Our first vegan food festival 2015

Veggie Wings

Last year we went to the Viva Las Vega’s Vegan Food Festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. We had high expectations because it was our first time visiting a vegan food festival. The location was an old factory of Honig that dates back to 1914. It’s very industrial and a good place for photos.

The place was filled with stands that offered vegan food, clothing, books and workshops. There were a few food trucks outside and a live band to lighten up the mood. We went into a small old building and climbed up the wooden stairs to reach the stands. Visitors could go outside to the open rooftop and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Veggie Wings

Veggie Wings

Vegan cupcakes

We did some homework before we went to the vegan food festival and the first stand that caught our attention is Heavenly Cupcakes. At home we baked our own vegan muffins and cakes, but we never tried the creations of others before. So we were very excited about the vegan cupcakes. They offered a few different flavours: oreo, red velvet, chocolate and vanilla. All of them looked very appealing and pretty. We were very eager to try the red velvet and oreo flavours. We also bought a slice of oreo cake, because hey, who doesn’t love oreos, right?

There was a sitting area in the main hall and we couldn’t wait any longer to eat the cupcakes. We tried the oreo cupcake first. The frosting was very sweet. The cake itself was fluffy and moist. The oreo flavour wasn’t too apparent though. Our favourite was the red velvet cupcake. It had a nice popping colour and was nicely decorated. The frosting was a bit sour like cream cheese and goes well with the cake, making it less sweet compared to the oreo cupcake.

Veggie Wings

Veggie Wings

Veggie Wings

Veggie Wings

The Dutch Weed Burger

In the Dutch vegan community, we heard a lot about the Dutch Weed Burger. The name caught our interests, so we were eager to try it out. Besides, we didn’t have a proper veggie burger in years, so we couldn’t wait to devour this bad guy. The look of the burger is strangely attractive because of the green bun. The patty itself is made of soy shreds and seaweed. There are tiny bits of dark seaweed visible inside. The burger was finished off with lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, onions and the Weed sauce.

The patty was a bit bland compared to other burgers. It doesn’t have a strong onion or garlic flavour, which we totally appreciate because we don’t like the taste of onions, garlic, shallots, leeks and chives. So this deserves a huge thumbs up. The Weed sauce adds a nice mayonnaise flavour to it. The burger was filling and it definitely lives up to its name. We’re looking forward to having another Dutch Weed Burger soon!

Veggie Wings

Veggie Wings

The vegan bakery

There was also a vegan bakery at the location. Their stand looked very cosy with a huge wood-fired oven in the middle. They kneaded the dough and baked it in the oven continuously. There was a wide range of breads and other baked snacks available. We bought the apple cinnamon bread which was freshly baked. It was truly delicious and the smell of fresh bread was oh-so-good! The texture was perfect; crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. We slightly tasted the cinnamon flavour, but it wasn’t too apparent.

Veggie Wings

Veggie Wings

Veggie Wings

Veggie Wings

Vegan cheese

One of the things we really miss eating is cheese. So we were overjoyed to see vegan cheese there. We bought 3 different flavours from Wilmersburger: classic (original), savoury and herbs. We had a hard time deciding what to buy because we never tried it before. It would’ve been great if they offered samples to try. We will review the vegan cheeses in a future post, so stay tuned!

Veggie Wings

Truthfully speaking, we expected more stands at the venue. We went through the entire place within an hour. Though it’s understandable, because it was the first time for them to hold the vegan food festival in Nijmegen. Nonetheless, we had a fun day and were introduced to a lot of new foods and products. It was like a vegan paradise for us. We really appreciate their hard work to promote veganism in the Netherlands!

After devouring these vegan delicacies, we decided to go shopping in the city centre. Just as we took a step out of the exit, the smell of fried meat snapped us back to the awful reality. There was a market place in front of the Honig factory where people could eat and buy “fresh food”. People were enjoying their raw fish and fried chicken while we walked past them. It made us realise the differences between the definition of fresh food from a herbivore’s perspective and an omnivore’s perspective.

Question

Have you ever been to a vegan food festival?

5 thoughts on “Our first vegan food festival 2015

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  1. Ik ben dit jaar ook voor het eerst naar een vegan foodfestival geweest (het Vegan Summer Fest in Gent) en da’s toch wel een belevenis he, zo die eerste keer. Zalig om zoveel onontdekt lekkers op 1 plaats te kunnen proberen (met pijn in het hart moest ik besluiten dat ik niet álles kon proeven). Ik at ook een Dutch weed burger, zo lekker en dat is een wonder aangezien ik geen zeewier lust. Die cupcakes zien er ontzettend goed uit, trouwens! 🙂

    1. Whaa wat leuk, heb je daar ook een blog over geschreven (ben zeer benieuwd)? Inderdaad het was echt alsof er een nieuwe wereld voor ons open ging en we hadden precies hetzelfde “probleem” (wat een luxe ook he?) haha. Oh dan hebben ze die burger écht goed gemaakt he, heb er weer zin in als ik er aan denk :p

  2. Aaah, ik wil ook zo graag die burger nog proberen! Ben benieuwd naar de kaas, heb inmiddels wel wat dingen geprobeerd maar nog niet iets wat ècht geweldig was. Zo te zien was het leuk. 🙂

    1. Zeker doen hoor, was echt nice! Deze kaas vind ik 1 van de beteren, wel lekkerder als het gesmolten is (dan is het minder “rubber-achtig” haha) Welke kazen heb jij al geprobeerd? 🙂