Let me launch right in by writing about some of the amazing small businesses that I met at FarGo Village Vegan Festival last weekend. FarGo hosted their bi-annual vegan fair which is always a massive favourite of mine – I make a point of going there to support the tenants and FarGo themselves as much as possible.

Stands with Something to Say that Stood Out to Me

The lady from Ethical and Unique started crafting with plastics years ago, and then realised what a mistake she’d made! She immediately started changing to completely natural, ethical and cruelty free sources to create her beautiful necklaces and jewellery. Ethical and Unique jewellery reminded me of buried coins from Roman times – they were all so traditionally created. Some even reminded me of warriors’ shields!

Sunny Soul Up

What I LOVED about Sunny Soul Up was their ethos – 100% recycled clothing which helped to save turtles. Literally, what’s not to love? These t-shirts are made up of 40% recycled plastic bottles, and 60% organic cotton. What fascinated me is that each shirt contained between 2 and 12 bottles and they were SO SOFT.

You know what, it was affordable clothing too and with the purchase of the shirt it guarantees the safety of at least 5 baby turtles by helping fund patrols of beaches where they nest. I actually teared up at the thought of it! This company is the bomb!

Cow Eggs – Vegan Friendly Art

Robbie at Cow Eggs was ever so sweet, and SO talented! I absolutely loved her watercolour renditions of pets – they had so much character, I just had to buy a card and a notebook! I might have to get a portrait done of my hamster…

Sophie Vujko Illustrations

Sophie was ever so lovely! She started off illustrating and then moved onto supporting animal rights within her up-cycled denim jacket designs – they were so sweet! Pig in a teacuuuup!

Honourable mentions include Sophie Hyam who put on a fabulous vegan food demonstration for us; Tropic helped me find a moisturiser to suit my skin that was sustainable and smells amazing and Chaaboo make beautiful handmade tea scented soaps that also smells incredible – I had to buy a Chai Tea one!

Now the bit you’ve been waiting for… Let’s Talk About Food

FarGo Village Vegan Festival has such a vast selection of vegan food – so I ended up having a double-lunch plus tons more sweet things! I couldn’t help but want to try everything! It made me happy to know that it was guilt-free dining!

LoveKimchi are definitely worth shouting about – they had some of the BEST Korean food I’ve ever tasted (all pictured above). I took one mouthful of their kimchi ramen and I HAD to buy myself some! The flavours were incredible and I loved this couple’s passion for their food!

One of the other stalls which caught my eye was Riverford Vegetables – where you can subscribe to a veggie box and get less plastic, seasonal veg, straight to your door! I thought this was an incredible idea to help get fresh, locally sourced veg back into our lives!

Now for the sweet stuff…

There were SO many choices for sweet treats at the vegan fair – some of which you’d be so surprised to know are vegan! The cakes were so well presented, there were donuts the size of honeydew melons from The Doughnut Pod, and crepes made by the wonderfully named Bloods and Crepes lads who were great fun to chat with!

The Permanent Tenants

Let’s not forget the tenants of FarGo – these guys are there all week and are the beating heart of FarGo itself. Many (if not all) of them offer vegan options all year.

• BackHaus & Co a huge selection of vegan cakes and food
• Choc ‘n’ Roll offer vegan gourmet chocolate options
• Bubble Boba can make almost all of their drinks vegan
• Olivia’s Handmade bath bombs (above) are Vegan friendly and Cruelty Free
• Rock’n’Roller Parlour use MUK vegan hair products and dyes
• Twisted Barrel Brewery produce exclusively vegan brews
• Container No.8 have their own vegan cheese making kits
• There’s also FarGo’s very own vegan store – The Green Unicorn

With so much around there’s no excuse for not visiting any day of the week if you’re looking for vegan choices. But let’s talk more now, about some of the incredible stall holders that I met this weekend! The FarGo Village Vintage festival had a really nice balance of food to eat there, food to take away and trinkets and goodies to buy for yourself or as gifts.

Overall the event was so brilliant – it gave small businesses a much-needed voice and face-to-face presence and there were so many passionate people there with the same ethos – cruelty free and ethical. Fantastic job by FarGo for bringing them all together!