Veggie World London Review
This weekend I went to Veggie World London in Kensington town hall, with my dad and boyfriend. I booked it a few months ago and had been really looking forward to it, it didn't disappoint, as I spent the day sampling free food, buying and eating more food and exploring other vegan products. I thought I would write a little review in case anyone wants to attend this event next year or is looking at a similar style event near them.
There were stalls a plenty. We were welcomed in by beautiful cakes and tried birch water for the first time. This is water taken from the sap of birch trees, it can only be harvested once a year. We then made our way into the great hall, where of course they were even more stalls.
After strolling around stalls for a while we went to a cooking demo, given by the lovely Chef Day Radley the woman behind Vegan Chef Day. She demonstrated how to cook vegan aioli and fishless fingers made with jackfruit. It's a recipe I'm super keen to try, and maybe adapt. I would highly recommend Day's website for more great and inspiring recipes. After feeling super inspired by the cooking demo lunch started to preoccupy my mind.
Upstairs was a food hall with loads of exciting lunch offerings. After much deliberating I decided on a burger from the dutch weed burger company. These burgers are made super healthy by the key ingredient; seaweed! After taking my first bite I knew I had decided right! It was the best vegan burger I have ever had, in fact it was better than most meat burgers. Plus it looked beautiful and had loads of gherkins in. I was in burger seventh heaven!
On returning to the grand hall we decided to try the virtual reality that was on offer from iAnimal by the charity Animal Equality. This VR experience allows you to see what it is like to be either a pig or chicken (I was a pig, Jamie a chicken) born into an intensive farm, and takes you from birth to death. It is a violent, cruel world and one that is very much standard within farming. This isn't for the faint-hearted but the VR aspect of it is highly effective, and I would challenge any one to watch this and not be horrified.
So having now wandered around a number of times I decided it was time to start splashing the cash and acquiring myself some of the great vegan products on offer.
The photo below shows everything I got; all my loot!
My first purchase was these instant soups from vishal foods. I sampled them at the stall and they were amazing, they had Indian spicing and were really fragarant. I got one in each flavour; sweet corn, lemon and coriander, hot 'n' sour, tomato and manchow. I thought that would be prefect for days when I'm ill or in a real rush and want to russel something up quick. The pair behind the Vishal foods stall were also super lovely. Here's photo of them (I'm really sorry I forgot their names!)
Next I brought a hot chilli marinade from Zims Tribe, I sampled this too. The chillies in it are the punchy orange habanero. It was super delicious and I think it will be the perfect base to a curry, and to marinade vegetables or tofu in. I loved the packaging. The main reason I really just couldn't refuse a jar of this marinade was because it is a nod to the Nigerian heritage of it's creator and I love nigerian food and my dad was born in Lagos, so of course he was sold.
Next up I picked up some samples from T Plus. I got one in each flavour of the super teas. Each super tea contains 50% of your recommended daily allowance in 9 different essential vitamins. I sampled the lemon and peach green tea flavour and it was great, unlike some fruit teas that taste like lightly flavoured hot water, this tasted really peachy. They also have apple and blackcurrant, and raspberry and pomegranate.orange and blurbery If you know me you'll know I love tea so I can't wait to sample the rest of the flavours and report back, and hopefully purchase a box of my favourite.
I also picked up a small sample of Oolution's glow up. A daily moisturiser made from 100% natural ingredients, and paraben free which claims to moisturise and detox your skin, helping it to glow. I will be trying this out and will let you know if I notice any difference in my skin. It smells glorious and hopefully it'll do my skin wonders too.
Lastly to the by far the best bargain of the day! I picked up 1.6 litres, yes 1.6 LITRES of organic cold pressed virgin coconut oil for only £10. Just to put that into prespective Sainsbury's charge £3.95 for 300ml. It was too much of a bargain to miss. And where did I get my hands on this you maybe wondering, this was from Nutiva, who specialise in foods and supplements that nourish the body and the planet. Here's a photo of the jar next to my face so you can see just how much coconut oil I got!
Overall my trip to Veggie World was great. I loved meeting so many fellow vegans and trying interesting and new products. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more vegan events to attend. I will also be trying all the products out over the next few weeks and let you know my honest opinion.