March 1st 2015. I was so excited about the Vegan Street Fair Los Angeles. I’d managed to situate myself in the (sort of) vicinity of North Hollywood to be able to attend. I’d scrolled down the list of close to 50 vendors, to plan my path of indulgence. Donut Friend, Organix, Doomies, SunCafe, Healthy Organic Positive Eating (to balance out the vegan junk)..and more and more and more were on my hit list. But the rain, which (probably) only comes five days a year in Southern California decided it was going to give a spectacular performance on the day of the fair. I sat and watched as the rain pelted down outside the window of where I was staying. The rain pounded on the flat roof. The rain drew a watery curtain to stop me from seeing the views beyond the pane. All of my hopeful thinking and wishing away the clouds did nothing to stop it from pouring, and pouring.
4pm came and all of a sudden I rallied and me and my friend decided to head out to catch at least the last hour. Rain or no rain!
When we arrived at NoHo and parked the car the rain had eased. My worry about the rain was now replaced with the worry of how I was going to get to sample everything I wanted to before it closed. We had under an hour left. I was excited to see so many people still milling around but a lot of the vendors had already hauled ass out of there. Not because of the rain but because the fair had been so popular that they ran out of food! We purchased a few strips of tickets to pay for my food bounty and began the chase to scout out what we wanted to eat.
The rain then came down in buckets!! We dashed around, hunting out the gluten free offerings. Soy curl taquitos from Broke Hungry Vegan (oily, crunchy, tangy, chewy..easy to like), Jackfruit Puerco slider from Organix (to LIVE for!), Cauliflower wings (delish) and crab cakes (ok) from Sage Vegan Bistro, a sample of Shugah Mama cookie (swoon), a moist and dreamy cupcake from Luscious Organic Desserts (I don’t even remember what flavour it was as rivers of rain water were puddling around me at this point)….and finally coconut and cashew based hazelnut crunch ice cream from Divine Dips Vegan Ice Cream (so creamy and sweet and so very good…no photo as I was balancing umbrella and ice-cream tub whilst eating and trying to stay dry!)
I wished I’d just braved the rain sooner and got to see all the masses gathering and chowing so happily. But then again I loathe long lines for food, and am not my happiest when I am being shoved around in a sea of people - be them vegan or not. I read some glowing reviews, and some gripes online the next day. To be expected I guess. The first year is always the ironing out process. Next year will be at a bigger venue hopefully, with room to move and a bit better organised. But all those people?! 9,000 or so of them out despite the rain?! A success I think.
About the organizers
Jessica and Ken Schoech, a vegan married couple, have been entrenched in the vegan community for many years. Together, they run The Vedge.com, a resource to help explore, enjoy, and experience vegan food around the world. They have traveled the world visiting vegan establishments, beer festivals, and vegan events, in an attempt to enjoy the amazing vegan growth that has recently taken place. While savoring their travel and working in the vegan community, they knew it was time for Vegan Street Fair to make it’s debut in Los Angeles.
Jessica and Ken decided to expand on the vegan events across the world by creating an experience that celebrates vegan food while introducing the lifestyle to non-vegans in the process. Jessica and Ken will be taking Vegan Street Fair to other cities in the future too. Woohoo!
Vendors included:
AFC Soy Foods, Azla Vegan, BeetxBeet Clothing, Best Gumbo in the Hood, Blöde Kuh Artisan Vegan Tree Nut Cheese, Bramble Bakeshop, Broke Hungry Vegan Catering, Charlie’s Brownies, Chicza, Clean South, Divine Dips Vegan Ice Cream, Donut Friend, Doomie’s Home Cookin’, Follow Your Heart, H.O.P.E.- Healthy Organic Positive Eating, Health ‘n Spice, Hugo’s Tacos, Hummus Republic, Ihsan’s Falafel, India Jones Chow Truck, Jones Soda, Joni Marie Newman/ JustTheFood.com, Les Beaux Chocolats, Life is Sweet Bakeshop, Luscious Organic Desserts, Main Squeeze Lemonade Truck, Mimi’s Natural, Mud Hen Tavern, OmBrosia, One Veg World, Organix, Plant Food for People, Rachel’s Cosmic Cuisine, RawFiv5, Sage, Southern Fried Vegan, Sub Zero Ice Cream, SunCafe Organic, The Herbivore Clothing Company, The Karma Baker, The Rabbit Hole Café, The Ridiculous Baking Company, The Shugah Mama, Vegan Pizza, Vegans Rock Apparel, VegeTaryn Apparel, Vromage, Whole Foods Glendale and more.
Here are some photos/ sorry about the quality.
Such a bummer that it rained on the day of the fair (but we really need the rain). The food looks great though! And how awesome that so many people still came out in the rain. Hopefully, the fair will continue for many years to come. There used to be an annual tofu festival in LA, sadly it stopped and I never got around to going.
Hey Chow,
Yes, it was a shame but to have rain with the Californians are usually hiding from, and still get those numbers is such a good sign isn’t it! Maybe they will bring the fair to San Francisco? It doesn’t have one yet does it?