Boston vegetarian festival charms taste buds

On Saturday and Sunday, the 16th annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival, presented by the Boston Vegetarian Society, served up meat?free plates that satisfied the tastes of vegans and omnivores alike. Hosted at Roxbury Community College’s Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, the festival was comprised of dozens of booths from local and national vendors. From sprouts to Thai food to truly decadent desserts, the fair offered a spread capable of pleasing just about anyone — save Ron Swanson from “Parks and Recreation” or the odd Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Chris Allison, a member of the festival’s organizing committee, explained that the festival offered a way for vegetarians, vegans and curious omnivores to connect and explore vegetarianism in an environment free of both meat and pontification. Speakers on vegetarian?related topics and chefs offering live cooking demonstrations aided that educational process.

Describing his vegan lifestyle, Allison said, “It’s something that’s important to me personally, but… I don’t believe in shoving messages down people’s throats. I think something like the food fest is a fantastic way to do outreach. If people are interested, they can come see what it’s all about.”

Allison, who went vegetarian in his sophomore year of college seven years ago and vegan shortly thereafter, said that, though he used to eat “nothing but meat” before his dietary conversion, he found the shifts to vegetarianism and veganism “fairly straightforward.”

“There’s such a great world of options out there for anyone who wants to be vegetarian or vegan, but a lot of the world doesn’t know about it,” said Allison. “You think going vegetarian means eating soy?based fake meat all the time, but there are so many fantastic options out there nowadays.”

Andrea Eisenberg, another member of the organizing committee, attested to that variety. Since Eisenberg became a vegetarian in 2002 and embraced the vegan lifestyle a few years later, she’s seen exciting additions to the vegetarian and vegan food scene.

“It is so phenomenal, the exponential rise in the numbers of amazing foods that are available. Like, three years ago, we were going, ‘We wish we had cheese, we wish we had cheese!’ And, boom — this company came out, and they revolutionized vegan cheese,” she said.

This revolution was Daiya, a dairy?free cheese substitute occupying a busy booth in the corner of the room. Their grilled “cheese” sandwich samples featured melty and tangy cheddar?style shreds. With its convincing taste and texture, Daiya cheddar is close enough to the real deal that non?dairy?eaters won’t feel like they’re missing out.

“I think people, in a lot of ways, think veganism is about deprivation, and I can tell you that none of us see it that way at all. I love food,” Eisenberg said.

“You should see us when we eat. When the dessert cart comes by, we do not hesitate,” said Allison. “It is not some ascetic thing. It’s not like we’re swearing vows of poverty or wearing ‘Hair’ shirts. We’re living life, we’re loving life, and this is just part of how we do that.”

Faux?cheese aside, the festival offered several culinary delights worth singing about. Katie and Jay Gill, founders of Dirty Vegan Foods, handed out soft and nutty?tasting chocolate chip cookies that put Chips Ahoy! to shame.

When crafting their decadent desserts, the Gills keep the fat and sugar, but leave out the artificial ingredients and preservatives.

“I think that’s why it tastes so good, too — because it’s so wholesome,” Katie Gill said.

In the midst of this bevy of specialty vegetarian and vegan products, Allison said that, nice as the variety is, there’s also “really great stuff you can make yourself with basic produce.”

To that end, Boston Organics, founded and owned by Tufts alumnus Jeff Barry (F ’95), strives to make organic produce accessible to the Boston area. Boston Organics, started just over nine years ago, delivers boxes of organic produce and other non?perishable items, like artisan cheese and cage?free eggs, right to its subscribers’ doorsteps.

While a good number of these products come from the local Boston area and other parts of Massachusetts, Barry said, “We try to do as much local or regional as possible, but it’s challenging, especially because we’re certified organic, first and foremost.”

Freshness, however, is still a priority.

“We get peanut butter that’s produced in Everett, Mass. Sometimes, when we go to pick up the peanut butter, the jars are still hot from just being filled,” Barry said.

Along with allowing its customers to craft personalized ‘no’ lists, which allow them to select foods they never want to receive, Boston Organics’ website helps its customers figure out what to do with produce that may be intimidating to a novice chef.

“Everything you get in your order, you can see on our website, and it’s also linked to recipes and nutritional values,” Barry said.

Through celebrating the vegetarian diet, the festival also embraces separate but relevant causes, including environmentalism. Both Allison and Eisenberg noted that the meat agriculture industry is actually a bigger contributor to global warming than the transportation industry.

“If you want to cut down on greenhouse gases, don’t get rid of your car — just stop eating meat,” Allison said.

Helping the environment by eating faux cheese and dairy?less desserts is all good and well, but one question remained — does anyone ever really learn to love wheatgrass?

This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)

Return from vegetarian to Home Page

Vegetarian, Raw and Vegan with Bill & Sheila