Somebody call my therapist. This was my second raw meal in a month and I’m a bit frightened by how much I enjoyed the experience.
Have you been to Nama in Notting Hill?
Vegan peppermint slice
Get to your nearest Waitrose store, buy a box of these vegan delights and start eating.
I was waddling through Waitrose in Westfield White City a few days back when my chubby eyes spied an intriguing box of biscuit treats. Of course having the word ‘vegan’ printed on the package meant I hastily tossed them into my basket and trotted happily to the checkout line.
For a gluten free product, the Lazy Day peppermint slice is an outstanding item. Heck, it is a super high standard regardless of the freefrom credentials.
Tasty, crunchy and incredibly difficult to stop eating.
You can like Lazy Day Foods on Facebook.
Win Naturally
I stumbled into a vegan-friendly grocery store in Manchester a few weeks ago and it was all so surreal and unexpected. I’m a bit lost for words.
I’ll try my best.
Get informed in Manchester
Check out this interesting event taking place at Manchester Metropolitan University next month.
I love when veganism gets taken into the academic sphere and this free day of activities is exactly what is needed urgently on campuses all over the planet (although I hope someone on the day will point out to The Vegetarian Society that compassion doesn’t end with meat).
Are you going to head along? Does this inspire you to take action and spread information at your school, college or university?
You can read more about the Humanities in Public group run by staff of MMU’s Faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Science by clicking here.
Chocolate by post
One of the taste highlights of the recent vegan show in Kensington Town Hall were the truffles and chocolates crafted by Cocoafeliz. If you were at this event, you probably know exactly what I am talking about. They were a smash hit.
If you didn’t make it along to see this new confectioner in the flesh, I have some good news for you.
Chaos Theorie
As you know, my mates Joe and Jess relentlessly taunt me with photos of their vegan conquests in Berlin.
All the pics they send over get me hot and bothered but I must admit this latest treat takes the cake. Check it out below.
Drunk eating
During my recent trip to Manchester, I found myself staggering around the city centre after a few too many vegan beers in need of late night snacks. Thankfully a 24 hour shop had something to fill the void.
The late night/early morning convenience store on Piccadilly Gardens carried the Forest Foods range of products, a range with a surprising number of vegan options. I can’t say the items I picked up were incredible or even above average but they certainly sent my tummy to bed with more than just a few litres of beer in it.
Check out the photo I took of my goods below. Not the best photo, but a drunk FGV stumbling around a Travelodge at 1am will never do much better.
The big one
You know we are only a week away from one of the biggest (the biggest?) vegan events anywhere, right? Approximately ten thousand vegans, vegan friendlies and curious carnivores will descend upon London Olympia for VegfestUK on September 27 and 28, 2014
This show is the result of the tireless dedication shown by organiser Tim Barford who is a rare breed in the vegan community. He works himself ragged getting these monumental shows together and reaches countless people every year with a compassionate message. His shows have been staged for over ten years and he rallies against adversity and financial hardship to put together events packed with information, education, entertainment and food.
It would be wonderful to see how many non-human animals have been saved directly by the influence of these shows. I would imagine the number would be emotionally overwhelming.
Following are some reasons I think you will love this year’s event at London Olympia:
- it is a fab place to take non-vegans so they can see what it’s all about in a friendly and fun environment
- there is SO much tasty vegan food
- meet the people behind some of your favourite vegan brands (and thank them for their hard work)
- it is wonderful to be in a building with THOUSANDS of other vegans
- meet inspiring vegans from the worlds of sport, education, activism and entertainment
- grab some show day deals and specials on your favourite vegan brands
- get inspired to take action by signing up with organisations fighting for animals
You can buy tickets online now and download the programme here. Make sure you follow VegfestUK on Twitter and don’t forget to give Tim a shout out online to thank him for his dedication to improving outcomes for animals.
Vegan venture
There are some fabulously exciting things happening for vegans in London and most of them are pop up ventures. What’s behind this drive to sell food in temporary locations?
London is surely one of the most expensive cities in the world for real estate. It was announced this week that the average house price in London is £514 000 while the average house price in central London is £1.6 million. The increase in property prices in London over the past year has been at a rate of 19%. This is staggering.
The cost of renting commercial space in Camden Stables Market is upwards of £1000 a week. You can see why vegan start ups can only afford to run temporary events and pop ups are the new trend of getting food to the masses. Vegan businesses cannot get permanent premises unless they have a hell of a lot of money behind them.
Get up and get out of the house this weekend and support a vegan pop up venture. Show the people making cruelty free food for the masses that you care.
You might very well start with the brand new Club Mexicana pop up in east London. The taco masters have set up temporary shop in The Convenience, an inventive and quirky cafe near Chatsworth Road with a roof terrace for dining.
The Club Mexicana pop up runs from 6pm Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and from 4pm on Sundays. See the current menu below but be warned it will be rotating so not everything will be available every night. Rumour has it they are working on a Mexican seitan burger and that chocodilla on the menu sounds fabulous.
The pop up will run until October 12. Follow Club Mexicana on Twitter.
Vegan for miles
Just over a week ago I visited the Specialty & Fine Food Fair held in London Olympia and I am now only getting around to sharing photos of some of the fabulous vegan products I encountered.
I have included social media links for each company, so please feel free to reach out to them and let them know how keen you are to see their products in stores. Some of the products are even available to order online so make sure you do some investigating.
Here we go.