Ah, VegFest. A place to sample all kinds of delicious free goodies (including the latest innovations in vegan cheese--they're getting close!), buy vegan food and wares (especially t-shirts), and to see oodles of dogs.
There's humanity of all stripes: all ages, all ethnicities, all gradients of veg and non-veg. People of all abilities and gender identities. People who dress mainstream, people who dress alt.
All of these people love nachos. There were several places to get nachos. DC VegFest: come for the nachos....and the cannoli, and the samosas, and somewhere there were popsicles, but I never found where and I'm reducing the sugar in my diet anyways.
My point is, that if everyone brought their own forks and some cloth napkins, plus petitioned for organic waste bins to compost the event's waste, then we'd basically have a frickin' utopia. (See how much I've softened in my old age?)
Anywho, there were some nifty improvements this year. For one, they moved it to Sept. instead of Oct. so that you weren't shivering. They had lots of hand sanitizing stations. They had printouts of the vendors map attached to their large maps on wooden stilts. The goodies in the freebie bag seemed to be stepped up a notch. Apparently they're makin cereal from beans, and concentrated vegan "chicken" stock, and there's such a thing as packets of veg parmesan...Take a look for yourself:
All the vendors I wrote about last year where present, in addition to well-known veg places like Busboys and Poets, but I wanted to sample the available savory delicacies widely. I do not regret this.
Three Twisted Vegans
First off, you need to know that this was delicious. Second, you need to know that I accidentally squished it and made it ugly in terms of presentation. Third, ugly food often tastes the best.
While I waited in their swarmed line, I read a DCist article on them. They've gotten some good press, and they definitely deserve it.
ATTENTION omnivore America: those vegan weirdos are making some amazing burger patties. As a former carnivore, I am actually rather blown away. If I gave this burger to my hillbilly daddy, he'd think I'd found knock-off McD's. Their "OG sauce" is a good replica of a certain secret sauce. Bonus: their pickles are properly thick pickle slices; none of that limp, paper-thin shit. Herald in the golden age of vegan junk food already.
Pep Foods
I'd never heard of them. Apparently they are "a collective of vegan businesses in the Baltimore, MD area." They had vegan cheese steaks and offered jalapenos on the side. I don't need to be called twice.
Since this was the first thing I got, and I was very hungry, I forgot to snap a pic of the vegan sliced beef. Hence, it looks like a veggie sandwich instead of a cheese steak. Don't let anyone ever tell you hunger doesn't inhibit concentration and priority-setting.
Everlasting Life Cafe
The food truck version of Woodland's Vegan Bistro. I know I said earlier I wanted to sample widely, but I sure as hell don't want to miss out on vegan collards and mac. A familiar dinner is highly necessary.
Here are some nifty stickers I collected:
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