 Is it time to go? Greetings humans! Well, it seems to have been a while since I’ve posted anything, hopefully you’re still in good spirits and haven’t missed my witty humour too badly. I wouldn’t want you getting withdrawal symptoms now! After many, many weeks of solitary confinement in Charlie’s room (ok, I had Charlie) I was finally allowed out into the fresh air to join Charlie and Jack at the Portsmouth Vegan Festival, which, surprisingly, took place in Portsmouth. I for one was raring to go, the humans were understandably quite excited too.  Are we nearly there yet?  What a selection On entering the building, we were subject to a bag search, what a surprise that was for the human who opened up Charlie’s bag and found my pink, stripy self inside. Like the good vegan-fest regulars they are, Charlie and Jack opted for the VIP tickets which included fast track entry and a goody bag full of samples and vouchers – yum. First out the bag was Sheese cheese, which are made with soya and coconut oil and exist in many flavours. The flavours Charlie and Jack got were the garlic and herb spread and a creamy cream cheese – that’s its name technical folks. The humans also came away with Rawlicious kale chips (or crisps as we say in Britain), Abakus crunchy jujube sprinkles for topping porridge, Well and Truly vegetable drink, SunWarrior vegan protein (pure brown rice) and some tea, the bottles of which have temporarily been misplaced so I can’t relate the brand to you. Gee, are humans useless?  That's one good solid block of fudge Once the goody bags had been thoroughly inspected, we headed into the first room of stalls. Here we found many bamboo based products, Greenpeace, vegan Baileys by Besos de Oro, who also made some excellent chocolate, and Mariner’s Fudge. Neither Charlie nor Jack are alcohol connoisseurs, however they are chocolate lovers, so the Besos de Oro chocolate was popular with them. The flavours included peanut butter and berries, all four choices on offer were divine. Mariner’s Fudge offered around ten varieties, the humans were spoilt for choice. This array of options included vanilla, chocolate, chocolate orange, Biscoff, Oreo and salted caramel in tablet and fudge varieties. The tablet was harder, the standard fudge softer and gooier, but every flavour was excellent and after prolonged and careful sampling, Charlie settled on a salted caramel tablet and Jack on a chocolate orange. The flavours in all were exquisite and the humans say these were not easy decisions to make, but someone had to do it.  So very, very busy We then ventured into the main auditorium where a sea of stalls flooded our senses. The room was full of hungry vegans and non-vegans alike, sampling and purchasing the delicious food on offer, trying on clothes and learning more about veganism. Our first stop was at a scone stall named Secret Scones. Their products were soft on the inside with a perfect crust and topped with the company’s own buttercream. We wandered happily amongst the stalls, visiting Uncaptive clothing where the humans were particularly chuffed to find a T-shirt asking the question ‘Protein?’ after which, many forms of protein were pictured included lentils, nuts, pulses and seeds. A T-shirt every vegan needs.
Jack attempted to buy a jumper from Jade Green Vegan, but they had sold out in his size, however we spent a good while chatting to the friendly stallholders and discussing their range of T-shirts and jumpers. 
 So this is my lunch, right? Despite all these delicacies, the humans still made room for lunch. Jack had a sesame seed halloumi and falafel pitta bread from the Greek Vegan Deli. This was the third time Charlie and Jack have eaten their food, and it is fast becoming a favourite, for Jack especially. Charlie wanted to try something from a different company and settled on the Space Needle Burger from Sicily to Seattle. This burger included their own special, slightly spicy sauce, Red Leicester style cheese with a quarter pounder burger and onion rings. Salad was also crammed into the bun, including avocado, it was impressive. Lunch was then washed down with milkshakes, raspberry for Charlie and strawberry for Jack. These were from GoFro, made with almond and soya ice cream and were wonderfully thick.  Thick and fruity deliciousness  My Constant Readers will be pleased to see the vegan information from Earth has expanded Well, that pretty much sums up the day. The humans were feeling considerably rounder than when they had entered, economically poorer, but intellectually richer having learnt large amounts about many products which I tasked Charlie with remembering to assist me in the writing of this edition. The humans had to take a walk to wear some of it off, but they then headed to Earth Takeaway in Petersfield. Constant Readers (which I hope all of you are, and yes, that’s a Stephen King reference, Charlie insisted I put it in and as a lover of books who was I to deny this request), you may remember Earth Takeaway. If you’re not a Constant Reader, you can use those helpful tag things on the side of the blog entry to navigate to my last entry on Earth Takeaway. As the humans were rather full, they decided not to get dessert (this borders on sacrilege, you should be able to imagine how full they were) and just settled for the main event. Charlie tucked into a breaded chicken-style sweet chilli wrap and Jack ordered a Big Earth burger, which was a double cheese burger, gherkin and salad. Stupid humans forgot to take a picture... Both went down well, and the humans rolled back to the car (ok, I’m exaggerating) and the journey home.  Viva la Vegan! The day was a thorough success, the humans might not be able to afford to buy anything for a month or need to eat for a good few days, but they had a great time and I was happy at being able to get out and surprise a few people with my presence in the world!
Until my next entry folks (which will hopefully be after a shorter interval than between this and my last entry), Chesh.
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 Greetings, humans! After our day out at the Ethicoco chocolate factory (see my previous entry), we headed to Earth for dinner. This was an all vegan takeaway discovered by Charlie on a vegan Facebook page where the restaurant had been recommended. It was in Petersfield although neither human knew where this was, but on the way to Portsmouth for the chocolate factory, we spotted Petersfield on a road sign and decided we might as well check it out. We got a little lost trying to find the restaurant (it was hidden behind some road works), but in the end we found it and settled down, the huge menu in front of us.  Food glorious food! The menu mostly consisted of burgers, no bad thing there, but also on offer were a selection of wraps and plenty of sides. Most of the burgers were beef or chicken style, but there was also a bean burger, a mushroom and spinach burger and fish finger style for a ‘fish’ burger. The toppings included mozzarella and cheddar cheese, gherkins, special burger sauce, mustard, ketchup, BBQ sauce, the list goes on. The sides included coleslaw, onion rings, chips, guacamole and ‘chicken’ nuggets. Well, we were spoilt for choice! Charlie ordered an Earth burger: one beef-style burger, with cheddar cheese, a gherkin and special burger sauce in a sesame seed bun, Jack had the BBQ burger: a 1/4 pounder beef style burger which had double cheese, BBQ sauce and onion rings. It would have had ‘bacon’ in it but this had sold out, must be a popular place. These were served up in baskets, with sides of onion rings and air fries. The onion rings were coated in copious amounts of batter and were huge, these came with a hearty seal of approval.
 Beautifully refreshing, thick and creamy! The burgers were both great, exactly what you’d expect from a takeaway restaurant. Not that we took away, we ate in, like civilised beings. Also of note were the milkshakes. Charlie ordered strawberry and Jack ordered mint. Again, this strawberry tasted of Angel Delight (I sense a theme emerging, see my Ethicoco entry) and the mint was particularly strong. Both were made with soya milk and came with a huge serving of soya whipped cream on top. This was particularly appreciated as unlike most dairy whipped creams which don’t seem to really taste of anything, this was particularly flavoursome. The strawberry pink matched my beautiful fur, I was very happy with this. There were your other standard flavours available, you know, banana, chocolate, blueberry, but there were a selection of Oreo based specialities and peanut butter on offer. If the humans had been less stuffed from the chocolate factory open day, they would probably have gone for an Oreo sensation but they were rather full.  We have achieved perfection in a cookie (apparently) More good news, all the napkins and cups were made from plants, not plastic and were fully biodegradable and recyclable. Good for the planet, this is then, not just in terms of the food on offer. The humans might have been full, but there was dessert up for grabs and these two weren’t going to miss out. There were two options, lemon and blueberry iced loaf cakes and sandwich cookies. The sandwich cookies were chocolate chips with a huge dollop of buttercream squished in the middle. There had also been birthday cake sandwich cookies on offer but these had sold out by the time Charlie and Jack made their choice, a chocolate sandwich cookie each, then. These cookies were truly decadent. The chocolate centre was smooth, thick and gooey, very chocolatey but not bitter. The cookies were chunky, huge and delightfully flavoursome. These cookies had small chocolate chips in them, and a hint of vanilla. The humans can’t recommend them enough. The dessert was huge, and probably a little too large for the humans to eat after the amount of chocolate they’d already consumed today, but that didn’t stop them polishing off every last crumb. After the cookies had been finished, snickerdoodle sandwich cookies were brought out. These looked just as good as the chocolate ones, if they’d been out ten minutes ago, the humans would certainly have bought one.
 The mightiness that is ketchup Dinner was a raging success, the humans were very happy, the staff were friendly, the food was delicious, the atmosphere was nice. The next time the humans are around Portsmouth, I’m sure they’ll be hitting Earth again, I mean from a purely scientific standpoint, there are so many more dishes on offer that need to be tried and tested, that way I can share and recommend them to you. So, if you’re ever near Petersfield, which is close to Guildford and that itself is half an hour’s drive east of Portsmouth, you’d do well to head over to this little slice of environmentally friendly eating. Tuck in! Until my next entry, Chesh.  Let me leave you with some of the environmental benefits of veganism, in case you've got any difficult family or friends you need to convert... |
