Brecknock Road Vegan Festival

London vegans, friends and the vegan-curious are invited to a day of celebrations along the plant-eater friendly Brecknock Road in Kentish Town.

Brecknock Road Vegan Festival
Brecknock Road Vegan Festival

The local business holders have come together to celebrate everything they have to offer in the way of vegan food, goods and services on Saturday November 9th, 2013. It is an all day shopping, eating and social event from 11am, culminating with a party in the pub from 6pm until late.

Attractions on the day include:

– The Third Estate who will be launching Wills Vegan Shoes winter collection as well as their new website

– Bumblebee Health Foods serving Manna vegan cakes all day and will be sampling Fry’s Vegetarian products

– Muya Ethiopian restaurant with a separate vegan menu

Salvino Italian deli serving vegan food and groceries plus will have live music in the store

– The Admiral Mann pub hosting the official afterparty (with vegan bottled beers by McMullen Brewery) featuring Motown/R&B/Soul singer Steve Lucas

– The Mighty Fork will be selling their delicious range of gourmet vegan hot dogs until 4pm

– The Vegan Society will be on hand to spread the vegan message and sell merchandise

– More stores, products and specials to be announced

Every visitor to the street will be given a vegan loyalty card. When you buy a vegan item from any of the participating stores on the day, your card will be stamped which you can then use to collect a very special gift bag from The Vegan Society stall.

The Vegan Society will be filming the entire day for a video to be shared on their website and social media platforms. It is our opportunity to show on a grand scale how London vegans and their friends can come together!

Please stay tuned for regular updates to this event. It is a real first for London and an amazing way to encourage local businesses to take notice of vegans. The event aims to support local traders while promoting and supporting the vegan community!

**Entry to the after party is FREE**

What does a FGV sound like?

Here is an interesting turn of events for the coming week.

On Tuesday January 29, 2013 at 7:00pm (London, UK time) you will be able to watch me host a global video chat on Google +. That’s right! No matter where in the world you are situated, your Internet connection will allow you a front row seat so you can see and hear a real life FGV in action.

But what’s it all about?

Google + Local in London have asked me to host a Hangout (video chat) for new vegans and people considering trying a vegan diet on for size. They didn’t have to twist my chubby arm too much, especially when they agreed I could bring two friends along for the ride.

Helping me field questions on the evening will be Catherine ‘Kip’ Dorrell of Messy Vegetarian fame. As a lot of you already know, Kip’s blog is one of the best on the entire planet for creative plant-based cuisine and recipes.

Also joining us will be vegan blogging megastar and all round publishing busy person Laura Hooper Beck. Laura is probably best known to readers of this blog as the founding editor of one of the most popular (and awesome) vegan blogs out there today…. Vegansaurus!

How does the Hangout work?

If you have a Google account, head on over to the event page and sign up. Once there, you can add questions you would like our panel of vegans to answer.

If you don’t have a Google account but would still like to be involved, visit the event page as the Hangout is taking place and there will be a link for the live video stream. Anyone can watch, with or without a Google account.

Click here for the event page on Google +

Hope to see a lot of you in cyberspace!

We love you LEEDS! LEEDS! LEEDS!

In some parts of the world, it can be a struggle to be a vegan.

If you are located a long distance from a major city, plant-based foods and cruelty-free supplies can be difficult to track down let alone finding a vegan social event in your neighbourhood. London spoils me for choice, but I never forget what it was like to live in smaller, less vegan-friendly locations. Heck… I was even situated (for a short period) in Rockhampton, Australia. If you care to investigate, I believe you will discover Rockhampton is considered the beef capital of Australia.

For isolated vegans, the light at the end of the lonesome tunnel often takes the form of a local vegan/veggie support group. Likeminded individuals get together to share advice, recipes, food, friendship and interests. Your local support group can often be the only time your choice to be cruelty-free is taken seriously.

There are a huge number of veggie/vegan support groups all over the UK but as Leeds is close to my heart, I would like to focus on the Northern city for a moment… specifically the Leeds Vegetarians and Vegans group.

Read more