I go ahead and Smile

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You know when you go to a small town or city and you find nothing to eat? What a sinking feeling, right?

This did not happen to me during my recent trip to Southsea.

Earlier this week I posted about my wondrous experience at Coco Chocolate Boutique (read about it here) and it just so happens you can also get a pretty decent vegan savoury meal on the very same street in Southsea.

Smile Cafe is as amiable an establishment as you can get. Every person working in the place was friendly, down to Earth and helpful. Their menu features vegan options clearly marked, which is highly unusual in this small cafe/diner style set up in the UK. Even though Smile is an omni eatery, I felt completely at home.

Smile of Southsea
Smile of Southsea

Check out what Josh and I enjoyed.

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Loco for Coco

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You don’t find yourself in the position of being a fat, gay vegan without knowing your way around a drop of chocolate or two. I love bars, coated sweets and anything containing vegan chocolate. It’s part of the territory when you are a FGV.

Imagine my delight a few weeks ago when I found myself standing in a cute-as-a-chocolate-button store in Southsea, surrounded by vegan chocolates. I was in heaven!

Coco Chocolate Boutique is a gorgeous specialist store crammed full of decadent, handmade delicacies just minutes from the seafront. Even though they aren’t exclusively vegan, the Coco shelves and cases hold an impressive array of animal-free fare.

Coco Chocolate Boutique of Southsea
Coco Chocolate Boutique of Southsea

There are vegan fondants, cherries oozing in brandy, dark chocolate shards in several flavours, chocolate covered Turkish delight and even solid dark chocolate skulls.

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Best-in-Show at LVBF 2013

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The sun burned bright. The beers flowed liberally. People adored the BBQ. Karaoke raised money for Sea Shepherd. That’s right, people. London Vegan Beer Fest was a raging success enjoyed by almost 300 people on Saturday July 13th, 2013.

I have much to share with you all (including photos), but I have taken time out of my LVBF comedown to share some important information with you. Beer lovers, I present the audience favourite beverage as voted by the attendees of London Vegan Beer Fest.

Drum roll.

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Get ready to be happy

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Hey. You. Yes, you.

You sitting comfortably in your front room, eating baked beans on toast or a bag of salted crisps and feeling quite smug with yourself. You might be a fussy vegan but there you are eating tasty treats normally assigned to ‘the normals’ of the world. You can eat whatever you like because there are vegan options for most things now. You are such an accomplished eater and you don’t even have to think about it anymore. It’s so easy, right?

Well, hold onto your hemp hats. I make no apologies for blowing your tiny, vegan world apart with this next announcement.

Comfortably-numb plant eaters of the UK, I give you The Mighty Fork. Eating just became interesting again.

TMF_logo_yellowbg

The Mighty Fork is the brainchild of hot dog hero Rita Fontes and she is certainly going to make UK vegans more appreciative of their food choices.

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LVBF swag bag

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You’ve heard all the hype and you’ve survived my incessant tweets. Now it is almost time for London Vegan Beer Fest to explode onto the capital.

The beer is being brewed, the BBQ menu has been planned and the karaoke machine is loaded with songs. July 13th, 2013 is going to be a day London vegans and their friends will never forget.

But for some attendees, the memories will be even sweeter.

Tickets have been split into four categories. The general admission pre-sale tickets sold out a few days ago, you can get in on the day for £10 after 1pm and £5 after 6pm (depending on space) and then of course there are the VIP Golden Keg tickets.

These precious tickets cost £25 and are your pass to a good time with plenty of benefits. Holders of the VIP tickets gain earlybird entry from midday (an hour before everyone else), get to choose one pint of beer, will be fed one item from the vegan BBQ and get to chill out in two exclusive reserved seating areas.

That’s pretty cool, right? Well, it gets better.

Every VIP ticket holder will also be given a limited London Vegan Beer Fest goodie bag stuffed with treats and special deals.

See below for the full list of included bag treats and then hurry to the ticket page to order one of these limited edition tickets. At time of writing, there were only eight VIP tickets remaining. Be quick!

bagThe VIP bags are reusable eco-friendly cotton and have been sponsored by Fry’s Distribution. Check out their website for tasty vegan frozen food.

dogs

Each VIP bag will contain one discount voucher for the wonderful new 100% vegan hot dog company The Mighty Fork. Keep an eye on their Twitter page for news of upcoming location.

elegantly veganEach VIP bag will contain one colour postcard from Elegantly Vegan, a gorgeous new recipe app. The card includes a QR code for a free preview download of the book.

yelpEach VIP bag will contain one metal bottle opener/keyring courtesy of Yelp London. Yelp is a fun and interactive online listings community. Check them out!

pensEach VIP bag will contain one pen thanks to Viva! Campaigns. Follow this invaluable non-profit activist group on Twitter.

ron likes cakeEach VIP bag will contain a discount voucher for the new allergy-free cake company Ron Likes Cakes. I recently tried one of their creations and they are highly recommended.

VxEach VIP bag will contain a sticker and badge pack from London’s first vegan store, Vx.

premaeEach VIP bag will contain one sample from world-class vegan skincare company Premae. Visit Premae Skincare online to view their entire range.

veganicityEach VIP bag will contain one container of vegan Vitamin B12 tablets courtesy of Veganicity. Check out their full range of vegan vitamins and supplements online.

wild trailEach VIP bag will contain one Wild Trail wholegrain bar. These delicious bars are an FGV favourite and you can keep updated with new flavours on their Facebook page.

kettleEach VIP bag will contain one 40g packet of Kettle chips. Visit the company online.

moo freeEach VIP bag will contain one Mini Moos bar made by the market-leading Moo Free Chocolates. Check out their full range online.

20130706_213734Every VIP will contain one box of Fairtrade and Organic raspberry chilli tea bags courtesy of the wonderful London Tea Company. Visit their website now!

You wanna talk about Reading?

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I work hard to make London Vegan Potluck a success and stories like the following make it all worthwhile.

A few months ago I was contacted by a friendly person from Reading called Gemma. Gemma was planning a vegan potluck in her city and wanted some advice on how to get it together.

I am only too happy to help where I can when it comes to this sort of question. As I have said previously, vegan potlucks are invaluable when it comes to building social capital, supporting new vegans and strengthening the resolve of long term vegans.

Flash forward to yesterday and I received a lovely message from Gemma sharing the following information:

“So we had our potluck tonight and I thought you would like to see the pics. There were about 18 or so people I think. Thank you again for all your advice before. It really helped. Our next one is 5th August and everyone has said they will come to that one too, yaay.”

How fantastic. I tip my hat to Gemma and the Reading vegans for hosting the first of what I’m sure will be many potlucks. Hopefully I can make it along in the future!

Gemma has kindly agreed to let me use some of her photos from the Reading Potluck. Follow her Facebook page for further dates and details.

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Totally Lush!

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Thinking about attending London Vegan Potluck this July 3rd but need another reason? I have got a good one!

The wonderful management and staff of Lush South Molton Street are coming along to pamper and treat potluck attendees with lip balm and cruelty-free make up demonstrations. Attendees can chat with the Lush experts as they try some of the finest vegan personal products on the market.

But’s that’s not all. Of course there is a prize on offer.

Attend London Vegan Potluck, have a chat with the Lush crew, sign up to their email list and you will instantly be in the draw for a fabulous prize to be given away on the night.

And what a prize it is!

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So fresh and so clean

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Before we move forward, we often have to look to the past, so I wanna ask you to cast your mind back to one of my most controversial posts.

My article about The Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green is infamous. People still talk to me about it and the content divides many vegans. Heck, somebody even referenced it recently in an article about why vegans should feel comfortable eating oysters and mussels! It is the blog post that won’t go away.

Read the original post here if you like, but in a nutshell I questioned why The Gallery Cafe fried their vegan burger in the same oil as halloumi and if this was a compromise of the vegan status of the food.

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Buy this bar

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Here’s a quick FGV recommendation.

Buy this bar.

Tasty goodness
Tasty goodness

Chocolate topped oats rarely get beaten in the taste and satisfaction stakes and the new Trek cocoa oat flapjack is staying true to this rule. Trek have mastered the perfect mix of chewy and sweet. I’m going to investigate buying these beauties by the box.

Find this product & enjoy!
Find this product & enjoy!

If you need further convincing to part with your money in exchange for a new Trek protein flapjack, be aware their parent company supports the crucial work of Animal Aid. Tasty and ethical. Talk about a winning combination.

Check out the full range of flapjacks online

Mystery writer Lomez tantalises

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I am thrilled to welcome Lomez to the fold as a guest contributor to Fat Gay Vegan. This post about eating vegan in the Netherlands is a fascinating and entertaining read that will leave you desperate to get to the land erroneously known as Holland.

Take it away, Lomez.

Ah, the Netherlands, more commonly (and incorrectly) referred to as Holland. Land of tulips, clogs, cycling, Gouda, Edam, Leerdammer… (for those of you so deep into veganism that dairy doesn’t exist, the last three are cheeses.)

My partner and I have been to the Netherlands a few times over the past year, and we’ve managed to eat vegan throughout. We’ve learned so much on our travels, and have so many vegan tips, that it’s difficult to know where to start!

So why don’t I begin with the best? If you only go to one restaurant in the Netherlands, go to Veggies on Fire.

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