Vegan Events: London Vegan Festival 2014

Haul time! Here are the goodies I picked up at the London Vegan Festival last Sunday, 17th August:

I thought I knew of all the veggie festivals around London but I actually stumbled upon the London Vegan Festival by chance. I was browsing for events in my area on the Food Festival Finder website which I have recently discovered. Held not too far from me in the Kensington Town Hall and at only £2.00 entry per person, there was no way I wouldn’t make an appearance! The festival was last held in 2011 but I am hoping it will make a regular comeback.

Sidenote: The Food Festival Finder website is brilliant. Type in your location or do a search for the kind of festival you’re after and BOOM! Your calendar will fill up pretty quickly. I’ve become a bit of an addict.

Back to the Vegan Festival… As it was held in a fairly old town hall, the lighting was terrible so unfortunately I don’t have many great shots of the actual event and stalls. Nonetheless, here’s a few to sum up what was on offer:

That last stall pictured above is where I bought my lunch; this amazing Rainbow Salad. Nom!

And here’s a quick run-down of what I brought home. I have listed the prices for most items as paid at the festival but for the few where I can’t remember the price, I have listed the recommended retail price (RRP) instead.

Vegan Tuck Box Show Bag – £7.00

I first discovered Vegan Tuck Box at the V Delicious show last month. Everything pictured here, with the exception of the Mahalo bar, came in this cute tote for just £7.00. I thought was great value for a good range of treats including (clockwise from left):

Dame Blanche Biscuit – £?
Rebel Kitchen Chocolate Mylk – £1.00
Frank Double Chocolate Snack Bar – £1.00
Ten Acre Crisps – The Story of When the Cheese Met the Onion – £0.80
Goody Good Stuff Sour Bears (sample bag) – £?
Fruit Broo Lemon and Ginger – £1.00
Vego Whole hazelnut Chocolate Bar – £3.50
Tote Bag – £3.00

Over £10 worth of goodies for just £7! Bargain!

I only wish I’d asked to swap the chocolate ‘mylk’ for banana. Damn hindsight! I’m still working my way through the bag and saving the Vego bar for last as they are a-maz-ing. If you’ve never had one before, sort that out.

Even after scoring that massive bag of treats, I couldn’t go past the Mahalo bar. It’s like  a vegan Bounty and I get excited whenever I come across them! It was £2, which on reflection is a bit much to spend on a small chocolate bar but… VEGAN BOUNTY!

Just Wholefoods VegeBears RRP £1.50

I always end up going a bit crazy on veggie sweets on veggie junk food at these shows – literally like a kid in a candy store. These ‘Slightly Sour’ bears are by Just Wholefoods who make the vegan jelly I love. The fruity flavours were nice but disappointingly, they were not the least bit sour.  They’ve got nothing on Biona or Goody Good Stuff.

Fabulous Fudge Factory Coconut Ice RRP £1.80

I was thinking about coconut ice the other day and wondering if it was possible to make a vegan version using some sort of substitute for the traditional condensed milk. So when I saw that the Fabulous Fudge Factory had managed just that, I had to have it! To be honest, it doesn’t taste all that much like traditional coconut ice but with its ridiculously good raspberry flavouring I really don’t care!

Biona Organic Peppermints RRP £0.85

Not the most exciting purchase but with so many mints containing gelatin, I thought I’d grab these Biona Organic Peppermints when I could.

Ms Cupcake Lemon Curd £4.50

I haven’t had lemon curd in years so when I saw some on offer in a little store recently, I nearly bought it out of nostalgia. I had a quick read of the ingredients before purchasing and discovered that it’s made with egg. Gutted. This vegan alternative from the awesome Ms Cupcake practically jumped into my bag! It has a fairly short shelf-life so if anyone has some awesome ideas of what do with it, send them my way!

BWC Nail Polish – Deepest Mulberry RRP £7.99

I love BWC (Beauty Without Cruelty) and I’m a sucker for rich, dark nail polish shades so couldn’t go past this gorgeous mulberry polish.

Beaming Beauty Organic Facial Wipes £3.00

As I am trying to be more conscious about ensuring that the beauty products I use are vegan, cruelty-free, and as natural as possible I thought I’d try out these face wipes from Beaming Beauty. Both the wipes and the packaging are biodegradable, the wipes are free from parabens and alcohol, and they came from sustainable forests. All these facts make me happy so I’m very excited to try these ones out.

Organic ColourSystems PowerBuild Treatment £11

I recently learned of a vegan hair salon in Shepherd’s Bush called The Rabbit Hole so got really excited when I discovered that they had a stall at the show. Having highlighted hair, I need to use a moisturising treatment regularly but it’s not easy finding a cruelty-free option. At £11 for 90ml, this treatment from Organic ColourSystems was a little more expensive than my usual buys but I bought it to support the salon and because seriously, it smells edible.

Overall, I think I ended up with a pretty good haul! Probably a little too much junk food but sometimes you have to be a bit naughty!

The festival felt very much like the the Brighton Vegfest; a community event, more relaxed than some of the larger festivals and a little hippy. I wasn’t too impressed with one of the vegan activism stalls that was not only promoting veganism but also anti-vax/vaccine-autism but other than that, it was great! Hopefully the show will return as an annual event.