This is a super quick post to tell you about a wheat meat I am adoring.
How very
Has it been a month already?
My season of free film screenings known as FREE WINONA is coming to an end. I have shown Beetlejuice, Mermaids and Reality Bites. What do all of these films have in common? You are correct if you noticed they all star Winona Ryder.
All of the above films went down a treat but I have certainly saved the best for last.
Chilli cheese dog
I ate something that was delicious. Do you wanna see it?
Quorn doing vegan
MAJOR vegan update for Quorn – available in UK from October 2015 – click here to read more
I find out a lot of information over on Facebook.
Last week Robb posted about Rekorderlig cider not being vegan which led to this post. Wayne is always sharing with me news of vegan food, including the glorious sandwich market stall Killer Tomato. Today I woke to a post on my wall from Sammy all about a tasting session for new vegan Quorn products. That’s right, Quorn are finally rolling out some plant-based options in the UK.
There has been talk for a while of a vegan burger made by the company, but enquiries were always met with a response of ‘no plans as of now to sell it in the UK’.
If you can be in Southampton on Saturday June 21, 2014 and you want to be one of the first people in the UK to try new vegan options from Quorn, it seems you could possibly even be paid for your opinions.
Follow this link to read all about it on the Rice Up Wholefoods website. The link includes details on how to register for the tasting.
If you do go, please pop on over to my Facebook page after the event and tell me all about it. I am so curious!
UPDATE – since posting the above info, I have received a few comments from people suggesting I should not give any exposure to Quorn or it’s parent company Premier Foods. Premier Foods is a huge business that also owns the Cauldron brand (amongst many, many more). It reportedly generated over £800 million revenue last year.
Please comment below with any concerns you have about the ethical concerns associated with buying from such a huge company/a company that makes huge amounts of profit from selling animal products.
ANOTHER UPDATE – As pointed out by a passionate commentator below, Quorn is no longer owned by Premier Foods. It was acquired by Montagu Private Equity. You can view the portfolio of this organisation by clicking here.
VBites Cafe
I’m not sure if vegan food in the UK really is as lacklustre as I think it is or if the problem is I have eaten in incredible restaurants that have made me hyper-critical, but I am getting grumpy about second rate options in this country.
There are moments of deliciousness and innovation, but overall I find the UK vegan food scene to be desperately in need of a revolution.
Take VBites Brighton as an example.
Sunday shoe shopping
Until last week, I had never stepped foot inside the Vegetarian Shoes store located in Brighton. The only time I would venture to Brighton was a Sunday. I don’t know why, but my daytime trips have always been on Sundays and the store was always closed on that day of the week.
Not anymore.
Never was vegan
You know when you think something is vegan because the company has told you it is vegan, so you have been drinking it for years and then you find out it probably never was vegan to begin with because it contains gelatine?
Yeah, that.
Vegans are angry. It has transpired via social media that Rekorderlig cider uses gelatine during the production process but told people it was vegan. These claims of the drink being vegan-friendly were made to consumers via Twitter and email over a period of time stretching back a few years.
Cake on the rise
Imagine my reaction when an invitation came through to visit a vegan cupcake factory. I was like a larger version of that dancing baby that was a viral sensation a few years back, except a bit camper.
One of the most-loved cake companies in London, Trina’s Delicacies, asked me to drop in on their production premises south of the river to see how they go about creating some of the loveliest vegan cupcakes on the planet.
When you love vegan cake as much as I do, it can be a little overwhelming to find yourself in the centre of a commercial kitchen dedicated to baking huge quantities of the stuff. Trina (along with her friendly assistant Andy) made sure I stayed focussed by talking me through how each cupcake is lovingly handcrafted, where they can be purchased and what the plans are for the future.
What is your glitch?
The FREE WINONA film season has reached the halfway point and I am now pulling out the big guns. Get ready for Reality Bites on Tuesday June 17, 2014.
If you wanna know what teenagers and 20 somethings were losing their minds over in the 90s, come along to this free film screening. Of course it features the main reason for this season of movies, but it also stars the awesome Janeane Garofalo and the brooding Ethan Hawke. In addition, the film was directed (and stars) Ben Stiller!
Beyond veganism
Maybe you saw the homophobic tweet posted to the Beyond Meat Twitter account sometime over the last 48 hours. I found it very upsetting and have reproduced it below for the sake of this post.