vegan UK

Follower drives on Instagram

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One form of support I’ve been involved with as a blogger and social media person recently is Follower Drives.

I got the idea a few days ago when I was visiting a brand new vegan restaurant in Sitges, Spain. Spice Garden is the only 100% vegan restaurant in Sitges and I was a bit disappointed that the Instagram account for the restaurant had quite a small number of followers.

During my meal, I posted a series of photos on my own Instagram asking my followers to consider following the restaurant. I set a target of 500 followers and if you click through to the account now, you will see that we were able to zoom right past that number.

The restaurant started with 187 followers and now has over 1,300 in just a matter of days.

I applied the same campaign idea to raising the follower count for a brand new late night vegan bar in Barcelona called Bar de Retro. This time we took them from 99 followers to over 1,200 in a day!

My latest Follower Drive is for a London vegan shoe store and ethical boutique called The Third Estate.

This store is exquisite but their Instagram account had been languishing around the 700 follower mark for a while. I set a target of 2,000 followers and we are almost there within 24 hours. I think they need just about 200 more.

Please get involved and get over to their profile.

I hope you can join me for more Follower Drives in the future. I think it is a great way to give independent vegan businesses a boost and help raise their online profiles.

Vegan thick shakes in London

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Holy shit.

I was strolling through Spitalfields Market in central London today and I got the thrill of my life when I saw this sign outside Leon.

Yes. Vegan thick shakes at a mainstream chain restaurant.

I rushed inside and quizzed the server (who turned out to be a vegan, too!) to find out the shakes are brand new, they are made with a cashew base, and they are only available in this one location of the chain.

I wanted the salted caramel flavour but it had sold out, so I went in for chocolate and Josh had the strawberry.

Check out this video to see the exciting process of one of our drinks being made.

This is serious, big time game-changing stuff for London. I mean, they have a freaking soft serve machine churning out cashew shakes!

Apparently this machine and the drinks are being trialled in this one location, so let us work hard on buying a whole bunch of them so they roll them out across all stores in the UK.

Vevolution is back in 2017

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The vegan information event that had a lot of people buzzing last year is back for another round in 2017.

Vevolution is taking place in November 2017 at a central London location. I know that seems like a long way in the future but tickets have gone on sale and you you should click here to buy them if you are keen. The event sold out ahead of time last year.

You can find out about the full line up of speakers, presenters and food vendors for the festival over on the official website.

A limited allocation of tickets with a 25% discount is available for recipients of Universal or Pension Credit, full-time students and those aged 16 and under. To claim the discount you need to email judy@vevolution.co

Have fun at Vevolution!

Chinese vegan food pop up in London

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Dear London.

Please be extremely careful not to injure yourself or each other as you all rush to this three-day pop up Chinese vegan food event in Tottenham.

Honestly, I rarely see a vegan menu this special in London.

Angela runs a food business called Vnited (stands for vegans united) and is cooking a stunning mutli-dish pop up meal across September 7, 8 and 9 at Craving Coffee on Markfield Road in Tottenham.

Look at this menu sheet. I’m drooling.

At the event, you use the menu to mark what you want before taking it to the counter to order and pay. Five of everything, right?

You should book your spot at this event because it is going to be rammed solid. When a menu this fine comes along, people are even prepared to miss a few episodes of EastEnders.

You can book via email at tottenhamsocial@gmail.com or they do welcome walk ins… but, seriously. Book! Don’t blame me if you can’t get in.

You ready to see and devour some vegan Chinese food?

Follow Vnited on Instagram.

Vote for FGV (if you want!)

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Hey!

It is always lovely to get a spot of recognition for this blog. Of course I don’t do it for awards but it does feel nice when someone tells me they appreciate what I do.

VegfestUK reached out to inform me that my website has been nominated in the VegfestUK Awards 2017 for the category of Best Vegan Online Resource.

How fab!

You can click here to vote for me or any of the other nominees in the category (I won’t be upset) and make sure you vote for your other favourites across all categories.

Thanks to everyone at VegfestUK for nominating me and for all their tireless work when it comes to spreading the vegan message.

London cafe turns completely vegan

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Amazing news.

Cupcakes and Shhht is a vegetarian cafe in Elephant and Castle. CORRECTION. Cupcakes and Shhht is a vegan cafe in Elephant and Castle!

After five full years trading as a veggie business, Cupcakes and Shhht has decided to become completely plant-based. No cheese. No cow milk. No animal derived ingredients at all.

I popped along for their first full vegan day today and was thrilled to see how busy the café was and how chilled out everyone was when they were asked to pick a plant milk with their coffee!

The café is located in the super cool shipping container complex known as The Artworks. It is steps from the main Elephant and Castle roundabout, meaning it is close to the Underground and rail stations too. Click here to see the exact location thanks to Google Maps.

Follow Cupcakes and Shhht on Instagram and then check out the photos/video from my visit today.

Yay for cafés that become fully vegan!

Vegan options in Crouch End

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Do you ever find yourself in the London neighbourhood of Crouch End without a bite to eat?

Well, say goodbye to being hungry in Crouch End as you say hello to Miranda Café.

This vegetarian eatery is located on the corner of Broadway Parade and Elder Avenue, plus it has a whole LOAD of vegan options.

Of course it would be fabulous if the entire menu was vegan (I’m contractually obliged to say that as FGV) so let’s hope that is the direction in which the business is moving.

Check out some of the tasty vegan dishes being served by Miranda Café below and follow the eatery on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 

Chain store vegan sandwiches

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My friend Susan visited London a while ago and one thing about the UK really amused her. She couldn’t quite understand the obsession with ready to consume sandwiches.

Susan has a point.

I’ve never seen a country quite like the UK when it comes to pre-made, boxed up sandwiches. You get them at the petrol station, inside pharmacies, as part of meal deals, in high end shops, in budget outlets, in coffee chains, and pretty much any other type of retail space you can imagine.

Some stores selling these sandwiches will have an entire wall of chillers dedicated to dozens and dozens of various flavours.

I’d love to know how this sandwich saturation happened in the UK. If anyone knows the history of why packed sandwiches are an integral part of life here in the UK, I’d love to know.

Sharing Susan’s bewilderment and amusement was really just a cute lead in for sharing these photos.

Check out three vegan ready-to-go vegan sandwiches I’ve spotted around the UK over the past week.

Let me know if you have a favourite ready made sandwich in the comments below.

Vegan food at a Pride event

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If you are going to Herts Pride this weekend (September 2, 2017) David and Tony are running a Veggies Catering Campaign trailer selling vegan burgers, sos rolls, Fairtrade teas, coffees and cola along with other drinks.

How fab is that!

The Pride day is taking place in Gadebridge Park in Hemel Hempstead between 11am and 10pm.

The stall will also selling a range of cakes made by Heather of The Green Kitchen.

Here is your chance to support and enjoy a Pride event while feeding yourself with vegan food.

You can get all the details for Herts Pride over on the Facebook page.

Vegan comfort food for Manchester

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I wrote about the vegan food options at Manchester’s The Deaf Institute a while ago, but only just got around to trying some of it for myself last night.

The Deaf Institute is a bar, kitchen and live music venue just off Oxford Road. The kitchen is open every single day from 4pm until late and is packed solid with vegan comfort food.

Confusingly, the menu does make claims about a full vegan kitchen but during my visit their were a few non-vegan items listed on that very same menu such as meat and cheese. I’m not really sure what this means.

Anyway, the vegan food is plentiful and really quite good.

You can follow The Deaf Institute on Instagram and keep scrolling down to see everything Josh and I devoured last night.

Extra note: I wasn’t keen on the wall of animal skulls and horns as decorations, either.

Extra extra note: The Deaf Institute might very well be a great hangover spot for you and your friends the day after Manchester Vegan Beer Fest, taking place in three weeks! Book a ticket.