VegBlogger - a vegan / vegetarian blog

2011 Central Florida VegFest Re-Cap

Last weekend was the 2011 Central Florida VegFest (held in Orlando). We attend the event each year and enjoy going. The hardest part about going to the VegFest is deciding which foods to eat. There are so many things to choose from!

This year at VegFest we went for the Indian food (again), as well as sampled some other things throughout the day, such as vegan mac and cheese, vegan kielbasa, and vegan cupcakes. All of it was great!

Here's some pictures from this year's VegFest (which is really a food fest for us, becuase each year we chow down!).

I didn't know it would be there, but look... it's my veg kid brochure out on the resource table for parents. How cool!!!

My daughter spotted this sticker on the car and thought it was hilarious. :)

Seeing Wayne Pacelle (HSUS) Speak in New Smyrna Beach

Tonight I went to see Wayne Pacelle speak at the New Smyrna Beach Library here in Florida. If you are
 not familiar with him, he's the president of the Humane Society of the United States. He has a new book that has recently been released, called "The Bond: Our Kinship With Animals, Our Call to Defend Them." This speech tonight was a stop on his cross-country book tour.

I went with an open mind, because I know that the HSUS usually promotes animal welfare, moreso than animal rights. And I was hoping that he wouldn't just speak about the bond people have with cats and dogs. Wayne and I are on the same side when it comes to the fact that we both love animals and want people to extend compassion to them.

There were a lot of people that showed up at the library to see him speak. I took the opportunity right off to meet him, let him know I was from the Daytona Beach Vegetarian Society, and get my picture taken with him (wich came out really blurry because it was a camera phone).

I have to say that I was very happy with his speech tonight. He did talk about the bond with cats and
 dogs, but he also made sure to focus on food choices in a variety of ways. I was really happy about that. He said a lot of good things that I hope resonate with some of the people that attended.

He said that we all have a bond with animals, but with some people it is just more pronounced. He also explained to people how we in the U.S. kill 10 billion land animals per year for food and that if everyone just cut back 10 percent it would save 1 billion animals per year. That's huge!

He also talked about how each meal we eat has moral implications and getting our morals and values in line with our actions. For example, most people have a bond with and love animals, yet they end up making choices daily (sometimes several times each day) that will either lead to, or help avoid harming animals.

Overall, great speech and very pleasant event. I do plan to read his book and I will post a review of it once I do. If he comes to your area, I highly recommend sitting in on it!

My Vegan BBQ Bash Vision Comes to Fruition

As many of you know, I started the Daytona Beach Vegetarian Society several years back. Over the last
 year we have done educational outreach events every month, in an effort to raise awareness about vegetarianism.

Last January I had vision of an event I wanted to pull off. I wanted to hold our "1st Annual Vegan BBQ Bash" and invite the public. My mission was to hold it in October and make it a celebration of Vegetarian Awareness Month. So we talked about it, planned for it, and put it on the calendar.

This past weekend it came to fruition! My vision was played out in the community. We invited the community enjoy an all vegan BBQ celebration, and they came. More than 100 people (overwhelmingly not vegetarians) from the community came out to it and it was wonderful!

There are many people in communities who hand out vegan food samples, which is great. But that's not what I wanted to do with this event. Giving someone one sample of a piece of vegan food doesn't get them to want to go vegan or believe they can enjoy an entire meal based on vegan foods. Our vegan BBQ did!

We had three picnic tables filled with vegan foods. People ate and enjoyed an entire vegan meal. Then we spoke to let them know that we just proved to them that they can enjoy an entire vegan meal and get tasty foods and never miss eating animals. Eating a cruelty free meal is not only do-able, but it was tasty and fun!

What an amazing event. So many people attending and thanking us. Plus, we handed out loads of information on veganism. I can't wait to do it again next year! You can see all the pictures from this event by going here.