vegan

Hold the Meat!

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Post by:

josh panel

As I was meeting a friend for dinner at the behemothic Westfield London shopping mall in White City earlier this week, I googled ‘vegan westfield london’ beforehand and a Brazilian restaurant called Cabana Brasilian Barbecue popped up as the third result. Intrigued, I clicked through to their website to discover that despite their name, this national chain clearly mark vegan options on their menus. So with some reservations about going anywhere with the word ‘barbecue’ in the name, I decided to give it a try.

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Crispy chicken sandwich

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How awesome does this sandwich look?!

Yay for #vegan crispy chicken sandwich and fries at @teatimecollective in Manchester!

A photo posted by Fat Gay Vegan (@fatgayvegan) on

I made my first ever trip to the Manchester cafe called Teatime Collective yesterday and this sandwich had me feeling extremely pleased with myself.

Teatime Collective made their name serving tasty vegan food at festivals, but took the plunge to open a bricks and mortar location in the Manchester neighbourhood of Hulme.

The menu is packed with fab comfort food such as burgers, fries and sodas plus you can even treat yourself to an ice cream sundae.

Follow Teatime Collective on Twitter and Instagram.

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Fry’s online

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BREAKING NEWS.

I’m just a few weeks out from my move to Mexico, meaning my job with Fry’s Family Foods UK is coming to an end. I will no longer be the first to bring you exciting news such as the following:

Fry’s now have four products available to buy via Morrisons online!

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You can click on the above image to visit the online shop.

The supermarket is selling just 4 of the 20+ product range available in the UK, but it is a great start.

Do you shop with Morrisons online?

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Not so tasty

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Post by:

josh panel

On a recent trip to Leeds I saw this Turkey Style, Ham Style & Leek Pie by VBites and curiosity got the better of me.

I have to admit I was quite disappointed.

The filling was an odd-looking mixture of meats and veggies which didn’t taste particularly appetising. Although I like VBites’ turkey-style roast and their ham-style slices, the flavourless sauce and soggy carrots combined with the two meat replacements in this pie didn’t work for me.

The lacklustre pastry only served to speed the pie’s trip to the bin after just a few bites.

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Scotland

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This is a big weekend coming up in Glasgow and I’m thrilled to have plans to be there.

If you haven’t heard, the first ever Vegfest Scotland is roaring to life on both Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December, 2015.

Like all VegfestUK shows, the Glasgow version in the SECC is set to be rammed with tasty food vendors, vegan companies, educational talks, debate panels and more.

I have my own FGV stall across both days of the show where I will be selling t-shirts and postcards. 15% of sales from the t-shirts is being donated to vegan community kitchen Made in Hackney.

If you are visiting the show on Sunday, you can also join me for an informal talk on how to begin a vegan blog. I will be discussing my tips for getting an online platform up and running and I’m looking forward to answering questions.

You can join in this session from 1:30pm Sunday December 6th, 2015.

Click here to buy entry tickets.

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Also…

You can join me at legendary vegan venue The Flying Duck for a one night only Scottish version of my London club night, Queer Vegan Disco.

Kicking off at 11:00pm, we will be pumping a few hours of pop, indie, rock, alternative, 80s, 90s, top 40 and more.

Tickets are £5 on the door or only £3 if you buy in advance online.

RSVP and invite friends on the Facebook event and buy tickets online now.

See you in Scotland!

queer vegan disco artists

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Being vegan and medicine

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You might remember the sad news I featured on my blog a short while ago about my friend, Indira.

Indira is one of the most compassionate people I have had the pleasure of meeting and I was deeply saddened to learn she had been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer of the liver.

You can read my original post here.

Indira reached out to me this week to ask if I would allow her to post a piece of writing she has compiled on the emotional struggle of being a dedicated vegan faced with medication which has undoubtedly been tested on animals.

Here are Indira’s thoughts:

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Tofu curry-mango

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Here is a super quick post to inform you of one of my favourite fridge staples.

Josh and I always have a packet of this gorgeous mango and curry flavoured tofu in the house. It is the perfect accompaniment to pasta and rice dishes.

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The only real problem with this product? About half of it ends up in my belly before it can make it into whatever we are cooking.

Check out this fab stir fried rice featuring broccolini, green beans, mushroom, spring onion and red pepper that we topped with the mango curry tofu.

So very delicious!

Is this your favourite tofu? Or have you got another go-to flavour?

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Crispy newness

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Check out these fab new crunchy snacks I discovered in my local Co-operative supermarket.

They are not stunning, but they are cheap and cheerful. I didn’t stop eating once I tore the bag open, but I’m not sure that is a yardstick for quality.

You can also look out for the new lentil curls in the same range which will probably be sitting next to these on the shelf.

Have you tried these new snacks? What do you think?

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Vegan Sicily

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HUGE thanks to my friend Jo who has kindly offered us this tempting review of vegan Sicily.

Jo is someone who gets a kick out of discovering vegan food in unexpected locations and she certainly has stumbled across some gems in Sicily.

Read and be jealous!

Vegan Sicily

If anyone is looking for a vegan-friendly corner of the Mediterranean for a get-away, I can thoroughly recommend the south-east of Sicily.

The provincial capital city, Catania, is not only close to the airport (about 15 minutes by taxi, car or bus), has Mount Etna as its backdrop and is full of history but it also boasts three exclusively vegan restaurants as well as three vegetarian restaurants with extensive vegan options.

Food in this part of the world is reasonably priced and of super flavoursome. I was told that Catania was particularly vegan-friendly because it’s a university city but vegan food was pretty easy to find outside the city. Ordering a roasted vegetable sandwich or pasta ‘senza fromaggio’ seemed to raise not even a flicker of surprise.

My food highlights were:

  • ‘Seitan Alla Piestra’ (which I think translates as ‘medalions of seitan’) at Zenzero & Salvia

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  • The ‘Anthony Kiedis’ pizza (spicy seitan, tomatoes and vegan cheese) at Haiku (http://www.haiku-ct.it/). It took a while to chomp through the pizza, partly because the mushroom carpaccio starter turned out to be the equivalent of the size of a UK main course but also because the pizza was generously deep filled and automatically comes with a salad. The setting at Haiku is lovely as they have a beautiful courtyard garden. Despite being happy to slowly plough through my Anthony Kiedis whilst enjoying the lovely surroundings I couldn’t manage to finish. They very kindly offered to give me a box to take the rest home. I soon realised that these large portions are the norm in Sicily.

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Haiku also runs a small vegan shop next door to the restaurant where you can buy tofu products (including Taifun), nut milks and a vegan version of ‘nutella’

  • My meze meal of roasted aubergine, chick pea fritters and seitan schnitzel at La Cucina Dei Colori, (http://www.happycow.net/reviews/la-cucina-dei-colori-catania-23581, washed down with an unfiltered local craft beer called ‘Tari’, and followed by a very rich chocolate and pistachio mousse. This is a vegetarian restaurant but almost all of the dishes were labelled as vegan. It’s a popular restaurant and wasn’t easy to get a table.

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Other highlights include:

  • Nicosia Winery’s ‘Nero D’Avola’ wine – made from grapes grown in the Etna valley. They sell a red and white wine both labelled as organic and vegan and can be bought in supermarkets.

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  • Stecco Natura: they sell a large range of vegan ice lollies and have branches in Catania, Taormina and Syracuse. My favourite was the ‘mandorla’ (almond) flavour. Other Gelateria sold vegan gelato and the Sicilian ‘granita’ (a bit like more natural tasting slush puppy).

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  • ‘Latte di mandorla’: this is a traditional home-made almond milk drink made as a spring and summer cooler drink from almonds grown locally and served in cafes and bars. Some are sweetened with honey though so you need to check
  • Maccu – a traditional ‘peasant’ dish made of fava beans and wild fennel. It’s like a thick soup served with pasta;
  • Vegan ‘artisan’ chocolate in Modica

My food highlight though has to be Moon restaurant in Syracuse (http://www.moonortigia.com). Not only is it a beautifully-styled restaurant (it felt a bit like sitting in a contemporary art gallery) with a fantastically chilled ambiance and right in the centre but all the dishes are vegan. I had the most delicious seitan ‘kebab’ and almond parfait for desert. They also serve the Nero D’Avola wine and the restaurant doubles as a music venue in the evenings.

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Thank you, Jo!

I’m sure I’m not alone in being amazed by these glorious vegan food options in Sicily.

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