London vegan news, reviews & events
Forget all about our quaint Vegan Ice Cream Wars involving bland vanilla and reserved raspberry. Shit just got serious and vegans are rushing all over the UK to find these new flavours by Almond Dream.
It appears these tubs of frozen goodness only started appearing a few days ago in selected Waitrose freezers and already we might have a shortage on our hands.
Manchester is rapidly carving out a reputation for being a particularly special place for vegan food and the photo that crash landed in my inbox today is further proof.
Tucked away in the once derelict (and now slightly less derelict) barrio of Manchester known as the Northern Quarter, a non-vegan canteen and bar called Soup Kitchen is serving up one of the most impressive vegan meals I have heard of in the UK.
As the title says, I just can’t.
Before you read any further, get your credit card ready and make sure there are no obstacles between you and your phone. You will need to do these things in order to be safe as you RUSH MADLY to place an order for THIS AMAZING PRODUCT.
Josh has climbed on board the blogging train tonight to tell us all about his recent vegan food adventure inside the UK version of international chain restaurant Wagamama.
Take it away, Josh.
Why are McDonald’s restaurants closing all over the UK?
I was walking along the high street of my new neighbourhood when I noticed a shop front that looked to be recently vacated. Staring carefully at the place where the business sign used to be, I could make out the outline of the word McDonald’s.
How fantastic! Any McDonald’s closure is a good thing for animals. This particular branch had minced up and sold dead animals for more than 30 years and now it was gone. But why are these stores closing and does it even mean people are eating more compassionately?
I get emails every day from people wanting information about where to eat/shop/visit and as much as I love to help, there is only one FGV to go around.
So I hatched a plan.
I decided to create a space on my blog where anyone could register and share information about their favourite vegan topics. I wanted to make it possible for visitors to my blog to have as much useful information as possible at their fingertips.
That’s why you can now be a part of FGV Forum.
The FGV Forum has areas for users to share info on topics such as:
In addition, there is a place for users to introduce themselves and chat about any topics related to veganism.
The FGV Forum is brand new and will probably experience a few teething problems. For instance, Hotmail email addresses are experiencing sign up difficulties but this problem is being worked on.
I would be delighted if you could assist me in making it an important hub for new and longtime vegans alike. The more information we all post, the more valuable the forum becomes.
Head on over to the FGV Forum now and get posting!
This is a super quick post to tell you about a wheat meat I am adoring.
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.
I have been racking my feeble brain for a witty or whimsical way in which to announce this epic news, but I have been reduced to a quivering mess and can no longer think. I’m going to just have to come straight out and say the facts.
The best vegan cakes and desserts in the whole of Europe are now available in London.
If you have been loitering around these parts of the Internet for a few years, you should be able to recall this mammoth post I wrote about irresistible vegan cakes in Barcelona created by the magical company known as Lujuria Vegana.
Their cakes are absolutely peerless in Europe. I am a super fan.
Imagine then my sheer delight/shock/convulsions of hysteria when I was confronted by masses of Lujuria Vegana desserts sitting in the chilled fridges of the brand new Whole Foods Market location in Fulham. I almost fell over.
The range in Whole Foods is staggering in size. You can see by the photos below that I was completely unable to control myself and bought many varieties. I was overcome by a cake buying frenzy.
As far as I can tell, this particular Whole Foods Market is the ONLY place in the UK selling these gluten free and vegan desserts. I had heard whispers of them making inroads over here but this is the first time I have seen them on a store shelf.
Check out my photos (yes, I bought ALL cakes featured). Get to Fulham. Buy many cakes. Be happy.
Follow Lujuria Vegana on Twitter.
It seems you can’t go anywhere in the UK without tripping over a vegan festival. Plant-based get togethers are multiplying at a rapid pace and a northern city has joined the trend.
Get ready for the Newcastle Upon Tyne Vegan Festival this July.
This event is the brainchild of a full time student and vegan catering business operator named Louise. Louise has decided to spend the minuscule amount of spare time she has to create a fun and educational day-long event in the northern city.
The Newcastle Vegan Festival is set for July 26th, 2014 in a large hall located a short walk from the central train station. More than 100 stalls are expected and will include food, films, local food producers, ethical clothing and many more services and goods from the world of veganism.
Entry will be a lowly £2 for adults and £1 for children with profits from ticket sales being donated to charity.
If you live in the area, make sure you get on in to the Newcastle Upon Tyne Vegan Festival for food, fun and information. If you live elsewhere, this is surely a perfect opportunity to visit the city.