Vegan Events: VeggieWorld London 2017

As spring descends upon London, so too do the annual food festivals. I kicked off my festival season with VeggieWorld London.

 

VeggieWorld is one of the largest vegan festivals in Europe, with 14 different cities hosting the event throughout the year.

Held at Kensington Town Hall, 2017 was the first year the event has made it to London, so it was slightly smaller than some of the other festivals. However, there was still plenty to taste, try out and test with over 60 vendors offering vegan food, beauty, and lifestyle products, as well as a variety of talks, workshops, and activities.

I skipped any talks this time and stuck to the main halls and food court.

 

As I wandered around the food stalls, ogling everything from cheesecake to chocolate I sampled far too much vegan “junk food”.

Totally worth it.

Seriously, just look at this…

And these…

 

This too…

 

Animal-friendly beauty stalls were abundant and I went a little nuts trying out all sorts of products from body butter to perfume to natural deodorant.

 

Moving on from the stalls, the food court made it pretty tough to decide on lunch. There was pizzas, salads, sandwiches, curries, burgers…

I was tempted by the Dutch Weedburger (as in seaweed; nothing naughty!) but given that I’d heard it tastes a bit “fishy”, I passed in the end.

 

Instead, I went for a Balti Burger from BUN. I won’t lie – it wasn’t the best veggie burger I’ve ever had but it was tasty and the vegan coleslaw was pretty epic.

 

I honestly could have come home with half the show but I practised a teensy bit of self-restraint and went for quality over quantity in my haul.

Below is a slice of (slightly melted) raw chocolate-coffee cake from Elspeth’s Kitchen, vegan banana bread from my favourite Creole stall Global Fusion (I nab some of their baked goods any time I see them!), and and Uber Ball from Holistic Biscuit. All ridiculously delicious!

I splurged a little on beauty products; I picked up 3-for-2 Pacifica beauty products from Kijani Living – Coconut Water Cleansing Wipes, Blushious Cheek Colour in Camellia, and Devocean Natural Lipstick in Rebel Sol, plus two fruity bath bombs and a beeswax-free vanilla lip balm from Iuvo Skincare, some reusable microfiber make-up remover wipes from French beauty stand Lamazuma, and yep – those are vegan-friendly (casein-free) condoms which were given out by veggie dating app “Grazer” and the event organisers! Score!

Finally, I bought something I’ve been coveting for years: a tofu press! I’ve been looking for an affordable alternative to balancing tins of food on top of chopping boards and at just £20, this device from Tofuture fit the bill. I was won over by the fact that not only is it a press but you can also marinade and store your tofu in it. Plus, it’s super-cute!

As the event hails from Europe, it was great to sample (and buy from) a host of brands I’ve not seen before at other veggie events. I do love stocking up on my favourites in bulk at other shows but here I had the chance to discover new products not so readily available on the UK market.

The London show runs from 8th-9th April but you can catch more VeggieWorld events at a host of other European cities throughout the year.