Where to find certain products in UK

[happy]

Hi, i'm new and have been vegetarian from Januay-April and vegan from April-present, quite faster than my mothers wishes but all the better for me!:)
Does any one know of these producs being sold within the UK:

Soya sauce ( i assume from soya beans so i don't know if you can make your own) (as listed in Leah Leneman recipe books, i have two)

Nut savoury(as listed in Leah Leneman recipe books)

I think that a small number of the ingredients in the books are rather hard to find and sometimes i don't know where to look, especially with tofu as there are so many diffrent varieties and supermarkets aren't good at organising vegan products, they should clear the meat and non-vegan products and set up vegan aisles! But,more realistically they should give seperate aisles to vegetarians and or vegans shouldn't they? Or better still vegan supermarkets. :D

[Mr Flibble]

There's a very underused but existing thread here (http://veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5559) for hard to find ingredients.

In the case of soya/soy sauce I've yet to find a supermarket in the UK that doesn't sell it. If you use it a lot like me then it's cheaper to buy it from chinese/asian supermarkets in bulk - bottles 3 times the size of normal ones cost no different.

I'm not sure what nut savoury is, but it may be the rather unpleasent looking nut meat stuff you can buy in tins from health food shops. I think granose make it. In general thou I think Leah Lenemen sucks big time.

[psychocandy]

Hello Happy,

I noticed that you are in Manchester. Have you heard of or been to Unicorn Grocery?

http://www.unicorn-grocery.co.uk/

[Maisiepaisie]

Unicorn is fantastic, don't know how I'd get by without it:p

[Pob]

I read your post, Maisie, without reading the one above.

Thought unicorn must have been some kind of ironically named meat substitute :eek:

[Maisiepaisie]

Lol :d

[psychocandy]

Unicorn is fantastic, don't know how I'd get by without it:p

Me too. I love aloo tikkas from the deli counter yum! :)

[happy]

Yes i've heard of Unicorn, me and my mum went to find it a few weeks ago, but we're not sure where it is. It's funny because when she tastes my food she always loves it but has yet to convert from meat-eating, maybe the range of products in the Unicorn will suprise her and make her re-think, especially since she said she'd try it for a week, but she hasn't decided which week! My sister said she'd try it to, but only for weight loss! When i suggested she try, saying it would indeed help her lose weight she refused saying she didn't want to! She says i should respect her choice as she respects mine, but i don't hink she does and i'm not willing to reciprocate.

[psychocandy]

Hi, this is a small map from the website. There are buses that go from central Manchester and stop just outside also. It's just before Chorlton library i think it is number 86 bus cant remember? If you are driving there is a car park you can use. I'm sure you'll find lots of great things there.

hth :)
http://www.unicorn-grocery.co.uk/find.php

[happy]

"In general thou I think Leah Lenemen sucks big time."

Do you have any recommendations for other cookery books then? :)

See, i've bought two of her books which i think add up to £15 or more so i hope it's not a waste of money.:(

[applepie]

In the case of soya/soy sauce I've yet to find a supermarket in the UK that doesn't sell it. If you use it a lot like me then it's cheaper to buy it from chinese/asian supermarkets in bulk - bottles 3 times the size of normal ones cost no different.
I haven't bought the big bottles so far (despite the very attractive price) because I was worried about GM soya - the bottles in chinese supermarkets don't say anything about it. Do you have any information on this issue?

[Maisiepaisie]

I like Rose Elliot's 'Vegan Feasts'. It doesn't have loads of obscure and hard to find ingredients, just simple straight forward recipes.

[Cherry]

Hi Happy,

Leah Leneman books aren't *that* bad. I don't think cakes and desserts are her forte though, and I'm fairly sure that was what Flibble was talking about too. Soya sauce is a very common ingredient in Chinese cooking, but nut savoury? It does seem to be a strange thing to put in your ingredients list! No idea.

I have quite a few vegan books, and I'm not saying they all suck, but I don't seem to use them! I have Madhur Jaffrey's world vegetarian book, which I've used a few times. It's good as it has a section for each vegetable, so if you suddenly aquired a leek, for example, and you're not sure what to do with it, there's a whole section of leek recipes!

If you already have recipe books at home, I suggest you flick through those and then veganise any you like the look of :D

[Cherry]

I haven't bought the big bottles so far (despite the very attractive price) because I was worried about GM soya - the bottles in chinese supermarkets don't say anything about it. Do you have any information on this issue?

It's illegal in China not to label products containing GM ingredients, and China seems pretty anti GM food anyway (From the looks of articles found using google, like this one) (http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=2526&page=1). No idea if that means that soya sauce being exported is being correctly labelled though.

[twinkle]

It's illegal in China not to label products containing GM ingredients, and China seems pretty anti GM food anyway (From the looks of articles found using google, like this one) (http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=2526&page=1). No idea if that means that soya sauce being exported is being correctly labelled though.

I did not know that, Cherry! I've been kind of taking my chances with the tofu at my local chinese supermarket because it tastes good, is cheap and labelled vegan. That it's very unlikely to be gm is an added bonus! :)

[Cherry]

Yeh, IMO it's unlikely to be GM, though I'm not sure if there are labelling police! So don't take my word for it :D

[Mr Flibble]

also is tofu sold in this country likely to have been made in china? As water is a large part I'd have thought it be uneconomical to ship fresh tofu this far.

[flutterby]

Do you have any recommendations for other cookery books then? :) Have a look at http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2417 thread happy. ;)

[Cat]

Hi Happy,

Leah Leneman books aren't *that* bad. I don't think cakes and desserts are her forte though, and I'm fairly sure that was what Flibble was talking about too. Soya sauce is a very common ingredient in Chinese cooking, but nut savoury? It does seem to be a strange thing to put in your ingredients list! No idea.

I have quite a few vegan books, and I'm not saying they all suck, but I don't seem to use them! I have Madhur Jaffrey's world vegetarian book, which I've used a few times. It's good as it has a section for each vegetable, so if you suddenly aquired a leek, for example, and you're not sure what to do with it, there's a whole section of leek recipes!

If you already have recipe books at home, I suggest you flick through those and then veganise any you like the look of :D



I made some truly rubbish cakes from 'Easy vegan cooking' by Leah Leneman - not that I am the best cook in the world but I can usually manage a half decent sponge cake - so I would recommend a different book if you want to make cakes (Or try the recipes on the Vegan Society website)

Other than that, I thought the book was okay. The lasagne recipe was nice, as are some of the spreads and dips, and it gave me lots of ideas when I first became vegan, so I wouldn't chuck away the book just yet.

I have no idea what 'nut savory' is though, it didn't sound particularly tempting though so I just ignored those recipes.

[alisont]

Hi Happy

The best vegan books ive brought so far are the Rose Elliot one and the small books £2.99 from local animal aid/vegan groups full of recipes that are cheap and easy to follow, Il find the links later for you.

This site is full of vegan recipes you can print off free, your local library will also hopefully have some books in or could order you some?

http://www.parsleysoup.co.uk/index.htm

[Jamie]

have you double checked in the book for a glossary or something that might explain what nut savoury is? :)

[Shelby]

will they have tofurky there??? or does anyone know where i can get some?

[Mr Flibble]

Unlikely. It's best to speak to your healthfood store and ask them to order it in.

[Jamie]

Redwoods do turkey style slices and a thicker version of them in the celebration dinner packs (I think that's based on turkey??).

Or you can find a recipe and have fun trying to make one yourself?! :D

[gertvegan]

According to the Animal Aid website, it was available from the Planet Organic chain of shops in London last year, and is now set to be much more widely marketed, along with the company's other products. And as mentioned, your local health food shop should either be stocking the full Tofurkey range this year, or able to order on request.