Boston Vegetarian Food Festival
This past Halloween weekend Michelle and I took some time to go to the annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival. We missed it last year for the first time we have lived in the Boston area and made it a point to go this year. This is the second year that they have spread the event over 2 days. Previously it has only been 1 day and it was crazy, so many people that it was literally hard to walk. Thankfully having the event spread over 2 days made it a little better, there were still some rude pushy people, but I suspect you’ll find those folks anywhere there are free samples.
Free samples are one of the main reasons to go to an event like this. From small local companies to international ones there were a bunch of companies there to offer up samples. Cafe Indigo, a New Hampshire company, was there selling some of their seitan products and giving out free samples of their amazing Carrot Cake. We also got to try a bunch of different teas, drinks, peanut butters, crackers, chips, cheeses, ice creams, and faux meats. After you leave it feels like you have just eaten a full meal. There was even a specifically vegan BBQ sauce that was so good I bought a bottle.
A lot of non food companies were there as well, sometimes these are the most exciting cause we find out about new places close by that specialize in vegan products or services. For instance we discovered a new Vegan Bed and Breakfast on Cape Cod that we are super excited about trying out next spring. A new vegan shoe and accessory store was there was well, Sudo Shoes, they are based out of Central Square in Cambridge and we will definitely be checking them out. In addition we renewed out subscription to Veg News magazine which we have missed very much for the past year.
I also got to meet one of my inspirations, Robert Cheeke, vegan bodybuilder and writer. He was there selling his book, Vegan Bodybuilding and Fitness, and Vega products. I’ve posted about Robert before and I was more than a little nervous. I don’t know the exact stats but standing next too him he seemed at least 6’2 and he is ripped. And, here I am still overweight and going up to this guy and telling him he is one of my inspirations. I don’t know why I was so nervous, guess I was just wishing I had lost more weight than I already have, but I was so nervous that I forgot to introduce Michelle to him. He is such a nice guy he thanked me for keeping up with him and for the kind words and we made some jokes. He was also selling Thrive, a book by Brendan Brazier, a vegan professional tri-athlete and inventor of Vega. Anyway, I’ve been thinking of buying Thrive for a while and who better to buy it from than Robert Cheeke and he even through in a ton, I mean a ton of free Vega samples. It was awesome meeting him and I had no reason to be so nervous.
Leaving the food festival Michelle and I stopped by the Vegan soft serve ice cream truck that was parked outside. It was called Like No Udder and they are based out of Rhode Island, a business built from the ground up. We both got a cup of chocolate and vanilla swirl soft serve with chocolate syrup. Even though it was the end of October it was so good, we might have to go down to Rhode Island and seek them out.
Well that was our experience at the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival in a nutshell. Looking forward to next year already, maybe Robert Cheeke will be there and I will have lost the weight I want to. It would sure feel nice to shake his hand next year and say now I’ve lost 100 pounds.
