for our 12th annual Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck at Matthews Park Recreation Center in the Seward neighborhood of MinneapolisThis event is open to all of our supporters, donors, volunteers, families, and friends. Invite your friends on Facebook. The more the merrier!
Compassionate Action for Animals has launched an exciting campaign to bring Meatless Monday to University of Minnesota dining halls. You can help make this campaign a success. Here’s how:
Sign the petition! It only takes two clicks from here to sign, and then you’ll have the option to share the petition via social media. Please do!
“Like” our Meatless Monday Facebook page! Follow the campaign as it develops and share the posts with your friends.
Get informed! Learn more about Meatless Monday and understand how it can be a great thing for the animals, the planet, and our own health.
This campaign is clearly part of a growing trend. Over 146 campuses worldwide follow the guidelines for Meatless Monday, asking students to refrain from consuming meat and reducing the meat served in their dining halls one day a week. In addition to that, a Meatless Monday Proclamation was recently made for the city of Minneapolis. Programs like Meatless Monday support transitioning to a plant-based diet and help to create a more compassionate world.
Now each of us can be ambassadors for this campaign and help spread the word. Let’s get the University of Minnesota to keep up with the changing times.
And good news! You don’t have to wait for a Monday to go meatless. You can join us on next Friday, October 24, 6:00 – 9:00pm, for a vegan pizza party and game night at the CAA office, 2100 First Avenue South in Minneapolis (Bring $10 for pizza). RSVP on our Facebook event page or email Justin Leaf at justin@exploreveg.org.
For the animals,
Unny Nambudiripad
Are you still feeling the excitement of Twin Cities Veg Fest? We sure are! If you attended the festival, we invite you to fill out our attendee feedback form and let us know what you thought of it. We want to bring Twin Cities Veg Fest back year after year and every time bigger and better than ever. Your responses will help us to do that.
We hope that the festival has also inspired you to take action for animals. Are you wondering how you can get more involved? Certainly, you can volunteer or donate, and those contributions are greatly appreciated. Another way for you to connect to the movement is to join us for one of our regular social events. We host monthly dine outs and potlucks, both of which give you the opportunity to share in the company of like-minded folks and to try a variety of delicious vegan food.
Join us for a dine out at Fasika Ethiopian Restaurant next week on Tuesday, October 14, from 6:00-8:00pm. Located at 510 North Snelling Avenue in St. Paul, the restaurant is very accessible from the new Green Line light rail. Then, on Friday, October 24, from 6:00-9:00pm, we’ll be hosting a Pizza Party and Game Night at the CAA office, 2100 First Avenue South in Minneapolis. Join us for some vegan pizza and good times. (Bring $10 for pizza!)
You can RSVP for either of these events on our Facebook event pages or by emailing Justin Leaf at justin@exploreveg.org. We look forward to seeing you at one (or both!) of these upcoming events and to keeping that excitement of Twin Cities Veg Fest going. And please, remember to fill out our attendee feedback form and let us know what you thought of the festival. We’d love to hear from you!
For the animals,
Unny Nambudiripad
Sunday’s third annual Twin Cities Veg Fest was a huge success, with around 2,300 people trying delicious vegan food, learning about animal issues, and celebrating compassion. We had a long line of people even before we opened, which was good because Minneapolis city council member Cam Gordon was there to read his Meatless Monday proclamation for Minneapolis. We’re so grateful to Cam for supporting this crucial campaign.
Once we opened the doors, the crowds flooded the Great Hall at Coffman Memorial Union. Long lines formed for all the delicious samples and food to buy, including donuts from Glam Doll Donuts, meat-free meats from The Herbivorous Butcher, and dairy-free cheesecake from Muddy Paws Cheesecake. Yum!
We were thrilled with the cooking demos at this year’s festival. Every session was done in front of a packed room, with latecomers getting stuck outside the door (sorry!). I was lucky to catch some of Mistress Ginger‘s demo. Not only was she making delicious food, but she managed to keep the audience engaged and laughing the whole time.
And as usual, our speakers delivered. I sat down to listen to Taylor Radig’s powerfully moving presentation on her time as an undercover investigator. She gave us a firsthand account of the terrible cruelty that animals on factory farms endure. Fortunately, events like Twin Cities Veg Fest are helping us all move toward a more compassionate world.
We offer our thanks to all of the speakers, cooking instructors, and volunteers who came out to support this event. We truly appreciate their hard work and dedication. Also, big thanks to the festival planning committee. Putting together an event of this size is a truly epic task, and everyone on the committee worked diligently over the past year to pull it off.
I was also inspired to see how many people joined us at Sunday’s event. If you were able to attend, thanks for coming! We hope that you had a wonderful time. If you’re interested in getting further involved with CAA, let us know. You can volunteer, donate, or attend another one of our upcoming events.
The struggle to give animals the respect and compassion they deserve has been going on for many years, but we envision a day in the future when what we hope for will become a reality. We believe that events like Twin Cities Veg Fest get us a few steps closer to that day.
For the animals,
Dave Rolsky
Twin Cities Veg Fest Committee Chair
I don’t know about you, but we’re getting very excited for Twin Cities Veg Fest. This festival celebrating all things veg has been in the works for the last year. We’ve had a huge team of devoted volunteers pulling together to bring you a fantastic, fun-filled day with lots of food, exhibitors, cooking demos, speaker presentations, and more!
When is it happening? Sunday, September 28, 10:00am – 4:00pm
How much does it cost? It’s FREE to attend!
Who can come? Anyone and everyone! Bring your friends and family. Whether vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore, all are welcome and invited to take part in the festival. In our most recent podcast, I interview my good friend Mel Schneider, an omnivore, about her experience at the festival last year. Spoiler alert: she had a good time!
Where is it? Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. For more information about the location and how to get there, take a look at our most recent blog on the subject.
How many people will be there? Last year, we had about 2,000 attendees, and this year we expect about 2,500. With our recent coverage in City Pages and Fox 9 Morning News we may surpass even that.
And one more piece of exciting news: Minneapolis City Council Member Cam Gordon has issued a Meatless Monday proclamation for the city of Minneapolis. Join us at 9:45am before the doors to the great hall open for an announcement by Cam Gordon about Meatless Monday in Minneapolis.
It’s a very special time. The word vegan is becoming more and more mainstream. People everywhere are waking up to how animals are treated on factory farms. This festival has its finger on the pulse of what’s important to people today. Come, join us and explore a world of compassion!
For the animals,
Unny Nambudiripad
The countdown has begun. Twin Cities Veg Fest is happening in less than two weeks, and we’re getting excited. In addition to the food samples, diverse exhibitors, speakers presentations, and general revelry as thousands come together to celebrate compassionate living, we’ve got something new at the festival this year: cooking demonstrations!
Our four talented chefs will teach you how to make a variety of delicious plant-based dishes, and you’ll even have the opportunity to sample some of what they make.
At 10:30am, passionate vegan chef AmyLeo Barankovich shows you how to prepare the perfect plant-based breakfast with dishes such as a Morning Choco-Blast Shake and AmyLeo’s Luscious Breakfast Scramble. Then at noon, vegan baker extraordinaire Betsy Born shows you how to make mouthwatering baked goods using readily available ingredients.
At 1:30pm, classically trained chef Alex Bury, who also works for the Humane Society of the United States, offers cooking tips and simple recipes to help non-vegetarians transition to veg eating. Finishing the day of demos is Mistress Ginger at 3:00pm. This vegan showgirl will show you how to prepare Down-and-Dirty Jambalaya, Goddess Greens, and Tie-the-Knot Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie, all from her cookbook, Mistress Ginger Cooks!: Everyday Vegan Food for Everyone.
Be sure to catch Mistress Ginger on Fox 9 News tomorrow morning, Wednesday, September 17 at 8:45am. She’ll be giving us a glimpse at her cooking demo, and Twin Cities Veg Fest will get a big shout-out. Tune in!
Remember, the festival is happening on Sunday, September 28, 10:00am – 4:00pm at Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota. All cooking demos will take place in the President’s Room on the third floor. We hope to see you there. Remember, the festival is free to attend and the chefs will provide samples of what they make!
If you’d like to help us promote the event, join us for flyering for Twin Cities Veg Fest at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus on Thursday, September 25, 7:30am – 4:30pm. If you’re interested, email raven@exploreveg.org with your hours of availability.
Finally, don’t forget to sign up for Their Lives, Our Voices. This exciting conference is happening the day before the festival on Saturday, September 27. Tickets are just $20, or $10 for students and low-income individuals. Why not register right now?
For the animals,
Unny Nambudiripad
Twin Cities Veg Fest is just a few weeks away, and we thought we’d take this opportunity to talk about everyone’s favorite part of the festival: the food!
We’ve got a bunch of local food vendors lined up to offer their amazing vegan eats. Some are offering free samples, and others are selling larger portions. However you choose to enjoy the nosh at Twin Cities Veg Fest, rest assured that you won’t leave hungry.
Seward Cafe and Asase Yaa are returning favorites. Of course, Seward Cafe is known for its vegan comfort food, and we’re happy that they’ll be sharing those delicious diner-style options at the festival. Asase Yaa, pronounced “Ah-sah-see-yah,” offers hearty portions of global food, and they never fail to pack in the flavor.
New to the festival this year is Glam Doll Donuts. That’s right, I said it: Glam Doll Donuts will be offering up their sensational vegan donuts for all to try. Since Glam Doll’s storefront is just a few blocks away from the CAA office, many of us at CAA can attest to the awesomeness their donuts. We have sampled them repeatedly just to be sure. Yep, it’s confirmed. Awesome.
Then there’s Herbivorous Butcher, the new vegan butcher shop that’s taking the Twin Cities by storm with their meat-free meats. They’ve been getting great notices in the press, and we can’t think of a more perfect place for them to be dishing out their plant-based meats than at Twin Cities Veg Fest.
These are just some of the food offerings that you can expect at this year’s festival, happening on Sunday, September 28, 10:00am – 4:00pm at Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota. Visit the Facebook page to learn more about these and other food options at the festival, and then come hungry!
Remember, Twin Cities Veg Fest is free to attend. Bring friends and family and show them how wonderful vegan food can be.
For the animals,
Unny Nambudiripad
Can it be that September is here already? Though summer will soon fade, we can at least look forward to Twin Cities Veg Fest right around the corner. The festival is coming to Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota on September 28, and it’s a great way to ring in the fall.
Since the festival takes place on the university campus (and it’s free!), we hope that many college students will attend. We don’t want them to miss out on the delicious food samples, enlightening speaker presentations, and informative cooking demos. Most importantly, we want to share how we can make this world a more compassionate place, and the student community is an especially receptive audience for this message.
You can help us let the U students know about the festival. Here’s how:
For more information about these events and other ways to promote the festival, visit the Compassionate Action for Animals website.
Also, if you’re looking for some purely social events (that some might consider purely foodie events) join us for our September Potluck: Summer’s Last Hurrah at the home of Katie Tharp and Alex Tsatsoulis on Friday, September 12 or for our September Dine Out: Brunch at Hard Times Cafe on Sunday, September 14. The Hard Times Cafe is conveniently close to the U of M campus, and the dine out will be great opportunity for all of us, but especially new students, to sample some of the awesome vegan food options in the neighborhood.
For the animals,
Unny Nambudiripad
We are excited to present five amazing speakers at this year’s Twin Cities Veg Fest. Since we expect more than 2,000 people to attend the festival, these speaker presentations will reach many people with a message of compassion for farm animals.
The speakers for Twin Cities Veg Fest 2014 include:
Their presentations cover the gamut from informative seminars on plant-based nutrition to moving firsthand accounts of what happens on factory farms.
For a glimpse of Paul Shapiro’s talk, listen to our recent podcast interview with him.
Former undercover investigator Taylor Radig was the most recent addition to the schedule. Those of us who attended the Animal Rights National Conference last month got to hear Taylor Radig speak about her experience as an undercover investigator filming animal abuse on factory farms. We were so moved by Taylor’s firsthand account of the cruelty she witnessed that we wanted to bring her to the Twin Cities to share her powerful story with our local community.
For more about these speakers, visit the Twin Cities Veg Fest website and then mark your calendars. The festival is happening on Sunday, September 28, 10:00am – 4:00pm at Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The festival is free to attend and open to anyone and everyone. Bring friends and share this celebration of all things veg.
For the animals,
Unny Nambudiripad
Twin Cities Veg Fest 2014 is just about six weeks away, and we need your help to make the event a success. If you’d like to volunteer for the festival, contact us at volunteer@tcvegfest.com.
Volunteer before the festival by helping us advertise. You can promote the festival online, and you can team up with us as we distribute posters and flyers in the Twin Cities area and on the University of Minnesota campus. See our website to get the dates and times for these fun postering parties. The more the merrier!
Closer to the event, we’ll need bag stuffers to help assemble our “swag bags” for attendees, and we’ll need assistance bringing equipment to the festival.
On the day of the festival, Sunday, September 28, we’ll need lots of volunteers for the event to run smoothly. Check out the Twin Cities Veg Fest website for a full listing of the volunteer positions available.
All of these volunteer positions offer you an opportunity to be a part of the CAA team. You’ll get to meet others who care about the same issues and want to nurture a compassionate community here in the Twin Cities. What’s more, if you volunteer on the day of the festival, you’ll receive a free Twin Cities Veg Fest shirt!
Email us at volunteer@tcvegfest.com and let us know how you’d like to help.
And if you’re looking for something fun to do this Friday night, join us for our August Potluck: Backyard Barbeque at the home of Suzy Sorensen, 1099 Lombard Avenue in St. Paul, 6:00pm – 9:00pm. RSVP on the Facebook event page and bring your friends!
For the animals,
Unny Nambudiripad