Arancini Brothers to stay vegan

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A few weeks ago, I shared news about London fast food chain Arancini Brothers turning their Old Street location into a 100% vegan eatery.

Since January 2, 2018 the outlet has served thousands of vegan and vegan-curious customers (as well as some meat eaters who just want outstanding food) who have raved about the extensive and delicious vegan menu.

As it is halfway through their vegan month, I dropped in on owner Dave Arkin to find out how it has been for the business and what the future holds.

How has the vegan month been for Arancini Brothers Old Street?

The support we’ve had from our regular customers and the vegan community has made the first few weeks the most incredible and satisfying experiences since selling our first risotto ball almost 9 years ago.

Have you been surprised by the interest and support of vegans?

More delighted than surprised. I have to say a big thank you to all the support we’ve had from you (that’s me, FGV!) and the vegan community. You have all made our vegan switch at Old Street possible.

Any news on the future?

After just two weeks of running our Old Street location as a fully vegan business, we’ve decided to keep the location vegan for good. It will always be a fully vegan place to eat and I couldn’t be happier with the decision.

How incredible is this news?!

Arancini Brothers Old Street is now a 100% vegan food outlet, 100% of the time. Forever.

I would like to extend my personal gratitude to Dave and his team for taking this leap of faith. The impact this will have in their part of London, across the UK, and further around the world is impossible to calculate but people are taking notice.

This is monumental.

Dave is showing you can do a good thing and still run a business. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

You can follow Arancini Brothers on Instagram and click here to see the post I did about their huge vegan menu at Old Street (including photos!).

If you want to see the exact location of Arancini Brothers Old Street, you can thanks to Google Maps. Remember that the outlet is open between Monday and Friday between 9:30am and 4:00pm.

Vegan store near Wolverhampton

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You know how I am always going on about supporting independent vegan stores?

Well, here is an insight into one such business and I think it gives you a great feel for the love, dedication and commitment independent business people put into vegan grocery stores.

Scott from Friendly Foods just outside Wolverhampton dropped into my inbox to share the following info about the business he runs with Sara.

Listen up:

The store opened in July 2016, initially just at weekends as Sara was still working full time in her job (25 years in the NHS) as a Clinical Psychologist. The intention was to move full-time which duly happened in September ’16. The origins of the store have various inspirations. Sara and Scott went vegan in the late 80s as students and animal rights activists. Kids, work, hassles duly arrived and our veganism lapsed back to vegetarian. We have 3 opinionated kids (Becca – 22, Gregor – 18 and Issy – 16). All made their own decisions to go vegan as teenagers and we were both back in the fold inspired by their example. The idea for opening a store was cemented by a combination of our visits to the annual vegan fest that is the West Midlands Vegan Festival (in Wolves) and Sara just being sick and fed up of Tory induced madness in the health services she managed. Opening the store was all a bit off the cuff but just felt so right and we were lucky to be in a position to give it a go.

Their story continues:

The store is located about 5 miles from the centre of Wolverhampton on the A454 which is the main road between Wolverhampton and Bridgnorth. The store is on a retail park site called “The Garden Village” next to one of the 3 garden centres on the A454 with plentiful free car parking and a local (number 9) bus service. The idea simply is to be a one stop shop for people to find vegan groceries and the growth since September ’16 has been a delightful surprise. The simple ethos is to be a welcoming space for anyone – be they vegan, vegan curious or transitioning – and to make it easier for them to follow a compassionate lifestyle. More of a sanctuary than a shop.

How about moving forward for Friendly Foods?

We are now in bigger unit (since November ’16) and things are going so well we are now even starting to outgrow this larger unit. The range of stock continues to grow week by week and we stock a wide range of the popular vegan brands (Sgaia Mheats, Love Seitan, Wheaty, Vegusto, Bute Island, Violife, Oatly, Ombar, Vego, Anandas, Eat Real, Ten Acre etc etc), the mega One Planet Pizza and vegan essentials like Vital Wheat Gluten, Nutloaf mixes, nuts, pulses, beans, yeast flakes and jackfruit. We also make a point of stocking the more difficult to find artisan vegan products like Tyne Chease, Naturally Vegan Food Company cheezes, Cool Jerk Vegan Pies, Left Field Kombucha, Little Vegan Cookie as well as locally sourced products (like Butterbelle nut butters).

How about opening hours?

The store is open 6 days a week. Wednesday is the only day we are closed. Running the store is a real family effort. Becca helps a bit on social media and Sara’s mum and step dad (Susu and Mikey who are now vegan converts!) are the friendly faces serving in the shop on Sun, Mon and Tues. The other days are covered by Sara and Scott.

You can follow Friendly Foods on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Visit their website here.

Sneak preview of a vegan donut shop

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The countdown is on.

London, your very first 100% vegan donut and coffee shop opens on January 17, 2018.

Lauren of Dough Society asked me to share a few quick glimpses of what the interior of the shop looks like ahead of their grand opening.

Check it out. So gorgeous!

The Dough Society donut and coffee shop is located on Mare Street in Hackney. It’s almost exactly half way between Temple of Hackney and Black Cat Hackney. That part of town really is exceptionally vegan friendly.

Click here to see the exact location thanks to Google Maps.

To celebrate their opening, Dough Society will be giving away one donut to the first 100 customers through the door on Saturday January 20, 2018. (Grand opening is a few days before this giveaway, so get in for one of the early preview days to avoid the rush)

Be sure to follow them on Instagram to stay updated on all their delicious shop news and donut flavours.

Vegan pub food in London

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Here is a quick little bite sized chunk of news you can eat.

I’m just about to head back to Mexico City for six months so I gathered my friends in London for a farewell party at The Blacksmith and The Toffeemaker in Islington.

This pub on St John Street is a gorgeous pub that has just switched it’s entire food menu to be 100% vegan.

Check out this short Instagram video I made showing the current menu.

The polenta fries with added cheese were fabulous and I loved the toasted sandwich.

Not all of the alcohol being served is vegan, however they assure me this is being worded on and will be rectified soon.

In the meantime, all of the booze that is vegan suitable is clearly labelled.

You can follow The Blacksmith and The Toffeemaker on Instagram and see the pub’s exact location thanks to Google Maps.

Vegan pop up in a Tube station

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Here is some fab news.

100% vegan cafe Cupcakes & Shhht located in Elephant and Castle has a pop up cake stall inside Old Street Underground station for the next three months!

Check it out.

As you can see, they are also selling copies of my book. Well, the books might be gone by the time you visit because they only had three remaining.

But you should definitely get along for delicious vegan cakes and treats!

Save money on the FGV book

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You know about my book because I never shut up about it, but I have some extra book-related news that is fresh and exciting.

For some reason, WH Smith has my book available at a special price for online shoppers who use a discount code.

If you use the code FGV18, you will be able to buy Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t from the online WH Smith online store for £4.99.

Click here to get my book at a discount!

Food giveaway

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This isn’t an FGV-run giveaway, but it is happening at my Hackney Downs Vegan Market this Saturday (January 13, 2018).

To find out how you can win some exclusive vegan fried chicken from trader Greedy Khao, you need to check out the details in the description of this Instagram post below.

Get entering and I hope you win!

You can see the full line up of traders for this Saturday’s market online here.

Change in social media policy

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As of today, any non-vegan business that contacts me to share information about vegan products and services will be asked for a fee.

I have been running this blog for more than 7 years. It was designed to (and still does) help promote independent vegan business, support people in their decision to live a vegan life, and promote not-for-profit and for-profit vegan events run by me and other vegans.

As veganism becomes a more accepted part of our society, I find myself under ever-increasing pressure to spread news of developments. News is coming in thick and fast.

Non-vegan restaurants, stores and businesses contact me every day asking me to share their information on my blog and social media accounts. Every business in the UK is scrambling to grab some vegan income.

Answering these emails and sharing the content takes up hours and hours of my time each week. I’m finding myself responding to sometimes hundreds of requests from vegan and non-vegan businesses each week.

As there is just one person running the FGV platforms, it is too much work for me to consider publishing every piece of information that comes my way. It is especially too much work when you consider that I don’t ask for money to blog and some of these non-vegan businesses are making huge profits.

Well, I didn’t used to.

Going forward, any requests from non-vegan businesses to share their content will be met with a request for a fee. If any payment is made, this will be clearly indicated on the blog post or social media post.

10% of any payment received from non-vegan companies will be donated by me to Isla Urbana, a charity dedicated to building clean water infrastructure for people in Mexico City.

I will continue to support and share information for vegan businesses, charities, organisations and individuals at no cost.

Extra note: some news from non-vegan businesses will be shared at no cost if and when I think it is important or significant. Or if I feel like doing it.

My book in bookstores

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When I was a young child in Australia, it was a dream of mine to be a writer.

I didn’t consider how it would happen or when or what was even involved, but I was simply drawn to writing.

I entered writing competitions at my local area shows and I even once won a prize for having a poem published in a newspaper.

Fast forward to now and here I am with a published book many decades later.

Thank you to Tsouni of Yes It’s All Vegan for letting me use this photo she took of the vegan section of Foyles on Charing Cross Road in Central London today.

It means more to me than I can explain to see my book on the shelves of a ‘proper’ bookstore amongst titles by people I love and adore… and some I don’t! LOL.

If you would like to grab a copy of my book from Foyles and help me continue to live out my childhood dream as it comes to life, you can order online or even order online to collect in your nearest store.

Foyles has my book in Stratford Westfield, Charing Cross Road, Bristol, Waterloo London, Birmingham, Chelmsford, and Royal Festival Hall London stores.

Click here to order for delivery or collection from Foyles. The website tells you how many copies of my book remain in each store. Maybe we can even give one of the stores a sellout situation?!

London cafe turns totally vegan

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Have you heard the news?!

The Gallery Cafe, the legendary Bethnal Green eatery, has become a 100% vegan cafe.

And even better news?

The Gallery Cafe is now completely vegan forever. It’s not a #Veganuary thing, it’s a #VeganEveryMonthOfTheYear thing.

It has taken a while, but better late than never. I can remember trying to convince the management years ago to make this switch but they were certain losing the halloumi from the menu would be the end of them.

I’m thrilled they have finally taken the leap and removed cruel dairy from their business. Pop in and have one of their famous breakfasts and say thanks.

You can follow The Gallery Cafe on Instagram.

You can see the exact location of the cafe thanks to Google Maps.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdXiEP7jf-3/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdSFIZ3DBS6/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcj71uWD7_L/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcP-sxfjezN/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY8W9xMjlve/