vegan UK

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Are you sick of hearing news from me? Worn out by my digital voice?

Take a vacation from FGV and get busy following London Afro Vegan. Esme is a powerhouse of quality eating experiences, recipe ideas, reviews and general awesomeness.

If you follow her on Instagram you are getting budget vegan tips, top shelf humour, occasional political commentary and gorgeous food photos.

Here are some examples.

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As you can tell from these posts, Esme has a fabulous sense of humour. She also uses her London Afro Vegan platform to let her followers know about upcoming events around the capital.

If you want vegan London news and cooking videos, you can’t go past London Afro Vegan.

Follow Esme on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Visit her blog here.

Queen Picnic now trading in London

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I thought you all needed to know that Queen Picnic is up and running at the Boiler House on Brick Lane every Saturday and Sunday.

What the hell is Queen Picnic I hear you shriek?

Queen Picnic is a food stand selling vegan sandwiches with fillings they make themselves, such as ‘smoked salmon’ carrot, spicy ‘beef’ seitan, jackfruit ‘bacon’ and chickpea of the sea salad. They told me they are continually developing their recipes all the time as they want to make the best tasting sandwiches around.

Queen Picnic is a two-woman 100% vegan workforce and they’re the first to say they are pretty new to the food stall game. But as I have discovered during my years as a prolific food inspector, sometimes the people with not much experience but a lot of enthusiasm can get it very correct.

Check out some of what is happening at Queen Picnic.

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Check out the Queen Picnic website and follow them on Instagram and Twitter.

Amazing vegan venue in Leeds

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Leeds. Your time has finally come.

Cantina has opened at The Old Red Bus Station on Vicar Lane in Leeds city centre and it sounds amazing.

Cantina is now serving up mouthwatering food from Tuesday and Saturday between 5pm and 10pm with the cuisine being produced by culinary specialists Honest Edibles.

The menu is packed solid with hearty sounding food, plus all the beer and wine served at the bar is vegan.

Read more about the gorgeous menu online here.

The Old Red Bus Station is the home of Champion Up North, a multimedia agency working in underground music, arts and culture in the north. The venue is made up of a bar/pub, three room venue for live music and club nights, the Cantina and a number of exhibition spaces.

This is superb news and everyone needs to get to Cantina for vegan food and good times.

Like Cantina on Facebook.

Updated menu and hours Temple of Hackney

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You all adore Temple of Hackney, the vegan fried chicken shop by Temple of Seitan.

So of course you love this quick little snippet of news relating to the shop’s brand new revised menu AND the new opening hours.

Firstly, let’s look at the menu.

A few of the items have been changed ever so slightly and the meal deal has come down in price.

Also, you came here to find out about the new opening hours.

They are posted below for your pleasure.

Yes, you can get your vegan fried chicken quota 7-days a week and until 9pm Monday through Saturday.

Get well into it.

Follow Temple of Seitan on Instagram.

Micro vegan dairy and deli in UK first

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If you haven’t been to Norwich lately, now might be the right time for you to start planning your trip.

Tofurei (pronounced tofu rye) is a fabulous business located in the historic Norwich Lanes District of the East Anglian city. Not only is Tofurei an amazing deli with all manner of treats and drinks, it doubles as a micro soya dairy and supplier of tofu-making ingredients and tools.

Get excited, coming soon ✨

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Yes, there is also soft serve vegan ice cream!

Tofurei make all of their own soya milks freshly on site in their very own micro dairy, meaning you can stop in to buy flavoured or plain milk and milkshakes daily. If you fancy getting involved in tofu and milk making in your own kitchen, the store also sells everything you need including soya beans and coagulants.

The Norwich outlet is as famous for their sandwich and cake offerings as it is for their soya facilities. Check out some these stunning options.

Ohhh my, chickpea tuna and turkey cheese salad

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From frozen to yummy in 10-15 minutes!

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Two tasty gluten free options today! Craaaazy carrot cake and a charming chocolate orange torte

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Such satisfaction! Look at all the fresh milkshakes beckoning you

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Yes, this shop front in Norwich really does have it all. Vegan meats, cheeses, fresh milk, fresh tofu sold by weight, sandwiches and cakes.

You can visit the Tofurei website and follow the shop on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Gorgeous vegan cake in London

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In case you have forgotten, Vx is the super rad vegan grocery shop and boutique in King’s Cross.

Situated just a few minutes on foot from bustling King’s Cross station, Vx has been keeping vegan London stocked up with cheese, meats, shoes, t-shirts, groceries and accessories for years.

It’s been a while since I’ve reported on the happenings over at this old school vegan location so I thought I would drop on over to the Vx Instagram account to grab some cake photos to share with you all.

Check out all the glory they have been serving over the past few days.

Rainbow cake 😍

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Cherry choc ring donuts and Coffee custard mini donuts. #vegan

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Peanut butter coffee eclairs today at Vx! We are here today until 6.30pm 😬 #vegan

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It looks like Vx is the place to be for delicious sugary treats.

Get along to support this independent vegan business and stock up on all your vegan needs and, of course, cake.

Follow Vx on Instagram.

See exactly where the store is located thanks to Google Maps.

Club Mexicana on the move

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Superstar vegan street food purveyors Club Mexicana are on the move and FGV (that’s me) has the scoop.

One of the most popular cuisine traders in London is opening a new vegan food stall at food court Dinerama in Shoreditch on Thursday 25th May, 2017.

This is what Club Mexicana had to say when I asked for more details:

We’ve attached the new menu we’re launching – it’s our most innovative and exciting street food menu YET! We’re of course serving a great range of tacos, including our famous Baja To-fish (voted one of London’s top ten tacos by Time Out), Carne Asada (marinated and grilled seitan that squares up to any meaty version head on!) and our new fancy Jackfruit Tinga with pumpkin seed puree. But that’s not all. Due to its massive popularity at Pamela, we’ll be serving our Chick’n Wings, and on the back of huge demand at the FGV market, we’re putting on our Beer Battered Cheeze Fries too. But even that’s not all! Lunchtimes will see us serving up fat, juicy Jackfruit and Fried Chick’n toasted sandwiches.

Club Mexicana told me the London street food has always been a predominantly meaty scene and previously, if you went to Dinerama as a vegan, you went home hungry. But now they’ll be there from Thursday to Sunday each week from midday until late happily feeding vegans and vegan-curious alike!

Shoreditch already had fabulous vegan options and now that it has Club Mexicana in the Dinerama food court, it’s next level. Click here to see the exact location of Dinerama thanks to Google Maps.

Follow Club Mexicana on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Vegan fruit at Tesco

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One obstacle for vegans doing their best to steer clear of animal derived ingredients in their food is the practice by supermarkets and fruit wholesalers to coat fresh fruit in wax for preservation. Wax made from insects.

But along comes giant UK supermarket chain Tesco with the surprise of the year. They have started to tell customers that they have commenced a program to coat their fruit with a vegan-suitable wax.

Check out this Twitter exchange.


That is some good news.

We do everything we can to avoid contributing to the demand of animal products but you have sometimes just gotta buy some fruit. This move by Tesco means one less thing we have to worry about. We can focus on their monopolising business practices instead!

Extra note: Josh has asked but we are yet to get an answer if we will be able to tell which fruit is coated in the vegan wax or if it is a guessing game.

Huge vegan street market in Birmingham

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Kings Heath Business Improvement District is teaming up with The Vegan Grindhouse and Kitchen Garden Cafe for the all new Kings Heath Vegan Market in Birmingham.

This thing sounds huge.

This Sunday (May 21, 2017) between midday and 5pm there will be 100% vegan street food from The Vegan Grindhouse by Vegan Vox, Bare Bones Pizza, Mex It Up, Pietanic and Michael’s Caribbean, as well as cold food from Vegetropolis, Rachel’s Cake Delights, Vork Pie and more.

There will also be an outdoor vegan bar from Twisted Barrel Ale.

The Kitchen Garden Art Market will showcase the work of talented local artists, creators and makers, while there will also be live music all afternoon from local musicians to keep you entertained.

Money raised from the market will go to Grace’s Rest, an animal welfare charity for rescued exotic animals.

If you don’t have a lot of spare cash, you’ll be delighted to hear that the market has free entry all day! Click here to see exactly where it will be located.

The vendor line up is so huge you must get over to the Facebook event page to see the entire thing.

Yay for vegan markets!

New vegan chicken twister

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I share this news with a full heart and a smile on my face.

London, you can get your hands on a vegan version of the chicken Twister wrap.

Take a look at this supreme piece of food art.

There is only one place you can get this wrap in London this week and that is the Temple of Seitan stall at Hackney Downs Vegan Market on Saturday May 20, 2017.

The Vegan Twist wrap comes with your choice of chipotle or lemon pepper mayo.

Of course there will be hundreds of people trying to get their hands on one of these savoury delights, so get to the market early. Full vendor line can be seen here and you can RSVP to the Facebook event.