Veggies Twitter Account includes news of Veggies Events and other activities, and substantial items from like-minded friends.
As we are busy people, and expect that you are too, we do not tweet too often.
We do not intend to document the trivia of our daily lives!
Likewise we tend not to follow others on twitter who tweet too often.
Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone, went vegan in 2001 after visiting Farm Sanctuary.
Biz Stone is also lobbying for vegetarian meals in school lunches. He sent a letter to Rep. George Miller, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, writing: “Hundreds of thousands of students across the country don’t eat meat, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. However, these young vegetarians often can’t find healthy, meatless meals in the school cafeteria.”
Biz Stone obviously believes in the power of lunch, because Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters provides free vegan lunches to its employees.
You’ll find lots of other useful advice at the VeganFamily site, including info for kids, a full range of family-friendly recipes, shopping sites, books and more, and there’s an Easter section too. To be honest their site is much better than this!
VeggieKids, a project of Viva!, is a one-stop shop for young veggies or vegans — and their parents and carers. For a free download of their recipe booklet, written by children, which includes Chocolate Pudding Cake and a Cashew Mushroom Roast, visit the Veggie Kids website.
For recipes for such delights as Tofu Turkey, a speciality of our Steve, and Christmas Cup Cakes, visit the Vegan Easy website.
Cooking For Vegans offer good advice on how to accommodate vegans and omnivores at the same meal on their Vegan Christmas Dinner site.
They also point out that Christmas recipes are provided by Animal Aid, the Vegan Society and Viva! for starters, main dishes, side dishes, stuffing, gravy and desserts. The Vegetarian Society also have some nice Christmas recipes, not all of them are vegan but they label the ones that are or can be made vegan.
Vegetarian and Vegan France even have a recipe for Christmas Pudding Porridge. They say that this is not as ridiculous as it may seem, as before the 16th century porridge was the original christmas pudding – dried fruit and spices work as well in porridge as in a pudding!
For many more ideas simply add ‘vegan recipe’ to anything you fancy on an internet search, often finding good results on the BBC Food website, which currently includes 1297 vegan recipes!
These events from the the Vegan Outreach Diary provide an excellent opportunity to find dozens, or even 100+ vegan friendly groups and businesses under one room, often with free food samples, talks, films and cookery demonstrations too.
You’ll find lots of Christmas Treats from these vegan stores:
For vegan chocolate, sweets & snacks from a grass-roots vegan campaigner, support Lakeside Ethical Treats
For new and exciting, all-vegan products including a Christmas Plum Pudding, Advent Calendars, Chocolate Apricots and Chocolate Coin Bags visit the Animal Aid Shop
Whilst this roundup aim to encourage (relatively) ethical consumer choices, another option is to ‘Live simply so that all might simply live‘.
Please give the gift of life with a donation to VEGFAM, to “feed the hungry without exploiting animals. VEGFAM helps people overseas by providing funds for self-supporting, sustainable food projects and the provision of safe drinking water.
The supplier of Community Foods vegetable suet has provided the following information about the palm oil used in production of this product:
“Regarding sustainable palm oil we are a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and our supply chain is validated to BM Trada. The palm oil we buy is “Mass Balance” and as such recognized as sustainable. “
“The palm oil we supply within our product is from the Mass Balance Scheme, which guarantees that for every kg of “non-segregated” palm oil which is sold an equivalent kg of “fully segregated” palm oil is manufactured and sold. This scheme is used to fund the growth in “fully segregated” palm oil plantations, so that supply can fulfill worldwide demand for “fully segregated” palm oil, which is currently not possible.”
The formation of the RSPO has not been without criticism from various sectors, especially the environmental NGOs. The main issues flagged include: The impact of palm oil plantation expansion on the Orang Utan population; Destruction of tropical forest for the new oil palm plantation schemes in South-East Asia; The burning and draining of large tracks of peat swamp forest in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Wikipedea 29Nov12
For a comprehensive Vegan Christmas guide to recipes, vegan fairs, shopping, family friendly advice & more, visit & RT veggies.org.uk/2012/11/vegan-…
“Running a vegan business can be tough as many are run for altruistic reasons, rather than purely to make money. The internet brought with it an opportunity to help vegan businesses by giving them more marketing muscle, and … we set up the Vegan Village website to do this.
“The Vegan Village website went live in September 1997 with contact details for 44 vegan organisations. We sent out monthly newsletters to help establish the Vegan Village concept and encourage people to get involved. In addition to the listings, there was a noticeboard for small ads, a newsdesk for press releases and news stories, and a recipe of the week to encourage people to visit the website regularly. Mini websites were offered at below cost price to help vegan businesses take their first steps on the net.
“The noticeboard processed thousands of free adverts and become one of the most popular vegan pages on the web.
“The Vegan Village was an ever-present in the Google rankings, a recommended site on BBC Search, and remained the quickest, most cost-effective way for new vegan businesses to announce their presence to the marketplace.”
The Vegan Village was archived by UKWAC Web Archive as part of the ‘unfolding recent history of UK events, interests and activities’. The latest snapshop, archived in 2011 continues to be a valuable source of information.
The Vegan Village was ‘run for fun’ by Liz at Digitalis, with grateful thanks to Andy at Imaner. Digitalis continue to offer website design services to vegan and veggie companies and Imaner Consultants continues as an ethical organisation also offering website design services.
“We would like to say a big thank you to everybody who has supported the Vegan Village over the years.”
…meanwhile…
Veggies compiles The Vegan Business Connection (VBC) to encourage mutual support for cruelty-free businesses, i.e. those using no animal ingredients whatsoever and striving to minimise environmental, human and animal rights abuses.
The V.B.C. gives as much importance to the proprietors, as to the goods or services traded. It is to those who run such businesses that we can look for guarantees of their ethical standards, and knowledge of vegan issues.
If you work in a way that is sympathetic to the promotion of veganism, or supply specific vegan goods / services, or wish to recommend someone else, please contact us.
The Vegan Business Connection also forms the Trading Section of the new Veggies Directory. Information is supplied mainly by the businesses themselves, or through recommendations from other sources.
Use them or loose them – support vegan businesses.
The Vegan Outreach Diary lists the increasing number of food-based vegan outreach events, from free food stalls to major vegan festivals.
Event Organisers are urged to check the diary and to submit full event details as soon as a date is set, for details to be added to this nationally coordinated diary. Provisional dates may be submitted too.
The Diary is compiled by Veggies Catering Campaign and updated constantly for use by vegan food campaigners nationwide.
The Vegan Outreach Diary is designed to be reciprocally linked from any other group, website or event with a similar mission, to demonstrate the spirit of mutual support and cooperation that is central to Veggies campaigns.
Local activists – top trainers – revolution – non-violence – learning from other movements – community – glorious countryside.
Join us in 2012 for more discussions, training and debates on nonviolence, education and the anti-war movement, fuelled by “wonderful (vegan) food from Veggies of Nottingham”
Wednesday 1st to Monday 6th August Ecological Direct Action without Compromise
Workshops, skill sharing and planning action, plus low-impact living without leaders. Meet people, learn skills, take action.
The Earth First! Summer Gathering is the place where people involved in radical ecological direct action – or those who want to be involved – get together for five days of time and space to talk, walk, share skills, learn, play, rant, find out what’s going on, find out what’s next, live outside, strategise, hang out, incite, laugh and conspire.
The 2012 Earth First Summer Gathering will be held on the first weekend of August.
As ever Veggies will be co-ordinating the d-i-y cafe space and holding cake baking workshops.
The UK Animal Rights Gathering is to a great weekend not to be missed, with talks, discussions and workshops on a wide range of issues and activities related to animal rights campaigning, as well as a chance to relax with like-minded people and socialise and network with other campaigners from all over the UK.
The 2012 Animal Rights Summer Gathering on the second weekend of August.
As ever Veggies will be co-ordinating the catering, running a cafe space and holding vegan cookery workshops. More AR Gathering Details…
These three key Gatherings, inspiring and networking for action for humans, animals and the environment, are all to be hosted by hosted by Crabapple Housing Co-op near Shrewsbury.
We are pleased to announce that our burger, sosage and hemp mixes now contain half the salt.
And, unlike many other convenient vegan staples, they still contain no palm oil, a source of major concern for the environment, and for the people and other animals loosing their forest homes. Visit saynotopalmoil.com
In fact Veggies Mixes contain no added fats at all, nor sugar or artificial anything.
Our mixes are handmade in Nottingham, in our dedicated vegan kitchen, with organically grown ingredients, including wholewheat breadcrumb (with wheat “usually from the UK, sometimes from Finland or Sweden”), oats (supplied from Cheshire & sourced from UK or the EU) and soya (from France).
To find out why ours are probably the most ethical mixes available visit our Ethical Burgers & Sosages page.
or visit one of our retail outlets in Nottingham, Derby and Manchester.
or order wholesale from our sole distributor, Lembas, based in Sheffield and delivering throughout our region
or enjoy Veggies Burgers at one of our many Veggies Events.
The sales of our mixes supports Veggies campaigns, events & our information resources.
Thank you for supporting minimal packaging since 1984!
Footnote:
Advice picked up whilst catering at the Sneinton Healthy Living event lead to the following calculations:
At 1.1% salt in the dry mix, this equates to 0.44g /100g when reconstituted, which is still a little more that the 0.3g or less required to be defined at ‘low salt’ in the traffic light food labeling scheme.
This gives 0.25g or 0.49g salt in a 2oz or 4oz (56g/112g) Veggies Burger from the 6g daily recommended by health experts quoted by the British Heart Foundation, so we might be looking for ideas to reduce it further.
Whilst we think that Veggies Mixes are still great tasting, as well as being the most ethical and cost effective organic mixes available, feedback suggests that the reduced salt may result in the product tasting ‘spicier’ or ‘more peppery’. You may wish to add your own secret blend of additional flavours when making it up.
Compassionate Derby, a showcase of healthy, environmentally friendly and cruelty free food and lifestyle products, was held in the Darwin Suite of the Assembly Rooms, right in the heart of the Derby, on Saturday 5th November 2011.
Co-organiser DavidO writes…
A huge well done to all those involved in Compassionate Derby A.K.A. the East Midlands Vegan Festival.
We ended up with over 30 stalls, engaging speakers (that included MP’s, Buddhist teachers and highly regarded vegan cooks) and most important of all, around 700 curious members of the public wandering through – only a tiny fraction of whom were vegan.
There has been a great deal of positive feedback from stallholders and public alike, and a veritable chorus of “Please that we do it all again next year and in a BIGGER VENUE!”
The highlight for me was when a young teenager who having been persuaded to have a look around (by a giant rabbit with sparklers) came back along the same busy high street where she had been leafleted and called out “that vegan food is GORGEOUS!” to her mates (and everyone else within a wide radius).
A massive thank you to everyone who donated their valuable time to achieve such a success and in particular to the half dozen or so committed Derby Animal Rights activists who somehow brought a big idea to life in six weeks flat..
I just wanted to say a huge WELL DONE to Dave O and the band of merry men (& women) who pulled it off perfectly!
I think they day went amazingly. I know a few stall holders were wishing it would be a bit busier, but for a first time I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how many people came through the doors.
Also, I’ve not been to many ‘vegan fayres’, but the ones I’ve been to have been so busy you’re restricted to your stall and don’t get to see anything else. It was nice to be able to walk around and actually see stalls rather than be looking over peoples shoulders for a quick glimpse. I even spoke to stall holders and learned a lot!
It went brilliantly and I’m glad I got to witness it.
Can’t wait for next years!
“Find details of similar events all over the UK on the Vegan Outreach Diary, compiled by Veggies Catering Campaign.”
“This year was the sixth year of the Festival’s Green Traders Awards, given by Glastonbury, Greenpeace, The Soil Association, The Fairtrade Foundation and Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS) to the traders who did the most to help make the Festival greener, fairer and more sustainable.
“Once again this year a team of Greenpeace volunteers trekked across the festival site interviewing traders, quizzing them about everything from: how they arrived on site, what their stall was made of; how much of their stock was Fairtrade, organic or recycled, and any other ethical criteria they proactively used to reduce their impact on the environment.
“… And the final award was given to Veggies Catering Co who received the Greenpeace Award. “For many years we’ve been trying to encourage all Glastonbury traders to be as green as we aim to be.”
Read full story, with details of other Award Winners (and well done to them all) at Glastonbury Festival News. Special congratulations to “the winner of this year’s Gold Award for food … last year’s runner-up No Bones Jones, who do vegetarian and vegan food”.
Veggies has been shortlisted in the Green Trading Standards scheme at previous Glastonbury Festivals and are 3-times winners of the ‘Best Vegan Caterer’ Awards.
Whilst we are delighted to have been recognised with this award, our mission is to reflect searching questions back to the festival itself, including…
Q. What are you selling that is Fairtrade?
A. Coffee, decaff coffee, hot chocolate, tea, redbush, herbal teas. For over 25 years we have never stocked other than fair trade teas and coffees, which are also organic where available.
… nor have we ever sold Cocoa Cola products, despite their being the nominated soft drink supplier to Glastonbury Festival.
Q. What other criteria do you look for when sourcing ethical goods?
Many consider Veggies Catering Campaign to be one of the most ethical on the circuit. Our policies are not a flash in the pan, they have been the cornerstone of our operation for over 25 years, drawn from our close involvement is supporting many campaigns for humans, animals and the environment.
Q. “Do you have any other suggestions for improving the sustainability of (Glastonbury) festival as a whole?”
A. Include concerns over the environmental impact of livestock products in all aspects of ethical and environmental planning and monitoring. Livestock products have been held responsible for significant amount of methane & carbon emissions. Whilst there may be debate over the detail, farmed animals compete inefficiently for food/feed, water and land resources, in a way which cannot be sustained if the global population were to adopt western patterns of consumption.
The rest of our submission to Glastonbury Festival Green Trader Awards in 2010 can be seen at our Ethical Policies page.
Anecdotes from 26th years catering at the frontline
Perhaps you were at J18 or M40 RTS street parties, the G8 in Stirling, Glastonbury or on Hatfield Peat Moor? You may even have stood with us in the snow at Molesworth US Airforce Base in the winter of ’85!
What was your favourite Veggies Event?
Recipies from Veggies events.
Have you been fed by Veggies at camps or gatherings, festivals or fairs, weddings or birthdays, or any other events?
Veggies Scoffer includes recipes from…
Climate Camps
Peace News Camp
AR Gatherings
Radical Routes Gatherings
Veggieskool Catering
Peoples Kitchen
Be your own Veggies
- How to set up a Veggies group
- Trailers / street stalls / indoor fairs / event catering
- Cooking with Veggies Mixes
Guest recipies from other campaign caterers, including Anarchist Teapot, Green Garden Cafe, Something Fishy, Fairfoods, Vegan Campaigns, Shambu’s, Screaming Carrot
Veggies Tour Dates – featuring events on our annual itinerary
Veggie Summer Barbecue
Adapted from the Vegetarian Society Networking Newsletter (mainly by adding the ‘s’ to Veggies!)
This article recently featured in the Young Veggie pages of The Vegetarian.
We thought it was worth reprinting in time for summer in Youth Matters, too.
Lots of parties and get-togethers during the summer months centre around the garden and the barbecue. Even though barbecues are traditionally associated with cooking meat, vegetarians can enjoy a good barbecue as much as anyone else. Give these two menus a try for super-tasty summer barbecues.
Simple summer barbecue:
Veggies burgers, or make your own with Veggies Burger Mixes
Bread rolls
Simple salad garnish (sliced tomatoes, greens such as lettuce or spinach, grated carrot, sliced onions)
Condiments (tomato sauce, salad cream, brown sauce, mayonnaise, chilli sauce) Crisps
Corn chips with salsa Hummus with raw vegetables (peppers, carrots, mushrooms, cauliflower, celery)
Fresh summer fruit (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)
Tip: Make sure that any food items that usually need refrigeration, like Plamil mayonnaise or hummus, are kept cool by either being served on a bowl of ice or kept indoors.
Join people from across the broad spectrum of the British peace
movement and radical activism for five days of exploration,
celebration and empowerment.
ABOUT PEACE NEWS SUMMER CAMP
Bring your contribution to a hothouse of creativity, a small
self-governed society run by democratic camp meetings, a viable
example of the kind of world we are trying to bring about. The
Peace News Summer Camp helps build a radical movement for the
future by building a living community today.
We are camping in a family-friendly and renewably-powered way
from 28 July to 1 August in the beautiful grounds of Crabapple
Community, near Shrewsbury in Shropshire.
Activities include: workshops and discussions, practical skills
sessions, delicious vegan food cooked by Veggies of Nottingham,
music, film, fun and participatory entertainment, a bar,
campfires, and activities and facilities for kids and families.
NB Dogs (except guide dogs) are not allowed on site – sorry.
TICKETS & FOOD
The camp costs £15 – £65 depending upon income. Payment can be
made by cheque, online or by phone:
- http://tinyurl.com/summercamptickets
for on-line purchases
– 0207 278 3344 for purchases by phone
– Send cheques (payable to “Peace News” to Peace News, 5
Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DY), explaining how many tickets you’re
purchasing and which rates
Food (3 meals a day and drinks) will cost £6 – £11 a day for
adults, depending on income, and should be ordered before the camp
starts. Individuals meals will be available to buy at the camp.
“Wonderful workshops and a wide range of people with which to
exchange ideas”
“Safe, friendly, interesting, happy, useful, accepting, great for
networking, well thought out and set up. Thank you for organising
and creating a lovely village”
“It was a great holiday for me and I loved meeting new people. To
become aware of the work that people are doing all over the country”
You’ll find lots of Christmas Treats from these vegan stores:
The Vegan Outreach Diary lists the increasing number of food-based vegan outreach events, from free food stalls to major vegan festivals.
“… And the final award was given to Veggies Catering Co who received the Greenpeace Award. “For many years we’ve been trying to encourage all Glastonbury traders to be as green as we aim to be.”
