The Vegan Thread

Me and the mrs decided that as we were already ove on the wrong side of the river for the track day that we might as well stop by village pizza. I can definitely see what all the fuss is about now, damn tasty indeed!

Its good, but Tuesdays twofer's make it more appealing.

http://londonveganbeerfest.co.uk/

sandwich

That looks amazing...

Me and ms.chris had this on Saturday. I'll review it tomorrow.

Right, so it's fairly good alright, the sandwich I mean. We made a rare excurion north of the river into fashionable, asymmetrical haircut land, my tosser warning meter was tipping into the red, but I managed to hold it together.

But first up, it's inedible as a -sandwich-. It is impossible to pick it up with your hands and stick it in your mouth. It is too big. So you have to either eat it one piece of bread at a time with the contents out in the open, or use a knife and fork. I've never learned how to use them, so I was using the one piece of bread at a time option.

The satay sauce is really good, and the tofu is also excellent. The bread however is a little bit too wide, but 'holey' for my liking. I prefer my bread narrower but fuller. This minor bitching aside, it was a decent feed. Good value for what you get, but I would recommend a compliment side of chips with it between two people.

Depsite my reservations about going to one of the 'coolest' places in the city, the staff were friendly and service was quick, the food was hot, the beer was cold.

lulav and I were discussing hitting up Kosher Kingdom (Jewish supermarket in Brent Cross) next Thursday night as they're open late. We'd be tubing rather than cycling but if anyone would like to join us they have loads of vegan-friendly food that you can't find many other places in London, and much cheaper than the few places can CAN find it...

This doesn't seem to be an April Fool's joke:

http://prollyisnotprobably.com/2013/04/brooks-introduces-the-c17-cambium-vegan-saddle/

Sadly too late to be part of the test group (it says the deadline is 'before the 17th of May', i.e. before today.

I applied to be part of the test group. It really is happening. First 100 saddles already sent out but they are going to send out more. Fingers crossed!

I also applied, but wasn't one of the first 100. Even if not, look forward to buying one once they come out.

Having been vegan for just over a week now, I'm hoping this thread proves useful for tips. Spent 25 years veggie, thinking vegan would just be too much hard work, but it's been pretty straightforward so far. Apart from walking down the seafront in the sunshine yesterday and realising I couldn't have a 99...

hehe. Icelollies for the win. I'm inbetween at the minute, having given up milk and butter (and sugar and caffeine) but not eggs and cheese yet..

Did someone do a ninja edit about their thoughts on Brooks ? I seem to remember someone posting about not giving them the business for their vegan saddle because they make leather ones. Gone now though.

And today being Tuesday - fuck it. I resisted temptation long enough. Village Pizza two for one tonight definitely.

Apart from walking down the seafront in the sunshine yesterday and realising I couldn't have a 99...

Some health shops sell the vegan tofutti 'cornetto' style cones... but obviously they're not as ubiquitous as your standard 99 machine on the beaches.

Did someone do a ninja edit about their thoughts on Brooks ?

Are you thinking of this comment from the linked blog post?

nice to see an option, and a good looking one at that, but then again if you really care about being vegan, you're still supporting a company that uses leather like crazy

I kind of agree, I mean obviously I buy stuff from companies that make non-vegan stuff all the time, but Brooks do 'use leather like crazy'. Why not just make a synthetic saddle and not bother giving it the vegan label? Reckon they get a lot of requests from vegans?

Oh, yeah that was probably it alright, thanks.

Some health shops sell the vegan tofutti 'cornetto' style cones... but obviously they're not as ubiquitous as your standard 99 machine on the beaches.

Thanks for that, yet to try tofutti, will look out for it. And pretty sure Folkestone seafront was not the place to be looking for anything quite so specialist.

I kind of agree, I mean obviously I buy stuff from companies that make non-vegan stuff all the time, but Brooks do 'use leather like crazy'. Why not just make a synthetic saddle and not bother giving it the vegan label? Reckon they get a lot of requests from vegans?

The debate about whether to only (or predominantly) buy from vegan companies (influencing from the outside) or also buy vegan products from non-vegan companies (influencing from the inside) will probably run forever. To me, it's quite simple--Brooke have announced a vegan product, subject to confirmation by, say, the Vegan Society trademark (sometimes companies think that something they produce is vegan, but when the production process is laid open that turns out not to quite be the case). Vegan products are Good Things.

There's obviously the chance that Brooks might reinvest profits from this product into developing more or existing non-vegan products, but as long as there isn't a rival product from a vegan company that's as good or better, I'd happily buy the Brooks product. I bet that they have been contacted by a lot of vegans over the years who have asked why they don't have a vegan saddle that's as comfortable as the leather Brooks saddles are said to be, and I'd guess that that's where this product ultimately comes from, consumer pressure from vegans.

Absolutely Oliver, as a company I've dealt with a lot in the past and knowing how they source materials and how well they treat their staff... I'm happy to support them if they're offering something people have asked for.

Just out of interest, would you rather buy a used leather saddle or a new vegan Brooks? Based on ethics alone. Not really going anywhere with this, I guess it's something I think about but never really discuss.

Also new vegan/ transitioners: if you need any recipes or help with food stuff holla, our house consists of a vegan baker/barista, KP and I love cooking!!

Just out of interest, would you rather buy a used leather saddle or a new vegan Brooks? Based on ethics alone. Not really going anywhere with this, I guess it's something I think about but never really discuss.

The new vegan one. Support the businesses using non animal products.

Putting a leather one on my bike makes acceptable / normalises use of leather, regardless of whether its second hand or not.

Is Cheese vegan? I'm trying to be a vegan for one day a week.

It's called Haloumi cheese and it's from Cypriot

Cheese is not vegan. It's generally made with cows milk.

Unless it specifically says "vegan cheese" - when it's made from some other products that arent animal derived.

I think Halloumi is made with goats milk. So not vegan. Avoid.

Is Cheese vegan? I'm trying to be a vegan for one day a week.

It's called Haloumi cheese and it's from Cypriot

Trolloumi is vegan.

Just out of interest, would you rather buy a used leather saddle or a new vegan Brooks? Based on ethics alone. Not really going anywhere with this, I guess it's something I think about but never really discuss.

I wouldn't buy a leather saddle and I'm quite interested in the new vegan Brooks. (Having said that, I still have an old leather saddle somewhere that I can't find (if I haven't given it away), and one whose whereabouts I know and which I haven't been able to replace. Work in progress.)