Glasgow is renowned throughout the UK vegan scene as a plant based mecca. It was one of my primary reasons for wanting to move here post-graduation, and I've still not managed to make my way around all the vegan friendly restaurants and cafés (despite the three year anniversary of my move cropping up).
But the question I get the most is not "where can I grab a tasty vegan burger?" but is "Where do you buy your food?". And by food they mean household food as in something to have breakfast or when you feel peckish in the night. Something to have in the freezer yougetthepicture.
And Glasgow, as you might expect, is not short of places to buy something for your food cupboard. However, it is a bit spread out. Dundee is hardly noted for its vegan beauty but the one health food store that existed while I lived there was right on the main street and sells what you need for a vegan dinner (and some vegan cleaning materials to wash up afterwards, plus something to wash your hair with).
In Glasgow, I go to a mixture of different shops. Which is a bit annoying. I still shop at mainstream shops such as Tesco and Co-op, but I won't include them in this blog post because we all know about the Tesco Metro in the St Enoch Square and the Co-op outside Central Station.
I'll just include some places you can stop by to pick something up (there will also not be any Holland & Barrats in here either, as we know about them too).
Quality Vitamins & Herbs
If I could split the weegie vegans I know down the middle: half of them love this shop and the other half have never heard of it. It's tucked away on Douglas Street, which is off of Sauchiehall (I think Nando's is on the corner?). It's stocked to the brim with what you need to live the vegan lifestyle, from vegan cheeses, to vegan shampoo and lots and lots of tea (which isn't really a 'vegan' product, but I really like tea). And the staff are lovely and are always open to ordering in what their customers want and even let me know the delivery dates for certain stock.
Roots & Fruits WholeFoods
If you live in the West End of Glasgow then you'll probably be within walking distance to either the store on Great Western Road or the one on the Finnieston Strip. I work in close proximity to the Finnieston Strip and have popped in here a couple of times for a sandwhich (they sometimes make up some interesting vegan ones) and maybe a can of organic coke. It's also a great place to pick up vegetables of the peculiar variety such as fancy mushrooms (and fancy I mean shiitake and the like) or some summer fruits. They also sell a lot of tea. But, being the West End it's probably the dearer of the shops on this list.
Wholefoods
Situated in my native Southside, Glasgow's Wholefoods is down in the Giffnock area of Glasgow. Whilst Wholefoods is hardly some little known store and is instead a global brand, because of it's suburban location a few vegans I know haven't taken the trip out yet (there's a bus that runs from outside the 02 Academy straight down). In terms of food, there isn't anything there that you couldn't find in the city itself but the beauty department is amazing and has already been responsible for a few financial faux-pas. And the alcohol section also has vegan friendly brands I hadn't come across before. (Bonus: here's my blog post from a year ago)
Waitrose
So, hands up who thought this would be all about independent shops? Whilst I'm not going to tell you about the vegan delights in Tesco because we all know about Tesco but Waitrose seems to be a British Supermarket that gets forgotten about (Morrisons is the other, but it's terrible for vegans). Though, if you've been born and bred in Glasgow you're probably acquainted with them and it's just those of us who grew up outside the Central Belt who had only heard of this Waitrose place. Neither Aberdeen or Dundee have a Waitrose (you'd think Aberdeen would have one?) and the Byres Road store is the first one I ever visited. Whilst their own brand range hasn't got much of a vegan offering (though they mark out their vegetarian wines), they carry a lot of branded food which I would otherwise have to order online. Such as Almond Dream and Method cleaning products.
(M&S, Co-op and Sainsbury's also mark out their vegetarian wines, but I think most people know that?).
Where do you go for your vegan food? Is there a tiny little corner store that's not yet on my radar?
Where do you go for your vegan food? Is there a tiny little corner store that's not yet on my radar?
