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Tell us about your vegan journey Freya?

I have been vegan for around 2 and a half years now and it was by far one of the best decisions of my life. When I first decided to make the change, my dad had been vegan for around 5 years already, and a few of my closest friends were vegetarian and vegan. I will be honest, in my previous non-vegan years I was just very naive to the fact I was consuming animal products, I wasn’t yet making the association which I think is still a huge thing for a lot of people.

Once I made the connection between animals and what I was eating I found it extremely difficult to look back. I pretty much threw myself in headfirst, but I do believe every individual is different and whatever small changes people feel they can make are hugely beneficial.

Have you always had a love for baking?

Yes, ever since I learnt to bake with my gran when I was young, baking has always played a huge part in my life.

However, I became much more passionate about baking once I turned vegan. It really spurred on a new love for making delicious food from scratch. I get such a strong sense of achievement out of “ I became much more passionate about baking once I turned vegan. It really spurred on a new love for making delicious food from scratch. I get such a strong sense of achievement out of making all different bakes that no one can tell are vegan.

making all different bakes that no one can tell are vegan. That’s why I was so excited to write my first book.

How did you feel when you heard that you had got into Bake Off?

The obvious initial response was very much excitement, it had genuinely been a dream of mine since the first series when I was only young.

However, the way I remember it was that my dog had just pooed on the floor after I got the initial phone call. I went in the house to tell my dad I made it onto the show and the moment was very much consumed by cleaning up the mess! Nonetheless, I was over the moon.

How did the others respond when they heard you were vegan?

The other contestants were really intrigued about how I was going to tackle each challenge. A lot of them said they thought it was admirable considering how hard vegan baking can be, which was really comforting to hear.

“It goes without saying that I really want to write a second book as I loved every second of writing Simply Vegan Baking, and I have so many more ideas that I’d love to share with the world.

Your new book Simply Vegan Baking sounds great – what’s the best advice you have for inspiring vegan bakers?

I am so proud of this book, I’ve worked so hard on it and I genuinely adore every recipe. The best advice I always give is to not be too hard on yourself and certainly don’t give up if things don’t turn out perfectly first time. It certainly took me lots of attempts to get my recipes spot on, but that’s all part of the fun.

How important is being vegan to you right now?

Every day that goes by I read or hear more new information that makes me even more passionate about being vegan. Overall, I’m a passionate person, so when I commit to something I get very invested. I get so much excitement seeing so many more people start to eat vegan each day.

What’s your favourite vegan dish to create?

I love to make ‘chicken’ fajitas, it’s one of my favourite things to eat. It even inspired my Bake Off bread week signature of fajitas.

And what about your favourite ‘comfort food’ – you know, the quick and easy go-to when you can’t be bothered to create a masterpiece?

My favourite comfort food is my carbonara. Everyone I’ve made it for, vegan or not, absolutely loves it. It’s my favourite thing to eat and it is so quick to make. Where’s your favourite vegan place to eat?

There is a small vegan café in Scarborough called ‘Love Brew’ which is my favourite place to go to. I look forward to the weekends that I have off at home so I can go there with my family or friends. The owner is so lovely, and the food is perfect. They have amazing cakes and do the BEST chai latte.

Advice for newbies?

My advice again is to not be too hard on yourself at first. It is a big change for people’s lifestyle, and I think the key is not to massively change the way you eat. There are so many vegan alternatives nowadays, so say your favourite meal is spaghetti bolognaise, still make that using a vegan sauce and soya milk, etc.

What’s next for you?

I have lots of food festivals lined up this year where I will be demoing some of my favourite vegan bakes. It goes without saying that I really want to write a second book as I loved every second of writing Simply Vegan Baking, and I have so many more ideas that I’d love to share with the world.

Check out Freya’s new book ‘Simply Vegan Baking’!

Photo credit: Simply

Vegan Baking: Taking the faff out of vegan cakes, cookies, breads and desserts by Freya Cox (£18.99, Murdoch Books).

Photography by Clare Winfield.

DO YOU?

ENDORSE THE TREATY

Matthew Glover

Finger lickin’ compassion

Matthew Glover has become a figurehead within the modern vegan world, first co-founding Veganuary, then launching Million Dollar Vegan, an organisation that pledged to provide one million free vegan meals around the globe during COVID, and now more recently founding VFC, the vegan ch*cken brand taking the world by storm.

We spoke with Matthew about the past few years, the rapid growth VFC has experienced and a bit about Veganuary’s continued successes too.

How’s life Matthew? Finger Lickin’ good?

It’s great, thanks for asking!

VFC is on the march – tell us about the growth.

It’s been fast and furious. When we launched in December 2020, our aim was to scale up and internationalise fast, and the team we have never holds back. When we launched, Adam was making batches of VFC in his restaurant kitchen, and we sold it direct to consumers via our website. Then, the Vegan Kind stocked us, and then a whole string of independent foodservice and retail outlets. Within three months, we were shipping to Spain, and then came Canada, USA and the Netherlands. Now, our US team is doing incredible work to get VFC onto menus and shelves across all 50 states, and of course we are stocked in both Tesco and Sainsbury’s. So, there is no let-up in pace or ambition.

How did you come up with the idea?

I’d been filming inside factory farms for a long time, and seen first-hand the scale of the suffering caused, both in terms of the number of animals involved but also in terms of the experiences of each animal. So we were already showing people the problem. With Adam’s amazing chick*n, which I chose every time I ate at his restaurant, I realised we could also be part of the solution. So, it all came together.

What about putting it into practice? A lot of research? Or an easy product to develop?

When we started, it was tricky to get a consistent product when we made it all by hand in a kitchen. And then, as we scaled up, a lot more development was needed as it just wasn’t possible to make it to the same recipe in a factory setting. So, v1 could be a little hit-and-miss at times, and as we worked on v2, we took into account all the feedback we had been given and incorporated that too. The result is fantastic, and we get really positive feedback from vegans, vegetarians and omnivores too. But of course, we are always developing, so there is every chance v3 will appear sometime soon. As for the products themselves, we started with Bites and Fillets, but there was such demand for Popcorn Chick*n that it seemed like a no-brainer to add that to the range, and watch this space for new product announcements. So, yes lot of research, and a lot of development but we started with a great product, so we knew we were on to a winner.

Your social media team look like they have fun!

Part fun, and part banging their heads on the desk in frustration, I’d imagine.

Trolls are unavoidable, and so instead of letting them frustrate or annoy us, we decided to use them. We have a Cluckwit of the Month feature where we share the most ridiculous or unoriginal things people say, along with our responses, and ask our followers to vote for their favourite. We’ve written blogs about our Cluckwits and even turned their comments into a large billboard campaign across the country. I honestly think the trolls have done us a huge favour, so thank you to all the Malcolms who have splashed their opinions all over our socials. We appreciate you.

We have a Cluckwit of the Month feature where we share the most “

ridiculous or unoriginal things people say... We’ve written blogs about our Cluckwits and even turned their comments into a large billboard campaign across the country. I honestly think the trolls have done us a huge favour, so thank you to all the Malcolms who have splashed their opinions all over our socials. We appreciate you. .

”

Do you ever get tempted to jump on and have a bash with some of the cluckwits?

We’re never rude to them. Sarcastic, sassy and cheeky, yes, but there is little point getting into an argument with them, although sometimes we can’t help ourselves! We have had some good results charming Cluckwits into submission but that’s Jane’s strength, not mine. I’m basically banned from doing any social, especially late at night when my filter seems to have gone to bed already.

And a novel marketing ploy – take a free packet from your local supermarket. Clever.

We’ve never wanted to walk the well-trodden marketing path. There is so much disingenuous and inauthentic marketing out there but we’re pretty straightforward as a brand. You like chicken? This is chick*n. You hate animal cruelty? Have you tried these Fillets? You’re not sure if you will like the taste of them? Try a pack for free on us. We’re just trying to remove as many barriers as possible for people, because every pack bought is a bird spared, and that is our metric of success.

You’ve done some ‘undercover’ work too recently – bring us up to speed on that.

It started with us taking Adam to a factory farm just before we launched. As a chef, he had cooked, served and eaten chickens for many years, but he had never seen what their lives are like. That was such a powerful film because Adam’s responses were so moving and genuine. We decided to take five more people into farms so they could see, smell and feel for themselves the reality of factory farming. Peter Egan, Evanna Lynch, Joey Carbstrong, Abbie Sibun and Plant Based Leon all spent a night with us and helped us take the message to many more people.

More recently, we spotted a promotional film by KFC with YouTuber Niko Omilana and we could not let those claims pass untested. They said the birds in their farm enjoyed plenty of enrichment - swings, perches, bells, and straw. Having seen so many farms, we found it hard to believe, and so we tracked down the exact same farm to see for ourselves if the claims were true.

It may not surprise you to learn that what we found bore little resemblance to the claims they were making. The investigation was featured in The Guardian and our film went viral. More than 11 million people have seen it to date - far more than saw the original KFC film - with so many of them saying “I’ll never eat at KFC again” or, even better, “I’ll never eat chickens again.”

Your previous ‘baby’ – Million Dollar Vegan – has gone on to achieve some fabulous results recently with their free food giveaways.

The MDV team was planning its third $1M campaign (where they offer $1M to charity if a wellknown figure tries vegan) when the pandemic started to spread. And so they switched to sharing free meals with communities around the world who were impacted by the virus, and also to frontline workers.

Since then, they have supported orphanages and women’s refuges, migrant workers, people living in slums in India and Argentina, the Maasai community in Kenya, unhoused veterans in Los Angeles, people in a residential home in Hungary, shoe shiners in Bolivia, people impacted by a hurricane in Mexico and those left homeless by an explosion in Beirut. They are about to reach their million-meal target, so it’s been a huge undertaking.

Throughout they have shared information about the overwhelmingly positive benefits of eating vegan foods, not just with those communities, but also via media and social media.

So, they’ve had a pretty big impact.

And Veganuary still going from strength to strength...

It’s amazing. We’re coming into our tenth year, and it grows every year. We now have teams in the US, Germany, India and Latin America, and people from every country (bar two) have taken part. It’s truly a global initiative with partners and participants all over the world. The media frenzy around it each January never dies down, so we feel we are an integral part of the media cycle now. Each year celebrities get on board, alongside all the major retailers and restaurant chains, while big corporations take part in the Workplace Challenge. The January challenge is probably the most visible aspect of Veganuary, and yet we work all year round with companies and brands to ensure good provision of high-quality vegan foods. There is no doubt we have seen the high street change over the past decade. Now, the word ‘vegan’ is everywhere when ten years ago we were advised not to say the v-word for fear of scaring people away.

Be truthful now – have you had enough of eating VFC yet? You must have had a good go!

I genuinely haven’t but then I am a man of simple tastes. I love chicken burgers and fried chick*n and will inevitably choose these from the menu when I’m out. I think it will be a very long time before I’m bored of eating VFC.

What else is on the Glover menu in the evenings?

I’m not a huge fan of cooking so we tend to keep things simple. Burritos and pizzas are good. Derek’s range of Wicked Kitchen meals are great and we keep these on standby. And, I like a good curry so we’ve a freezer stocked with Jam n Vegan and Shicken ready meals.

Fave vegan destination currently?

Jane and I visited Stanford Inn, Medocino, California for our honeymoon. It was a real treat!

Hope for the future?

Always. The growth in veganism and vegan foods is unstoppable. And we’ll keep up the pressure until every animal farm stands empty, and we move beyond the era of exploitation and oppression.

Good to chat Matthew! We look forward to the next project...

Find out more:

Foundation for the Future

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