Vegan Shows Galore…

September was a great Veggie month for us. We got off to great start at the London Vegan Festival – which was absolutely brilliant!

We managed to get the Tuk Tuk in – thanks to Ali and Robin for their perseverence on that one!

The Kensington Town Hall was packed out and the GOOD OIL was going down a treat, as well as our new Hemp Protein Powder, Hemp Natural. We sold out by 3pm!! Must remember to take much more next time. Robin and Alison have decided to give it a miss next year (after 12 years in a row), but are planning to be back in 2011, and I’m certain we’ll be there too.

Our new brand, Hemp Natural. Was v popular at the London Vegan Festival!

Just two weeks later we filled up the car with Good Oil again and headed to Conway Hall for the Festival of Life. Again, our lovely hemp products were really really popular with the well-informed Vegan/Raw Food crew. We also saw a lot of the people we’d met at the London Vegan Fair – and the ones who had bought some of our Hemp Protein came over to tell us how well they were getting on with it. We were super pleased about that!

The next day we headed up to Stoke for the Tree of Life Open Day – a trade day for our new Health Food Distributor, which also went well. Along with our hemp harvest, launching in Germany and the US and being filmed for River Cottage (more info on that one to come) we’ve been really busy lately. No rest for the wicked! And we’ve just signed up to more Fairs, the Croydon and Reading Eco-Veggie Fairs, organised by the Off the Hoof/Yaoh team. Hopefully see you there

xoxo

London Vegan Festival

We had so much fun at the London Vegan Festival last Sunday. Obviously we had a couple of minor hiccups on the day whilst setting up. It wouldn’t really be a show otherwise would it? Firstly, the Tuk Tuk ran out of petrol on its way from Shepherds Bush to Kensington (poor little Tuk Tuk). Secondly, we arrive and the official said ‘there’s no way you’re bringing that in here’ and finally, there was nowhere to buy bread in the entire West London area before 12 (and the show opened at 11). With our super strength and mental agility (aided by Hemp products, naturally) we managed to overcome all of these challenges – so by 11am we were ready to sell lovely GOOD OIL and our new HEMP Natural Protein Powder to the lovely visitors.

All of our stuff was really really popular, so much so that by half way through the show we’d pretty much sold out! Sorry to everyone who was planning on swinging by on the way out to get their Omega fix. Lesson learnt – take double the stock we think we’ll need. At least it meant we had the chance to have a wander around to see everyone else (although I was slightly dazed and confused by this point – the show had been so busy!).

Our friends the Vegan Bodybuilders had a good day too (you can read about it here). They’re all big fans of our Protein powder so we’re really chuffed with that.

All in all, super fun. Big big thank you to the Robin and Alison all their helpers. What’s next? The Festival of Life at the end of this month, and then the new Eco-Veggie shows that Yaoh/Off the Hoof are organising – November 1st in Croydon and 19th December in Reading. We’re going to take more hemp protein powder than you can shake a stick at!

(sorry for the lack of pics, forgot to charge my battery. doh!)

HEMP Natural Protein Powder now available…

We’ve just launched our HEMP Natural Protein Powder – made at our farm in Devon it is a natural and balanced source of Protein which is Vegetarian and Vegan Society Approved.

-47% Protein
-Good Fibre Content
-Contains Omega 3 (with SDA)
-Only 15% Carbohydrate

Available for £9.99 (+P&P) for delivery to the UK

www.hempnatural.com

A Meat Free Day Every Week. Good Idea.

There has been loads of news recently about Ghent, the Belgium city which is having meat-free Thursdays from now on. The Council who are pushing the initiative say it is a bid to tackle the issues of obesity, climate change and animal cruelty – as well as the misconception that a Veggie diet is dull and unappealing. I was going to say something along the lines of killing a few birds with one stone, but it doesn’t seem all that appropriate…

Veggie Day – “Donderdag – Veggie Dag” is unique in the Western World. Although it is not compulsory, a lot of the city seems to be getting behind it. Restaurants in the city will all offer a Vegetarian dish on a Thursday, and some will only have Veggie fodder available. Hospitals and Schools are joining in too.

Okay, so a city of 200,000 people, a large chunk of which will almost definitely not join in, going veggie once a week is not really going to change that much. But isn’t it great how much news and debate it has sparked? It is helping to spread the word that Meat reduction can be good for your health, good for the planet, and good for your palette too. Here’s to hoping that a lot more towns and cities (and maybe even countries?) jump on the bandwagon!

The Bristol Vegan Fayre

The Biggest Vegan Fayre in the world went off without a hitch at the end of May. Bristol Harbourside was bathed in beautiful sunshine for the whole weekend as thousands of people (over 5000 apparently) came to try a load of Vegan products and listen to music including The Blockheads (you know, the ones who did “hit me with your rhythm stick!”).

The Good Oil team had a great time. It is always nice to talk to lovely people who like our Good Stuff. Mr Tuk Tuk had a great time too, and certainly enjoyed all the attention. The 2 days were super successful for us. We were amazed about how much the visitors knew already about Omega 3 and hemp. Vegans know their stuff. I think people especially loved the fact that Good Oil is literally made down the road from Bristol in Barnstaple, pretty local compared to most other hemp products available!

Kellie and Nancy with the Good Oil Tuk Tuk

Luckily we were able to get around the show a little bit and chat to all the nice stallholders. The Lush crew were great fun (we were next to them so they kept on piling goodies onto us, thank you!).

We also made friends with the people selling the Vegan chocolate, mainly because I can’t get enough of their cranberry and orange chocolate… mmmmm….

The Caribbean food stall was excellent (down near the stage), as was the Thai.

The fresh juices kept us all going in the heat of the marquee (phew! It was HOT in there!).

The Sheese company looked like they were doing well, and alpro too.

Converting the masses

We had a nice chat with the Vegan Society staff too. They are working on a Stock Free Farming initiative which we are getting involved with.

And then of course, there were the Vegan Bodybuilders! We donated a couple of bottles of Good Oil as prizes to their competition – which apparently went well. As all the Good Team are pretty weedy we didn’t get involved… Maybe next year, after we’ve all had some hemp protein powder or something…

See everyone there next year!

xx

Tibits. Veggie Yum Yum

It was a couple of weeks ago now that I took advantage of a 50% off voucher that someone kindly sent me for Tibits, the Vegetarian Restaurant on Heddon Street. I was very pleased I went along. I’ve never been particularly impressed with the buffet concept before, although I think my opinions of them were formed in hotels in the Balearics, so probably not a fair judgement at all.

So, the location is lovely and central yet tucked away on a side street. The décor is sleek and smart, yet not too stark. If the weather had been better I would have loved to sit outside on the big benches, but alas, it was raining.  It wasn’t that busy really, but I wonder if that because the Football was on. That’s what my boyfriend thought so I’ll take his word for it.
So anyway, onto the food. You grab a plate, you pile it high with food, then it gets weighed at the counter where you also order drinks, then you pay and then munch. Simple!

The food was great. Really interesting Vegetarian fodder. The spelt pie with goat’s cheese was brilliant, and the crunchy red rice salad was delicious. I tried a little bit of everything, so although my meal didn’t really have a ‘theme’ everything tasted good so it didn’t matter! The Chenin Blanc I chose to go with it went down a treat too.
Overall, a thumbs up for Tibits. The only thing I’d say is that it is difficult to get a cohesive meal with so much choice. Maybe that is just my problem though as I couldn’t resist getting a bit of this and a bit of that… Also, it is not exactly inexpensive (unless you have a 50% off voucher – although I don’t think they are doing that anymore) but well worth it. The food quality is good, with innovative dishes and diverse ingredients, and the dining experience is relaxed and fun.
Apologies, my camera was out of battery. You’ll have to take my word for it that all the food looked yum. I’ve nabbed a couple of pics off the internet so you can see what the place is like. I might have to go back with full batteries and an empty stomach soon… I’m also talking to their chef about him using GOOD OIL too, so fingers crossed on that one.

Hellllloooooooo!!!

Hello! This is our first post, how very exciting!

We have just set up this blog and this website (www.VeggieOmega3.co.uk) to talk about Veggie stuff mainly, and to pass on important information about Veggie Omega 3.

So, who are we? We’re from Good Oil. We produce it down on our farm in Devon. It is a pure and natural oil made from Hemp Seed, which is rich in Omega 3, and therefore a great source of Omega 3 for Veggies. We are getting very involved in all things Veggie at the moment – going to Vegan Shows, talking to Veggie Restaurants, Visiting Veggie Groups etc – so we thought we’d blog all about it and hopefully get a bit of a Veggie Community going. We’re happy to post links to Veggie friendly sites to, so get in touch if you’d like us to do that!

On the Veggie Agenda this week we have a visit to Tibits, Regents Street (CAN’T WAIT!), plus we’re off to the Bristol Vegan Fayre on Friday – which is the biggest Vegan Show in the world… Should be good.

Here is a pic of Good Oil just so you know what it looks like, and do pop back and see what we’re writing about!

xoxo