London vegan restaurant gets an overhaul

Loving Hut in Edgware, London has long been a favourite eating destination for people in the capital looking to eat with compassion.

The restaurant (run by followers of the teachings of Supreme Master Ching Hai – Google it if you wanna know) has been serving delicious vegan savoury food for years and favourites include mock meats, noodle dishes, and flavoured rice.

I was planning a trip to Loving Hut Edgware a few days ago when I discovered that it no longer exists, but has been remodelled and renamed.

Zen Buddha still sits at 236 Station Road but has enjoyed a makeover. The restaurant has been polished to look more modern and new booth seating has been added.

The people working in the restaurant are the same and, thankfully, the food is still the same delicious crispy goodness I know and love.

Check out my most recent meal below and see the exact location of Zen Buddha online thanks to Google Maps.

Vegan Italian restaurant in east London

This news is ALL OVER the vegan Internet, so you might have already heard it.

Antonio’s Kitchen is a brand new vegan Italian restaurant that has opened in Bethnal Green, London.

The food business has been trading at various locations over the past few years, but this restaurant is its first permanent home. It is just a few steps from Cambridge Heath train station and around the corner from The Gallery Cafe.

The menu at Antonio’s is stuffed solid with Italian classics such as piadina flatbread, calzone, and pasta.

You can see the exact location of Antonio’s Vegan Italian Kitchen thanks to Google Maps. Be sure to follow them on Instagram.

Fat Gay Vegan at Venn Street Market

It’s a match made in foodie heaven.

Fat Gay Vegan teams up with legendary VENN STREET MARKET to turn the famous Clapham Common destination into your new favourite vegan market.

Fat Gay Vegan at Venn Street Market launches on Saturday September 15, 2018 and continues EVERY Saturday between 10am and 4pm.

Taking over one third of Venn Street Market, the FGV market is a weekly showcase of some of the finest vegan street food in the capital as well as take home vegan cheeses, cakes, and personal products. There will be at least ten vegan stalls each Saturday.

Fat Gay Vegan at Venn Street Market is situated just a two-minute walk from Clapham Common Underground station.

You can RSVP and invite friends over on the Facebook event page.

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.

Raw vegan food event East London

Here is a super quick post to let you know about a vegan raw food dining event taking place near Cambridge Heath in east London.

Guest chef Kate Magic is going to be feeding attendees a 5-course raw dinner extravaganza this Friday August 10, 2018 at The Love Shack, located on Cambridge Heath Road.

The menu sounds tasty and includes:

On Arrival: Kombucha Daiquiris
Appetizer: Korean Sesame Noodles
Entree: Kale + Kimchi Bowl
Dessert: Magic Chocolate Cake
To Finish: Matcha Mints and Chaga Lattes

Click here to book your tickets online.

New vegan Ethiopian restaurant in Brixton

Brixton has been one of the longstanding vegan/vegan-friendly enclaves of London.

And it just got a whole lot friendlier.

Have you heard about Habesha Village?

This new Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurant is only a few months old and is located in the Brixton Village shopping and dining area. Oh yeah, it’s 100% vegan as well!

Habesha VIllage is serving up gorgeous savoury stews with injera, the super spongey and irresistible bread that you use to scoop up your food.

Ben from Ms Cupcake has been raving about the food at Habesha Village, so it comes very highly recommended.

You can follow Habesha Village on Facebook and Instagram. You can find the restaurant off Coldharbour Lane in Grandville Arcade.

A monumental shift in thinking

Yesterday felt like one of the most significant days of my life.

I hosted City Vegan Lunch Market on Guildhall Yard in the City of London. The City of London is also known as the square mile and is the financial, trading, and banking heart of the UK capital.

I was nervous ahead of this event, but not in the usual way.

Every event I put on takes a lot of hard work and I often find myself nervous about every aspect running smoothly.

This City event had me fearing something else. What if nobody came? What if a fully vegan lunch time market in an area known for extreme wealth and steak lunches just wasn’t ready for what we had lined up?

My fears weren’t just based on my own own feelings being hurt.

A failed event in the City would see all of our traders losing money. It would feel like veganism just wasn’t at the level we thought it was. And it would have made me feel like I wasn’t able to pull it off for the animals.

But you wanna know something incredible?

People did come to this market and they came in huge numbers.

A large number of our traders sold out of food completely and all of them had an incredible trading day.

This is the part of the blog post where I get a bit sappy.

During the height of the market yesterday, when there were hundreds of City workers scrambling for vegan lunch, I had to take myself around the corner and have a little cry. I was deeply and profoundly overwhelmed by emotion.

I spend almost every waking hour consumed by the job of promoting veganism as a fun and accessible lifestyle that can make a difference and redress the immense suffering we inflect on non-human animals. This job is not your typical job and it can be gruelling.

Like a lot of old school vegan activists and organisers, I have lived through many years (decades in my case) of seeing tiny advances being battled for and won. We have put every ounce of energy we have left into saving animals and it takes its toll on us physically, financially and emotionally.

We used to journey across London to support local health food stores that just happened to have some vegan products. We have petitioned mainstream markets for decades to increase their vegan offerings. We have put together grassroots events in towns, cities and villages all over the UK to support each other. When they was nowhere else to socialise, we opened our dining rooms and back gardens to each other for informal gatherings.

Along with Josh, I ran London Vegan Potluck every month for four years just so vegans and vegan-friendly people could have a space to meet on a regular basis. There was very little else. This was all before vegan markets and parties had taken over London.

We also ran London Vegan Drinks (which is still going!) every month for four years. VegFestUK has been with us for much longer than a decade. Animal Aid, The Vegan Society, and Viva! Campaigns have done immeasurably crucial work to plant the seeds of compassion that we are now watching blossom in 2018. Veggies Catering have traveled all over the UK to feed people food, knowledge, and understanding.

During some of these years it did feel like we were making slow progress but that veganism would always be seen as a ‘weird’ thing outsiders did just to be different or difficult.

But I’m here to tell you that all of those years of blood, sweat, and tears have changed the consciousness of the UK public for the better and for good.

City Vegan Lunch Market was the most stark and startling example I have seen of how accepted veganism has become.

Hundreds and hundreds of office workers waited patiently in the scorching heat for vegan food when they had animal products waiting for them in shops, cafés, restaurants, and supermarkets all over the neighbourhood.

Hundreds and hundreds of office workers enthusiastically devoured pizza, burgers, curries, ice cream, salads, wraps, donuts, and ramen and all of it was vegan.

People could be heard raving about the food. People could be heard talking excitedly about the market. Dozens of people asked me if I could make this market a monthly or even weekly event.

After decades of working to improve the visibility and accessibility of veganism in order to help lessen animal suffering, there I was surrounded by more people than I could count who all were excited to buy vegan food in the middle of the City of London in a 100% vegan market.

My mind raced with the memory of the thousands of vegan activists and event goers I have met over the years. I thought about the years people have given up in the name of animal protection. I remembered all of the pioneers who put their own interests on the back burner in order to support vegans and protect animals.

And it all became to much for me. I walked behind a wall and the tears wouldn’t stop. I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

It is very rare to be somewhere when measurable change occurs, but I witnessed it yesterday with my own eyes. Even a few years ago I would have been laughed out of the City of London for suggesting such a market but there I was hosting a fully vegan lunch market on Guildhall Yard.

This market wasn’t just a fun event. It was a signpost. It was a signifier of how vegan activists have managed to shape the consciousness of an entire country of people. We have fought and struggled and this market was a victory.

It was a sign of just how far we have come and shows that our society has been irreversibly changed when it comes to thinking about veganism. I did not see one raised eyebrow. I did not hear one single snide remark. Bacon jokes? Nothing.

Listen. We still have a lot of work to do to make the world somewhere even close to completely compassionate, but this is a moment where we can give each other a hug and take some time to reflect on success.

Heck, maybe you wanna cry a few tears by thinking of all the dedicated people who have made this possible and all the animals they ave saved from suffering along the way.

Extra note: a victory like this means nothing without recognising the incredible contributions of minority vegans who help us everyday and who contend with multiple oppressions within our society but still work to improve outcomes for non-human animals. City Vegan Lunch Market was also an opportunity for us to celebrate businesses owned and run by people from marginalised groups including women of colour, LGBTQ+ community members, disabled people, and BME people. Extreme gratitude to these business owners who took part in our event.

Jumbo personalised cookies

Have you been dreaming of a giant 12″ vegan cookie featuring your name?

Well, perhaps you have the ability to predict the future because Ms. Cupcake of Brixton has just launched a brand new giant, personalised cookie service!

Legendary vegan bakery Ms. Cupcake is now selling London’s first personalised giant vegan cookie, which comes delivered in a pizza box!

The USA-style cookie is made to a giant 12” and has launched with two flavours – the classic choc chip and irresisitible red velvet.

Each cookie can be personalised with a hand-written message and you can choose multiple icing colours to be piped around the edge. The bakery is launching them with an introductory sale price of £20.00 until August 12th. The price after that will be £25.00.

There is an additional service of adding an edible picture at extra cost.

Delivery is available across London, or customers can choose to collect from the Brixton shop. Get all the cookie ordering details online here.

I’m so excited to hear about this new giant cookie development.

To order, customers can call the Ms. Cupcake office on 0203 086 8933 (option 3) or email info@mscupcake.co.uk. They require at least five full days notice in order to process your giant cookie order.

You can also follow Ms. Cupcake on Instagram.

City Vegan Lunch Market

Fat Gay Vegan has teamed up with Visit the City of London and OneCity to bring an unforgettable vegan food market to the heart of London.

City workers and food enthusiasts can join vegan blogger and marketeer Fat Gay Vegan as he presents one of the best street food line ups ever seen in London.

City Vegan Lunch Market is your rare chance to enjoy an outdoor vegan street food extravaganza in the City of London. This is the first ever vegan market in the City of London financial district.

Announced food traders so far:

This event is free entry and is housed in the courtyard of historic Guildhall.

Taking place in Guildhall Yard (see location here https://goo.gl/maps/FhPDej3dvBC2 thanks to Google Maps) on Thursday July 26, 2018 between 11am and 2:30pm.

RSVP and invite friends over on the Facebook event page.

Vegan options at a London cider festival

There is a cider festival this weekend in London and there is set to be a lot of vegan options!

After the success of last year’s festival, Ciderdog returns for its sixth year​ on Saturday July 21, 2018 between midday and 1am.

Entry is free and all festival ciders are served at £3.50 per pint ​on the day.

Held in the heart of London Bridge at The Miller pub’s outside bar, Ciderdog features a staggering 100+ British ciders & perries on tap, expertly picked from makers including SeaCider, Turners and Abrahalls. Every taste is catered for — from super sweet to dry, cloudy scrumpy, single varieties and blends. Expect award winners, special one-off collaborations​, and cider mixed with everything from passionfruit and blueberry, to chilli and
ginger.

All ciders on tap are suitable for vegans!

Ciders are supplied by independent producers from across the UK alongside a selection of ales. You can also try exclusive Ciderdog Festival cider cocktails​, or take advantage of The Miller fridges stocked with a vast selection of London brewed craft beers.

The food menu will be packed with delicious burgers and loaded chips​ including plenty of vegan options.

Enjoy ping pong and garden games while you soak up the sunshine and discover your new favourite ciders. The Solid Steel Band will be performing music all afternoon. Then expect a mix of party classics to take you into the night.

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