Sean O'Callaghan of the Fat Gay Vegan blog. Photo by the author.
Unlike many food bloggers, he rarely features recipes (his partner Josh does most of the cooking), preferring the personality-led approach of fellow vegan internet stars Quarrygirl, Supervegan, and Vegansaurus. At a recent photo shoot for a Guardian article profiling vegans, O'Callaghan tells me he even refused to pose with a vegetable."It perpetuates tired old stereotypes, like you can only eat vegetables if you go vegan," he says. "That's why people don't do it. I'm not about that."The Guardian photographer ended up sending someone to a nearby vegan shop and O'Callaghan was pictured holding a chocolate bar instead.Yas! Cookie dough and salted caramel #vegan shake at @cookiesandscreambakery
A photo posted by Fat Gay Vegan (@fatgayvegan) on Sep 21, 2016 at 5:44am PDT
"I think that was an important message to send—that if you access veganism or if you decide to live vegan, it is not a joyless existence where you're never gonna have fun with food or anything ever again," he says. "If you want to, you can eat hamburgers. If you want to, you can eat raw food. If you want to, you can eat vegetables. But none of it is the product of animal suffering."Nor are we suffering. After tacos, we stop for drinks at Square Root London and vegan bakery Cupcakes & Shhht, who specialise in dairy-free freakshakes.READ MORE: Meet the Rastafarian Entrepreneur Bringing Vegan Caribbean Food to London
Vegan tacos at Club Mexicana in London's Camden Market. Photo courtesy Club Mexicana.
A downside of labelling himself "fat," O'Callaghan admits, is having people critique his body size, suggesting an overweight person isn't the best vegan representative."Sometimes I tell people to fuck off," he says.Other times, he responds with an explanatory blog post.
Likewise, Fat Gay Vegan events are about inclusion rather than judgement. Success for O'Callaghan includes a non-vegan coming to the odd event, and someone going 100-percent vegan."I'm not about shaming people into becoming vegan," he says. "I'm about them doing it in their own way and feeling like a good, happy, healthy person in the process."Leaving Camden Market, O'Callaghan tells me his favourite food is potatoes—"in any way." His dinner the previous day was crispy smashed potatoes with olive oil and vegetable salt, a warm tomato-spinach salad, cauliflower rice with tamari, and vegan sausage chunks. I start to wish there was a Fat Gay Vegan supper club."I'm fat, and I don't march around proud of it, but I march around saying, 'You don't have the right to make me feel shit because I feel fat.'"
O'Callaghan enjoys a vegan IPA. Photo by the author.