Vegan Interrogated: Tamsyn

Name: Tamsyn
Location: UK
Website/blog: www.facebook.com/velvetvolcano.jewellery
www.etsy.com/shop/velvetvolcano

A little about yourself:
I'm a 23 year old vegan of 5 years, jewellery maker and all around craft-a-holic. I spend my time with my vegan partner and our furbabies Cali & Percy (jack russell and collie respectively).

What made you decide to go vegan?
I'd been vegetarian for about a year and it was just the obvious next step for me. As soon as I went veggie I started looking into animal rights a lot more, watching things like 'Meet Your Meat' etc (and eventually Earthlings etc).. i'd always been an animal lover (perhaps a misguided one at that) so the things I was seeing were completely devastating to me. I felt so guilty that I was still contributing to such a horrible industry and went vegan after watching 2 videos on dairy.

Who/what inspires you?
Other vegans, totally! I'm continuously learning from other vegans (and I hope some of that may work the other way too..) :).

Dumbest question someone asked you about being vegan.
Are you sure you're getting enough iron/calcium/protein (insert nutrient here ;) )? YES!
You can also use a nutrient checker like cron-o-meter to see where you're at with your nutrient intakes :D - really helpful.

Do you have any advice for people toying with the idea of becoming a vegan?
Just do it! :D If you need any sources, these are always what I list when others ask me about veganism -
http://www.vegankit.com/
Gary Yourofsky - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4
Earthlings - http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6361872964130308142
Dr Klaper, Foods that Kill - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1549763175867837730
Finding Vegan - http://www.findingvegan.com/

Go Max Go Candy Bars

One thing I missed a lot when I went vegan was candy bars (though probably best for my waistline that they weren't so readily available to me anymore!). I used to love Snickers, 3 Musketeers, Butterfinger and Milky Way but all those went the way of the wind when I became vegan.

By happy accident about 6 months ago I discovered Go Max Go Foods who make delicious vegan (and some gluten-free) chocolate candy bars. They have versions resembling some of my past favorite candy, though theirs are by far superior (and cruelty-free, so even better!). Here are the goods:

Cleo's: peanut butter cups
Snap!: crisped rice bar
Jokerz: peanuts, nougat & caramel
Buccaneer: chocolate nougat
Twilight: nougat & caramel
Mahalo: coconut & almonds
*Coming Soon: Thumbs Up: crispy peanut butter

I love supporting vegan businesses, especially ones that truly appreciate their customers. All you have to do is check out their Fan Page on Facebook to see how warm and amazing these guys are.

A couple months ago I left a message on their page suggesting a vegan version of a Butterfinger and to my happy surprise they responded that is was already in the works - OH HAPPY DAYS!! It really doesn't take much to get me excited. I have been counting the days until they release it.

Another super happy surprise is when I won their candy giveaway contest a couple weeks ago and received one of each of their candy bars (including a sample of the new Thumbs Up bar!!). Super excited. I had already grown to love Jokerz, Twilight, and Buccaneer (and would even make special trips to Whole Foods when I was craving them - I love my candy y'all) but this gave me the opportunity to try Cleo's peanut butter cups and Snap! crisped rice bar. Both excellent, but holy cow the Cleo's is AMAZING! Unlike other peanut butter cups, who's filling tends to be flaky and only somewhat resemble actual peanut butter, you bite into Cleo's and REAL ooey gooey delicious peanut butter awaits you. Yum.

I saved the Thumbs Up bar for last because I was so excited to try it I wanted to savor the moment. It did not disappoint folks. Crispy peanut buttery center covered in delectable rice milk chocolate. What has two thumbs and loves this new Thumbs Up bar?? THIS GIRL! Can't wait until I can get it in the stores (sorry waistline).