A vegan delivery service and a vegan sparkling wine company collaborated to host a swanky launch event at Battersea Power Station.
Greedy Vegan hosted an impressive display of plant-based food, including The Curators‘ mushroom meatballs, Honestly Tasty vegan cheese and vegan salmon sushi from IMA, a brand featured in the well-known Seaspiracy documentary.
Doe Eyed Queen ensured no glasses were left empty of their vegan sparkling wine, while guests from across the hospitality industry sampled the snacks on offer.
Sipping from flutes against the glistening backdrop of the river Thames, it was easy to forget both companies were founded in the midst of a global pandemic.
Georgia Symonds, founder of Greedy Vegan, believes the slower pace of life during lockdown has led to a change in attitudes.
“People have expanded their views over lockdown and I think you can talk to more people about veganism without them shutting off. More people also want to support local,” she said.
Symonds hopes Greedy Vegan will become the one-stop shop for plant-based proteins and cheese, offering a vegan delivery service straight to your door.
She said: “There is a reputation about plant-based food that it can be boring and dull. With Greedy Vegan I thought I’d make it fun and introduce alternatives.
“Everyone has their own journey with veganism and it is not black and white. Being open-minded to cutting back and veganism is really important.
“If you can change one person’s consumer habits that makes a huge difference. I don’t want to force anyone to be someone they’re not.”
Amy Duckett, founder of Doe Eyed Queen, not only wants to change people’s habits, but to also transform their hangovers.
The sparkling wine is 100% vegan, herbicide-free and free from fining agents, which is said to reduce the effect of the much-dreaded morning-after.
Putting this theory into practice, Doe Eyed Queen’s bottles of luxuriant brut and aromatic rosé were drunk in abundance at the Battersea launch event.
Duckett hopes her product fills a gap in the market. She said: “Visiting restaurants in London I often found the wine bottles weren’t as decorative as the food or the interior of the restaurants they were served in.
“We wanted to create a wine which was as unique and sophisticated in appearance as it was in flavour. It was a collaboration between fine wine and fashion.”
