businesses in people’s mind while supporting each of these amazing companies.
Super fancy London restaurant Pied a Terre sent me their vegan feast for two box. It wasn’t exactly the five star experience I was expecting but it was tasty, especially the French onion soup.
HappyCow is thrilled to announce that Toyota and Lexus are making vegan-options easier to find.
Huh? Big name car manufacturers and plant-based eating don’t go together, do they?
Toyota Connected North America has integrated HappyCow’s guide to vegan and vegan-friendly eating into the Destination Assist feature on select 2020 and newer Toyota and Lexus models.
USA-based Toyota and Lexus Destination Assist subscribers will now benefit from HappyCow’s dining guide by pressing the ‘Destination Button’ from the navigation menu.
When speaking with an agent, they simply mention that they’re looking for a vegan or vegetarian restaurant and HappyCow will be used to direct them to nearby vegan and vegan-friendly options.
If you are drawing a blank when reading the name HappyCow, let me fill you in.
HappyCow is the leading vegan guide on the planet. The user-driven platform helps vegan and vegan-curious people location cafes, restaurants, grocery stores, stores, salons, bakeries, markets, and bars that offer vegan and vegetarian goods and services.
I’d love to hear from any Destination Assist users who have used the feature successfully. The rest of the world will need to wait patiently for it to be rolled out globally.
If you had told me at the beginning of the year the world would still be struggling through the COVID disaster in November, I would have had a difficult time imaging that as reality.
I would have even been even more surprised had you told me I would no longer be living in Mexico City, but rather in Sheffield!
Life is full of surprises. Due to global circumstances, I’m living in Sheffield and working alongside a vegan food business. I feel extremely fortunate to have steady employment and a place to live, it’s just that it has come out of the blue.
We do what we must at times like this (has there ever been a time like this?) and I’m doing my best in Sheffield, a city I have loved for a long time and with which I have nurtured a special relationship ever since I hosted my Vegan Beer Festival events here.
Of course many food businesses are closed or sometimes closed in Sheffield, but I am still managing to eat and consume. You can’t hold a good FGV down!
Check out some of my foodie adventures since I’ve been in Sheffield this year.
The photo above shows my first meal on my first night back in Sheffield in July. I ordered a big comfort food bundle from Sunshine Deli to be delivered to my hotel room.
This vegan eatery has a lot of fans and delivers not only hot food, but heat and cook at home packs for people living longer distances from Sheffield.
One of my favourite vegan businesses in the UK is Truffle Pig, Sheffield’s very own artisan truffle and chocolate expert.
I first experienced the wonders of Truffle Pig a few years back when they traded at my Vegan Beer Festival in Sheffield. When they sold out almost as soon the doors opened, I knew they were something special.
Friday restocks on their website sell out just as quickly and Truffle Pig now has fans all over the UK.
There is nothing I love more than an independent vegan grocery store and in Sheffield, we have the best!
The Incredible Nutshell is home to a dazzling range of vegan products including meats, cheeses, ice cream, chocolates, sweets, personal care items, household cleaners, pantry items, tinned food, and even alcohol.
Visit The Incredible Nutshell online and follow on Instagram.
In the intro of this blog entry I mentioned I am in Sheffield working with a vegan food company.
My mates at Make No Bones asked me to come onboard and help with a few things, including promoting their new project called Saucy. Saucy is a vegan takeaway joint selling wings, burgers, fries, desserts, and drinks.
Check out the vegan chicken burger in the shot above.
I currently live near a part of Sheffield called Kelham Island and just around the corner from me is a gorgeous pub called The Fat Cat.
This pub always has a few vegan options on the menu and it is all old-school pub fare. See my meal above consisting of mushroom pie, wedges, peas, and gravy.
This next one is a bit of a cheat as it isn’t actually in Sheffield. The Globe is in a town called Glossop but I have included it as I visited from Sheffield during one of the brief time periods when short journeys were deemed OK and safe.
It is close enough to drive to if you are in Sheffield and well worth the trip, but is actually much closer to Manchester.
The Globe has a 100% vegan food menu and is one of my favourite pubs on the planet. The prices are ridiculously low and, as you can tell by my photo, you will be more than satisfied if you love comfort food.
I dropped in to see Icarus & Apollo a few weeks ago in the outdoor food and bar complex known as SteelYard Kelham. The site is one of those shipping container constructions that are all the rage and even has a bar on the roof!
Icarus & Apollo serve fusion food (with a bit of Mexican and African influence) that looks great in photos. I’m always seeing happy customers sharing photos on socials.
Pom Kitchen is a vegetarian cafe in a cute and trendy part of town known as Sharrow Vale. The collection of shops on Sharrow Vale Road is a mix of foodie hot spots, bakeries, fresh food mongers, and antique traders.
It is here where Pom Kitchen has built a loyal customer base with their mix of vegetarian and vegan offerings.
A much-loved local coffee shop that isn’t vegan might just be selling one of the tastiest vegan sandwiches in the UK.
Create Coffee is a few doors along from the aforementioned The Incredible Nutshell on Chesterfield Road. They of course specialise in caffeine but just happen to do an incredibly tasty vegan Reuben using seitan supplied by Make No Bones.
The Beer Engine is one of Sheffield’s favourite drinking spots but unfortunately they have been more closed than open during my time here due to the pandemic.
When they do re-open for service, I really must insist you try the food of Dumpling City. This is the in-house kitchen of the pub and the flavours of the vegan offerings will knock your socks off. They are also branching into delivery, so stay alert.
Finally, I’m delighted to share these two photos from Make No Bones. They are the reason I’m currently in Sheffield and even though I work alongside them I don’t think it is unfair to say it is the best vegan food in the city.
Their food is currently reaching people only via delivery and takeaway due to the lockdown but that is not dampening the city’s love of the menu. The Sunday roast dinners fly out each week, while the newly-added Big Make burger is winning hearts all over South Yorkshire.
This confection company makes some of the best chocolate on the planet and they have fab ethical underpinnings to everything they do. Many of their employees are Autistic or Aspergers Syndrome. This is a deliberate positive employment strategy.
Shop for their fab creations online and follow Moo Free on Instagram.
Just before lockdown 2.0 hit, I popped into Beanie’s Wholefoods in Sheffield to pick up some treats.
Beanies is a workers co-operative that has been running since 1986. These sorts of places are crucial for community wellbeing, so I like to support them as much as possible.
And it helps that I get vegan chocolate for my generosity. Ha!
The Montezuma’s Like No Udder vegan milk chocolate was simply superb and the Goupie boxes will bring a smile to your face. They have a range of special Christmas flavours, including White Christmas!
Follow Beanies Wholefoods on Instagram. Please support workers co-ops in your area.
The fine people of Made In Hackney have put together another wonderful online cooking class taking place on Thursday November 12, 2020 between 6:30 and 8:30pm.
With a cost of £20 to join (£10 concession), 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.
What is happening during the class?
Join chef Mark Breen for a tour of the taste, textures and aromas of plant-based Southern Indian cuisine, bursting with flavours from across this incredible region. The class will include:
Making a delicious tomato dal.
How to make the perfect citranna rice.
Making tasty coconut rotis.
How to temper and spice dishes using aromatic mustard seeds, curry leaves and chillis to give your dishes an extra burst of flavour.
Q&A
Recipe handout
Mark Breen is a classically trained chef who loves showing people how to cook what is seasonal, and at its best at any given time. His passion is teaching people how to cook with skill and enjoyment to create beautiful and tasty dishes that are good for your taste-buds, bodies and soul. When Mark isn’t working with Made In Hackney or as a private chef, he’s usually in the kitchen at home perfecting flavour blends or creating ferments and pickles.
Fee: £20 (£10 concession). 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.
Once you have your ticket booked for the class, check out the ingredients list below to make sure you are prepared ahead of time.
INGREDIENTS LIST
Andra Pradesh – Tomato dal (Serves 5)
200g red lentils
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Spices – 1 teaspoon of cumin powder, coriander power and turmeric powder (or 3 teaspoons of curry powder)
1 tablespoon of oil (preferably coconut oil)
2 plum tomatoes, sliced (or half tin of tomatoes)
1 inch of ginger, either chopped very small or grated (or one teaspoon of ginger powder)
For tempering: 1 tablespoon oil (preferably coconut oil) 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes handful of curry leaves (fresh is best but dried is fine)
Chitranna rice (serves 5)
300 grams basmati rice, washed
1 of oil (preferably coconut oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds. teaspoon turmeric
handful of curry leaves (fresh is best but dried is fine)
2 tablespoons raw peanuts (optional)
1 teaspoon red chilli flakes
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 teaspoon salt
Southern Indian coconut rotis (makes about 5)
200 grams plain flour
100 grams desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1-2 green chillies, finely chopped (optional)
Sea salt
100 millilitres water
Coconut oil
EQUIPMENT LIST
Wooden spoon
Chopping board
Knife
3 Sauce pans
1 frying pan
Hob
Teaspoon and tablespoon measure
Location: Zoom, details to be provided via email (usually the day before the class). Check your junk mail if need be!
Cake or Death bakery in East London sent me a box of the vegan brownies and I gotta say I was blown away.
The brownies were sensational and close to some of the best I’ve tried.
Cake or Death vegan brownies are available to order online and delivered hassle-free through your letterbox.
This paragraph from the Cake or Death website sums up the product perfectly:
Beautifully packaged in a hot pink leopard print, the Cake or Death experience is luxury treat, from it dropping on your doormat, right through to the last mouthful. These aren’t any ordinary brownies. Cake or Death brownies are everything a brownie should be and more; fudgey, indulgent and very moreish, all made with the very best quality plant-based ingredients. Both vegans and non-vegans alike are huge fans. They make the perfect treat for yourself or a friend.
I concur!
Cake or Death has a tempting range of flavours including:
Sea Salt X Biscoff
Biscoff
Sea Salt
Raspberry Caramel Blondies
Peanut Butter
Raspberry
Hazelnut
Fruit and Nut
Orange
Click here to shop for brownies or gift vouchers and be sure to follow Cake or Death on Instagram.
Extra note: European shipping outside the UK can be selected for £5 at checkout and gluten free options exist!
