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Scottish Farplace Vegan Festival

April 15, 2017 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

It never fails to warm my heart, walking into a room filled with everything vegan. Well, ok, not everything vegan, but everything in there is vegan, if you understand me. I can just walk in and buy whatever I want without having to check ingredients and so on…and I usually do.

This year I went into the Edinburgh Vegan Festival at the Corn Exchange as a VIP. Oh yes, early entry and a goodie bag from Farplace Animal Rescue, were mine for just £15 and it was great to have a sniff around before the hoards descended, for descend they did. I was armed with cash (although more and more stalls take cards these days) as much a method of keeping track of my spending than anything.

I wandered around and bought breakfast, a ‘ham & cheese’ crepe from Flip’n’fast Crepes, their first one of the day. As I took it out to the seating area to have a root through my goodie bag, I passed the Sgai mheats stall, which had a queue already, before the festival had properly opened! I tweeted this fact to my followers and settled down to devour my crepe.

New breakfast food 'Quinoa Crack' - fab! — New breakfast food ‘Quinoa Crack’ – fab!

After another little wander round I headed to the talks and films area. They were showing ‘Live and Let Live’,’Cowspiracy’ (which also comes in book form) and ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ in the screening room during the day. I’d seen Peaceable Kingdom online, as you can too if you like. It’s a wonderful documentary about animal farmers who have awoken to veganism through life changing events. Their stories are worth hearing, but there is some footage that I found quite difficult to watch. I suppose I’m not yet hardened to images of animal exploitation and to be honest, I hope I never will be.

Instead of watching the films, I was lucky enough to get one of the last remaining seats in a talk given by Dr. Alex Lockwood entitled ‘How to turn a man vegan in 45 minutes.’ The talk addressed the wild gender imbalance within the vegan movement (there are far more females than males) and it was standing room only by the time he got started. There are several reasons why men are less drawn to veganism than women, and many of them are cultural. I took a fair few notes to see how I could work on approaching my male friends on the subject. Dr. Lockwood was keen to hear the audience’s stories about their vegan journeys and was an engaging speaker. He wrote ‘The Pig in Thin Air’ which details his own vegan awakening and has earned some fantastic reviews.

It was still a little early for donuts, but goodness knows, there were plenty available. First to sell out were the cream egg flavoured ones made by the ever-reliable Considerit Chocolate. I bought some chocolate bars from them as I always do, and also treated myself to three dream eggs which were indeed a dream come true.

The range of cakes, as ever, was impressive. My local baker Pitxu, was there and I couldn’t resist a cupcake from her stand. She’s based in the Edinburgh area and I’ve reviewed her work in detail elsewhere.

Food was soon beckoning me again, and by some miracle I managed to control myself cake-wise. I grabbed a curried potato and pea patty for lunch from Sacred Lotus, and wandered over to the other side of the venue. There I found something I really wasn’t expecting to see.

Among the tempting food, worthy charities and vegan businesses sat a car- a Tesla to be exact. I am not an expert when it comes to cars, but I must say it looked impressive. An all vegan car with vegan leather interior is a real innovation. Completely electric, this must be one of the most environmentally friendly cars out there. It’s certainly one of the fastest, going from 0 to 60mph in 2.6 seconds! Ah, perhaps when I win the lottery…

It was around this time that my thoughts turned to what little presents I could get those who couldn’t attend. First into my mind, unsurprisingly, was my beloved dog. I happened across a stand filled with vegan doggie treats called Pooches a Gogo, which were made locally in Fife. They assured me that each batch was rigorously taste tested by their Labradors, so I bought a packet of little bones that made me very popular when I returned home!

Once I’d got some gifts I turned my attention to the many charity stalls. I love learning about the smaller charities. The Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice, whom I’d met in Glasgow in December, have a new project. They’re trying to raise funds to open the UK’s first hospice for farmed animals. I happily donated as I reckon the work they do is just heroic and so, so kind. Donate here if you wish.

Paws2Rescue was a charity I hadn’t heard of before. They take abandoned dogs from Romania and try to rehome them here in the UK. The conditions the dogs are in is heartbreaking and the charity reach out to kind-hearted people via social media and their website.

Donuts selling fast…I chatted to a lovely lady from the Mahouts Elephant Foundation, who supports local people in Thailand who used to own elephants in order to make a living. They help them remain in their villages so their elephants can wander free in the forests instead of being dragged into town. They run camps so tourists can see the elephants in their natural environments and the mahouts go out every day to check that the elephants are safe.

After visiting various skincare stalls including Soul Tree and White Rabbit, I went to the last talk of the day, given by Rebecca Knowles, who is the founder of Vegan Outreach Scotland. She’s had a very interesting life, having lived in all different areas of the world, which I think gives her a good perspective on the issues. Her organisation simply asks people if they are animal lovers and then takes them to the logical conclusion that veganism is for them. As most of us know, this can be a pretty awkward conversation, but to get people’s actions to align with their beliefs can be very rewarding. Rebecca is clearly driven to have that conversation and it’s great to have people like her out there leading a compassionate discussion.

No more cream egg donuts... — No more cream egg donuts…

I was soon pretty tired, but very happy with my haul. I met some lovely people over the course of the day. I also get the feeling that these festivals are becoming far more mainstream and appealing to a far wider group of people. The presence of the car, as well as those selling fitness supplements alongside all the familiar savoury food stalls, cakes, charities and beauty products, was very welcome. Veganism really needs to be ‘normalised’ if we’re going to make a real difference for the animals and if having a liqueur stand , a terrarium stall, and a sporty car is needed to do that, then I’m all for it!

Pitxu’s Cakes and Bakes

November 18, 2016 by Tofu Temptress 3 Comments

When there’s a special occasion, the centrepiece of many parties is the cake. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary or just having friends round for some cupcakes, everyone loves a sweet treat. When you’re vegan though, cakes can often be off the menu, which is disappointing to put it mildly.

However, help is at hand. The great news is that vegan bakeries are springing up all over the country, so if there’s not one near you, I’m sure there will be soon. See, it turns out that vegan bakeries are dedicated to making the most scrumptious, beautiful cakes so that non-vegans won’t ever notice the difference. There are so many people who are lactose intolerant (you know, those troublesome people who don’t think they’re baby cows) that it’s not just the vegans celebrating the arrival of this new wave of baking delights.

I discovered Pitxu’s Cakes and Bakes at the Scottish Vegan Festival earlier this year. The sight of the stall was enough to make my mouth water. I had a chat and discovered that this trip to the Edinburgh Corn Exchange was their first foray into the world of vegan festivals. They were really friendly and I sampled some of their wares (it would be rude not to) and found them to be super yummy.

Some weeks later I was having some friends round and thought they should sample the divine joy that is vegan baking, so I ordered some cupcakes. We got a fair few different flavours: Oreo; Double chocolate; Coconut bounty; Red velvet; Peanut butter; Biscoff; Vanilla & raspberry; Cinnamon & nutella. Now, the nutella of course is not the commercial kind, but a vegan version thereof.

Because we ordered over £25 worth we got them delivered for free (only available in the Edinburgh area). They came beautifully and practically packaged and were dropped off with a smile and a friendly word.

Peanut butter - double yum! — Peanut butter – double yum!

I can’t even describe how superb the cupcakes were. Full of flavour they not only tasted delicious but looked so attractive that it was almost a shame to bite into them (almost). Pitxu’s don’t describe themselves as vegan bakers particularly, as there seems to be some sad reputation attached to the term (no idea why). Instead they see themselves as the standard, but I must disagree. They are far, far superior to the standard bakery.

A family member got a beautiful birthday cake made for her three year old daughter by Pitxu’s recently and everyone was thrilled, as the little girl can’t tolerate dairy and is not used to having such wonderful baked delights. All the guests were very impressed and I think a few minds have been changed regarding vegan baking.

Beautifully decorated Vanilla & Raspberry

If you’re in the Edinburgh area this service comes highly recommended and if you’re not, check out your local vegan baker. They might be closer than you think.

Cinnamon & 'nutella' — Cinnamon & ‘nutella’

Perfect cupcakes for an indulgent evening

Casa Angelina, Edinburgh

September 28, 2015 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

As you descend the few steps into Casa Angelina, the atmosphere is one of stepping back in time.

Like stepping back in time... — Like stepping back in time…

This Edinburgh building has been around for a long, long time and it makes for a great atmosphere. The area at the front is for waiting on a table or buying or collecting cakes, and a tempting array of baking greets you as soon as you walk in. As well as the beautiful (and as I was to discover later, scrumptious) cakes and scones on display, they will bake to order and they even do wedding cakes. Although not exclusively vegan, their vegan options are numerous enough to give you plenty of choice. I booked our afternoon tea the day before.

As we were shown through to the rear, the decor only became more quirky and charming. Painted on the wall were attractive slogans and, perhaps appropriately for a vegan, an image of birds escaping their cages.

A little plaque on the fireplace explained that Casa Angelina is a tribute to the owner’s Italian grandmother, who was always baking and often invited the locals in for tea. The place certainly has that homely feel, being not only quite small (there were about six or seven tables) but also using deliberately mismatched crockery and cutlery to very pleasing effect. I could imagine a rather grown up birthday party taking place in here, as they do hire the venue out for exclusive use.

We ordered tea, with me choosing the simple, but very lovely Scottish Breakfast Pot, while my partner was a bit more adventurous, going for the Bollywood Dreams Chai Pot, which smelled deliciously of cinnamon. They were both very nice and we sipped them as we waited excitedly for our treats to arrive. When they did we were not disappointed.

Obviously lovingly put together, we had yummy samosas and gorgeous avocado wraps, mushroom toast with a tangy twist, scones still warm from the oven served with two types of jam and a beautifully sweet vegan cream, dense fruit cakes and indulgent chocolate ones. I must admit that I can’t recall all the wonderful flavour combinations that were described to us as we were served but suffice it to say that they were numerous, unusual and all worked well together.

We took our time munching through it all, ordering another pot of tea each in the process. I’d gone in hungry having missed lunch deliberately. By the end I was absolutely stuffed, but pleasantly so!

As a vegan one is always so used to being slightly sidelined by restaurants, especially on the desserts front, so I really appreciate it when places like this put indulgence for vegans front and centre. The staff were lovely and seemed to know when to pop in to see if we needed anything. Largely we were left alone to chat, admire the surroundings and enjoy our beautiful food. Casa Angeline is a delight for the senses.

Vegan Afternoon Tea is currently priced at £21 per person, but everything is of the highest quality and they certainly won’t palm you off with limp sandwiches!

Afternoon Tea at The Ritz London

November 17, 2014 by Tofu Temptress 3 Comments

The traffic in London was unbelievable. Honking horns, hand gestures and heat dominated our slow progress in the cab. Eventually, dressed to impress, we smoothed down creases as we unfolded ourselves from the car. Greeted by the doorman with a polite ‘Good afternoon’ we ascended the few steps and were ushered into a world of calm.

As soon as we set foot in the foyer of the Ritz, all the noise and chaos of London melted away. The plush carpets, high, elaborately decorated ceilings and courteous staff were just as I hoped they would be. (I suspect expectations are routinely met and indeed exceeded at the Ritz.)

My husband, in-laws and I were shown to an intimate little table at the side of the room (by and immaculately turned-out waiter) just perfect for people watching. The place was filled with ordinary people in their finest clothes, just like us, celebrating birthdays, anniversaries and any number of other special occasions. The salon where afternoon tea is served is a truly beautiful space, where natural light spills onto the sumptuously glazed cakes. There were of course many other items in the room, but it was the cakes that caught my attention. Being the only vegan in the group, it is all too rare an experience to be offered sweet treats anywhere when eating out, never mind somewhere as posh as this. After champagne was served, I was assured a selection of vegan sandwiches was on its way and indeed moments later they were presented with a flourish. My sandwiches, like those of my companions, seemed inexhaustible in their supply. A yummy hummus filling, tomato, veg and of course cucumber, were sandwiched between light, fluffy bread (with the crusts cut off, naturally.)

I was suitably impressed by the cakes too. There was a rich fruitcake, an iced sponge and a gloriously glazed wonder of chocolate with a melt-in-the-mouth interior. My two little vegan scones were cute, scrumptious and served with quite the most delicious preserve I’ve ever tasted. All this was to say nothing of the tea. Now I’m not a tea drinker as a rule (the very occasional cup of green tea is normally my limit) but this, blended especially for the Ritz, was something else. It needed no additions and I’m afraid it may have ruined all other tea for me, rendering them bitter and commonplace in comparison. Like wine waiters, the tea waiters would top up your cup when required, employing individual silver teapots, dinky tea strainers and tea strainer holders (which was a new one on me.)

All in all the experience was an incredibly pleasant one. I had e-mailed the dining manager via a handy link on their website a month before, requesting a vegan afternoon tea, and was told by return that it wouldn’t be a problem. Having read mixed reviews of the Ritz London ability to cater for vegans, I wanted to be sure everything would be right, because as any vegan knows, all too often we can be thoughtlessly sidelined. When we visited however, on 25th September 2014, everything went without a hitch. Highly recommended.

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