A look at the offline and online offering of Vbites

I popped down to the opening of Heather Mills Vegan cafe ‘Vbites‘ on Saturday as Iâ??d heard whispers of its opening for a few months and fancied seeing what she had done with the old fish eatery that used to be there before. Another think that I wanted to see was how ‘Vbites’ was promoting itself, being interested in media and the way ethical ventures make that leap from hippy idealism (something I have struggled with myself) to cool rich media and an understanding of social capitol.

The opening itself was as my actor friend pointed out “a little frayed around its vegan edges”, with a very loud Glenn Miller band for the old folks, a dodgy microphone for Heathers opening speech and more ‘old media’ journalists that you could shake a stick at.

Heather however looks superb and I was at the front cheering her on as she appeared on top of the building relaxing against the ‘Vbites’ diner style sign. I’ve been an admirer of Heather for years, ever since she appeared on the Big Breakfast and described how she lost her leg by being hit by a police motorcycle. The fact that she was married to a pop star bla bla, doesnâ??t really interest me and I much prefer to read about her animal welfare exploits.

As I was leaving I collared one of their PR girls and said that Iâ??d like her to guest blog and that she needed some advice on her website. I was tempted to grab Heather as she popped out the back of Vbites and beg her to get a new developer, but she was on the phone so I thought Iâ??d leave it.

Now, the Vbites website:

Vbites website

Whatâ??s wrong with the website:

• The menu does not contain keywords specific to the campaign
• The content has not real direction on any of the pages
• No specific menu pages
• Their are no social networking links on the homepage
• No RSS feed for subscriptions to the newsletter
• No real calls to action
• No SEO across the site based on the lack on title tags, keyword inclusion etc
• Lack of pages on the site, if the sitemap is to be trusted
• The press and media page has no rich media or any real content
• The lack of humanity on the site is frightening - add some images of the place, the workers, heather, kids eating lunches, the skaters outside
• There are so many opportunities here for some great social media, so many aspects to the cafe that can be drawn upon to make it both an on and offline success.
• No internal linking
• More inbound links from relevant sources

I do find it unfortunate that allot of vegan and ethical sites are missing the basics of good design and SEO, it doesnâ??t seam important in the grand scheme of things but it does make a profound difference as to how users see you. Any site, no matter what it is saying needs to be making a media statement about its efforts, services or products… it is the fundamentals of it being a website and with all the competition out there, sites like Vbites need to stand out from the crowd or risk just becoming a dead weight online page that tarnishes the offline appeal of a great concept.

I’ll think of a few nice little ideas for Vbites social media and see if we canâ??t get it moving.

One last thing that I think would be nice for Vbites to is to add ‘deliveries’ to its offerings, swift deliveries of ‘Mrs. swirly’ vegan ice cream for example.

I did have difficulty finding any articles to add below this, as it seams most of the press that turned up were only there to slag her off, a bit pathetic on a sunny day to head down there just for that, but … who am i to judge.

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Can you be sure that your medicine is eco-friendly

Supporting a charity that pours energy and time into making medical breakthroughs may seem like a good place for your money, but did you know that you may also be supporting the use of cruel animals tests? While looking for the Human Charity Seal of Approval is a great way to avoid sending your donations to the wrong organization, and spying the Leaping Bunny on cosmetics and personal care products ensures not cuddly bunnies were harmed, how to do you know whether your medicines are ethical?

The problem is that by and large, most pharmaceuticals today are tested on animals before theyâ??re tested on humans. Itâ??s a problem because of the cruelty inflicted on innocent, feeling creatures, but itâ??s also a problem because in many cases, the assumption of â??corresponding human validityâ?� just doesnâ??t pan out in many circumstances.

Alternatives to animal testing are being pioneered by several companies and research organizations as society increasingly objects to such torture. But what should we do now to avoid supporting companies that test their drugs on animals?

Perhaps the best solution is to look for natural alternatives to traditional medicines. More studies are being done every day to confirm the effectiveness of good nutrition and healthy lifestyle for prevention. But scientific evidence is also mounting to support the efficacy of alternative methods of treating illness, too. Many of these natural solutions to common health problems are tested only on humans because theyâ??re gentler and less risky, giving you new options for getting healthy.

So the next time you get the sniffles, break out in a rash, or need some help with falling to sleep, call up your local naturopath, homeopath, acupuncturist, herbalist, or other natural health care practitioner. Chances are, theyâ??ve got a solution for what ails youâ??one that doesnâ??t cause additional animal harm.

Photos and observations from the coolest vegan festival in the UK

I heard about the Vegan Fayre from Ali and thought that it would be something that Minkbaby should pop along to, so i popped. Well i popped, after going to the Brighton Dome finding out the Vegan fest wasnt there and then arriving at the Brighton Centre to find a half naked guy attempting to swallow a pretty big sword. Sorry i didnt take a photo of it, but heres an empty entrance hall and a shiney floor.

The main hall was up stairs and bustling with stalls catering to all kinds of colourful veggies and vegans. They were walking around talking and bustling, â??I mentioned the bustling right?â?� Buy mostly they were looking for Vegan cheese, an obsession I too have felt drawn too. So off I set across to the far end of the grand hall where a number of people were mingling.

So, I found it an entire corner of the room devoted to cheese or rather sheese, the alternative to Dairy and the only thing in the room disappearing at 100 mph, one tiny toothpick at a time. Ok, so.. you ask â??Whatâ??s its like this cheese alternative?â?�â?¦ and I am going to be honest with you, the few little morsels I had at the stab and grab stall I enjoyed. But and thatâ??s a big but, my further purchase of smoked Sheese from my local Deli left me a little cold and I am still missing my old cheese buddy. But i have faith and i am sure i will find it soon.

The Viva stand had me grabbing for as much animal welfare leafletage as i could possibly contain in two hands. Viva’s adverts have impact because of their honesty, a calf sitting on a plate, a man in a business suit suckling from a Dairy cow and the sweet face of a piglet looking out from the glossy leaflet - all making a pretty poignant point individually and all begging the question â??why?â?� not a soft cuddly â??aw we shouldnâ??t eat them, they are cute.. whereâ??s my beef burgerâ?� but a â??Whow, is it really right that they should suffer so much for addictionâ?� kind of question. Viva website

I had a lovely chat to Caroline from ‘Good Oil’ and will be covering the company in more detail in a future post

The Good oil website

Alan knight from international animal rescue is a great guy and they do some fantastic work, the fact that they a few bears off putting an end to the dancing bear trade in India was inspiring. You can read about it and help them on their website IAR

Infinity foods really didnt want to have their picture taken, but i took it anyway. Infinity are the ‘vegan nuts’ they have all you would ever need as a vegan and never leave you wanting more. You can check them out on infinity foods

Being a big fan of Keith Mann a former ALF organiser, this stand was very interesting. I bought the book “Dusk til dawn’ with a picture of Britches the tiny monkey part of the famous ALF rescue and will be reviewing it in a later post. The kid and his mum were lovely and very informed about Keith and his work. You can read more about him here the think bookshop .asp

Caroline was a little hung over but still very professional, she makes all her own vegan chocolate eggs and i couldnt resist buying one for my flat mate for Easter. I’ll be reviewing the egg, once consumed in a later post the chocolate alchemist

This charity is wonderful, they rescue and care for monkeys that are kept as pets in the UK, something that i couldnt belive was still happening here. I am going to pop down to visit them in the next couple of months monkey sanctuary

If you have read any of the other posts you will know that i wasnt too happy about the sentance dealt out to the SHAC members recently. I did ask how they are and the girl on the stand said that they are all doing well, but are all still in prison. I know alot of people find the methods that SHAC use distasteful but i have to say that the methods Huntingdon use are far more disgusting and disturbing. Go to the SHAC website to read about it.

Big shout out to conscious chocolate they are by far the most amasing vegan chocolate company. I took a few bars of the essentia organge oil and mint oil into work and my omnivorous workmates fell over themselves to munch down.

I also met the fantastic Karin Ridgers who runs ‘Mad Promotions’ and ‘Veggie Vision’, i had a great chat with Karin who was busy protecting a plate full of vegan cake and will be writing an article on ‘Veggie Vision‘.

I was very impressed with the Eco Garage, they sell electric cars and i for one think that the funky little orange numbers looked fab. Charging your phone and your car overnight seams like a good idea to me. I’ll go into more depth in a future post but for now click on the image to go through to the website.

I left the festival feeling inspired, the people there were active interesting individuals that spent their time doing and not procrastinating. It was a good feeling being one of them

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Brits - Pigs and Jamies mission to change it

After last nights superb ‘Chickens, Hugh and Tesco too’ where the Celebrity owner of River Cottage, Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall rallied support from Tesco shareholders to try and change the supermarkets ‘dark ages’ approach to ’standard chicken production’.

As part of the ‘Food fight series’, this Thursday sees celebrity chef Jamie Oliver do the same for the pig. Jamie is calling for UK consumers to boycott EU pork until they change their use of sow stalls. Sow stalls are vile contraptions that contain a female pig for around 16 weeks at a time, usually during pregnancies and during most of the piglets feeding. The stalls are so small that sows are unable to turn around, clean them selves and infact all they can do is lie down. Pigs aren’t the ‘dumb animals’ that we ‘the consumer’ are led to believe, they are extreamly intelligent animals that can solving complex puzzles.

In tests it has been shown that piglets can recognise themselves in mirrors, pigs can play video games better than chimpanzees and they show a level of not simply following commands but considering those commands and being creative with their thinking, showing an awareness of themselves.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver

The EU is not taking any action on removal of sow stalls until 2013, which Jamie considers is putting our UK pig farmers on an unfair playing feild and could mean that UK pork is soon off the menu forever.

The UK pig farming industry still have a long way to go before they meet the concerns of people like myself, when tail docking, tooth clipping and castration are all done on young pigs without anaestic in the UK and most pigs are still keep in doors, even though the labelling on the pork says “outdoor rearered’, and they arent given any kind of activities to stop them from becoming clinically depressed.

Sows trying to sleep in tiny sow stalls

I only hope that Jamie’s highlighting of the cruelty to pigs rasies an awareness to the plight of pigs and maybe make UK consumers think twice before buying EU pork in the future and consider the welfare of our own British pig.

When you see a pack of sausages next or grab a hotdog from the cinema, remember that that was in fact ta pig, a creature more intelligent than your dog and with their own personalities and foibles. (like Cinders, shown below who hates mud).

Piglet 'Cinders' wearing her pig wellies

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Peta’s on going fight against the fur trade moved to Yakami and is now on to Eugene . PETA spokesperson, Nicole Matthews “People have been driving by and giving us the thumbs up. We believe that people in Yakima are compassionate and will choose to go fur free and leave the animals out of their closet”.

Peta anti-fur demonstration

Minkbaby is totally apposed to the fur trade and were horrified by the recent comments of Karl Legerfeld

â??Fur? Oh fur, you know, as long as we wear leather and eat meat I donâ??t even discuss that,â?� he told the BBC in an interview. â??Personally I donâ??t wear fur.â?�

Legerfeld then went on to reason that the hunters who produce fur â??make a living having learnt nothing else than hunting, killing those beasts who would kill us if they could,â?� but that the â??beastsâ?� should be killed â??nicelyâ?� if possible. Um, right. For someone who for so long as been at the forefront of fashion, this guy  has absolutely no clue about fur farms.

PETA branded Legerfeld a fashion dinosaur and considering his opinons on fur it does seam to be true, he is totally detacted from the reality of the situation and considering the recent actions of DONNA KAREN to drop the use of fur, he will soon be left out in the cold.

Karl Legerfeld defends fur trade

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