I've been meaning to write this up since September-it's Feb now, so I think I'm still on schedule LOL! By now, I've probably forgotten all the important details and won't do it any justice at all-but I have to put the pictures somewhere so here goes! I got wind through VegNews (my favorite vegetarian lifestyle magazine) that the biggest vegetarian event in North America (The Toronto Vegetarian Food Fair) was going to be within two hours of me! Road trip! Now I just had to find someone who would share my enthusiasm for a vegan themed road trip, ha! It happened to be right around my birthday, so I was able to guilt my best friend Jules into going with me. Jules is a DJ, so she mixed us a great road trip mix and we were off. After getting lost three times, and paying $20 for parking-we arrived in downtown Toronto.
The event was huge, live music, vendors, samples and FOOD!
Vegan food the likes of which I had never dreamed of. I am chronically indecisive, so often only having one or two options on a menu is actually a benefit to me. Not here, and making choices took forever! We finally decided on an amazing Asian bonanza. Faux shrimp, "pork" skewers, curry buns and on and on. In addition to glutinous sampling, we had chocolate churros, vegan baking.
There were all kids of cool things to check out-the country's only vegetarian food bank, vegan grocer, farm sanctuaries, charities, bed and breakfasts, b12 shots, books, clothing, and a farmers market!
One of the hardest things was choosing what to spend your money on!
They also had things like people in chicken costumes-it's how you know it's a party!
First up was a cooking demo with Terry Hope Romero, who co-wrote some of my most worshiped cookbooks!
Her newest "Viva Vegan" is full of Latin lovelies, and we got to sample coconut pumpkin soup. She did autographing after her demo, but I was too yellow bellied to go up and talk to her. I was worried I might cry, barf, pee, get verbal diarrhea or some other stupid thing that one does when meeting one of their heroes. Next, we sat in on a lecture by Harold Brown-once a farm boy and now a vegan advocate. To be honest, we initially went in because we were hoping to get good seats for the next talk, but he was awesome! I have roots in cattle farming too, so it was great to hear from another who was even more involved. More info on him is
here!
Next up was a talk by
Carol J Adams, the author of the groundbreaking work "The Sexual Politics of Meat" and a vegan since way before it was cool. Carol was wonderful, intelligent, and brought up so many issues that I hadn't even thought of.
She is amazing and inspirational and I'm so thrilled we got the chance to meet her. As the night wore down, we kept seeing people walking by with these amazing looking ears of grilled corn and knew it was our destiny. We stood in line, and enjoyed the ambiance of the tent-Reggae music, Rastafarians and corn chowder-it doesn't get any better than that.
Grilled corn, earth balance vegan butter and "love spice"-perfection! Here's where I'll end it-full tummies, soft breeze over the harbor, surrounded by beautiful people who share my passion, twinkling lights and the big city skyline.
Best.roadtrip.ever!
