Hackney Downs Vegan Market looking for traders

Hackney Downs Vegan Market is on the lookout for vegan cheese traders.

Are you a new vegan cheese producer looking to expand your business? Are you ready to take your products in front of the public?

Our weekly market has been the launching pad for many vegan cheese brands that have gone on to bigger and better things and now we are looking for tomorrow’s superstars.

Traders who have been featured at Hackney Downs Vegan Market over the past few years include I AM NUT OK (now stocked in Fortnum & Mason), Kinda Co (now working out of a professional kitchen), and Black Arts Vegan (about to launch their online store).

All of these traders will tell you that our local community market helped them establish public awareness of their brand while they developed and improved their products.

Hackney Downs Vegan Market is low cost for traders as we only charge a percentage of takings. We support and encourage traders who identify as women, non-white, disabled, and/or members of LGBTQI communities to apply as traders.

The market is currently on every Saturday and Sunday with winter hours of 11am until 4pm both days. We have market stalls for you to hire if needed.

If you are interested in coming on board as a vegan cheese trader to take your business up a notch, please email josh@fgvpr.co.uk to express your interest.

Extra note: joining our market is also a great way to build your social media following. As a trader you will be included in my social media announcements and market blog posts, reaching thousands of people each week.

London now has a vegan bottomless brunch

Buffalo, the new vegan diner in London Fields (yes, Hackney!), is launching the Buffalo Bottomless Brunch this Saturday October 27, 2018 from midday.

For £25 diners will receive the Buffalo Breakfast of Champions and unlimited mimosas and beers.

The Champions Breakfast includes vegan sausages, scrambled tofu, smoky seitan bacon, mixed beans, avocado and fresh, locally-sourced sourdough.

And if for some reason you need drink choices other than bottomless mimosas, for an additional £10 you can enjoy unlimited margaritas and Bloody Marys!

Brunch tables are available from midday for two hour slots. Email info@buffalodiner.co.uk to reserve or simply send an Instagram message.

Extra news: Buffalo Vegan Diner is just a 30-minute walk from Hackney Downs Vegan Market, so take a leisurely stroll over to visit us after your bottomless brunch.

Deep fried vegan pizza pockets

Hey, London.

You have a new vegan street food trader and I think you should be very excited about them. Say hello to Bar Dei Baci and their fried pizza!

The vegan frizza (fried pizza) from Bar DeirBaci looks incredible.

It is made fresh on the market stall and comes in a range of flavours. The mac n cheese frizza has already proven to be a sensation and is selling out at appearances all around London.

If you haven’t been fortunate enough to get your hands on some frizza yet, your chance is coming up.

Bar Dei Baci is trading at Hackney Downs Vegan Market this Sunday October 14, 2018 for the first time ever. Come along after 11am for a taste of food heaven.

You can see the full Sunday line up online here and follow Bar Dei Baci on Instagram.

Extra market news: get along to the Sunday market for 3 for the price of 2 on New Roots award-winning vegan cheese. This is a rare opportunity to save some cash on one of the best vegan cheese ranges on the planet.

Vegan fish and chip shop opens in London

Sutton & Sons, the family run chippy, is launching London’s first stand-alone vegan fish & chip shop.

Opening at 240 Graham Road from 4th October, 2018, the restaurant will serve its signature vegan fish and chips made from banana blossom. A bespoke menu of gourmet vegan fast food dishes, desserts and soft and alcoholic drinks will also be available.

Danny Sutton, owner of Sutton & Sons said, “We’ve been completely gob smacked by the popularity of our vegan menu. People have visited us from all over the country, just to try our take on vegan fish. We didn’t have space in the Hackney branch like at Stoke Newington and Essex Road to provide the vegan menu, so we are chuffed to now provide a space dedicated to our new vegan customers.”

Sample menu:

(Prices the same for eat-in or takeaway)

  • Fish & chips £7.50
  • Fish burger £6.00
  • Battered sausage & chips £5.50
  • Prawn cocktail £5.50
  • Scampi and chips £6.00
  • Pie and mash £7.50

They have even created vegan friendly homemade tartare sauce for your dipping needs.

After successfully trialling different vegan options in January, Sutton & Sons previously rolled out a vegan menu in Stoke Newington & Essex Road branches. The vegan fish was so successful they sold out in the first week of the menu becoming full time.

You can follow the vegan Sutton & Sons on Instagram.

You can click here to see the exact location of the new vegan chippy thanks to Google Maps. It is just around the corner from Temple of Hackney, a 100% vegan owned and operated food business run by Temple of Seitan.

The new vegan Sutton & Sons is just a 20-minute walk from Hackney Downs Vegan Market, which is now on every Saturday and Sunday.

Style yourself sustainable event in London

Here is a super quick note about a sustainable fashion event taking place in the same location as Hackney Downs Vegan Market on Saturday September 22, 2018.

Style Yourself Sustainable is an event bringing together vintage clothing and eco brand pop-ups in one space, alongside talks such as ‘Wear the walk’ and a panel of eco minded brands for you to ask questions.

There will be sewing workshops with Kate from Time to Sew (check out additional tickets) and t-shirt re-fashioning session with Oonagh.

In addition to all of the above, there will also be a swap shop where (for free) you can swap something that you are not that in love with anymore for something that you do love!

Sustainable fashion AND a vegan market in one spot. Get involved!

Click here to book your free ticket.

FGV all over London

In case you have missed the news, Fat Gay Vegan is a London wide concern these days!

I have so much market news and am thrilled to announce that you can now eat and shop in Hackney all weekend long as Hackney Downs Vegan Market becomes a Saturday AND Sunday market.

In addition, I am launching Fat Gay Vegan at Venn Street which is our own weekly Saturday vegan market alongside the traditional Venn Street Market.

This is all kicking off from Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 September, 2018.

You can RSVP to the Facebook events for Hackney Downs Vegan Market and Fat Gay Vegan at Venn Street.

You can see the full trader line up for all markets online here.

Yay for vegan markets! Yay for independent vegan business!

Vegan restaurant gets a new London location

A short while ago I posted about a new vegan restaurant on Brick Lane called Buffalo.

The food got some great reviews but they shut up shop pretty soon after opening. The location was not suitable for some reason but all is not lost.

I just had word that Buffalo is re-opening in Hackney!

This is what founder Stephen had to say to me:

Buffalo’s re-opening will be early October 2018! We have the lease for 6 months which hopefully will become permanent. The menu is expanding to include our burgers, extended list of homemade sauces and toppings, extra options for fries, and a new tapas menu. We are taking over the space recently used by The Brook Social.

Great news!

You can follow Buffalo on Instagram.

BREAKING NEWS: Hackney Downs in vegan world first

This news is too exciting to keep to myself any longer.

I am thrilled to announce that Hackney Downs Vegan Market is set to become the world’s first full weekend vegan market.

Yes, that’s right. The market will be trading on Sunday as well as Saturday each week!

Hackney Downs Vegan Market has become known for being the friendliest market in London.

Starting as a one-off Festive market a couple of years ago, the market then experienced runaway success as a monthly market and enjoyed attendee numbers in the thousands. The crowd numbers were so good that we had to make the market a weekly event in order to control crowds.

The demand was certainly there so Hackney Downs Vegan Market became the first weekly vegan market in the UK.

Located at Hackney Downs Studios E8, the market has become well known as a destination for the best vegan street food in London. Many of our traders have used the market to springboard into bigger business ventures and we are proud to support independent traders on their journeys.

The popularity of the market means there is immense interest to trade with us and our waiting list currently holds more than 400 traders.

There is only one way we can start to give more traders an opportunity and that is to expand the market into Sunday. Hackney Downs Vegan Market will be the world’s first full weekend vegan market!

We look forward to welcoming you on September 16, 2018 for the first Sunday version of our market and we hope this gives many more of you a chance to spend time at the world’s most-loved vegan market.

Commencing Saturday 15 and Sunday 16, 2018 Hackney Downs Vegan Market will be a full weekend market, opening from 11am until 5pm on both days.

The market will be open every Saturday and Sunday.

I’m not sure where else you need to be each weekend. Our market has got BOTH days sorted for you with burgers, beer, cakes, cheeses, and so much more. Don’t forget that the Temple of Seitan operated TEMPLE GOODS vegan café is on site at the market and open all weekend with brunch, coffee, tea, and gorgeous baked treats.

Stay tuned for more details and follow me (Fat Gay Vegan) on Instagram. This is where I share trader and food line-ups for the market each Friday ahead of the weekend.

Extra note: my second weekly vegan market taking place in Clapham is commencing on Saturday September 15, 2018. Fat Gay Vegan at Venn Street is a 10-stall market running alongside the original Venn Street Market every Saturday. Read more here.

Introduction to fermentation workshop

An Introduction to Fermentation Workshop
w/ Steve Wilson
Saturday 18th August, 2-3pm, £20

In this practical workshop at The Well Garden (Hackney Downs Vegan Market will be happening outside the venue at the same time!) you will learn the alchemy of how to make kimchi and kombucha at home, the nutritional benefits of fermented food, and how to improve your gut health.

Steve Wilson is a cookery teacher at Made in Hackney, and Founder of Make Kit, a vegan and vegetarian recipe box service. He previously founded The People’s Kitchen, a community food surplus kitchen, and Dalstons, a low sugar natural soft drinks company. He loves sharing his knowledge of cooking with others.

What to Bring
Please bring 2 Jam Jars, all other materials will be provided.

Arrival
Please arrive at least 15 minutes early to ensure you have time to set up & get settled. The workshop will start promptly at 2pm.

Multiple Tickets
Call on 02030959735 to book for more than one person.

Cancellation Policy
We do not offer refunds for bookings cancelled within 48 hours of the course or workshop starting. We reserve the right to cancel a course/workshop if necessary, in these circumstances a full refund will be given.

Click here to order your ticket.

One day only London pop up

Just Falafs is a new vegan eatery getting rave reviews in Sheffield, so I am thrilled to announce that we are welcoming them to Hackney Downs Vegan Market this Saturday August 11, 2018 for an exclusive London appearance.

The menu at Just Falafs is packed solid with falafel, hummus, and all manner of Middle Eastern cuisine and I’m sure our market attendees are going to love the selection on offer just as much as Sheffield diners do.

Just Falafs are teaming up with legendary Hackney eatery Black Cat for this special appearance at our market.

Click here to see the full trader line up for the market and follow Just Falafs on InstagramHackney Downs Vegan Market takes place at Hackney Downs Studios between 11am and 5pm. It is located at E8 2BT.