Background: Ten years ago Neni and I turned our lives upside down and moved from Brazil to London, immersing ourselves in a world of new sights, sounds, flavours, spices and cuisines. Five years later we embraced veganism and slowly gravitated from West to East London, now calling Hackney home.

Chocolate and Blueberry Cake
 

I’ve always enjoyed learning and with my newfound interest in veganism, I found myself exploring more and more in the kitchen while revelling in the challenge of veganising my favourite recipes and traditional Brazilian dishes. With my friends always asking for the recipes, the inevitable happened. In 2012 the Essential Vegan blog was born.

Brazilian Coconut Sweet Bread
 

The blog quickly gained a loyal readership which led to the development of a fully-fledged website. Neni documented my dishes with his camera as I continued to bake, braise, boil, steam and stir… and before we knew it we were taking our Essential Vegan cookbook out of the oven in September 2013.

Essential Vegan Cookbook
 

Things were getting serious! I quit my day job and went back to school, studying to become a vegetarian and vegan nutritional consultant. I launched a stall in Brick Lane’s Boiler House selling cakes and burgers, I started giving cookery classes, Neni and I ran a kitchen residency in Portobello Road and we staged other pop ups, becoming regulars at major fairs such as VegFest (London and Brighton) and the Animal Aid Xmas Market.

Essential Burger
 

In the Summer of 2015 we took over a little shack at PUMP Shoreditch, serving our classic Essential Burger and cakes, making our mark in East London with regulars coming back for more. It was around this time that we started experimenting with making cashew nut based cheese, which is now stocked in a handful of wholefood shops and in 2017 we orchestrated an eight-week kitchen residency at Haunt in Stoke Newington. It was such a successful residency that the owner turned vegan and the venue remains vegan to this day!

Our nut base cheese
 

It doesn’t get much better than that really. And we can’t convey how good a feeling it is when people recognise our brand, when they’ve come back to one of our stalls to say our burger was the best thing they’d eaten that day, when they get emotional to discover they can have our cheesecake because it’s dairy free, or when they’ve asked… where are you guys based? Where can I find you…?
 

Reusable cotton tote
 

It’s been a good couple of years of dreaming and searching for the perfect spot to open a place of our own and now we’ve finally found it. The whole adventure is happening so very fast and we’d love for you to be a part of making it become what we’ve always dreamed of.

Come and visit us soon!
Vanessa & Neni x

Facade project

This sounds awesome - how can I be a part of this story?

We’ll be opening our doors as of 30^th September, so we would naturally love to see your good selves coming through the door as soon as you can for a cuppa, to share a piece of cake with a friend, to give one of those Jackfruit burgers a try, or to pick up a copy of the cookbook.

But naturally in the meantime we’re looking to raise some serious funds, with £30,000 being our target, to make sure the business gets off the ground, and stays off the ground!

Making a donation through Indiegogo is the best way for you to support our dream of creating a great place to call home for all of us in the community.

Where will my contributions will go?

Your immensely appreciated contributions will help us:

• cover the initial costs of setting up a new business;
• purchase new equipment for the kitchen and to fix some of the existing items;
• fit out the space and remodel it in an authentic manner and make it comfortable and welcoming for all.

Why back this project?

• quite simply, because you want to support us!
• you want to see an independent vegan business grow and flourish;
• you want to see a lovely new space in the neighbourhood;
• you love the Essential Vegan concept and want to help us build our reputation, and you’re curious to try our new Brazil-inspired dishes;
• you love good quality food and coffee!

Spread the good word

Let the world know about our café and this campaign: it only takes a few moments, a couple of clicks, but in telling all your friends and family about this project you could be making all the difference!

Share away to your heart’s content on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever you ‘Like’…

Thanks, and see you soon!

Credits:
Video by C.M Jackson & Jan Solberg D.O.P. 
Music by Ollie Axon & C.M Jackson
Text by Milo Steelefox

Tofu minced meat