Thank you!

The 2nd Vegan Cook Off event, which was organised by the Vegetarian Society of Ireland, took place on Friday 13 February 2015 and, despite the reputation of the day, turned out to be very lucky for everyone involved. The Cook Off was well attended and we saw over 150 guests come through the doors of St. Andrew's Resource Centre to sample 12 savoury dishes and 9 sweet dishes. Tasters voted for their favourite dishes. The winning dishes were Rice, veg and salad by Deirdre Blake and Baked Delights by Buttercream's Bakery. We are very grateful to our sponsors: The Hopsack, Dunnes Stores, Cornucopia, Umi Falafel and Caterhire.ie. €700 was raised for Focus Ireland.  

Thank you to everyone involved for making it a night to remember and raising the funds for this worthy cause.  See you all again for Cook Off #3!

Cook Off Photos!

Tomorrow!

See you all tomorrow at the vegan cook off!
Louisa Moss, PRO, of the Vegetarian Society of Ireland spoke about it this evening on Radio Nova. They were running a radiothon in aid of Focus Ireland!

Deadline extended to Tuesday 10 February at 8pm

The deadline for participating in the cook off (cooking or baking!) has been extended to Tuesday at 8pm. Please register at www.vegetarian.ie.

Media

For media enquiries please contact Louisa Moss, PRO of the Vegetarian Society of Ireland, on 086 733 8162.

Latest news

Thank you to our sponsors The Hopsack, Dunnes, Umi Falafel and Cornucopia.

Louisa Moss, PRO of the Vegetarian Society of Ireland, was interviewed on Dublin City FM this morning about the Cook Off!

New Sponsor, and Ease of Registering

We are delighted to welcome the Hopsack in Rathmines as a sponsor of the Cook Off!

Also, you can now sign up easily at www.vegetarian.ie

Cook Off # 2 in support of Focus Ireland

It's back!

From 7pm-9pm on Friday 13 February, St Andrew's Resource Centre will host a fun and very scrumptious Vegan Cook-Off! This contest will be an opportunity for you to support Focus Ireland while treating your taste buds to a wide variety of delicious dishes, from chocolate chip cookies to creative chickpea concoctions!  

We are looking for people to bake or cook for this event! Please register your interest by mailing vegantasticcookingcontest@gmail.com. You are asked to make6 servings (i.e. enough for 100 people to try a small sample). The closing date is 01/02/15. 

To come along on the night RSVP on http://www.meetup.com/vegetarian-485/events/219115560/ or search for Vegan Cook Off # 2 on Facebook.  You will get to vote for your favourite dishes (one sweet, one savoury) and the winners of each category will receive a prize. Admission fee is €9. 

More happy memories from the cook-off

These photos are thanks to Miren.

Cook-off pictures!!!

If you wish to use any of the photos on your blog please credit Iain Nash as the photographer.

Photos from the Cook-off

And the Grand Total is...

*drumroll*... €945!!

Wow!

We are DELIGHTED to have raised so much for Dublin Simon!:) They are extremely grateful to everyone for their generosity. Thank you so much again to all who were involved. It was a fabulous night! Photos coming soon!

A huge thank you...

...to all who attended the cook-off on Thursday. It was a massive success! Congratulations again to our winners, Sarah Merrigan (with her Avocado and Purple Sprout Salad with Sesame, Lime and Ginger) and Mary Doyle (with her Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Mini Cupcakes with ‘Cream Cheese' Frosting). Sarah has a fantastic blog at http://homeorganics.wordpress.com/, and if you liked those cupcakes, Mary can whip you up some fresh ones whenever you like! See www.petitetreats.ie for more info.

Watch this space for photos and the total amount raised for the Dublin Simon Community, coming early next week.

Please feel free to print and display the new poster.

New Date and Venue!

We’re delighted to announce that the Vegantastic Cook-Off will take place on Thursday 13^th January from 8-10pm in St. Andrew’s Resource Centre, 114 Pearse St. Apart from the venue change, the setup is exactly as before with a new closing date for entries: 8^th January. If you’re interested in entering, or have any questions, please email vegantasticcookingcontest@gmail.com!

Map 

St. Andrew's is a ten-minute walk from Pearse St. Dart Station and a slightly shorter walk from Grand Canal Dock Station. Buses serving the centre are the 2, 3, 50, 56/a, 77, and 77a. Parking is available on Pearse Square opposite, on Macken St. and Grand Canal Square Car Park is also very near. (See www.dublindocklands.ie/Parking for details and a map.)

Contest Postponed.

We are sorry to announce our decision to postpone the contest due to the current weather conditions. We will sort out another date as soon as possible, and it will still be amazing, so watch this space! And wrap up well. :)

Vegan Cooking Contest in support of the Dublin Simon Community

From 8pm-10pm on Thursday 2^nd December, Exchange Dublin on Upper Exchange Street, Temple Bar will host a fun and very scrumptious Vegan Cook-Off! This contest will be an opportunity for you to support the Dublin Simon Community while treating your taste buds to a wide variety of delicious dishes, from chocolate chip cookies to creative chickpea concoctions! You will get to vote for your favourite dishes (one sweet, one savoury) and the winners of each category will receive prizes generously donated by The Hopsack health food shop in Rathmines. www.hopsack.ie

This is also a chance for you to don your oven gloves and create something tempting to enter into the contest! Anyone can enter - you don’t need to be a vegan or a master chef, and your dish can be as simple or elaborate as you like. The only rules are: 
1 You must make the dish yourself
2 You must be available on the evening to present your dish to the hungry public 
3 The dish must be vegan (i.e. must not contain any animal-derived ingredients including dairy, eggs and honey)

For those unfamiliar with vegan cooking or baking, it is actually very easy! For recipe inspiration check out the links below, or email us for advice on ingredient substitutions etc.

We’re looking for as many entrants as possible to take part and help make it a very fun, relaxed and edible evening! If you’re interested, please contact us at the email address or phone number below for more information. The closing date for entries is the 22nd November. Entrants also get in for free. :)

Apart from all this deliciousness, this contest will be an opportunity to help make a real difference in the lives of people living on the streets of Dublin. The most recent government figures on homelessness estimate that in 2005 there were 2,399 homeless households in Ireland with over 9,000 people living in unfit or overcrowded accommodation, or involuntarily sharing accommodation. The Simon Community believes that the actual numbers may be significantly higher.http://www.simon.ie/index.php?page=simon-throughout-ireland 

Organisations like the Simon Community provide real, concrete help to homeless people and are working to end homelessness in Ireland. In order to continue their efforts they need financial support and donations from ordinary people like you and me. Entry to the contest will be €9 (€6 with a valid student card), and the money raised will go directly to the Dublin Simon Community. 

If you would like to enter the contest, help out or if you have any questions at all, please email vegantasticcookingcontest@gmail.com or call/text 086 3519029.

Inspiration:

http://www.veganlovlie.com/p/recipe-index.html

http://www.myveganplanet.com/recipes/

http://veganyumyum.com/archives/

http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com/p/recipe-pages.html

http://vegweb.com/index.php?action=recipecategories

http://www.simpleveganrecipes.co.uk/

http://www.theppk.com/recipes/

http://theppk.com/

http://www.maplespice.com/

http://www.parsleysoup.co.uk/vegan_recipes.php

http://havecakewilltravel.com/recipes/