New places in the app

New places in the app

There are even more new places in the Vegan Norway app. In fact these past two months there has been so many places being added, some places that have sadly taken vegan items off their menu and some other places that have made a grand comeback that we decided to check the stats. We currently have exactly 729 places active in the app! 415 in Oslo, 127 in Bergen, 98 in Trondheim, and 89 in Stavanger.

Week 8 is coming

Week 8 is coming

You know when you are waiting for a bus for ages and then all of a sudden four of them come at once? Well, we have some good news for you. We are soon about to enjoy a windfall of new vegan products released to stores here in Norway. Not just any old products either... really amazing and highly anticipated ones. Read on to find out more about what they are, and when and where you can get them.

Your first three weeks as a vegan

Your first three weeks as a vegan

Thinking of trying out veganism? We know that it might seem like a massive scary change at first, but it gets easy really fast, and in fact by the time you get to your third week as a vegan you will probably find that the lifestyle feels mostly effortless to continue. It's a bit difficult to know how exactly to start with going vegan so we thought we would write a guide to help make those first few weeks of trying out veganism in Norway so much easier. At the end of the three weeks you might not know all the little tips and things that someone who has been vegan for many years does but you will definitely be over the hardest part and know more than enough to stay vegan if that's what you want.

A festive weekend in Oslo

A festive weekend in Oslo

It's that time again. Time to wrap up warm, eat more than you care to admit, and make small talk with people who you only see once a year. It's christmas my dudes! If this is your first christmas as a vegan you might be getting a little FOMO when you think about all the totally not vegan christmas traditions you would usually do. Don't worry though, you don't have to miss out AT ALL. We recommend a festive weekend in Oslo in which you can go out and eat a lovely vegan christmas lunch, do a little vegan grocery shopping and even get some gifts for your friends and family.

Don't forget the B12

Don't forget the B12

Vitamin B12 is required for the proper function and development of the brain, nerves, blood cells, and many other parts of the body. The only natural places it can be found in good enough quantities are foods such as meat, fish, and dairy products, that's why vegans and vegetarians must take it as a supplement.

B12 helps your body in so many ways so please put some time aside in your morning routine to down your pill with your morning coffee, orange juice and toast.

Trondheim Vegan Fair

Trondheim Vegan Fair

Trondheim is a city I have always wanted to visit. It's the capital of the north of Norway and home to the awesome Nidaros cathedral, amazing jazz festivals, the wharves, and charming Bakklandet. Trondheim is full of students, technology, cycling, music and food. This makes it a super vibrant city, and exploring it as a vegan is way easier than you might expect. From pizza restaurants (yes with vegan cheese on the pizzas) to sushi places to 100% vegan cafes, Trondheim has everything my little vegan heart could possibly want.

I was over the moon when I was asked to come to Trondheim to hold a talk at Trondheim Vegan Fair by Emma Jarvis, the festivals organiser. It's an annual event which attracts a lot of people. As well as a bunch of interesting stalls they also have talks, workshops, a fashion show, various cooking courses, a cinema zone and loads of activities for children. It caters to everyone basically! 

Veganism on a Student Budget

Veganism on a Student Budget

A common misconception about veganism is that it is so expensive. We recently picked tackled some of the concerns and issues surrounding  this in our latest blog post: Is veganism only for the rich? It can be expensive to be vegan, sure. But it is totally possible to do veganism on a budget. To give you a real life, down to earth perspective on a cheap vegan life we asked two members of our team, Arja Sivapiragasam and Mariel Melø Hansen to tell us how they do it. You might find yourself picking up some great hints and tips on how to save money and have a great time as a student whilst simultaneously saving animals lives.

Vegan Sneakers from Nike

Vegan Sneakers from Nike

 

I was saddened to read on a website called Vegan Kicks that they didn't class Nike as a vegan brand any more as they no longer specified on their website which trainers did not use animal glue any more (they used to have a specific list online of which trainers did. 

I gave up on my Nike dreams and have found happiness in my Asics Gel Lyte trainers. Asics are widely known not to use animal products in their glue so their synthetic trainers were a good choice for me, as they look quite cool.

However, I'll always hold a torch for Nike. I didn't give up and kept badgering them and doing research. Last night I found a great group of German vegan sneaker enthusiasts called Vegan Sneaker Connection. They're a great group of people who are doing lots of research into the big sneaker brands to see which products are vegan. I was surprised to read that they were adamant that synthetic trainers from Nike were vegan. 

Excitedly I asked them if they would share the email they had from Nike which confirmed that the glue used on the trainers did not include animal products. They copied the text from the email and sent me two screenshots which prove it is from Nike and that it is from November 2015.

ASIA Aker Brygge

ASIA Aker Brygge

ASIA is planning to release a new separate menu containing vegetarian and vegan dishes on the 7th of October. The current set of dishes on the menu is actually easy to veganize, because they are vegan from the ground up, with fish or meat added afterwards to reach a wider audience. If you go to the restaurant today you will be able to order vegan versions of many of their dishes. Just tell the waiter, and they will help you.

Eat For Compassion

Eat For Compassion

It’s been a few months since the release of the Vegan Oslo app on android phones and our big release party we called ‘Eat For Compassion’. I was having a coffee today and just reminiscing on how much of a great time we all had and I thought that I should write a blog post to celebrate it again and let everyone who couldn’t be there know what it was like! Eat For Compassion took place on the 17th May 2015; a one day vegan festival organised by Norsk vegansamfunn and us to celebrate restaurant day (read more about what restaurant day is here) and the launch of Vegan Oslo on Android phones (get it now for FREE!). There was so many activities crammed into that day it will be hard for us to remember them all but here goes...