Florida Vegan Gourmet Food Festival offered a diverse assortment of food and products. – Photos by Twisted Tripod Photography
a meatless Monday and work our way to vegan breakfast, lunch,
it or not, I suspect that many people have seasons of veganism
like Beyoncé, and then realize they feel and look amazing (also
Beyoncé), and keep it up at least part of the time. For example,
I had a friend that ate vegan and then took a break to eat small
amounts of her traditional cultural food on special occasions. I
personally think this is awesome if it is your choice to eat this
way. I have also been in the position where I did not want to eat
animal-based foods and was then pressured or teased into eating
food that I didn’t want to eat and regretted it later.
My mother and I have had many discussions and dinner
I recently realized that she may be more open to incorporating
vegan meals in our traditional family foods if I could expose
her to delicious and familiar vegan food. Naturally, I invited
my mother to join Jen and I at the Florida Vegan Gourmet Food
Festival. My friend and photographer Kristie Reynolds, also became
interested in vegan food and decided to attend the festival,
rounding us out to a foursome of attendees. As we approached
the University of Florida Botanical Gardens, the venue of the festival,
I was in complete awe of how many people were attending.
There were young people, older folks, families with children and
people from various walks of life. All these people had taken
over the parking lots near the festival and we were left to park
in the grass. The line getting into the festival was so long that we
standing in line on a hot summer’s day, we were excited and
taken-a-back by how many people where attending the festival.
Once inside we saw signs for vegan seafood, vegan hot
dogs, vegan barbeque, and vegan pastries. There were cruelty
free beauty products, jewelry made by vegans (Lily Rose Jewelry)
and vegan T-shirts with fun vegan sayings like “Black is
-
ations). I expected to see delicious vegan food at the festival but
was surprised to see an entire community of local businesses,
many operated and owned by women, selling products created
with intention to serve their community. It truly was a beautiful
sight to see. After taking in the diversity of the food and products
for sale, our foursome settled on some amazing looking vegan
Mexican food at East Coast Catering and Fusion Street Eatery.
We ordered jack fruit and tofu chorizo street tacos that everyone,
including my mother, a connoisseur of southern California Mexican
food, agreed was delicious. The next stop was to Pop Fusion
to have a sangria popsicle, which complimented our vegan Mexican
food feast. We rounded out our visit with some traditional
Puerto Rican guava pastries that were made vegan at Oopsy Daisy
Sweets. They were so delicious that I had to read the ingredient
list because I was in disbelief that they were vegan.
-
dens and talked about our impressions of the festival. Not only
was vegan plant-based eating trendy, it was part of a larger lifestyle
that was quickly becoming fashionable. As we made our
way out of the festival, past an outdoor yoga class, I felt that my
mission was accomplished. Not only had Jen and I experienced
the freedom of being in an environment where all the food we
encountered was in line with our dietary needs, ethical, and environmental
standards, we stumbled onto a community of entrepreneurs
that shared many of our values. My mother had been
impressed by the vegan food and community, and while she had
no interest in being vegan, she was open to incorporating some
vegan meals into her diet. Kristie had also become more open to
vegan eating and shared that she would be interested in checking
out some vegan restaurants in the area. As we drove away from
the festival, I concluded that veganism and vegan food becoming
trendy could only be a good thing. People consuming less meat
and more vegetables is better for everyone and our environment.
I thought back to the cute vegan T-shirt I saw at the festival and
chuckled as I acknowledged that “Vegan is the new Black,” and
FLORIDA WOMEN MAGAZINE 813.682.9364 AUGUST 2019 • 29