Review: Viva’s Incredible Vegan Christmas Show

…and some other post-festive newsage.

Welcome, welcome to another year at 500 Things to do with Facon! I’m going to kick off the new year (I say kick-off, we’re three weeks in. Is it even acceptable to say “Happy New Years” when you bump into people at this point?) by reviewing the food show I went to before Christmas, telling you all about some of the lovely veggie treats I got gifted at Yuletide and letting you in on some of my plans for the year ahead at the 500Facon HQ :p

So the event in question was this

Image courtesy of http://www.viva.org.uk/veganchristmasshow

I actually only found out about it the day before when Roy, who is a cosmic hobo who knows the secrets to all free events in Bristol, told us it was happening. But there seemed to be a good turn out so it was obviously well advertised, and just slipped under my veggie radar (Vadar?). There was a very friendly atmosphere and lots of free tasters, although there were a too few angry “be a vegan because you’re killing hundred of tiny fluffy animals everyday you MONSTER” type posters, but you kind of get those at every veggie event and I’ve learnt to just ignore them. Remember folks, it’s up to an individual how they choose to eat and no-one should be forced into following a diet through guilt. Just because I eat dairy doesn’t make me a bad person. Tiny, passive-aggressive rant over. On to what I got my sweaty mitts on…

Top left there is Cherub Bellissimo Dairy Free Parmesan. I find it really hard to get hold of veggie parmesan and when I do, it’s normally in a big, expensive block that goes off before I can use it all! I got hold of this little tub at the Ananda Foods table for only £3.49 and I’ve been putting it on all my pasta since. It tastes just like the real thing and I’m really looking forward to using it in some baking before too long.

I also picked up a “Grab Bag” of peach marshmallows from Ananda Foods, which you can see on the bottom left there, in my classic “too much flash was used in this photo” style. What can I say, their marshmallows keep getting better and better. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen regular marshmallows that are peach flavoured, but it’s a really delicious combination.

Next to the parmesan you can see my Freedom Mallows. I loved their stuff for a long time, but I’d never seen a bag of Micro Mallows before. They were vanilla flavour, in pink and white which looked very pretty. I decided they would be best used in a couple of mugs of hot chocolate, as you can see…

My only quibble is that they stuck together quite a bit in the bag. But then, really, who can eat just one marshmallow? Not this intrepid blogger being! I was gifted a packet of strawberry ones for Christmas as well. I had vague plans of making them into vegan rocky road but I unh…ate them. Woops!

The little box down at the bottom of the picture which is super-white (thanks, terrible camera flash) is courtesy of Hipo Hyfyrd, who make wonderful vegan chocolates and are not to be confused with these hippo chocolates…

I still have nightmares about that giant hippo. Anyway, Hipo Hyfyrd had lots of free samples to try, including salt and pepper truflles which were a bit odd and some lovely lavender ones which I bought. Actually I really wanted the rose ones, ‘cos I dig anything flavoured with rose but they’d sold out. Luckily you can get them through their website.

Next to that you can see a pack of Goody Good Stuff Sour Mix and Match. I think by now if you follow this blog you’ll know how much I love their stuff. I even got two packets of sweets as a Christmas present. Much love Goody Good Stuff, always. Deep joy.

Just above that you can see my very first packet of Biona Organic Jelly Dinos. I’d tried lots of Biona products before, but never any of their sweets and these appealed to me straight away being a) sour and b) dinosaurs even though that’s not what I do, right?

They weren’t quite as sour as I’d hoped, but they were very nice and fruity to the taste. Mine also went a bit odd and soggy but that might because I kept them in the fridge. Or because my house is damp. But they were pretty good and I’d recommend trying out any of their other products, as they ‘re all very high quality.

The last two items were both Christmas presents. Vegan chocs courtesy of Cocoafeliz are on the top right. These were very reasonably priced and came in a range of adorable shapes. I got a bag of Star Wars themed ones and a bag of rabbit-shaped ones and while I didn’t try any for myself, the word from my friends who did was very positive! I also got a pair of bamboo socks from the folks at Hempish as another gift, the recipient of which informs me that they’re very cosy. And speaking of Christmas, there’s just time enough to show you the mince-muffins I made this year, as a nice alternate to mince pies

I say time like time exists in this virtual blog world. But somehow or other I’m all out of it, so it’s beholden for me to say adios for now. We’ve got lots of great stuff coming up including a new recipe challenge (coq au vin) and some quick and easy cheese and facon snacks. Until next time my little pamplemousses!

Fancy submitting me a recipe challenge? Want to rant about your soggy facon or why only certain types of Haribo are veggie (WHY???) Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/500ThingsToDoWithFacon and Twitter https://twitter.com/500FaconThings

Ananda Foods

http://www.anandafoods.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/anandafoods

https://twitter.com/AnandaFoods

Freedom Mallows