Volunteers for animals are taking vegan food to the streets, and proving that it’s never been easier to create satisfying animal-free meals and snacks.
Last month, members of Compassion over Killing brought Gardein chicken nuggets, veggie hotdogs, vegetables with dips, cinnamon toast with Tofutti cream cheese, quesadillas made with Daiya cheese, and dairy-free chocolate milk to hundreds of children at the Beryl Heights Elementary School Kinder-Carnival in mid-June. According to Jaya Bhumitra, who coordinated the event, “the kids kept coming back for more, quickly devouring our more than 500 samples.” Parents were impressed, too—and happy to see their children enjoying healthy food that is readily available in local stores.
At the Westwood Subway restaurant near UCLA, the group handed out more than 400 samples of Tofurky sandwiches. It’s part of their WeLoveSubway campaign which aims to get Subway to offer veggie meat options.
Finally, students at the West Adams Preparatory High School who attended the school’s International Issues Advocacy Fair had a chance to taste a variety of vegan pizzas, including Hawaiian, Margherita, and Philly Cheese Steak from Cruzer Pizza in Los Angeles.
According to Mercy for Animals, another advocacy group that employs vegan feed-ins as part of their outreach, these efforts work because they showcase what is available rather than putting the focus on what vegans don’t eat. Earlier in the year MFA volunteers braved frigid temperatures in New York City to prove that vegan food is comfort food. Even local police officers enjoyed the dairy-free hot chocolate with vegan marshmallows.
Members of VegasVeg took their vegan fare to a local dog festival to bring their message about compassionate food choices to animal lovers. With funding from the VegFund, and a variety of donated foods, they gathered together 500 samples including cupcakes, savory pastry puffs, sandwiches and cookies which were well received by festival-goers who asked for recipes and admitted that they hadn’t realized how good vegan food can taste.
Minneapolis-based group Compassionate Action for Animals also uses food giveaways as part of their outreach. Last year, they took more than 30,000 samples of Boca Burgers, Smart Dogs and vegan cookies to Grand Old Days, the Midwest’s largest one-day festival. Events of this size take vegan feed-ins to a whole new level. The grilling and prep stations had to pass three safety inspections before volunteers could hand out food. The effort was well worth it, though, since 20,000 local residents got to taste delicious vegan food that kept them coming back for seconds.
According to the group’s website, one of the best ways to get people to consider vegetarian and vegan diets is to “show them how scrumptious animal-free food can really be.”
For information about planning your own feed-in, Compassion over Killer offers these guidelines.
Virginia Messina is a dietitian specializing in vegan nutrition. Her new book is Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-based Diet. Learn more about vegan nutrition by reading her blog TheVeganRD, or by following her twitter.
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