Monday 29 September 2014

Vegan MoFo #21 - Vegfest London!


On Saturday I went to Vegfest for the first time! I was so excited to be able to go as we had tickets last year but my morning sickness was so bad I ended up giving them away through Instagram. This year I was feeling really ill but I was determined not to miss it again, and I'm really glad I went!

Vegfest UK is the biggest veggie event in Europe! Once a year the London Olympia West is filled with vegan stalls selling books, magazines, food and all sorts of vegan products. There are also talks and workshops throughout the day on everything from nutrition to vegan travel.

I took my mother in law Louise with me (she's been vegan for about a year and a half now-how awesome is that!?) and we had so much fun looking around and trying lots of yummy food! I also got to meet some Instagram & Blogger friends like Jojo , Sarah and Abigail which really made my week!

I thought that today instead of posting a recipe I would post some of the photos I took on Saturday and tell you a bit about my Vegfest experience!


One of the stalls I was really drawn to was this amazing tropical fruit stall. There were so many incredible fruits that I had only ever seen pictures of! They even had a HUGE jackfruit, but I'm not sure it was for sale!


I was really excited to see the Big Fat Vegan Bakery stall! Everything looked so tasty, including these donuts! I bought a huge cream filled chocolate donut (you can see the picture on my Instagram) and was really looking forward to sharing it with my husband, but I was a bit disappointed with it if I'm honest. The 'cream' filling was actually a very sickly buttercream frosting which, combined with the very thick chocolate icing was so overpoweringly sweet that I had trouble eating even half of it! (And I have a real sweet tooth!) Pete loved it but also didn't eat the 'cream' filling.


I grabbed a funky Avocado-Coconut ice lolly at Pop Cycle and ended up having a great chat with the sweet lady who makes them. She even let us try some of her Strawberry-Lime Granita which was AMAZING - I'm definitely going to try to recreate it soon! I wasn't too fond of the pop I got, but Louise liked it a lot! I love the idea of having these pops at a summer wedding!


I was so happy to see Lakeside Ethical Treats had a stall! They do the most amazing selection of vegan chocolate - including Vegan Creme Eggs!! I always order loads of these at Easter! They also had loads of yummy crisps and snacks available, but I was in it for the chocolate!


One of the stalls I was most impressed by was Trina's Delicacies. They were selling a whole host of amazing baked goods, and I had a hard time deciding what to try. They even had some vegan quiches! In the end I went with a giant slice of their Salted Caramel Cake and oh my goodness was it good! The cake was so fluffy and light, the frosting was sweet without being overpowering and that salted caramel drizzle. Oh boy. This was probably the best thing I ate all day!


Viva! had a stall with loads of fliers and information about the meat industry and I picked up loads of leaflets to pass on to people.


There were some really delicious looking chocolate stalls, and I really wished I had taken more money with me as I would have loved to have bought some of these amazing artisan chocolates to take home with me! Next time I definitely will!


Goody Good Stuff had some great deals on their gummy sweets, and I picked up a tub of their Christmas trees & Baubles to set aside for Christmas! I'll be reviewing some of their products on my blog soon.


When it came to lunch time I was so torn between the Vegusto Hot Dogs and Gillie's Food Chinese, but in the end I couldn't resist the Chinese BBQ with Rice, Cucumber & Sesame seeds. This was so incredibly tasty, sweet with just the right amount of spice, but I definitely had an MSG headache for the rest of the day...


Nakd were giving out samples of their new fruit & nut bars, and I tried the Christmas Pud flavor which was so good!


I tried some Hazelnut Chocolate from the Italian Chocolate stall Cacao Crudo. It was too dark for my taste, but I'm not a big fan of bitter dark chocolate.


I couldn't resist gabbing one of these delicious fresh coconuts to quench my thirst! It was so refreshing!


I stopped by the Pana Chocolate stall and sampled lots of their flavors! I've been wanting to try this brand of chocolate for ages and wasn't disappointed! Their raw chocolate bars are so sweet, chocolatey and creamy that they are almost more like truffle! I particularly loved the orange flavor and will be buying some soon!


The stall I spent the most money at was definitely the Vegan Tuck Box! They do a monthly treat box which is delivered right to your door, and have such a great selection of treats! I'm definitely thinking about signing up soon! 


It was great to see Rebel Kitchen giving out samples of their incredible flavored coconut mylks. I'll be reviewing their mylks here soon and using them in a few recipes, so keep your eyes peeled!


And finally I couldn't believe the amazing selection of vegan marshmallows I found! Lemon Crunch Marshmallows, who would have thought it!?

I loved my day at Vegfest, and will be going next year (with more money to spend!)

If you missed Vegfest London never fear! You can always go along to the one in Brighton in March next year!

Did you go to Vegfest? What was your favorite stall?

3 comments:

  1. I've been seeing all these VegFest posts and it looks amazing! I think I am so going to have to save up to go next year. I dread to think how much money I'd spend on goodies though!

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  2. That tropical fruit stall looks amazing.

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  3. It was so great to meet you! You took such great pictures, I wish I'd remembered to grab a bag of no no's!

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