Coventry Vegan Food Fair Was Massive Success!!

100`s flock to taste delights of vegan food - for free!

posted 6-4-05

After the amazing Jill`s Day 2005 in Coventry on 5th February, local campaigners were keen to keep the momentum up with another event that would inspire the general public into action! With free vegan food fair`s taking the country by storm, and after Viva!`s Incredible Veggie Roadshow in Solihull was so popular, there was nothing else for it! The Coventry Free Vegan Food Fair took place on Saturday 2 April 2005. The event was combined with many other cruelty-free attractions under one roof, which all helped to make the day such a huge success.

The front of the venue was made to look as inviting and colourful as possible, with bunting, flags, streamers and banners. Nobody could fail to notice there was a special event on! Posters and A-boards advertising the event were displayed across the city. And whilst some volunteers distributed flyers, others walked around the immediate area with vegan samples to whet the appetite of potential veggie/vegans and encourage them in to sample lots more! All of this certainly paid off as the crowds flooded in all day!

Around 300 people attended the event and they were falling over themselves to sample the wide range of food on offer. Everything from pizza, quiche, samosas to soup, nut roast & various sandwiches. Also cheetin cheese/sausage on sticks and a range of bootiful cakes incl chocolate & brandy 'cheese' cake and black forest gateux! The public was scoffing the food as quickly as volunteers in the kitchen could get more cooked/prepared and on the tables!! The food supply had totally run dry by the end of the day!

Whilst people enjoyed their vegan feast, they were encouraged to fill in a short questionnaire about the day. 70 such questionnaires were handed in throughout the day, which gave the organisers an idea about how successful the day had been at changing the publics diet and will help them plan future events. Most people attending the event seem to have been meat eaters, and many of them said they would be eating more veggie/vegan food in the future. Several said they were determined to turn vegan!! As advertised beforehand, the event was always going to be far more than just a free vegan food fair, and it didn`t disappoint!! There were stalls from various groups including the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, Viva! and the grassroots vegan campaigning group Realfood. Vegan goodies on offer included T-shirts, toiletries, books and campaign merchandise like leaflets, stickers, posters etc.

Whilst all this was going on upstairs, a downstairs room was set aside for various talks and workshops throughout the day. Geoffrey Thomas of the Dr Hadwen Trust gave a talk to a packed room, about the alternatives to using animals in medical research. And especially for the many young children at the event, a Fruity Faces Food Workshop gave them a chance to learn about, be creative with and eat various fruits.

Jill`s Film, the special film about the life & death of animal rights activist Jill Phipps(originally screened on Jill`s Day 2005), was shown twice during the day. The Jill`s Day Exhibition was once again on display(pictured) and Nancy Phipps, Jill`s mother, sold signed copies of the horror novel she wrote for Jill. The book, titled `Mother Likes Making Dolls`, has only recently been published. For more details of Jill`s Day 2005 and to get your hands on a copy of the book and the film, read more on the Jill`s Day website - click the logo.

If you missed this great event, don`t panic, you won`t have to wait long for a much larger vegan festival here in the Midlands! Organised by Realfood, the Heart of England Vegan Festival will take place in Birmingham City Centre on Saturday 18th June from 9.30am - 5pm. There will be up to 80 stalls at this event and also performers, talks and lot, lots more! Realfood are expecting around 3,000 visitors through the day! For loads more details, check out the event website - click the logo below.

BACK TO HOMEPAGE