Cruel is not cool! Clarks, we want vegan kids’ shoes!

Tags

Clarks shoes, flavourphotos, vegan kids, vegan kids shoes, vegan petition, vegan shoes, vegetarian kids shoes

Every year, parents around the country prepare for the back-to-school shoe-shopping mission to Clarks! After all, they make good quality shoes and they’re fitted by expert staff… it’s a winning formula. But, even in 2016, there still isn’t a single leather-free option for kids’ school shoes in Clarks.

Maybe it’s because we have put up with it so far. The company says it doesn’t believe that there is ‘widespread interest in these products’. Well, let’s tell them that they’re wrong!

Today thousands of parents have to choose yet again between animal-sourced leather shoes or those cheap alternatives elsewhere (that won’t last and will give their kids sweaty feet).

I am vegan and my children have been vegan all their lives… but their shoes are not! And I’ve got many friends who have to make this ‘unhappy compromise’ every single year!  We know we are not alone.

Please sign and share this petition to show Clarks (and their competitors) that there is a market of keen and willing consumers out there. Let’s work together to get a good pair of animal-free shoes into the shops by next summer!

The petition is already gathering support! Please click here http://bit.ly/VeganKidShoes

Thank you!
Lots of love,
Chava

Here are some of your comments:

 

Win two Vegfest London tickets

Tags

Vegan festival UK, Vegan Food photography, Vegfest London

Who wants to join me at Vegfest London?

In less than eight weeks Vegfest takes over London’s Olympia Central again.
Last year I went along as the official event photographer and I can already promise you that it will be the most amazing weekend. I am, as always, in awe of the hard work and dedication that goes into organising an event of this scale.

Organiser Tim Barford with Jamijn de Boo (Vegan Society) – Vegfest Superhero Alan Lee with Karin Ridgers (VeggieVision)

Seeing the latest vegan products, sampling fantastic food, countless workshops, talks and cookery demonstrations… these are just some of the highlights! Fancy coming along? One lucky winner can grab two free tickets for the weekend. Say Hi by dropping me an email (via www.flavourphotos.com) or comment below for your chance to win. The draw will take place on Monday 31st August 2015.

Lots of love,
Chava

Birds and Bunnies – Vegan Easter

Tags

Booja Booja, Dairy-free Easter, Hotel Chocolat, Luxury vegan chocolate, Moo Free, Plamil, vegan chocolate, Vegan Easter, Vegan Easter Eggs

This year’s selection of vegan Easter treats is bigger and better than ever before. With Easter just round the corner it’s time I shared a selection of my favourite chocolates…

The other day I walked into Holland and Barrett and couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted the vast shelf of dairy-free treats. While they still have their Buy 1, Get 1 Half Price it’s well worth a look in your local store. But I also want to share with you some of the other unusual and exciting new treats on the market. Get ready for some chocolate induced happiness.

  
The Choices caramel egg includes some scrumptious caramel chocolates. Irresistibly cute bunnies are widely available too – we even spotted them in Tesco!
Choices also make a lovely, smaller-sized egg in white and ‘milk’ chocolate with a little bag of chocolate buttons. I don’t usually give my kids 150-200g of chocolate and say: ‘Here you go, enjoy!’. To me this child-friendly size somehow feels more consistent with the message I give them the rest of the year. I know, mean mummy! 😉
(left to right: £6.49, £1.25 and £2.79 Holland and Barrett)

Moo free Easter Eggs in ‘Milk’, Orange and Bunnycomb flavour (£4.99 Holland and Barratt)

 
Plamil are offering dairy free eggs (including a sugar free version) as well as a nice big bag of very pretty half eggs. Wouldn’t they look fab as part of an Easter afternoon tea? (£3.69 and 4.95 from Plamil)

If you are looking for a bargain, Holland and Barrett have already reduced their vegan egg to £3.50 and they are included in their special BOGOHP offer.

Surprise supermarket finds (left to right): Aldi dark choc bunny (£0.99 for 120g!), Marks and Spencers (£6), Sainsburys (£3.49 and £2.49)

Oh my goodness! Booja Booja Almond and Sea Salt Caramel Egg. Small eggs include three gorgeous truffles (I know, that’s never enough!), large eggs are filled with 12 chocolates. (H&B £9.99, Ocado £24.99)

 
Vegan Nougat, Strawberry or Cappuccino Eggs come from the Vegan Bakery in Germany. You can order them from the Viva! shop or Vegantown (from £4.00)

Pretty half egg filled with peanut butter eggs. (£6.95 Viva!)

My favourite vegan offering this year, so beautiful and lovingly made. The egg includes edible decoration made with raspberry, blueberry and pistachio. Mr Bunny has a secret superfood filling and is flavoured with cardamom, anise, cinnamon and chilli. Wow!
(Both £6.50 Viva!)

There’s no way that this could possibly be vegan, right? Well, I did read the ingredients on Hotel Chocolat’s website and it really is luxury dairy-free indulgence! (£15 Hotel Chocolat)

 
Awww, look at these little faces! My lovely friend Jane let me and the boys try some of hers (that’s real friendship!). Hotel Chocolat advertise this range as ‘Milk-Free Milk’ and use almond powder instead of dairy milk powder. Personally, I think the chocolate tastes like a very nice dark chocolate. So if you prefer something a bit ‘milkier’ I would opt for Moo free or similar instead. (£5.50)

A square Easter Egg instead? Pure indulgence and perfectly cruelty-free.
(£25 Hotel Chocolat)

If you could pick anything from this list what would you choose?
Or did you spot something irresistible that everybody just has to see?
Hope you have a very happy Easter!

Lots of love,
Chava

 

———————————
If your business could benefit from fabulous meat-free recipes and photographs I’d love to hear from you.
Keep in touch via Twitter (@flavourphotos) or Facebook
and look out for more scrumptious food photography here: www.flavourphotos.com

Ethical companies come up trumps!

Tags

Equinox Kombucha, Ethicoco, food photographer, Great Taste Award 2014, Kombucha, Vegan, vegan chocolate, Veganuary, Vegfest London, Wise Owl Tea

Happy Veganuary everybody! A new year starting full of promise and hope as 10 000 people have pledged to go vegan for January.

Last September I met Matthew, Jane and Clea (aka Team Veganuary) at Vegfest London…. sparkling with enthusiasm and full of drive to make Veganuary the best thing since vegan chocolate fudge cake!

The website (www.veganuary.com) they’ve created is outstanding and I was singing its praises to my friend Zoe on our way to a night-out dancing.
I was over the moon when she told me that she had actually signed up to a month of trying vegan and was busily planning meals and snacks. It’s so much fun sharing my tips and telling her about my favourite vegan treats. And as I’ve had some fabulous products sent to me to review recently I couldn’t wait to share the love…

At Vegfest London I had also bumped into two great guys from Equinox Kombucha and they got in touch and kindly sent me four of their drinks to review.
Kombucha (a fermented green tea drink) is a well-known source of probiotics with lots of vitamins and detoxing properties. When you read a bit more about the Equinox story you’ll get a real sense of their passion, commitment and kindness. Equinox Kombucha choose ethically sourced ingredients, Fair Trade wherever possible, and alway certified organic.

I will admit that I was already a little biased as I love the gorgeous bottle design. Also these drinks don’t scream ‘artificial colours’ with their pretty pastel shades.

 
 

If you’ve never tried Kombucha before you’ll notice the tangy flavour, a little bit like a slightly tart cider. The Original flavour immediately made me forget my teenage memories of my mum’s attempts to brew her own Kombucha (brrrr!). In fact, I really liked all four varieties.
Ginger is refreshingly fizzy without the full-blown spicy heat that some people don’t like in ginger. Raspberry and Elderflower and Wild Berry add delightful fruit flavours. I’m particularly keen on these two. I love the way the Wild Berry looks like a sparkling rosé wine in a champagne flute. This would make a sophisticated and indulgent alternative to alcohol.
I’ve never been keen to let my boys have sweet fizzy drinks – they’ve tried them on a couple of occasions and luckily didn’t go crazy for them. Sam and Alex were really curious to try Kombucha and I’m going to hand over the mic to my seven year old who gave me his eloquent review:
“I like it more than lemonade because lemonade has hardly a taste and is just sugary. This has more flavour and (is) less sugary. I love it!” Good point, well made 🙂

Equinox Kombucha picking up their Best Vegan Drinks award at Vegfest in September.
Pretty cool, huh?

 

While I’m on the topic of tea please let me point you to the Wise Owl Tea company. Steve Ellis got in touch and kindly sent me some samples. He and Lucy combines their deep passion for travel and love of fragrant herbal tea infusions perfectly. Ingredients are organic and the delightful little tea bags are hand made. Last year the two ‘Wise Owls’ have seen their efforts rewarded in the Great Taste awards with three gold star winners!

I was very excited to try the Corsican Olive Leaf Tea. Blended with apple and pineapple it looked very elegant in the little pyramid shaped silky bags. It’s become my favourite of the Wise Owl teas.
Tahitian Night is a full blend of flavours with Liquorice Root, Chamomile flower, Lavender flower, Lime flower and Valerian Root. The liquorice adds sweetness, while chamomile, lavender and valerian root make this a great drink to aid deep, refreshing sleep.

The packaging is so beautiful that I couldn’t bring myself to recycle these pretty containers. They make lovely storage jars for all sorts of bits and pieces.

 

And finally, I was lucky enough to sample some exciting vegan chocolate from Ethicoco. (I know it’s a tough job…)
Ethicoco is a new vegan chocolate business that is handcrafting a variety of bean-to-bar chocolates.

I got to try the Ecuadorian With Oat Milk and a 72% Peruvian Dark. Here’s another company that really celebrates ethical values and care of our planet. All the ingredients are organic, with beans certified by the Rain Forest Alliance, FairTrade, or sourced via direct trade.
Given the choice, I would usually go for a vegan ‘milk chocolate’ first so when I tried this one I really enjoyed it. But it was the 72% dark variety that surprised me the most. There was none of the ‘bitterness’ that I was expecting and the longer the chocolate melted in my mouth the more the flavours developed. Absolutely gorgeous and a huge success with all the family. I’m really looking forward to trying the other two flavours soon.

Have you discovered some exciting new products during Veganuary? And have you got any Top Tips for staying plant-based this month? It’s always great to hear from you…

Lots of love,
Chava

 

———————————
If your business could benefit from fabulous meat-free recipes and photographs I’d love to hear from you.
Keep in touch via Twitter (@flavourphotos) or Facebook
and look out for more scrumptious food photography here: www.flavourphotos.com

Of Poetry and Potatoes…

Tags

Brunch, dairy-free, English traditions, Gingerbread, Performance Poetry, Poetry, Twoem, Vegan, Vegan Full English Breakfast, Vegetarian, Vegetarian Breakfast, Village Fete

The forecast for this Bank Holiday Monday has been looking pretty awful for days and unfortunately they got it just right… But we certainly wouldn’t let a bit of rain spoil our fun!

Some of you may know that my partner is a writer and performance poet. He’s been working around the world for 25 years and has entertained in the most unusual, beautiful and unexpected places. His audiences include anyone from the Queen to Friends of the Earth and the Olympic Sailing Team… Feel free to check out his website www.judgethepoet.com. He’s really rather amazing and I’m not just saying it because I’m biased 😉

He did make me laugh today with this Twoem (Twitter poem) as we were getting ready to visit our local village fete:

Who needs Spain when you can shelter in a large marquee, admiring the longest runner bean, most perfect potatoes, best super hero made from scrap material and find out who’s made the best gooseberry jam? This will be our 12th Village Show since we’ve moved here and I still admire the quaintness of it all.
Getting the entries ready on Show morning is really quite an operation. I’d like to claim that it’s all calm and in control here…. but I’d be lying. One year I was holding my home-made scones out of the car window to cool them down enough! We made it just in time this morning and displayed the super heroes, Sam and Alex’s first photo entries, collage sunsets, gingerbread men and flower arrangements.

After all this excitement (and once David made it back from judging the poetry entries) we really needed something warming to set us up for an afternoon of wet outdoor fun.
————————-

Despite the pretty relentless rain at the show we came back triumphantly: 5 prizes for Sam, 6 for Alex and even one for myself. Proud mummy moment!
Well done, Sam!

Fresh culinary herbs, 5 named varieties.

Gingerbread… I think the kids did really well with these.

After much deliberation and changing his mind, Alex went with simplicity for his flower arrangement. I’m looking forward to sharing all this quaintness, flower arranging and baking at Fiesta Friday.

And after braving the wet weather, we ended up winning an amazing raffle prize too. Of all the things we could have won…. this stunning hamper from a local farm shop was just made for us!

How did you spend your Bank Holiday? Did you curl up inside with a steaming mug of tea or did you manage to get out and have some fun?

———————–

Don’t forget to enter my Vegfest ticket competition by Sunday, August 31st. Good luck!

 

 

 

 

Win a pair of Vegfest London tickets…

Tags

Giveaway, Ticket competition, Vegan, Vegetarian, Vegfest London

Next month is Vegfest month 🙂 Here’s your chance to WIN a pair of tickets to Vegfest London on Sunday 28 September?

I’m really excited about this post as I’ve got two lovely tickets sitting here on my desk, waiting to be sent out to a lucky reader.

As you may well know I LOVE the Vegfest events, in a ‘slightly overexcited, jumping-up-and-down’ sort of way – they’re a fixed date in my diary!
And this year is extra special for me as my blog has been nominated in the Vegfest awards, yeah!! For the first time, I’ll also be there in a professional capacity – camera in hand as official photographer – to capture the atmosphere, delicious food, exhibitors and speakers on both days. Come and say Hi if you see me there, it would be wonderful to meet many of you in person!

If you haven’t cast your vote in the Vegfest Awards yet, I would be over the moon if you’d vote for my Flavourphotos blog in the Best Blogger category. Have a little browse around if you’re new to the site – I really hope you’ll like my weekly recipes posts and stick around for a while 🙂 
I wonder if any of my VVLP friends fancy entering?

Is it a bit cheeky asking for your vote right now, after mentioning a ticket competition? 😉 Trust me, the two are not at all connected!

Here’s the important bit: To be in with a chance of winning these two tickets (worth £22 in total) tell me a fun fact about yourself. Could be food related, could be a special talent you may have, anything at all. I’ll pick a name at random on August 31st. Good luck!!!

All you need is l💜ve… and Vegfest Brighton

Tags

Aneesh Popat, Bristol Bakehouse, cake, Cat & The Cream, Chocolate, Dosa Deli, Dragonfly, Ms Cupcake, Soapnut powder, Sunshine Kitchen, Teen VGN, The Honest Carrot, Vegan Society, Vegfest, Vegfest Brighton, Vegfest Bristol

Another fantastic event from the organisers of Europe’s largest vegan festivals.

Long overdue! Visiting the Viva! Roadshow in Gloucester has inspired me to pick a few photos from last month’s Vegfest in Brighton to share some of the sights with you.
I am a huge (no, try that again… HUGE!!!) fan of the Vegfest events that take place in Bristol, Brighton and London.
My journey to Brighton was somewhat turbulent but it was definitely worth the trip and every minute of waiting for the recovery van 😉

The gorgeous ladies from the Sunshine Kitchen

Alix Meek, the Vegan Society’s Business Development Assistant

The TeenVGN stall. Truly inspirational, you’re superstars!

Soapnut powder – a truly environmentally friendly choice. Probably the most innovative product I’ve seen at the show this year.

Soapnut powder in laundry tabs… ultimate convenience

Merryhill Mushrooms – Grow your own. Looks such fun. I wish I could have taken some home with me.

Caught ‘blue handed’: Ms. Cupcake with her ever popular cakes.

These stunning cakes were for sale on the VBites stall.

It appears that vegans don’t just eat nuts and leaves 😉

Incredibly fast, this man is a master of the Woks

Bangwok toppings.

Great name, great food 🙂

Nice as pie!

Dosa Deli. If you get the chance… just do it! Mmmmmm 🙂

Part of my Dosa lunch… there was something deliciously crunchy in there. Never got a chance to ask what the secret ingredient was.

Lunch… Oh my goodness this was so incredibly tasty. Full of flavour, variety of textures and just all round yummy!

Looking good!

Vegan Catering at its best. Cashew Catering from Lewes.

Mouthwateringly beautiful

Chocolatier Aneesh Popat

Some of Aneesh’s chocolates. How fabulous are these!?

Aneesh with his lovely fiancé

A day out at Vegfest is like elixir for the weary vegan traveller’s soul… When I arrived at the Bristol venue last year, I felt an incredible sense of ‘coming home’ and belonging! My family and I live in a tiny little community in the Cotswolds and we don’t usually mind being the ‘only vegans in the village’. But just occasionally I wish I could simply sit down to a vegan meal in a cafe without lengthy explanations. Sometimes, it would be amazing not having to explain why I choose not to eat animal products, where I get my protein from or whether I eat fish!
But here I find no judgement, no critics… simply a crowd of caring, open minds.

Just a small selection of images from Bristol 2013.
Blue skies, sunshine, live music and over 140 stalls, caterers and talks.

Amphitheatre with live music

Cat and the cream

Stunning colours in the May sunshine

Dragonfly

Ms. Cupcake

The Bristol Bakehouse

Aneesh Popat

Live music, a bar and blue skies… Life is good!

Another view over the Amphitheatre.

I’m incredibly lucky to work with organisations, charities and magazines who feel just as passionately about living without cruelty as I do. Because of that and thanks to this blog, Twitter and Facebook, I’ve got a real sense of connecting with ‘my community’. Click here to follow me on twitter and catch my latest Facebook updates… It would just make my day 🙂

How do you link up with like-minded people? I’d love to hear what works for you.

———–
Hope to see many of you at the next Vegfest event!
Vegfest Website
Twitter @VegfestUK

Viva!’s Incredible Vegan Roadshow – Gloucester

Tags

Amanda Woodvine, Bournemouth Vegan Fair, Gloucester, Gloucester Vegan Group, Incredible Vegan Roadshow, Jane Easton, Juliet Gellately, Tall Poppy Foods, Vegetarian for Life, Viva!

Viva! Incredible Vegan Roadshow does Gloucester!

A brilliant day in a packed town centre venue:
Gloucester Guildhall turned into vegan central with talks by Juliet Gellately and Viva! health campaigner Veronika Powell, plus cookery demonstrations and tastings by Viva!’s cookery expert Jane Easton.
The tables were almost bowing under the weight of delicious free food samples, kindly supplied by VBites, Bute Island Sheese Company, Organico, Good Hemp, Wicken Fen Sausages, Fry’s Vegusto, Food Heaven Cheesecakes, Ombars, Leafu, Cariad Cakes and Goodie Good Stuff…
(VBites Pepperjack Cheezly was a new one for me, yum!)
There were some fabulous hot dishes on offer too by Viva!. We sampled a delicious Vegetable and Tofu dish and a sun-dried tomato and asparagus pasta with pesto. The boys discovered a whole table with dairy-free milk options, including a very tasty chocolate milk! Chocolatey smiles all round 😉

Vegetarian for Life’s wonderful Amanda Woodvine (Editor of the Didsbury Dinners Cookbook) was there with her stall as well as many other campaigning groups and organisations such as Sea Shepherd, the Velvet Monkey Foundation, Dean Farm Trust…
It was a lovely day out for the whole family browsing the packed hall full of vegan information, guides, tasty foods, clothes, Moo free chocolates and Yaoh’s goodies; perfectly rounded off by cake from Tall Poppy Foods and The Gloucester Vegan Group.
My experienced taste testers came away with big smiles, bags of goodies and two thumbs up.

Viva!’s founder and director Juliet Gellately

Cookery Writer Jane Easton preparing meals from the new Viva! Cookbook (which I believe is out in May!).

Tall Poppy Foods from Selly Oak, Birmingham. Stunning cakes served with a happy smile!

Fiona and the team from the Gloucester Vegan Group. The members have been very busy baking all these tasty treats to raise funds for the Evesham Farm Animal Sanctuary.

If you’ve never been to a vegan event like this I would really, really recommend that you go along to one near you. The Vegfest website has a list of events around the country and I’m delighted to be sponsoring the website of the Bournemouth Vegan Fair.
The atmosphere at these events is so warm and welcoming and even after 14 years as a vegan I’ve picked up lots of information about nutrition. Best of all, I got to catch up with many familiar faces and colleagues as well as meeting some lovely new people. Thank you Viva! for a great day out 🙂

Motorway Breakdown ABC

Tags

Alphabet, Motorway ABC, motorway game

Have you ever broken down on the side of a busy road and had to wait for your breakdown cover to send a recovery vehicle?
Here’s a boredom busting new game for creative shape spotters.

A couple of days ago I made my way south to the beautiful city of Brighton for one of the favourite events in my annual calendar – Vegfest (proper write up to follow!).
When my car broke down on the M25 I wasn’t impressed to hear that I’d be waiting an hour and a half for a recovery vehicle… by myself on the side of one of the busiest motorways in the country. However, I’ve come up with a great concept for anyone who ever finds themselves stuck but equipped with a camera/camera phone/iPad etc.

Motorway Breakdown ABC is a game that can be played on the ‘safe side’ of the protective motorway barrier and is a fun way to pass the time. I can’t believe how ‘lucky’ I was to break down just by a large sign, which offered endless creative possibilities 😉 All these images were taken within 10 metres of my car and I only had to cheat a tiny bit (G, P and R).

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Disclaimer: Please be 100% safe! Do not put yourself or other drivers at risk at any time.

Moral of the story… don’t ever leave the house without a camera!
I hope this made you smile! Have a great week and safe travels.

Springtime in the Cotswolds

The sun has got his hat on… After a weekend of glorious sunshine, I couldn’t resist taking my camera out for a walk this morning! Enjoy some of these beautiful messengers of early spring.

For weeks now, I’ve been following the wordsandherbs blog and have enjoyed the charming ways Cathy captures the spring awakening in my native Bavaria. Walking my two boys to school, I’ve vowed to return the favour and show the fabulous kaleidoscope of colours we’re enjoying this March in the UK.

Have a lovely day, wherever your are 🙂

All images ©flavourphotos. Please ask if you’d like to use any.