Brighton Grocery Stores (an eco-vegan paradise!)
If you live elsewhere and get fed up of people going on about how you’re awkward for being a zero waste vegan, it’s likely that you don’t live in Brighton.
This south east city is one of the most vegan-friendly in England (and perhaps the world along with Berlin), and is bursting to the seams with vegan eateries, and there are even vegan groceries and a vegan shoe shop!
Get yourself a vegan discount card, to splash out some real bargains!
Vegan eateries don’t accept cash (as bank notes contain animal fat and plastic). Check sites for info on accessibility and being dog-friendly.
If selling plants or flowers, learn which ones are unsafe near pets, to know what not to sell to people with animal friends.
Harriets of Hove (an indie zero waste shop)
Harriet’s of Hove is a lovely zero-waste shop. It’s co-founded by a dentist, who now will give you a refill, rather than give you a filling! It also offers click-and-collect for food, oat drink powder and household goods (like oxygen bleach), and local delivery. It also offers nationwide delivery from the online shop, for most items.
Infinity Foods (Brighton’s thriving community grocery)
Infinity Foods in the city of Brighton has been around since the 1970s. Democratically run by its workers, it offers a huge range of organic fresh produce, in-store baked bread, vegan groceries and natural beauty and cleaning products, along with a wholesale division.
Many items are sold in refill containers, so bring along clean dry containers to fill up, saving you money as well as packaging. The shop also avoids selling items made with palm oil.
There is also a Community Card, which gives discounts to regular customers. A portion of profits are donated to local charities, usually ones to protect Sussex wildlife or to help poverty and homelessness in Brighton.
Only assistance dogs permitted (due to food at nose level!)
Kindly Supermarket (Brighton’s zero waste vegan grocery)
Now this is more like it! Kindly (Brighton) is a big busy vegan supermarket that was founded by an Internet techy wizard, who got bored and decided he wished to do something with his money, to do good.
His aim is to ‘flip the supermarket model on its head’ and put planet before profits. His supermarket even offers vegan sandwiches in compostable packaging (handmade in Brighton).
Locals in Brighton can also order online, or just pop in the store to shop in person. It supports local artisan brands including local beers, to keep money circulating within communities.
The good news is that as a former techy entrepreneur, the founder has plans to take this model nationwide, to rival the big bad supermarket chains! But this time it will be business doing good, not harming animals or the planet.
People want to do good, but they don’t want to do it at the cost of either convenience or choice. We’re trying to bring in a food revolution, where we change the way we consume things. Shiv Misra (founder, Kindly Supermarket)
Purezza (a smashing vegan pizzeria)
Purezza (London, Brighton, Manchester) is an award-winning vegan pizzeria that launched around 10 years ago, founded by an Italian who uses mostly local organic ingredients and no palm oil (outlets are furnished with reclaimed materials, run on green energy and even the loos have recycled bathroom tissue!
The range includes pizzas topped with their own cashew mozzarella (sold wholesale to other restaurants) includes Quattro formaggi (4 vegan cheeses!), Fungi pizza (with truffle oil) and Plant-based salami pizza.
Don’t give leftover pizza crust to pets, garden birds or wildfowl (could choke, and salt is toxic)
A funky vegan shoe shop!
Vegetarian Shoes (Brighton) has a physical shop but also an extensive range online and offers a wide range including safety shoes. It also offers a good sale shop, with many items often half-price.
Skylark (a local non-profit coffee brew)
Skylark is the world’s first non-profit coffee brand (the roaster spins at the foot of the South Downs). It pays twice the Fair Trade rate to coffee growers, giving other profits to environmental organisations, and those seeking to stop exploitation in the coffee trade (roasters receive the most profit normally, not the growers).
NHS says that it’s best to avoid caffeine for pregnancy/nursing (or no more than 2 cups of weak tea daily – or 1 cup of mild coffee or cola). Also avoid caffeine for certain medical conditions.
Use a sink protector to catch coffee grounds, then bin (caffeine may affect compost creatures). Same with tea leaves.
The company has key artistic support! The poetry on their bags is from Robert Macfarlane and art by Welsh painter Jackie Morris. If you’ve never read it, treat yourself to a copy of their gorgeous book collaboration The Lost Words.
