Vx, London, England
Vegans are spoiled with options in the wonderful city of London, England. There are lots of restaurants, cafes, food stalls and health food stores offering up vegan grub. But London has something very special, something that can’t be found in any other city in the entire world: Vx, The Secret Society of Vegans store.
Vx, London, England
Secret Society of Vegan (SSOV) gear, including their cool shirts and hoodies, has been around since 2004. You may have seen the likes of Sarah Kramer, the infamous vegan cookbook author, sporting their cute tops featuring the masked SSOV mascot. In 2009, SSOV had a spot at London’s Camden Market. After outgrowing the space, they opened a larger store near Kings Cross in February 2010. At the new location, you can find vegan clothing, shoes, books, treats, condoms, vitamins and more.
Vx, London, England
Vx has a great selection of packaged goods, including cookies, jerky, chips, gummy bears, chocolate bars and truffles. Some of the products they stock are made by Kosher companies based out of the US. Despite these products being made so close to my home country, most were new to me.
Vegan Baked Goods by Ms. Cupcake, London, England
The Vx fridge is stocked with cupcakes, whoopie pies and cakes by Ms. Cupcake. We tried the strawberry icing whoopie and were super impressed by the intense strawberry flavour packed into the icing. The taste reminded me of the marshmallow strawberry candies I used to eat as a sugar loving kid. After that, we had no other choice but to find Ms. Cupcake at the Greenwich market and eat as many of her delicious cupcakes as we could handle. All the details of this encounter will come in a later post.
Vx, London, England
In the fridge, we also saw some sandwiches by Fresh Organics, Booja-Booja raw truffles, and some vegan cheese by Sheese and Cheezly.
Clif and Luna Bars
They had some Luna Bars and Clif Bars too. Rudee, the owner, explained they could only get a few flavous in the UK, and the bars are also smaller than the ones you’ll find in North America. That’s too bad for the UK vegans, these are some of the best energy bars to eat on the go.
Our Loot from Vx
Here’s all the loot we bought. One SSOV shirt for me, two Dame Blanches, two Nutty Chews, strawberry string, Teeny Bits Striped Delites, Peta2 pin, Ms. Cupcake pin, SSOV stickers, SSOV postcards and SSOV MEMBERSHIP CARDS! Woot!
Teeny Bits Striped Delites by Paskesz
The Teeny Bits Striped Delites are by Paskesz, a Kosher company based out of the US. We were so excited to try them! We had three boxes of Paskesz cookies to choose from and I was so happy when John suggested these ones. The pink box and cute shape sucked me in. They were little bites of joy, which we ate like chips. They disappeared less than 24 hours after we opened the box.
Nutty Chews by Paskesz
We tried another sweet treat by Paskesz, Nutty Chews. These were little chocolate coated bars, four or five to each pack, filled with nuts and toffee that tasted just like the cheap kind people give kids for Halloween. You know, the toffee candies in the orange wrapper with the little ghost, pumpkin and cat design. Maybe the Canadian kids will remember. There’s lots of candy nostalgia at Vx!
Dame Blanche Cookies
I was really excited about the Dame Blanche cookies, another Kosher treat that just happens to be vegan. They’re built a lot like Wagon Wheels, another classic treat from my childhood, but are missing a layer of marshmallow. There’s another key difference here, Dame Blanches are hard like cookies, and Wagon Wheels are soft and fluffy inside. We didn’t get exactly the texture we were dreaming of. We liked them for what they were, agreeing the vanilla flavour was the best of the two.
The Secret Society of Vegans, London, England
Don’t miss Vx if you’re in London. After you stock up on treats and buy some cool clothing or patches, check out the downstairs lounge. There’s a long list of milkshakes, and hot beverages to choose from with flavours like marshmallow, English toffee, hazelnut and gingerbread. Pair this with their wifi and comfortable couches, and you’ve got a great way to kill a rainy afternoon in London.
Vx
www.secretsocietyofvegans.co.uk/shop/
73 Caledonian Road
London, England
Tel: 020 7833 2315.
Tuesday-Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 6.30 p.m.
For SSOV gear, visit their online store.
For SSOV community, visit their website.
10 Comments »
Jealous…and yes, I totally remember wagon wheels and the orange wrapped halloween candies. I’m not sure my body misses them but my mind does a little.
Oh man, i’m sure i’ve seen those Teeny Bits cookies in Loblaws here! I’m going to search ‘em out next time.
I”m vacationing in London starting next week, cannot wait to visit the SSOV new store! Thanks for the primer :)
Oh so timely! We’re visiting London for a couple months and loving the vegan options. I recall seeing the SSOV website a few years ago, but had forgotten all about it. Thank you for the tip!
BTW, did you see much in the way of gluten-free? If I could get half of those treats in gluten-free AND vegan variety… I might just suspend all other activities for the day and CHOW DOWN.
Are some condoms not Vegan?
I want to buy absolutely every single edible item in that shop. :)
I can recommend the bottom left three types of boots in your picture. They last ages and are made in countries with a welfare state, votes and proper courts. The Bouncing Boot range are now made in the original DMs factory in Willeston, near DMs HQ, out of water resistant and highly absorbent breathable microfibre. The canvas boots are made in Slovakia. Oh and I’m biassed but all of this is true.
About the KX shop: it’s two blocs east of Kings Cross station, or just about opposite the Thameslink exit which comes out somewhere else! There are loads of cheap hotels in the area which had an enviable red light reputation ever since first world war soldiers were let off the troop trains there. If you don’t fancy the hotels in Argyl Square, The Clink hostel is well known among backpackers and just down the road while another backpackers hostel -visitjourneys.com – is just over the road. Also over the road is the traditional Charls V pub in Northdown Street which is so small that it often closes early because early just because it can. Centralstation.co.uk is a gay B&B, Wifi hotspot and long-lived gay pub that was bought off the reciever recently. The new owner refused to buy the basement bar and refuses to say what goes on at theundergroungclub.net but if you use the side entrance you can pick up a timetable. For more earnest reading, housmans.com the bookshop have been selling every concievable redical magazine since 1945 as well as postcards, staplers and blu-tak.
If the music in gay pubs isn’t quite to your taste in the evening, The Water Rats pub on Grays Inn Road which turns into a ticketed music venue after about 7 pm.
I dunno how strict a vegan you are, but don’t the Teeny Bits have confectioners glaze in them? I know they used to, and that isn’t vegan. im not trying to be veganer than thou, just pointing it out b/c I would want someone to do the same for me.
@Milo: From the owner of the Vx store: “I’m aware of the confectioner glaze and we don’t sell any stuff with it. I have checked with Paskesz and their sugar is vegan.”
The Teeny Bits are vegan.
@Jill They must have changed the ingredients on the cookies then.
CUPCAKES!!!!
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