Wednesday, October 24, 2007

VegFest and Lots of cookin'

Ok, so last Saturday I headed to the Boston Vegetarian Festival. In the morning I volunteered which entailed setting up chairs in the lecture rooms and setup of the children's area. Later, I helped exhibitors bring their products inside and locate their tables.

Getting to the fest early worked out to be a huge advantage. At 10am I started to wander around before it got too crowded. The first table I stopped by was Herbivore. Lolo was there and I said hi. Isa and Terry hadn't arrived yet.

I met some nice folks from Stark Sister's Granola. The Potent Foods people were friendly and their maca bars were mighty good. There were many tables showcasing awesome vegan baked goods. I steered clear as I am on junk food cut back. Later, I attended two of the lectures. The second one on nutrition labels was really eye opening. I'll likely post about it in the future.

Freebies this year were not as generous as previous years, but I guess you can't complain about free. I scored some mini Lara bars, tea, Trader's Joe's rice, some popcorn samples and a bunch of coupons.

After the lectures I headed back downstairs. The festival had gotten so crowded, it bordered on fire hazard. While I was glad to see so many people interested in vegetarianism, I was disappointed at the pushy, angry crowd. Many people must have been put off by the attitude. I looked over and saw Isa, Terry, and Veganomicon. The crowds were relentless though and I decided to leave. On the way out I grabbed some pumpkin ice cream from Wheeler's Vegan Ice Cream which will soon have a Cambridge location. If BVS sticks with the same location next year, I may have to skip it unless I stop by as soon as it opens.

That night over 20 PPKers met at Elephant Walk in Cambridge for dinner. It was a lot of fun to meet everyone.

I forgot my camera early in the morning, so unfortunately I have no pictures of the festival. How about some food pics to make up for it?

Apple Spice Cupcakes with Penuche Frosting (Terry's from VegNews)
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Cheezy Crackers from Celine's blog
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More Sourdough Pancakes (strawberry and regular)
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Since I'm on junkfood cut back, but wanted some pumpkin cookies... I adapted this recipe from The Healthiest Diet in the World Cookbook. They were originally chocolate chip cookies. I added 1 cup of pumpkin. Then used hazelnuts, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The cookies have oat flour, whole wheat flour, no refined sugar besides the choc chips (1/3 cup of maple syrup) and only 1 Tbl of oil! They are both hearty and yummy.

Healthy Pumpkin Chip cookies
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When I was hiking on Sunday, I saw the coolest tree ever.

10 comments:

Ashasarala said...

Heya! I was at the Veggie Fest as well and the crowds made it almost unbearable. I agree with you that while the growth of interest in vegetarianism is exciting and wonderful, the pushy, over-crowded, irritated mess was not. I'm hoping they have it in a bigger place next year.

Those apple spice cupcakes look delish. They're perfect for fall!

Vegan_Noodle said...

What a beautiful tree! And a fun time at vegfest. Seems everyone thought it was a bit overcrowded. Freebies are always nice though! And am definitely interested in hearing what you learned about label reading!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

so lucky you got to go to VegFest - even if it WAS overcrowded, haha.

And WOW, those cupcakes, cookies, EVERYTHING, look positively scrumptious! :0)

The photograph of that tree reminded me just how much I love the autumn season... gorgeous foliage.

Rachael said...

you know, I lived in Boston for 20 years and I never went to vegfest. I kinda suck. Glad it was a (sorta) good time though!

I just got your comment about being in Ithaca...my setting got all screwed up and I wasn't getting comment notifications. Sorry! Next time you are in the area or whatever, drop me a line.

VeganHeartDoc said...

Hey there! I volunteered at the Vegfest last year, and if it was in the Reggie Lewis (?) center again, then that's a totally ridiculous place to hold it because you can barely move!!!

Hope you're well back in Massachusetts.

Unknown said...

Oooh yum all your food looks delish! I'm volunteering at a vegan festival next week. i can't wait!

Dori said...

Awesome tree! Looks like you have been a busy vegan activist, good for you and all of us actually!

I have gained the reputation as the "vegan" teacher. Some studnts have been introduced to this concept for the first time in their young lives.... even though I do not "preach teach" my presence seems to do that well enough this school year.

Dori said...

P.S. Glad you enjoyed your small batch canning!

bazu said...

Yeah... why the lack of freebies at the Veg Fest this year?

How cool, I went hiking that Sunday, too- your tree does indeed look awesome. As does your food, as always. Today, I'm going to attempt a whole spelt sourdough bread... stay tuned!

Jenna said...

That tree was pretty cool and those cupcakes were pretty yummy.

Happy blogging.