Edinburgh Vegan Festival

This weekend, it was the Edinburgh Vegan Festival. Having had to queue up for over an hour to get in last year, I made sure I was there early on Saturday to stock up on lots of vegan goodies.

One of the first stalls we came across was Almighty Foods who make raw chocolate and nut butters. I've had quite a few of their chocolate bars before, but this was the first time I tried their nut butter. I don't like a strong nutty flavour especially peanut or hazelnut, but they make a cashew caramello butter which is AMAZING. It tasted so delicious on my porridge this morning. I'm pretty sure the jar will be finished before the month is over.

I knew quite a few of the stalls already like Henderson's, Sgaia's Vegan Mheats, Cool Jerk Vegan, Missy Vegan Cupcake and Affogato, but there were a few stalls I've never seen before like the Naked Bakery. Not only did the Naked Bakery have chocolate brioche, but they also had lots and lots of macarons. I haven't had a macaron since going vegan over two years ago, so this was probably the most exciting food I found. My only regret is that I didn't buy more than two because they were so tasty and I ate them both pretty quickly.

I also visited Shire Snax who make my favourite raw fruit and nut bars. They're like Nakd bars but taste so much better. I've bought all the flavours before, but they had a wanderlust brownie that I hadn't seen before, so I picked one of those up.

The only other thing I bought was a subscription box from The Vegan Kind. I'd heard about these boxes before, but just never signed up. They were selling the latest box for £7 instead of £10 which is such a bargin considering how much is in it. I mainly bought it to try the vegan egg, but I also have a bit of a soft spot for Made In Chelsea, so I wanted to try the new vegan Candy Kitten sweets.

If you want to see a bit more of the festival and more on what I bought, then check out my vlog below -

Vegan Meetup

On Wednesday, I went to my first ever vegan meetup in Edinburgh. I've been watching NaturallyStefanie's YouTube videos for almost a year now, so it was great to finally be able to meet her.

We all met up at Juice Warrior to grab some food before going to the park. If you've not been to Juice Warrior before and live in Edinburgh, then you really need to go. It sells lots of raw juices, cakes, salads and smoothies. I went for the chocolate smoothie bowl which was one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. I also bought some raw donuts. I never thought I'd pick a raw donut over an actual donut, but these things taste amazing!! They are a little pricey, but they are worth it for a treat now and again.

Once we'd bought lots of food, we walked over to Princes Street Gardens and sat in the sun chatting about all things vegan. I also seemed to surprise everyone by telling them I was 29. I've always looked younger than I am, but I definitely think eating healthy and hardly drinking has contributed to the fact I don't look like I'm approaching 30. I've only recently started getting to know other vegans rather than forcing my meat eating friends to eat vegan food with me. It was really nice to hang out with people who share the same beliefs, and hopefully I'll be able to meet some of them again soon.

I uploaded a quick vlog about the day which you can watch here. It was all done a pretty quickly, but it gives you an idea of what went on.

Munro 6 - Schiehallion

This weekend, I bagged Munro number 6. I've wanted to climb Schiehallion for as long as I can remember. Schiehallion used to be the name of the children's cancer ward at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow. I know it's been 7 years since my brother came out of that ward, but I really wanted to have something else to associate with it. There was also something symbolic about reaching the top of it, and that's exactly what I did yesterday.

So that's 6 Munros down, and only 277 to go!

The Earthlings Experience: Open Your Eyes to the Truth

Last weekend, I stood in the main shopping street in Edinburgh alongside some of the most passionate people I’ve ever met for my first Earthlings Experience.

If you haven’t heard of the Earthlings Experience, then chances are you may have already seen us. We’re the people standing in the street, often in a circle, with white masks on. We don’t shout or preach about veganism, we just show you footage of animals suffering in slaughterhouses, farms and hatcheries. The footage we use is happening to animals every single day in the UK. I wish I could tell you that these were isolated cases, but the truth is that it’s happening to animals right now as you read this article

My road to veganism began two and a half year ago. I made the decision to stop eating meat when I was around 12 years old, but I had never really given much thought to the egg and dairy industries. I have never drunk cow’s milk or ever understood why people did, and I never really bought or liked eggs either. That’s not to say that I didn’t buy into these industries through other products like cakes and ice cream though. I just never really made the connection that animals in these industries suffer just as much as ones who are killed for their meat.

Once I started to do my research, I couldn’t quite believe what was deemed as normal practise in these industries. Did you know that virtually all male dairy calves are stolen from their mothers within hours of being born? Since only female cows can produce milk, most of the male calves are slaughtered for that veal you tuck into in a fancy restaurant. The female calves might get to live, but they’re not treated as anything other than a milk producing machine. They’re forcefully impregnated which leads to them producing much more milk than they naturally would. This unnatural process leads to lots of dairy cows developing infections and diseases, as well as being kept inside rather than being able to roam around in fields outside.

The egg industry isn’t much better with millions of newborn male chicks killed every year. While the female chicks aren’t, millions are turned into egg producing machines kept in cramp conditions in dark cages. It’s a fate that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, yet it seems the majority of people in the UK are quite happy to sit back and let it happen.

Animal activism is something I’ve never really been involved in before. I would happily explain why I was vegan if someone asked me, but I didn’t go out of my way to shout about it. However there comes a point when you realise than not eating meat or wearing animal products is just not enough, and you have to do what you can to raise awareness about how much animals suffer for food and products that we don’t actually need.

I wasn’t really sure what reaction we’d get from people or if they’d even stop, but people came over as soon as we set up. People seemed really curious as to what footage we were showing with some watching for a minute and others for twenty. We saw some parents usher their children away from us, and others let their kids watch for themselves. I saw people with tears in their eyes after watching for only a few seconds and some with their mouths wide open in disbelief at what they were looking at. Of course, there were also a few people who muttered things as they walked past, and one lovely gentleman who stuck his fingers up at some of us.

We might not have turned everyone who stopped into a vegan overnight, but we did something right if people walked away thinking about how much cruelty and suffering went into the steak dinner they sat down to the night before.