Celebrating all that's good and right in the non-animal product world, a Glasgow venue will host a vegan fete next month, with a vast array of meat-free stalls for punters who prefer puy lentils to pork chops.

The Flying Duck's Big Vegan Fete will take place Saturday April 4 and will showcase a variety of small businesses' wares including tablet, cakes, pies, and juice, all made without a drop of dairy in sight.

Also appearing at the fete, which will run 2pm - 7pm, is the VeganKind Monthly Subscription Box - an initiative whereby customers can sign up to a box of surprise vegan-friendly goodies to be delivered to their front door once a month. Each box costs 10 and can contain treats such posh cereal, vegetable crisps, fruit puree smoothies, eco-friendly washing powder, cookies, beauty bits and bobs and fruity snack bars.

Also displaying their wares on the day will be Glasgow-based Dairy-Free Scottish Tablet; Red Rosa's Specialist Cakery; Considerit Chocolate; and Smashing Tarts all offering sweet comestibles made without animal products.

The Wild Witchery will provide handmade arts, crafts and vegan cosmetics, while Juice Warrior - Glasgow's first raw cold-pressed juice company - will be on hand to offer customers with quality cruelty-free drinks.

Chris Amos, manager, said: "We started the fete to create a bit of a 'safe space' for Glaswegian (and further afield if they're willing to travel!) vegans to have a browse and try things out without having to worry about what they're eating, drinking or wearing.

"At the same time it opens up a platform for local vegan businesses to get their wares out to a pretty massive bunch of people - most of the stall holders we have are pretty grassroot businesses and it's pretty great to be able to help something like that grow.

"Apart from an afternoon of stuffing yourself and having a browse, there'll be more of the usual Duck oddities really - we'll be open business as usual at the same time and we'll probably pop a wee film on in the corner for people to rest some swollen bellies for a while."

Entry to the Big Vegan Fete at the Flying Duck, 142 Renfield Street, Glasgow, is free.The venue's licensing dictates that no children under 18 may enter the premises.

Original post:
Glasgow venue to host vegan-friendly mini festival

19 March 2015 | Food | By: Sejal Sukhadwala

In this series,we review restaurants from an entirely vegetarian angle. While some restaurants will be specifically vegetarian, others will be mainstream. Well be tasting everything from veggie burgers, to posh meat-free menus. Along the way, well try to find out, as far as possible, whether chicken stock, cheese made from animal rennet, gelatine, fish sauce and so on are not lurking in the supposedly vegetarian dishes.

Jinjuu restaurant interior

Londonist Rating:

Jinjuu is a hoot. Theres much that we liked about this contemporary Korean newcomer, from the vibe of the place to the vibrancy of its food. Tucked away in the now pedestrianised Kingly Street, it opened just a couple of months ago. The cool, atmospheric venue is split over two floors: a bar with stools, benches and restaurant-style seating at the ground level, and a restaurant with open-view kitchen in the basement. Both rock a hip, grungy look that references Americas street food trucks, the usual bare-brick-walls-and-exposed-piping shtick given a twist with bright graffiti art and moody lighting.

Jinjuu which means pearl (a delicate, old-fashioned word at odds with its hip urban surroundings) is co-owned by Korean-American Judy Joo, who has several sparkly culinary feathers to her name dipped in celebrity gold dust. Shes a regular face on the Cooking Channel USA, Food Network USA and UK, the only female Iron Chef UK, and also a judge on that programme. A former recipe developer for Saveur food magazine, shes worked at the Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and, more recently, as executive chef at the Playboy Club London. In the kitchen here, however, is British-born head chef Andrew Hales whom Joo worked with at the Playboy Club. Hes put his French fine dining background to one side, as the cooking is centred on American interpretations of Korean street food classics and Korean interpretations of American dirty food. Its the sort of rough-and-ready, big flavoured grub thats been popularised by Korean-American street vendors from Los Angeles to New York though the veggie options are more saintly than guilt-inducing (mores the pity).

Miso-flavoured portobello mushroom tacos

Drinks are a strong point, so arrive early to try the imaginative Korean-influenced cocktails, soju (vodka-like Korean spirit) innovatively infused with a few different flavours, and Asian beers. Korean bloody mary, made from kimchi paste (without fish), celery and black pepper-infused soju and Korean chilli flakes will kick your appetite into shape with its loud, look-at-me chilli hit and gorgeously savoury layered flavours. (Beware the cute little cone of shrimp chips attached to it though). Vegetarian anju small dishes consumed with alcohol consist of just edamame beans and a couple of salads. Then there are tacos, dumplings, stir-fried sweet potato noodles with vegetables and eggs, bibimbap (stone rice bowl with vegetables, eggs and crispy marinated tofu), a barbecue sharing platter, and half a dozen salads and side vegetables. Marked with a V, none of these, were told, contain fish sauce. However, theres no exciting meat-free equivalent to their signature dishes of sliders, prawn pops and fried chicken.

Prepare to get your hands dirty (though we squeamishly opted for cutlery) for small, soft tacos heaped with miso-spiked portobello mushrooms, tiny black beans, buttery avocado slices and curls of kale given a sharp kick by an overload of sour cream (hence the cutlery). The miso that the mushrooms are cooked in is barely discernible, and the tacos are more straightforwardly Mexican-influenced than Korean-tasting. We like their fresh, verdant taste but theyre the mellowest, most low-key of all the dishes. More typical of the strident flavours to follow is a lively dipping sauce made from soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, chilli and garlic. A LOT of garlic. It comes with substantial yet light mandoo dumplings stuffed with vegetables, tofu and sweet potato noodles.

Celebrity chef and co-owner Judy Joo

Go here to see the original:
Vegetarian London: Jinjuu Restaurant Review