Weekly Vegan News Round up - 10/29/2020

Who?

Vegan Celebrity News

Lizzo has been all over the vegan news sites this past week, with her celebration of being vegan for 6 months, saying "Love yourself at all stages in your life" in her much quoted TikTok video.

Another story with a lot of mileage is the soundbite of Jimmy Fallon saying he is obsessed with Natalie Portman's vegan cooking videos on Instagram, which doesn't really seem to be about the food as such. Aww.

This story about Jaden Smith's flirtation with veganism is full of twists and turns and parental advice. Our favourite vegan racing champ Lewis Hamilton has broken the all-time report with his 92nd grand prix win, which I suppose we should be excited about, but maybe save it for when he cracks the 100. Meanwhile more news of Fantasia's transition to veganism continues to leak out and the latest is that she is not just vegan but in fact strictly "raw vegan". *gasp*

New York City-based chain Golden Krust this week announced its new vegan Jamaican patties and Lizzo has already chimed in their praise,  “I’m not exaggerating when I say today is possibly the best day of my life,” Lizzo said on her Instagram stories. “If you know me, you know that I love, love Jamaican beef patties. By the grace of Jesus … Golden Krust and Beyond Meat … I’m about to tear this up.”  Now that's an endorsement!

Impossible Foods don't stay out of the news for long, this time they're back with their own take on plant-based milk, which "will be plant-based only in makeup". Apparently "the company’s scientists will aim to mimic the success of the Impossible burger by making a synthetic milk that looks, tastes, and feels like milk from a cow—no nutty undertones or watery textures here."

Starbucks continues to make very slow moves in the plant-based direction, this time with a vegan breakfast sandwich, for now available in a single lonely miserable far away from everyone location.

In the UK, Pork Farms has released its first vegan product and its... drumroll please.... a meat-free "pork" pie. The pies are now available at Asda supermarkets.

Over down under, in New Zealand's NEXT! Bacon launched its Extra Crispy Bacon Style Strips at grocery chain Countdown across New Zealand. And if you're getting FOMO reading that,stateside, California-based startup Hooray Foods will begin rolling out its first product, vegan bacon, at 300 Whole Foods Market locations nationwide starting on November 14.

Still in the APAC region, Japanese noodle chain Kagetsu, famous for its rich pork broth, has added a vegan ramen option to its menu.

In new vegan eats news, we have celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn—an alum of Bravo’s popular reality series Top Chef—opening the seventh location of his PLNT Burger restaurant inside of a Whole Foods Market in Alexandria, VA.

Worth a mention is Pittsburgh's new vegan cafe Viridis, which is definitely worth a visit, if the review is anything to go by.

In California, give Burger Lounge a visit, as they roll out plant-based versions of their most popular dishes - currently in a couple of locations but shortly rolling out to the rest.

 The Slutty Vegan empire made another move, this time to Atlanta, for its 3rd location and the word on the street is the 4th is on on the way in Alabama!

Itching to get travelling when you finally allowed to? Consider a trip to Europe with Contiki who will be offering a vegan-friendly itinerary for the first time in 2021 on a "vegan food odyssey around some of Europe's coolest cities". This includes Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and more. Delicious in more way than one. Unfortunately Brighton, which has been named the best city for vegans in the UK more times than Lewis Hamilton has won the Grand Prix is not on the list. And neither is London, which got its first vegan butcher in Islington. Seriously though, if you're going to Europe, dropping by the UK on the way is a no-brainer, especially for all the vegan goodness.

In a couple of exciting Vegan milestones, Veganuary has reached 1 million sign ups since launching in 2014, while the vegan dating app Veggly crossed the 200k subscriber mark. 40k of those are stateside, while the rest are mostly in the EU. Could 2021 be the year you jump on that Contiki tour and get yourself some Euro-loving? (sorry)

We also enjoyed this longish answer to the question is a vegan diet better for the environment?

TL:DR: Fuck yes.

Finally, you'll get a tickle from this list of celebrities who have gone vegan, including Madonna and Bill Clinton and probably a few surprises.