19 September
We always look forward to a THV day out, it is usually well planned & Mits is normally equipped with a map and list of “must see” vegan shops & eateries. Yesterday was no exception when Mits and I headed down to Brighton for the Viva festival.
Yay Brighton! Anyone who reads my blogs knows that I truely, madly, deeply LOVE the place. It is fun, friendly, a vegan haven and there is the sea too!!!! After her third visit Mits has definately got the I love Brighton bug and we always leave planning our next visit.
And Viva – a charitable organisiation that actively promotes the vegan way of life as a solution to animal cruelty and environmetal issues. YAY!
Everything sold and available at Viva’s festival is vegan. Yesterday there were Viva folks out on the street, some of whom were dressed up in animal costume, handing out leaflets and encouraging Joe Blogg to come in and have a look around. This festival does NOT charge an entrance fee. There is FREE vegan food, talks and cooking demo’s to attend. What a great way to show people what vegans eat (I get soooo bored of that question!) and inform them of alternative lifestyle choices.
Heather Mills is a Viva patron and will often do a cooking demo at the Viva events. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see her at the last festival where we had a THV cake stall. We were keen to make amends this time and watch the Vbites cooking demo. For the record Heather confirmed that Vbites was shutting for the winter only, that they have created a successful vegan busineess model and will be franchising Vbites out in the future and training vegan Vbites chefs.
Heather cooked nut burgers whilst talking about nutrition and energy in food. It was more interesting than I anticipated and she came across better than I expected. Unfortunately there was a lady present who was sharing her own health issues and allergies which did ruin the flow of the presentation and seemed to knock Heather off her stride a little.
Other things we did in Brighton….. We sat on the beach in the sunshine topping up our vitamin D. Then we mooched around flea markets and furniture shops in Kemp Town. We will be returning shortly with a van to buy all the lovely bits and pieces that we found. 🙂
Even after Viva we found room for lunch at food for friends; we shared tahini dips to start followed by the mixed curry platter and spicey rosti.
This food was gooooood. You must go to Brighton right now and eat there!
I also picked up a slice of organic coffee & walnut cake from infinity food cafe for research and chocolates from Montezumas to try! Montezumas have provided a chocolate hamper for the next THV competition prize too – watch this space or follow us on twitter (Sasha & Mitsu)!
We had a quick jug of stewed and tatooed cocktail on the beach front whilst watching the sun go down. That is the problem with cocktails, they are far to easy to drink and so it was consumed quickly!
And you might be very suprised to hear that after all this we didn’t just contemplate buying food for they way home but did go and purchase dinner from redveg. We shared a hickory and a chilli burger! No fries though…..
I miss not living in Brighton, Bristol is nice but Brighton is the best!
I got attacked by montezuma, too! I bought a few of the vegan truffles; the praline one was AMAZING! Though they all were. I’m fussy about dark chocolate. Don’t like it too bitter, but wow. Those truffles. Yum!
I have ours at home but keep forgetting to bring them for us to share…..