Tony Bishop-Weston

Tony Bishop Weston - Consultant Development Executive Chef

Tony Bishop-Weston Executive Developmental vegan chef with vegan cookbook

Tony Bishop-Weston started work in his family's West London Delicatessen in Chiswick at the age of 5 in the 1960's

His love of food was nurtured as the huge gas ovens fired out his mum's home cooked delicious feasts such as pies, cheesecake, quiches, pates, pizzas, sausage rolls and bread pudding.

Meanwhile down in the huge Victorian cellars of Durbin & Allwrights there were cheeses from all over the world, not just Europe but the far flung corners of the British Empire, the great pretenders from the commonwealth countries of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. From Norwegian Jarlsberg to New Zealand cheddar, from French Roquefort to Dorset Blue Vinney black wax cheddars from Canada the start and the source of Tony's cheese addiction.

Life after deli was exciting with various dalliances with the tourism industry working for tour operators and travel agents in London, marketing companies such as Burnham Marketing and a bit of import and export at Heathrow for an international airfreight/ sea freight forwarder and distribution company.

After being lured back into catering by Jean Urquhart's notorious Ceilidh Place and John Grant and Laurie Chiltern’s Frigate Restaurant in Ullapool, Scotland, Tony attempted to create a more affordable, more accessible, vegan version of the legendary Gourmet mecca Altnaharrie Inn.

Hospitality

He established a Vegetarian guesthouse on the shore of Lochbroom in the old lochside village store Taigh Na Mara (house by the sea) and went on to win a string of awards for ingenious catering and sustainable hospitality including the Vegetarian Society Hotel of the year, Vegan Society caterer of the year and awards from The Scottish Tourist Board and Federation of Small Businesses. Tony was featured in every national newspaper including the Observer Sunday colour supplement, was filmed by Grenada TV for a mini documentary on escaping the rat-race and regularly popped up on national radio.

Publishing

Tony’s first cookbook Rainbows and Wellies The Taigh Na Mara cookbook published by Findhorn Press was truly ground-breaking featuring ‘Scottish Highland Gourmet Farmhouse Fusion Vegan Cooking’ and amazing photos from John Charity and Robin Gillanders

Training

Various vegan Taste of Scotland training courses and workshops were arranged in partnership with HIDB, HIE, HOST and STB to explain the concept of plant based catering and the marketing potential.

Media

After a brief stint at Lochbroom FM as the marketing manager and breakfast/drivetime radio presenter Tony made his way back south via the Lake District and the Cockatoo Inn in Cockermouth, Cumbria.

Licensing and Development

The volunteer sector charity culture at The Vegetarian Society in Manchester took some getting used to but Tony found many ways to make a difference as Business Development Officer and bending and stretching things without breaking anything valuable. Key achievements were moves towards more web-based marketing with Su Taylor, Vegsoc Awards and Gala Dinner with Sam Calvert, an improved presence at retail trade, catering and consumer shows and tightening up licensing definitions in grey areas.

Public Relations

The first two stories to hit Tony’s desk when he joined The Vegan Society as PR and Marketing Manager were ‘Vegan kills Dutch Politician’ and ‘Vegan starves baby to death’. He was informed by journalists they weren’t even allowed to use the word vegan unless they were talking about a fanatic.

He joined a young straight out of the packet team led by an inspired CEO Rick Savage on loan from HM Treasury. They transformed the Vegan Society kicking and screaming into a charity that focused on what it was for rather than what it was against (apart from that Against Animal Tasting T Shirt rehashed from the Taigh Na Mara merchandising back catalogue).  New magazine with Vegilantics for kids, new recipes, new merchandise, new leaflets, new clients, new logos, new awards, new websites, new look animal free Shopper, new volunteers, new outreach to retailers, caterers and consumers , new relationships with FSA, FDF, Salon Culinaire, celebrities, international vegan societies and a star studded Diamond Jubilee awards Gala dinner at The Tower of London.

Nutrition & Health

Following Tony’s marriage to ex Cranks Vegetarian Restaurant operations director turned nutritionist Yvonne Bishop, he helped set up Foods for Life Health and Nutrition Consultancy. Together they wrote The Vegan Cookbook to mark The Vegan Society Diamond Jubilee.

 Yvonne is now a high profile UK Nutritionist regularly appearing on TV, on Radio and in print. Clients include BT, Vitabiotics, British Frozen Food Federation, Health Food Manufacturers Association, Leon Restaurants,  Esure and The Vegetarian Society

Brand Development

Tony helped launch the ‘World’s healthiest chocolate’ with Plamil Foods – a sugar free chocolate with omega 3 rich hempseed, develop the world’s first DHA EPA Omega 3 vegan fish oil alternative,  assist Fry’s Family Foods with greater reach into the UK market for their fast food beef and chicken superior vegan meat alternatives, work with Lush Cosmetics to be more vegan and support Vegusto UK to bring their award winning Swiss dairy free vegan cheeses to the UK market. He has worked with Vegfest UK for over 10 years on a quest to vegducate ordinary people about the health, environmental and ethical benefits of a vegan lifestyle.

The Vegan Cookbook

 The Vegan Cookbook was originally written to mark 60 years of veganism and has now been reformattted into an A5 book and kindle version selling at less than half it's original price.

With an emphasis on delicious and nutritious the cookbook contains a wide range of recipes for a vegan diet including breakfasts such as vegan pancakes, omelette and dairy free vegan cheese dishes. Dessert recipes include chocolate brownies and Black Forest chocolate cake

 

Ordering The Vegan Cook Book

A5 Paperback version - The Vegan Cookbook paperback version - Buy Now £4.79

Kindle version also available -
The Vegan Cookbook on Kindle - Buy Now £3.99

USA Edition  $8.99 A5 paperback $6.85 Kindle version: -

 

Tony Bishop-Weston can be found on

Twitter 

https://twitter.com/BishopWeston

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TonyBishopWeston.Author

Linked In

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonybishopweston

Blog

http://veganworldwidenews.blogspot.co.uk