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London, UK

Started by Jo on January 18, 2011

41 Comments

Jo said #1 Jan 18, 2011 at 4:20am

a forum like this is missing in the UK...only the vegan society uk restores some faith in the existence of non carnivorous earthlings in London...

kindowl said #2 Jan 18, 2011 at 5:55am

I am here in the UK also - used to live in CA.....certainly finding it more challenging trying to find certain foods/restaurants etc. here than there!

But, strangely it wasn't until I relocated to the UK that I became vegetarian and then vegan.

Jo said #3 Jan 18, 2011 at 6:17am

hi. interesting. maybe because of how ubiquitous meat here is! i've been a lacto-veg for 20 years, vegan for over a year and my convictions strengthened when i worked in china...because it was so difficult to maintain a proper vegan diet there! london's become more accommodating for vegans during the past 2 years or so...foodwise. i still have some trouble finding good vegan cosmetics here. animal aid online shop and planet organic are good options, you should check out their websites;-)

Kbear said #4 Jan 18, 2011 at 8:43am

I'm in London too! I'm surprised to hear you say that you find it difficult over here, kindowl, because I think London is a great place to be veg*n. Are you in London or elsewhere?

kindowl said #5 Jan 19, 2011 at 1:41am

Yes I am here in London (W13) - I know it must be much harder to be in a small town/village somewhere!! But, I guess I am comparing it to LA (where I moved from) where it seemed much easier? Also, I am a relatively new vegan (3 mos) so probabaly am still just trying to muddle my way through....and my vegan cookbooks all seem to include ingredients I can't locate here?

Where are your go to places here in London?

Kbear said #6 Jan 19, 2011 at 9:15am

Oh, yeah, I guess anywhere might seem hard compared to California. I've only just turned vegan at New Year, although I've been a vegetarian for 12 years, so I'm still figuring things out too, but I spent a long time researching, and getting acquainted with vegan ingredients. The huge Whole Foods Market on High Street Kensington is really close to you, you could probably find anything you needed there. It's pricey, obviously, so it's not part of my regular shopping routine. Actually, even Holland and Barretts, which is kind of a wishy washy excuse for a health food store, has a lot of stuff if you look really closely. Also I find Middle Eastern and Asian grocery stores invaluable. Is there anything in particular you can't find?

For restaurants, W13 is close to my favourite vegan restaurant, which is 222 Veggie Vegan. Mildred's in Soho is really good, although its vegetarian, not vegan, but it has good vegan options. I've taken die hard meat lovers to both those places and they've really liked it.

Jo said #7 Jan 20, 2011 at 1:27am

i agree, some ingredients are hard to find here...even kale. i mean, come on! it's only made its appearance in waitrose and sainsbury's recently. you should check out planet organic (online), detoxyourworld.com, naturallygreen.co.uk

i agree wth Kbear that local middle eastern shops can have some great stuff if you dig around. and you should check out the indian veggie markets in wembley - great choice in food and in ayurvedic cosmetics. though prices for south east asian stuff, like tofu, are pretty steep compared to korean or japanese markets there.

there's a new restaurant in soho, called Vantra. it's purely vegan and really really good. you've got the hare krishna vegetarian restaurant next door, but they use a lot of dairy. but they do have a little shop upstairs where you can find vegan cosmetics that are cheaper than in Holland and Barretts.

there aren't that many pure vegan restaurants here, but shopping for stuff can be fun. you don't have huge football field sized supermarkets on every corner, but at least you make good friends with your local area. and i think that's much better.

i posted some info on vegan cosmetics under Beauty some time ago if you want to have a look at some suggestions.

natalie1981 said #8 Jan 21, 2011 at 7:06am

Hey people, I'm in Essex just outside London.

I've been Vegan/Macrobiotic for almost a year. We have one vegetarian restaurant near to me, that can cater for Vegans, other than that, thats it. I am struggling to find ingrediants in the shops and do most of my shopping online, which is ok, but not the same as actually seeing the products in real life!

Nice to know there are others in the UK on here!

Hannah Edge said #9 Jan 21, 2011 at 7:23am

Hi all. I live in the Midlands and understand the difficulties in finding ingredients and places to eat. We have a really good vegan restaurant here though so can always rely on that. It would be so nice to be able to find more ingredients so I can make more from vegan books but I really like the meals I can make so that keeps me going.

Kbear said #10 Jan 21, 2011 at 8:40am

Jo, I agree with you about the supermarkets and their lack of imagination regarding produce. I'm orginally from Canada, and I'm always amazed that the small grocery stores in my one-horse Canadian hometown have more variety in the fruits and veggies section than a huge Tesco over here! But you can usually find loads of interesting greens at your local farmers market, including kale. Actually, I wrote a blog post about how much I love farmer's markets here, if anyone is interested. :)

Don't forget about Indian and Thai restaurants! They always have vegan options. You just have to watch out for ghee, yogurt, or fish sauce (Thai).

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