Yesterday Leeds Town Hall played host to the Great Yorkshire Vegan Festival, one of the biggest vegan festivals in Yorkshire. It featured a massive 180 stalls, live cooking demonstrations, animal rights discussions, plenty of yummy, vegan samples to feast on and the entry fee was only £3. Hundreds of people queued up outside to enter the building and inside the venue was packed, but it was such a wonderful day and I'm glad I went. I have been vegetarian for over 10 years now and often wondered whether I could go fully vegan, hence my fascination with this particular festival. Vegans regularly get a lot of scrutiny from people who eat meat about their lifestyles and what they actually eat, but this festival just goes to show how far veganism has come in the last few decades and the variety of food now available.
There were hundreds of stalls featuring a variety of food from delicious vegan cakes to vegan pies and even vegan 'steak kebabs'. My husband who is as carnivorous as they get, enjoyed feasting on his vegan hotdog and I thoroughly enjoyed my schnitzel. It was a fun day for all the ages - I saw young kids being mesmerised by all the food and likewise older, retired looking people also enjoying the atmosphere.
There was something for everyone and a lot of opportunities to try vegan food not just from Leeds, but from around the country. The atmosphere was great - the people were incredibly friendly and it was nice to envision what it is like to be part of the vegan community. Although I'm not ready to take the plunge just yet and go fully vegan, after this festival I will be trying more vegan food and making a conscious effort to limit my animal products - not because I felt pressured, it's because I want to be more experimental with my food and I've realised there's so much out there to try.
Have you been to a vegan festival before?
Oh wow what an amazing looking event all that delicious looking food yum! x
ReplyDeleteThis literally sounds like my idea of heaven. I've never been to a vegan festival before but I want to go to Veg Fest this year x
ReplyDeleteThis looks like heaven! Yummy food and great people. Love all your photos!
ReplyDeleteI now really want a slice of that cake, it looks just amazing x
ReplyDeleteI got up early to go but decided against it, I'm so sad now I missed it. I went a couple of years ago when it was at The Queens Hotel and was overwhelmed by the crowds but we did have some lovely PieMeister pies.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! The food looks amazing, I would have loved to have tasted it!
ReplyDeleteI have never been to a Vegan festival but I would like to! I love the look of the vegan burgers and vegan hotdog sounds good!
ReplyDeleteHow is it that I had no knowledge of this?! I am so close to Leeds too and I love food festivals! H x
ReplyDeleteI don't think it was that well advertised unfortunately. There's one in Manchester in October and another one in Leeds in November :)
DeleteThis looks like a great event, the food all looks lovely.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, I didn't know about this festival. Learning about new vegan food would be great. All the food looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteAll those cakes looks amazing! We have a Vegan fair coming soon in Manchester too.
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't but it sounds great. The cakes look yummy.
ReplyDeleteThere needs to be more festivals like this to highlight that a Vegan diet isn't just a couple of cabbage leaves and a stick of celery. The photos of the cakes in particular look incredible!
ReplyDeleteWow all the food looks so yummy - I am SO hungry now!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like such a great festival. I was vegan for a little while a few years ago. The cakes look delicious x
ReplyDeleteSuch a massive event and looks like a food paradise. I love joining this kind of gathering; I was just once in a Bio (organic) food fair.
ReplyDeleteMy friend would love to go to this! That strawberry cake looks delicious! x
ReplyDeleteNever been to a vegan festival before but 100+ food stalls and only £3 entry fee is incredible, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeletei wish i went there. i love to try new things even thought I'm not a vegan. I'm always intrigued
ReplyDeleteI was there too :D
ReplyDeleteCorinne x
www.skinnedcartree.com
Only downsides here was that I’m not sure if they were expecting such a crowd as they did not have nearly enough servers and sometimes it would take a really long time for service guy to come. But at event venue Chicago they tried to keep a smiles on their face.
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