VegFest 2011, Asheville, NC
Today was Asheville's first annual VegFest, a celebration of veg food, healthy living and animal rights. (To be clear, all the food was vegan though many of the restaurants do serve vegetarian food as well on location.) Booths and vendors lined the downtown street selling food, some giving out free samples, animal rescue shelters and sanctuaries providing info and a whole kid's section with games and activities. There were a few speakers slated throughout the day but let's be real, the highlight was the food.
We started off the day with a hot dog. Avery's Hot Dogs
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| toppings: chili, hummus, slaw, kraut, onions, ketchup, mustard, bbq, texas pete relishes: sweet pickle, jalapeno, pineapple, chicago (check out the link for info on the chicago relish) |
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| awesome tofu hot dog: classic kraut and mustard, $5 |
The beers are Highland Brewery's Gaelic Ale. Highland is a fully vegan brewery located in Asheville, NC.
Next up was Green Light Cafe
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| green light's vegfest menu |
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| the road not taken. girl ahead of us in line let us take a pic of her tacos |
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| tempeh reuben - choice! great bread, great flavors |
Veg-In-Out was the next stop for some freebies. Veg-In-Out is a vegan bulk delivery meal service. They were generous with their samples of tofu jambalaya and chocolate coconut macaroons.
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| I scarfed down the jambalaya but savored the macaroon :) |
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| it was sweet and cool and somehow dense and light at the same time. yum! |
Ice cream was a must-get on this clear, sunny 95degree day. (that's 35c for the international crowd) The Hop is an ice cream shop in Asheville with loads of non-dairy ice creams, ice cream cakes, milkshakes....
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| strawberry sorbet and vanilla latte almond flavors |
I purchased some tofu from the good folks at the Twin Oaks Tofu booth. Can't wait to try them!
Here's some other fun stuff and a few places I didn't get to try.
Veggie Love is a raw/vegan chef/caterer. She'll be food truckin' it soon.
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| Veggie Love showin off the goods |
Pretzel Man - damn these look good!
The Laughing Seed Cafe was giving out mini mango/strawberry/mint smoothies. I went back for seconds. Plus they were handing out "free appetizer" cards too so that's cool. As I was shoving people out of the way for politely requesting another smoothie I ran into this little guy.
How did the owner come to procure said marmoset you ask? Well this particular gentleman won him. In a game of Connect Four! Yes, he put up his car against the marmoset in what I presume was an intense and sweat-drenched match. And now he is the proud owner of this photogenic little creature. (not vegan - he eats insects) If you're curious, the sale price for a marmoset like this is $2500. Then when my VegFest buddy showed some interest in Connect Four as in, "oh yeah I love that game", the Marmoset Owner says, "Do you wanna play? I have the game in my car. How about I put up $50 to your $10. You win, I'll give you 50 bucks, I win, you just give me 10." A Connect Four hustler! Tempting but we backed away from that one real quick.
Big thanks to WIC for the fun and the photos. (and for keeping the day snark-free)
Thanks to the Asheville Vegetarians and Goat Mountain Sanctuary for a delicious day.
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