VegFest Seattle 2010

Seattle's annual VegFest was held last weekend, and naturally, my Sprouts and I had to make our yearly pilgrimage to test, taste, sample and learn about all the new products being marketed at vegans, vegetarians and those interested in healthy living...


We even brought a van-load of (fairly willing and curious) friends, and while they aren't vegetarian, they still enjoyed the experience and came away with loaded goody bags and full tummies and (hopefully) some new ideas.


As a VegFest veteran, I've watched food and marketing trends come and go, (one year there were 42 hummus samples available!) but this year, my one-sentence assessment of VegFest would have to be: "Too many energy-drinks!" Wow.
I enjoy an occasional green-smoothie or meal replacement shake... but I prefer to make my own, out of fresh, raw fruits and veggies, thank you - without a two-paragraph list of ingredients and the ultra-spendy cost-per-drink that comes with the little nutrition-filled packets of whatever they were selling. I'm sure they appeal to someone. Just not me.


Nevertheless, there was plenty of other good veggie-feasting going on: burgers, dogs, dips, sauces, chips, dressings, tofu, breads (stay tuned for a BREAD-filled blog post soon) as well as our family's two long-time favorites: the good people at Field Roast and Dave's Killer Bread.

Through a FaceBook Fan Page promotion, my kids (AND their friends) read about Dave's Secret Password and they all scored awesome tee-shirts AND a picture with Dave himself, which TOTALLY made their day.

Let me tell you, this was a brilliant PR idea, as the kids are now wearing the shirts EVERYWHERE and insisting that their friends MUST try Dave's bread and furthermore, "...promise you'll ONLY eat Dave's bread from now on, because the stuff rocks and so does Dave and ALL the cool people eat it - duh!..." (their quote, not mine). It is good stuff indeed.

Field Roast was showcasing their "meatloaf" and had samples crumbled and seasoned into a "taco-meat" which was amazing (and the l-o-n-g lines can attest to!). Rumor has it (read their blog) they did sliders and sloppy joes earlier in the weekend, those would have been yummy too!
With the entourage of restless and wandering teenagers, (and I apologise to the Lara-Bar people, apparently some of us *ahem* may not have listened to the very stern and strict vendors at your booth and *may* have have come away with more than just "one" teeny tiny sample...) we didn't pause long enough to catch the speakers or presentations, though they had some good ones, as always; As a side note of trivia, one of the presenters, Dr. Helmuth Fritz, is a good friend of my parents, so it was cool to see him there.

I also ran into a lot of people I knew from work, church, FaceBook, Twitter, fellow blogger-friends (like the creative minds behind the Soundly Vegan blog - they spent the day volunteering there!) as well as quite a few readers who randomly recognized me from this blog. (*waves*).

It was a fun day for everyone, vegetarians, vegans and otherwise. It was great to see ALL of you, and if you're in the Seattle area next Spring, by all means consider checking out this fun festival of all things vegie-licious!

Seattle VegFest 2009

The Big Day dawned grey and drizzly, no surprise for Seattle weather and definitely not significant enough to keep the faithful from their journey. (OK, maybe I'm rhapsodising a bit too much...)

But, OH MY!!
The things we saw. The foods we tasted. The people we talked to. The facts we learned. Most of all... the FUN WE HAD!!
Seattle's Vegfest is the largest vegetarian-food festival in the country, with 14,000 visitors last year.

I realize my ramblings may seem a bit redundant, 'cause I've blogged about previous year's VegFests here and here and on and on... and I do tend to get carried away.

But I'm excited to share this year's adventure, as my perspective is somewhat different...

See... instead of the usual group of fellow vegans/vegetarians, I branched out and brought several friends who are definitely not vegetarian, as well as a crew of teenagers, (including my daughter who actually IS vegetarian - I had to have SOME support after all!).

And of course, Barbie came along for the ride, and she may have upstaged me, as she has her OWN blog!! (Fine Barbie, then take your own PICTURES too!!!)

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So without further ado, here's the part you're wanting to read anyway, a sampling of what we sampled:

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One of my favorites first: (OK, everything was a favorite) Best vegan treats in Seattle - at least in my book. Mighty-O Doughnuts. Yes, you CAN be vegan and indulge in sugary, fried pastry goodness!

The picture doesn't do them justice. Wish you could have been there.

A Vegetarian Festival isn't complete without tofu of course, and this is hands down the Best Tofu in the World that I know of.

Small Organic Planet Tofu:

I LOVE this tofu so much! I could be their spokesperson!

I spent quite a while chatting with the owner, "Tofu Phil" who started the company in 1992. They're a small LOCAL artisan tofu company and truly do make the most amazing and delicious tofu I've EVER had. (From a blogger called Tofu-Mom, I think that's the ultimate compliment right there.)

As I've whined about before, my budget doesn't allow specialty items very often, but this is worth it! I can GUARANTEE the price is worth it - my favorite would be the Curry flavored. Even if you *think* you don't like tofu, give theirs a try. At least once. Or ten times. (They're coming out with a new Lemongrass-Ginger variety that I can't WAIT to get a hold of!!)

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Moving on, another of our favorite vendors was Dave, of Dave's Killer Bread. We make sure to visit every year. Go to his website, read his story. Be amazed.

Oh, and try some bread too, you'll never, ever want any other bread. It's been our family's favorite for over a year now. And sorry to tempt those of you who live far, far away... it's a local (Portland) thing.

Dave totally charmed my daughter by posing with Barbie for her blog. You'll have to visit Barbie's Blog to see more.

As a bit of trivia? Dave and I attended the same high school. All the more reason I love his bread :)

Weirdest and most "Un-Vegan-Like" item: "Cavi-Art vegetarian Caviar," made from seaweed. The kids were braver than I was, too fish-egg realistic for me, and I tried it last year, so I'm exempt, aren't I? While my daughter wasn't impressed, her friend Tanner almost liked it, I think.

Best Hummus out of 272829282827 varieties we tried. (Why do these events always attract yet ANOTHER vendor who thinks they have the best hummus out there?)

Well, Maloula's Garden Garlic Hummus was honestly really awesome stuff - definitely stood out from the crowd. That's high praise coming from a hummus-snob like myself who really never eats store-bought. Another local product too!!

We don't remember what this green drink is. My daughter thinks it was a hemp-something-or-other, but I think it looks more like one of the many green drinks being sampled (way too many since I'm NOT a fan of green drinks!!). We all cheered her on for being brave enough to try it!!

And speaking of green, I'd like to take a moment to point out our NAILS, which we'd thoughtfully painted a nice eco-friendly GREEN color in honor of today!

Last, but definitely NOT least, my wonderful friends over at Field Roast!! OK, not friends, like good-buddy-pals, but I consider them such, all the same. They always recognize me from my blog and are SO friendly. They're an amazing, tasty and again LOCAL company! Last year they even gave me a great Field Roast tee shirt - I should have worn it today!!

Field Roast was sampling their new MEATLOAF which will be available in stores in a month or so. EXCELLANT and as you'd expect - SO tasty!! Too bad I got a crap picture. It didn't taste like crap, I swear!!

We ended the day with full tummies, a little craziness and way too many new and tasty ideas. My friend Tanya became particularly attached to the Mighty-O donuts sticker. We just pretended she wasn't with our group.

If you're ever in Seattle around the end of March, VegFest is an AWESOME destination.