Vegfest 2010 — greetin' and eatin'

This past weekend we attended our first Vegfest — a giant vegetarian sampling party put on by the Vegetarians of Washington. When I say attended I also mean worked, as we volunteered for a four-hour shift handing out food samples. For more than four hours I cut into pieces, practically non-stop, various kinds of Clif Bars, and placed them into cups for eager (I mean EAGER) attendees to try. I have to say practically non-stop because it's also true that not 10 feet behind me was the scooping station for SO Delicious coconut milk ice cream, where frantic and sticky volunteers scooped ice cream into cups as fast as they could to meet the demand of hungry attendees. It was impossible to forget what was going on behind my back, and every so often I was compelled to zip on over, politely snatch a delicious ice cream-filled cup, and dash back to my station. I felt guilty, but not THAT guilty. In any case, four hours of cutting Luna bars makes one consider all the levels of meaning in the word, "luna."

Getting ready — before the event opened and the crowds arrived.

I shared the table with my husband, who was pouring Tejana tea, and Crystal Geyser Juice Squeeze, into cups at breakneck speed. People were VERY thirsty, which may have had something to do with the Punjab Snacks — a spicy-salty very delicious Indian snack mix made by Punjab Sweets in Kent — being scooped into cups by Bethany at the table next to me.

This is Bethany, before she was dragged to the SO table to scoop ice cream, and she was still clean and serene. Note the enigmatic smile.

Punjab Sweets is a vegetarian Indian restaurant that also has an online business selling sweet or spicy party mixes in bags, like the ones Bethany and the restaurant's owner, were sampling. This is a restaurant I'm very interested in visiting.

Mighty-O Donut samples just begging to be eaten.

In the spirit of full disclosure, in addition to the So Delicious, I may have had more than my share of Mighty-O Donut samples.

After our work shift was up we walked around and tasted things, and one sample that sticks in my mind (besides the ice cream and doughnuts) is the Field Roast classic meatloaf. I'm not a big fan of meat analogs, though I do occasionally make them myself. Mostly, the commercial ones are just too salty, and I hate the dying of thirst sensation I experience for hours after consuming them. I was, however, quite taken with the meatloaf. It tasted really good, and I may even buy it — at least once. I have coupons! If I'd been in my right mind I might have snapped a photo, but I was very hungry and the little sandwich I was handed was screaming, "eat me now." Oh well.

After all that tasting, did I discover any new foods to add to my shopping list other than the ones I've already mentioned? Probably not. There are still a lot of samples in my bag that I haven't tried yet — lots of energy bars and cereals — and if anything jumps out at me, I'll mention it in a future post.