Category Archives: Food

Gas street

While I’ve been to Birmingham many times, I’ve never been to the canal area before this afternoon. Most impressed with the Canalside Bar, which has a pretty decent vegan menu.

And, while on the subject, the Stable has a rare choice of vegan pizzas.

Veganism

I’ve just had a conversation with a really nice, intelligent man called Jan. He’s a vegan. I’ve really enjoyed the conversation.

Nevfest

As planned, I had a walk down to Gateshead Stadium, for its first Nevfest (Northeast Vegan Festival). The Stadium of Light is the usual venue, the cancellation at short notice due to a power failure earlier this year is a likely reason for the change of location.

I was a frequent visitor to Gateshead Stadium from the mid 90s to the early 00s, since it held a really good computer fair. I’ve built many PCs from parts purchased there. Cheap, disposable computers of the last decade meant that home assembly was no longer cost effective (my current PC was less than half the price of the last one I built – over ten years ago). And, so, computer fairs came to a torturous, shameful end.

Anyway, the today’s vegan festival was held in the hall which had housed computer fairs in the past. It was satisfying to see the place as busy today as it was in its computer fair heyday.

Hills are everywhere

We live on a big hill. Today we walked down to the Schooner. After a beer there, we walked across the river to the Tyne bar.

And then along the (other) river to the Cluny.

Where we had decent food.

And, now, we’re in the Cumberland Arms. Or, rather, outside it. Good music on a Sunday afternoon.

Most of these places also involved hills.

Takeaway

After a visit to the vegan festival in town, we’re now in Lady Grey’s. Where the barman laughed at Suzy’s No, Gary, not Jakehead.

I’ve just re-noticed the takeaway place across the road. The middle part of the sign is missing, but the older one underneath fills the gap almost perfectly.

Mill Dam

Today, we went to South Shields. For a food and drink festival. Where we had decent veggie food and beer and cocktails.

Afterwards, after putting a drunk teenager in a cab, we had a couple of beers at Mill Dam. In the Steamboat.

And, later, the magical effects of beer made my hair grow.

I might need to have a haircut tomorrow.

Today was a good day

Today didn’t start very well. I’d planned an early finish, but messy deadlines at work meant that wasn’t possible. My second in command had a similar problem, finishing even later than me.

We did, however, meet our goal of attending the annual Gateshead beer festival.

I’ll return to the beer festival in a moment; while on my way home from work, the internet informed me that, after a prolonged wait, Guinness is now vegan. Ok, so I can’t buy a can or bottle yet; that’s still work in progress. But keg is now good (I’d never buy cans anyway).

With a half hour to spare before meeting my second in command, I ventured to my local. Where I enjoyed my first pint of Guinness in a very long time.

Here’s the press release, by the way.

You might need to zoom in a bit. After enjoying my Guinness, we walked down the road to the Gateshead beer festival. Where I was surprised that I enjoyed a sour beer (Great Heck – fishless beer). And some other stuff. We also had veggie chilli.

Afterwards, we called at our local again for a nightcap. I decided on Guinness. I also had a very nice vegan pie. Well, it’s also the annual Gateshead international pie festival (in my local, the Three Tuns).

Where I enjoyed a very nice vegan pie. With peas and gravy. There was mashed potato, but that was consumed by my second in command.

I’d already eaten, but the pie was free. I’d have bought one anyway. Tomorrow, I may buy two. They have six vegan pies.

I recall the first pie festival; there were a few vegetarian pies. Now there are many.

We live in Gateshead. It’s not exactly the vegetarian/vegan capital of the north. But my local always has (generous) veggie alternatives at all of their events.

Vegan Bavaria

I have to say that I’m in stunned by the change in vegetarian/veganisn in Munich since I was last here, twelve years ago.

I was a vegetarian then and I mostly ate pommes (chips), falafel (hard to find) and (once) an omelette. Being vegetarian was pretty difficult in Munchen then.

But, I’m happy to say, things have changed. I was shocked to see vegan food everywhere in Nuremberg (past visits to Berlin showed that city to be very vegan friendly), but amazed at the extent of vegan food in Munich. I’m currently eating a very nice vegan pizza. With no cheese.

The falafel’s still nice though.

Bikes & trains & kip

Whenever I travel by train in Europe, which isn’t often enough, I’m reminded of the poor state of the UK’s rail network. Trains in Europe are more modern and, because they have no Victorian track legacy, larger.

They’re significantly cheaper too. When recently booking trains in Germany, I found tickets to excellent value, with first class a lot cheaper than the UK standard fare. And then today, with a return from Ostend to Ghent costing only â‚¬10.80.

That’s â‚¬10.80 for a 120 mile round trip, on a shiny new train with tons of leg room.

Another thing which has impressed me about our long weekend in Belgium has been the number of bikes on the road. And cycle lanes, lots of cycle lanes. Another thing in which the UK is deficient.

Anyway, in Oostende, Brugge and Gent there were a lot of bikes.

Moving on to a different subject, Belgium is something of a vegan desert. That’s desert, not dessert. I’ve eaten a lot of crisps in Ostend. People eat a lot of kip here (dead bird).

Ghent, though, was different. While we only found a few places, apparently there are more vegetarian/vegan eateries than in London. We found pizza in a mental converted church.