London vegan news, reviews & events
It is a wonderful time of year. A time of year I always look forward to with great anticipation. No, not spring. It’s time for discounted vegan chocolate.
Here are two delights I picked up this week in the post-Easter sales.
How about you? What have you found in the chocolate bargain bins this week?
What was good? What was amazing?
I was about to start this post by saying another week sees the appearance of another vegan food market stall, but I think they are popping up faster than one a week in London.
Rawwwsome is kind of unique, though.
The fabulous Steph has started this super cute stall right in the heart of Camden Lock Market. It is packed with incredibly healthy (and tasty!) handmade raw treats such as mint chocolate brownies, raspberry cheesecakes and banoffee bites.
Steph told me she is having a great time exposing this type of food to the mostly non-vegan punters of the market. During my visit, I counted almost a dozen curious people stop by to taste the samples on offer and every single one of them looked and sounded impressed.
And so was I. Everything I ate was gorgeous. Check out the photos below.
Get down to Camden Lock Market and eat all the raw treats from Rawwwsome. Follow Steph on Twitter. It might be a good idea to double check with her before you head down that she will be there. I think she is currently at the market most Fridays and Saturdays.
Can you believe it has been almost a year since London Vegan Beer Fest first stormed into our lives? What an event!
Beer was guzzled. BBQ food was devoured. Merchandise was snapped up. Karaoke classics were gloriously murdered. We certainly had a lot of fun and now it is time to do it all over again.
Fat Gay Vegan (that’s me) is thrilled to present London Vegan Beer Fest 2014.
When I decided to put this event together, it was difficult to imagine getting through the first year but now here I am ready to celebrate the second edition in 2014.
Here is some quick and tasty news for you.
Buy vegan soda in London that is delicious!
I have been hearing good things about new(ish) soda company Square Root and was keen to get it on my chubby tastebuds. This Hackney-based company make all their drinks by hand from seasonal ingredients and they sell them from a gorgeous vintage tricycle fitted out with taps from which they pour the tasty liquid.
As you probably know, there is a venue called Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium. It is a cafe in east London that is also a home for rescue cats.
Even though the cafe serves some vegan options, I am yet to visit. I think I have a problem with the concept. It doesn’t sit well with me that animals are on display.
The cats in the Emporium are comfortable and wanting for nothing, according to the website. They have enormous amounts of space and are free to leave the public area when they choose. All food and welfare concerns are dealt with and there are guidelines in place for how cafe diners interact with the cats.
But I still don’t like it.
I don’t like the concept of any animal being on display, no matter how loved. As I walked past the front of the cafe recently, it struck me how much it looked like a pet store. People can stand at the window and stare at cats inside.
I don’t think I would ever go on a safari to look at animals. I would never go to a zoo, even if the establishment had a pristine record of animal conservation. I hate hobby farms and baby farm animal exhibits at fairs.
Loved and cared for animals on show are still animals on show for human enjoyment. I believe this is a practise that needs to be questioned, challenged and changed.
If it is cat interaction you are after, you can always visit one of the countless animal rescue shelters around the country where the animals are desperate for companionship, playmates and the odd spot of grooming.
As far as I can tell from their website, Dinah’s is a commercial enterprise designed to make profit. I am opposed to people making profit from displaying animals.
To add further unease to the situation, the patrons of the cat cafe have the choice of dining on animal-derived foods during their visit. Don’t hurt cats but by all means eat feta or milk. Or why not even indulge in a salmon salad?
Just don’t hurt the cats.
How do you all feel about this sort of cafe?
I’m not going to pretend the food in Just Falafel even comes close to my favourite eating place in London, Mr Falafel, but I will say they do a fabulous job of making vegans feel like they have another friend out in the wilds of the big city.
Just Falafel is relatively new to London, with a handful of franchise locations popping up recently as well as the corporately-owned outlet on Fulham Broadway. It was the Fulham branch that I first stumbled into and I was pleased I did.
The menu clearly states what is suitable for vegans and the manager of the store was more than happy to talk me through how they could veganise other items. I was attracted to an Egyptian falafel wrap with a side order of fries.
The fries were delicious and delivered in a super cute mini deep fryer basket. I was grinning from ear to ear. Potato is my life and Just Falafel on Fulham Broadway knew what they were doing with the good stuff.
The wrap was good, but certainly not overwhelming. I would rate it 7 out of 10. If I was in the area and hungry, I would definitely buy it again. I wouldn’t travel for it. I would travel for the fries, however.
Curiously, Josh and I visited the Just Falafel outlet in Covent Garden and were slightly less impressed. Josh actually said he would not go back and he works just a few minutes away. I was surprised by how different the experience was compared to the Fulham location. The Covent Garden fries were left unfinished by the two of us. That speaks volumes.
Now, back to the good stuff.
Check out my photos from the Fulham Broadway Just Falafel. I recommend eating there if you are in the area.
There must be something about Leather Lane that attracts the veggie food crowd. This curiously-named London street is now home to not one but two vegetarian sandwich stalls. Get eating down Leather Lane!
A short while ago I wrote about the glorious sandwich I enjoyed from Killer Tomato and now the Mexican sandwich stall has company in the form of a vegetarian Indonesian-style tempeh vendor, located on the opposite side of the lane.
This is a brand new business with a few kinks to iron out, but you can’t fault their enthusiasm. The owner makes his own fresh tempeh (a rarity in the UK) and it is fried and seasoned right in front of you on the stall.
All you have to do is pick your fillings, pay your money and eat a delicious tempeh wrap.
Word of warning: even though the stall is emblazoned with the words ‘100% vegetarian’, they bizarrely have a sauce that contains real fish. The owner told me he cannot find a replacement for this ingredient, which doesn’t sound completely believable to me. My pal Messy Vegetarian Cook conjures up all sorts of southeast Asian cuisine requiring fish sauce and her stuff is delicious. She has even shown me a bottle of vegan fish sauce she bought in London.
Get along for a tasty treat, but remember to voice your rejection of the fish sauce.
You London vegans are so greedy.
You are not satisfied with being able to eat vegan fish and chips in multiple locations. Having a vegan beer festival doesn’t seem to quieten you. Two huge monthly parties in the shape of London Vegan Drinks and London Vegan Potluck leave you wanting more events. More vegan cake companies than you can keep track of isn’t enough.
OK. Let’s see if this scratches that vegan itch.
Announcing a vegan art competition!
Here is a treat for you that requires very little reading. This post is super heavy with photos from my visit to the Natural and Organic Products Europe show that took place over the weekend at London Olympia.
It took me almost five hours to see everything and I was overwhelmed by the huge number of vegan companies and products on display.
The photos below don’t even come close to detailing the full range of cruelty-free goods at the event. I decided to include some of my favourites as well as brand new products showcased.
Is there anything that catches your attention?
My giant Mexican dinner party taking place in east London is just a few weeks away. UNA CITA is a 50 person, 3 course party featuring Mexican pop music, visuals on a big screen and a welcome cocktail that will impress.
May 9, 2014 is going to be a day for the vegan eating history books.
I popped over to the venue tonight (The Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green) for a test run of the main dish and is was nothing short of spectacular. Check it out below.
The plate features three corn tortillas filled with mouthwatering ingredients and a mound of chipotle rice in the centre. I literally pounced on my plate.
**Ingredients are supplied in part by Cool Chile Co. Follow them on Twitter where they will be giving away a pair of tickets to this event**
The three vegan tacos feature:
Everyone on the testing team tonight was blown away by the combination of flavours. This plate will be served after a starter of esquites and before a serving of hot, sweet churros with dipping chocolate. I will post photos of the other dishes as we workshop them over the next fortnight.
Buy your tickets for this special event NOW.
Follow The Gallery Cafe on Twitter.
