The 6th annual NYC Vegetarian Food Festival, a two day event, was this past weekend at the Metropolitan Pavilion. This weekend-long experience celebrates healthy, eco-friendly, vegan foods and lifestyle.
It was lots of fun, with expert speakers, innovative food demos, kids activities, and of course, an abundance of yummy eats and treats! Food caterers and eateries were there, including The Cinnamon Snail, Marty’s V Burger, Freakin’ Vegans, and Yeah Dawg, just to name a few. There were food products galore with samples to try.
It’s all about the food, until it’s all about something else – cruelty-free vegan apparel, fashionable handbags, personal care products, etc. Charitable organization were there, like Catskill Animal Sanctuary, the Coalition for Healthy School Foods, Sea Shepard Conservation Society and more – all providing valuable information, educating and inspiring compassion.
There were dozens of speakers and presenters that included (among others) professional athletes, like vegan boxer Omowale Adewale and champion cyclist Christine Vardaros, vegan chefs, plant-based doctors (food is medicine), entrepreneurs running successful vegan businesses, the legendary Gene Baur, President of Farm Sanctuary.
Vegan Food isn’t just Great for for being Vegan, it’s just plain Great Food Period.
Here are just some of our food highlights.
Hodo Soy gave out samples of their yummy tofu and yuba noodles with recipe cards. They are not distributing nationwide yet. Check their website for locations.
Fast food chain, Fresh & Co, has great vegan options featured at their locations throughout the city. Everything is clearly labeled vegan. They use Beyond Meat vegan products. They had the most delicious beet sliders! …a little bite of heaven, a party in your mouth!
FINALLY, the wait was over! I got to try the infamous Yeah Dawg, vegan hot dog. I love that these dawgs are made of whole plant-based foods – beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, gluten-free flours, herbs & spices. So many toppings too! I went with the classic dog but this one here is fully loaded with kale salad, coconut ‘bacon’, cashew aioli.
There’s a relatively new vegan cheese shop and eatery in Brooklyn, Riverdel. They sell all kinds of plant-based cheeses, and sandwiches too.
They had a vegan grilled cheese sandwich that was too die for! I kid you not. In fact, my friend refused to wait for me to take a photo before demolishing half of it. Here’s all I was able to capture on film!
So these guys, the Freakin’ Vegans, make freakin’ awesome vegan epanadas. These are no-joke fabulous! We sampled the top three listed here and loved them all.
And on to the sweets…
There’s a new bakery in town, Confectionary, located in the LES (lower east side) in Manhattan (right next to one of the best vegan burger joints, Superiority Burger). They had their macaroons – a s’mores macaroon!?!! Get the F*&^ outta town! While I didn’t try them, I plan to make a trip there in a New York minute.
NYC Vegetarian Food Festival co-founder, Sarah Gross, has another company, Rescue Chocolate. Rescue Chocolate not only rescues you from your sweet cravings, they help save and better the lives of animals. A percentage of proceeds goes to an animal rescue organization. A new organization is chosen every month. My favorite chocolate bar is the Peanut Butter Pit Bull pictured here. She has three new bars out now for white chocolate lovers.
Then there’s Nicobella Organics. They make delicious chocolates including these healthier truffles and peanut butter chocolate squares.
Cruelty-Free Vegan Lifestyle Companies
The cruelty-free, vegan, eco-friendly company, Fanciful Fox, makes awesome soaps, lip balms, scrubs, lotions and more bath and skin-care products to make sure your taking care of the outside of you as much as the inside. They do smell delicious enough to eat though. The Fanciful Fox has a store in Brooklyn so when in town you can check them out there. I love their slogan #MakeSoapNotWar and their signage, “Tested on Dirty Vegans Not Animals.”
Until next year… Eat & live compassionately! Let us know if there’s anything you’d like to see more of here on the blog – recipes, info, resources? We’re here for you and want to make the world a better place for all! 🙂
Xoxo,
Sharon
Leave a Reply