Running a Bake Sale

I enjoy baking; most people enjoy eating baked goods and are willing to pay for them... Combine the two and it's clear that a bake sale is the way to go.


A vegan bake sale is great for two key reason: Fundraising and Outreach. Obviously any money raised can go to a good cause, such as your local campaign group to fund future campaigns, to a national campaign group, to an animal shelter, and so on. The outreach aspect also makes activities such as bake sales well worth while. It sends out a positive image of vegans and veganism, and - so long as the food is tasty! - it shows off how good vegan food can be.


We held ours on campus, which took a quick email to the student activities organiser to arrange. There's a usual spot at my uni for holding stalls, bake sales etc, just outside the Students' Union building and by the student pub / bar.


Chocolate brownies (which disappeared within about 15 minutes of us setting up - will make more next time!), flapjacks, chocolate fudge, and lots of different flavour cupcakes were on sale. In the four hours we were out we raised £50.60 - not bad, especially considering it wasn't a very busy day at the Uni and that we'd almost ran out of the food by the end!


Having others help with a bake sale is crucial. There were two of us on the stall the entire time, and a friend who was unable to help on the day kindly baked cupcakes for the sale. Make sure you know what everyone's making so you can get a good range of baked goods.


We used an inexpensive cake stand and some pretty plastic plates to make it look nice, as well as a table cloth, as pasting tables aren't really that attractive! There were a few different vegan leaflets to the side too, such as the Animal Aid "I can't believe it's... Vegan!" one which I always try and have on stalls. I also printed off some copies of some of the recipes I'd used too. People may ask you questions about veganism or other animal issues, so treat this in the same way you would any vegan / animal rights stall, and make sure you know your stuff!


That was our first bake sale. Once I'm back at Uni come September, there'll be more bake sales organised. I know now to bake more brownies, and have some form of bags for people to put their purchases in if need be. I've also got copies of "The Cake Scoffer" booklet to sell to raise some extra funds too.


It's things like bake sales which I enjoy probably more than many other forms of activism, as they're more relaxed but still have an important place.

Review - The Beautiful Mountain Cafe

Whenver I visit somewhere, I do a bit of research into if there are any vegan, or vegan friendly, places to eat.

So earlier today, I decided to try The Beautiful Mountain Cafe (http://www.thebeautifulmountain.co.uk/index.php) in Aberdeen, Scotland. It's not exclusively vegan or vegetarian, but there are a few options suitable for vegans.

My partner and I both ordered a sandwich with the soup of the day. The soup and the sandwich filling I had ordered (grilled vegetables) turned out to be unavailable, so I had a bean pate sandwich instead. My partner had the avocado and pepper sandwich, which he describes as being "slightly above average" - same with the sandwich I had.

The staff were very friendly and helpful, knowing which options were suitable for vegans. My sandwich was "on the house" because of having to change due to my original choice being unavailable. It was busy when we went, but we managed to get a table, with a view outside.

They also have a takeaway area downstairs.

I would recommend giving The Beautiful Mountain Cafe a try if you are ever in Aberdeen. Finding places to eat when you're out and about, especially when you are staying somehwere you are unfamiliar with, can sometimes be difficult, so it is always nice to find a cafe where there are good vegan options and staff who understand what veganism is.

Positives:

• The staff were very friendly and helpful, and saying I could have the sandwich "on the house" was very much appreciated
• Nice atmosphere, doesn't feel too hectic

Negatives:

• A bit on the expensive side for what it is
• Accessibility may be an issue as the cafe's on the first floor
• Limited number of vegetarian and vegan options

Easter Nests

With Easter just over two weeks away, I deiced to try making some Eastery treats!
These Easter nests are really simple to make. There are various ways to make them - I went for the recipe from the wonderful Vegan Family website

(That page has some other good recipes for Easter treats  - in fact the site has lots of great recipes!)

 I ended up using Whizzer's chocolate beans rather than their mini eggs as I couldn't get hold of any! I used melted Humdinger's chocolate buttons to mix with the Weetabix which worked pretty well - I did try using dark chocolate but it wasn't as good.
You can also use cornflakes or rice crispies instead of broken up wheat biscuits.

Vegan Easter

Easter seems to be sneaking up, so if you're planning on buying Easter gifts, now's the time to get them if you haven't already!

The range and availability of vegan Easter products seems to be on the rise. Supermarkets sometimes stock suitable Easter eggs, often in the Free From section. I stumbled upon a reasonable range of vegan Easter chocolates in Sainsbury's Free From section a few days ago, with Humdinger chocolate rabbits (really nice!), and a couple of dairy-free Easter eggs.
I'm lucky that my local health food / organic shop always has a good selection of vegan products, and saw earlier today that they have the Moo Free easter egg, which is a really nice chocolate egg (no, I couldn't wait till Easter to try it!).

If you're not having any luck with supermarkets and other shops, there's lots of vegan Easter products online.

http://www.animalaidshop.org.uk/  -  Moo Free, Divine, Booja Booja and Montezuma are some of the brands on here. I definitely recommend the Animal Aid online shop for the good selection of chocolates, books, stationary, cosmetics, shoes, and lots of other cruelty free items. The money goes to Animal Aid's work campaigning against animal cruelty.

http://www.vivashop.org.uk/  -  Again, nice range of Easter chocolates, plus other cruelty free products, with money raised going to Viva!'s campaigns.

http://veganstore.co.uk/  -  Lots of chocolates for Easter on here, plus other cruelty free items.

http://www.ethical-treats.co.uk/shop/  -  Good range of cruelty free Easter chocolates and sweets.

Some Useful Links....

Some sites for vegans and animal rights activists...

http://www.veggies.org.uk/  -  GREAT site. Definitely check out the Animal Rights Calendar regularly as it lists lots of upcoming demos, cruelty free fayres, meetings, and the like. Also look on the Directory for info on groups in the UK - useful if you're looking for a local group to join.

http://www.happycow.net/  -  Lots of good stuff on here. I mainly use it for finding places to eat. They list lots of vegan, vegetarian, and vegan and vegetarian friendly eateries around the world. I've found some good places through the site, and the reviews help with deciding where's worth visiting and where's best avoided.

http://www.studentsagainstanimalcruelty.org.uk/  -  Useful site for any students. Lots of info on campaigning on campus, plus a few vegan recipes, too.

The following are some of the campaigning groups in the UK:

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/ 

http://www.viva.org.uk/

http://www.captiveanimals.org/

http://uncaged.co.uk/

http://www.vegansociety.com/

http://buav.org.uk/

http://peta.org.uk/
I know that's just scratching the surface of what there is, so what other good vegan / animal rights sites does anyone know of? 

Vegan Carrot Cake

I decided to stop making chocolate cake every time I do some baking and try something new, so made carrot cake instead!



I used this recipe: http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/food/recipes/cakes/carrot-cake.aspx  Most of the ingredients seem to be things likely to be lurking in your kitchen cupboards anyway, or if not, should be easy enough to find in the shops.

Fairly simple to make. It's quite rich, which I suppose is a good thing since it stops me reaching for another slice straight away...!

The buttercream icing ideally goes on top, but I ended up making it as a sandwich cake after the cake tin I was originally planning to use decided to not work properly, so the buttercream went as a filling instead. Still works perfectly fine to make a nice cake.

Book Review - Striking at the Roots

For many people new to veganism and animal rights, knowing how and where to start with outreach can be difficult. In "Striking at the Roots", Mark Hawthorne guides us through various forms of outreach, with plenty of tips from other experienced activists thrown in for good measure. Areas covered include leafleting, demonstrations, coroporate campaigning, and other important forms of campaigning.


The chapter, "Food as Outreach", struck me as one of the best parts of the book, and an area which more activists need to be aware of. After all, how many times have you been told by someone that they won't switch to veganism because "vegan food is dull"? By discussing how to promote veganism through activities such as food fayres and cooking workshops, Hawthorne shows us how to destroy the view that vegans live off salad leaves while promoting cruelty free living in a way which is friendly and effective. As someone who's planning to hold a vegan food fayre at some point (fairly soon I hope!), this is really useful stuff to know.


Another good inclusion is the chapter, "Animal Care: Activists are Animals Too". Being burnt-out is not good for anyone, so Hawthorne looks at why and how we can look after ourselves as activists.


Despite being an American book, as a UK activist I still found it very useful and relevant. Definitely recommended to new and experienced activists alike.


Available on many online shops, including http://www.animalaidshop.org.uk/guidebooks.htm

Vegan Chocolate Banana Milkshakes

The amounts for all of the ingredients are rough. Makes roughly two to three large glasses of milkshake.

3-4 bananas, chopped

1 and a 1/2 glasses (use the glass size you're going to drink it from) chosen non-dairy milk, e.g. soya or oat

A few tbsp of vegan vanilla ice cream

Roughly a tsp of cocoa powder (I recommend having a bit extra to hand so you can add more to taste if necessary)

(Too much cocoa powder can really ruin it, so I tend to add little bits (e.g. 1/2 tsp) at a time till it's right.)

Chuck it all in a blender and watch as it all mixes into a delicious milkshake.

Enjoy!

Recipe - Tofu and Vegetable Stir-fry

Tofu and Vegetable Stir-fry

Serves two

Stir-fry with tofu, red bell pepper, courgette, onion, garlic, mushroom
and seaweed, served with leafy salad

Tofu and vegetable stir-fry is one of my favourite meals. Being a student, I find it’s great as it’s fairly affordable, easy and quick to make, nutritious, and tasty.

There are so many things you can include in the stir-fry. Pick around four or five of vegetable ingredients, or substitute in your own preferred ones. 

Roughly 260g firm tofu, cut into small chunks

1 onion, diced

Garlic to taste (I use around 4 cloves), crushed or sliced

1 courgette, diced

1 bell pepper, diced or sliced

3-6 mushrooms, diced or sliced,

1 medium to large carrot, thinly sliced or grated

½ small to medium red cabbage, chopped or sliced

4-6 cherry tomatoes, diced

A couple of handfuls of rice noodles (if using)

Seasonings as preferred, e.g. paprika, chilli powder, mixed herbs, salt, pepper, etc.

Heat up some oil (e.g. olive oil) in a large frying pan or wok on a medium-low heat. Once the oil is warm, add the tofu. Stir and turn the tofu over regularly.

After a few minutes, add the onion and garlic. Keep stirring. Once the onion has started to soften, add the bell pepper / carrot / red cabbage. Keep stirring. As these soften, add the courgette / mushrooms / tomatoes – keep stirring! Add your preferred seasoning.

After a few minutes of cooking (still on a medium-low heat), when everything should be about cooked through, add the rice noodles (if using), and keep on the heat till the noodles are cooked (the packet should say how long they need). Serve with a mixed salad, for example rocket and spinach.

Variations…

·        Seaweed works well with tofu stir-fry, too, and is a good source of iodine. Cook according to instructions on the packaging.

·        If preferred, marinade the tofu in a sauce (e.g. chilli sauce) for around half an hour before you begin cooking.

·        You can, of course, make this without the tofu and have it as a vegetable stir-fry instead.

·        I sometimes don’t bother with rice noodles, as it still does taste really nice without them!

Veganism on Campus

Been busy with various bits of campaigning the last few weeks! On Friday 5th Feb, Staffs Uni Vegan Society ran our first vegan info stall and free food giveaway on campus. Despite the weather being very windy (which is why having a plentiful supply of elastic bands is always a must!) and it being a fairly quiet Friday afternoon, we still had many people coming over to try out some free vegan food and take leaflets and booklets. Also gave out leaflets to promote our first meeting.


Food-wise, we had vegan chocolate brownies (based on the recipe here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolatebrownies_83803 ), plus with vegan chocolate "butter"cream and vegan chocolate buttons on top.
Also had things like vegan faux meats (sausages, sausage rolls, "bacon", sandwiches with various fillings, etc.) and vegan cheese samples.


Weds 16th Feb was our first public meeting. Unfortunately, it clashed with a general meeting organised by the Students' Union which was only announced a couple of days before. It ended up being more like an indoor stall than a meeting! Again, had free food samples and lots of leaflets and booklets. I ended up standing outside the building it was held in for a while handing out leafelts to entice people inside, with the promise of free food! It's things like this which illustrate how you have to be flexible and understand that not everything will always go to plan.


Should be organising more stalls and meetings in the near future. Getting a new group off the ground is going to be difficult, but here's hoping once we get going things will be great!