Yesterday was a hot one! My daughter and I went to enjoy some of the fruits of her hard work on the planning committee for the Twin Cities Veg Fest. She spent Saturday working on set up, and countless hours through the year as it was on again-off again-then on again. Basically, the festival promotes plant based, vegan eating with lots of food vendors, information and advocacy tents, and vendors selling vegan and cruelty free products. By 9:30 when we waited for the "we're open for business" greeting, we were already sweating. It was 85 degrees and full on sun by the time we left shortly before noon.
There were fewer vendors than last year, and a few that my daughter wanted to try were order ahead only, but we tasted some treats. We probably picked the most expensive place for delicious, but pretty small portions of a Nashville sandwich, which was more a slider size, and walking tacos, which really were vegan nachos made with lentils. We spent over $35 combined on those two items with tax and a tip. In my humble opinion, prices like that for small portions will make people that are on the fence about vegan eating think it is unaffordable. Yes festivals are always going to be pricey, but my daughters sandwich was four bites! On the other hand though, she got a beautiful looking dish of a soy and coconut based soft serve, with fresh fruit and granola for $6, which seemed much more reasonable. I'm not a huge ice cream eater and haven't quite liked the vegan versions much, so I passed. With the heat, I wasn't feeling like a lot of food anyway. We also got goodie bags though with more treats and samples, and tasted Lite Life(?) hotdogs, which were really good and I will add to my shopping list the next time I'm at Trader Joe's.
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| I gave edible treats to my daughter, but here are a couple things in our swag bags. |
Other than that, I didn't do much else but hang out with pup. We had nibbled on hummus and veggies during the game, and I used up the last of the sauce from the pizza hotdish and naan bread rounds from the freezer to make DH and I some little pizzas for supper. I took pup for a walk after 7:00 when it had cooled down considerably. It was a very pretty night outside, though the early sunset is sure a sign fall is coming. I did some organizing for the week ahead before getting a somewhat early night to bed. Unfortunately, my insomnia got the better of me, and I was wide awake for hours in the middle of the night-some reading eventually lulled me back, but I'm slow moving. I could use another Sunday in my week.
Sounds like a fun, though hot, time with your daughter!
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to find if I'm not near water, I'm not a hot weather person.
DeleteI'm sorry you are suffering with insomnia - it's awful isn't it. But I noticed it was such a pretty night last night - do you think it was a full moon? We have a vegan restaurant near me and I have to say the food was wonderful. I asked about cookery lessons but then covid hit and that has been put on hold for the time being. That being said, you're right, some of that stuff is pretty darn expensive and I can see that it would put quite a few people off!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter spends comparatively little for home groceries. It's the specialty products that are expensive. This sandwich though was tiny!
DeleteSorry your Vikings lost in OT, Sam! My Panthers are 2-0, and loving Sam Darnold at QB.
ReplyDeleteI often eat at vegan restaurants (they are very popular here) and buy vegan items at the grocery store. Vegan ice cream is okay, but I prefer sorbet/sorbetto (Italian style). It does sound like you had fun with your daughter sampling things, though. Too bad it was so pricey!
Not OT but final second loss with missed field goal. I get so frustrated! I don't mind the high prices on occasion- for once she could eat it all. Normally she has to create a meal with sides.
DeleteThe full moon is tonight, but last night the effects could happen. It was full enough. I slept one hour!
ReplyDeleteI swear, the vegans or vegetarians are going to kill me. I went to some sort of speech with meal afterwards. I refused to allow a plate to be brought to me and insisted on going to window and control what was going to be put on my plate. Someone said to try this vegan cheese and was about to plop some on my plate, saying, "This is good and it is made from cashews." Heaven forbid, I am allergic to cashews! They did not believe me and some rolled their eyes like I was lying. But, that is church folks, always in possession of the truth. There was little that I could eat because of allergies. Maybe if I did not have allergies, I could handle vegan food.
It sounds like you did have a good time. I love festivals, but cannot walk them.
Well, allergies aren't specific to a vegan diet, just the individual foods. My sister has a nut allergies, so my daughter doesn't bring food with nut products to pot lucks, or clearly notes them. The people we serving you were being ignorant.
DeleteWe have one of those vegan/veggie fairs in Walsall, too - the trouble is that most of it is just promoting meat substitutes full of E numbers and additives - maybe fine for recent converts but for lifelong non-meat eaters like me I don't see the point, I've never eaten bacon, ham or chicken so have no need to replicate the flavour and texture. I'm glad the one you visited had cookery demonstrations - people need to understand that a vegan/veggie diet can be cooked from scratch with easy to obtain vegetables and pulses and is cheaper than eating meat.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had a lovely day with your daughter though, despite the eye-watering cost of the food! xxx
The quality of the food form the food vendors was scratch cooked for the most part real ingredients/not formatted fake meat products. For example, her sandwich was a large mushroom. My nachos were a taco seasoned lentil mixture which I think I can replicate. My daughter spends relatively little on her diet-pulses, whole grains, veggies as you suggest and she is a very good cook.
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