news > 15 february 2005

Report from Free Vegan Food Fayre at Pogo Café

On Tuesday 15 February 2005, Vegan Campaigns held a free vegan food fayre at Pogo Café, 76a Clarence Road, Hackney E5. The idea behind the day was to promote veganism, and educate the public by demonstrating that a vegan diet is healthy, varied, tasty and practical. There was a secondary aim of promoting Pogo Café, which in turn helps to promote veganism.

The café was packed throughout the day: 250 people came through the door, and some people were turned away because the venue was too full! At the start of the day, volunteers went out onto the street to leaflet passers-by but after 10 minutes they had to come back in because the venue was already full, and remained that way for the whole day!

Admission to the fayre and all the food were completely free, though we charged for drinks. The hot and cold food served was amazing and included pizzas, pies, satay, cauliflower "cheese", sandwiches, burgers, cakes, "cheese" cake and chocolate.

Most of the food was made by people involved in Pogo Café and Vegan Campaigns but some of it was generously donated by vegan companies.

Not only did the public taste delicious food, they were also given advice on how to go vegan and information on the reasons for making this choice. We had an information stall with lots of literature including a recipe booklet.

We had collecting tins on each table and a person at the door asking for donations and raised £160 towards the costs. A further £100 was raised through selling drinks.

Pogo Café offers delicious and healthy vegan food with a bit of music, art, books and information. The cafe is organised as a workers' co-operative. They trade with a high standard of social and environmental awareness with local and fairtrade sourcing and by providing an example to individuals and other commercial and non-commercial organisations. All food served at Pogo is vegan, the café also caters for food allergies, living food diets, other special diets and those concerned with healthy eating and fairtrade. The café opened at the end of August 2004, and took over an existing vegetarian café, Pumpkins, which closed down because the owner moved on.

The free food fayre idea originated from Realfood who have organised several similar events. These proved to be very successful in promoting veganism and setting up local groups. The Realfood website includes a plan on how to organise a vegan fayre. The first two vegan food fayres in London were held in a central London location, right in the heart of Soho.

We asked participants to fill in a questionnaire about the event (see Appendix 1 for a copy of the questionnaire.) We gave them an incentive of some free soya shake for filling it in.

Of the 250 people who attended the free vegan food fayre, 123 completed the questionnaire. This was a very good response as we only had 150 questionnaires to hand out (we underestimated the amount of people who would attend the event!).

50 (41%) of the respondents were meat eaters, 45 (37%) were vegetarian and 28 (23%) were vegan. As can be seen from Table 1 below, the proportionate number of meat eaters is slightly lower than the previous food fayre in 2004, but still much higher than the first event in 2003.

Table 1: Breakdown of respondents according to diet

The event in 2004 was not advertised in the vegan networks, but as this years event took place at a vegan café, it was publicised at the café, on its website and email list, meaning that a higher proportion of vegans would have heard about the event.

There was little opportunity to bring members of the general public off the street on the day (a good way of bringing in meat eaters) because the venue was full to capacity all day.

Although the main aim of the event is to introduce non-vegans to the diet, food fayres also help vegans to maintain a healthy vegan life style, and encourage a feeling of community and mutual support. As one vegan wrote:

"I just been vegan recently and spaces like Pogo or fayres like this one helps me a lot. It was a radical change but knowing vegan people & animals cruelty definitely I won't eat meat again in my life. Do more! It was great!"

And another wrote "I'm a vegan from Finland. I just moved here to London. It'd be great to get to know local vegans"

Vegans also bring non-vegans with them, as can be seen from the following comments

"I came here with my 3 year old son who doesn't want to be vegan, to show him vegan food is yummy - and he liked the cakes, truffles etc. I think it's an excellent idea."

"Thank you very much for this event, I brought a friend along today to introduce him to vegan diet, he was very impressed. Good idea to have more events such as this to raise awareness"

There was also a secondary aim to this event; to promote the café (which in turn promotes veganism as the more vegan restaurants there are, the easier it is to be vegan!), and with this aim in mind attracting vegans and vegetarians to the event is very beneficial.

Publicity

We wanted to know what kind of publicity works the best, so in the questionnaire we asked visitors how they found out about the fayre. Their answers are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: "How did you hear about today's event?"

Word of mouth seems to have been the most successful way of encouraging people to come to the event, with just under a third of visitors hearing about it in this way, including a large proportion of meat eaters. The second most common way that people found out about it was after seeing a poster or flier on display.

Table 3: Where respondents saw posters/fliers

Not suprisingly the most popular place for seeing a poster was at Pogo followed by Bumblebee wholefood shop, although a good proportion, especially amongst the meat eaters also saw posters in non-vegan shops, libraries colleges and community centres.

Another successful advertising method was door-door leafleting through the letterbox (the actual number of people who found out this way could have been higher as this was not included as a separate category on the questionnaire).

Websites and email lists were more successful in attracting vegans than meat eaters and vegetarians, whereas more meat eaters in particular and some vegetarians attended the event after being handed a flier in the street on the day and/or seeing the advertising board. Far more people could have been brought in this way if the venue had been bigger and therefore if an event is to be held at Pogo café again we may want to consider not pre advertising in the café or on the website. This will depend on whether the aim of introducing meat eaters to vegan food (and to the café) is considered more important than promoting the cafe in general.

Respondents were asked to rate the quality and taste of the food overall in the following categories:

* Very poor
* Poor
* Satisfactory
* Good
* Excellent

63% of those who filled in the questionnaire thought the food was excellent, 28% felt it was good and 5% said that it was satisfactory. No one rated it as poor, only one person rated it very poor and 4 people did not specify. The vegans and vegetarians were more positive about the food, with 71% of both groups rating it as "excellent" compared to 52% of meat-eaters. Overall, more people rated the food as excellent this year; 63% compared to 50% last year.

Comments relating to the food provided at the fayre were generally very positive, with people describing it as "delicious", 'inspirational" and "orgasmic".

The cakes especially mango cake and cream teas, satay, nut roast, cauliflower cheese and soup were particularly well received.

Did the fayre change people's attitudes and diets?

Table 4: How will you change your diet after today?

As can be seen in Table 4, the majority of people reported that they were intending to change their diet in some way as a result of the fayre, with 68% of meat eaters and 64% of vegetarians planning a change (compared to 85% and 73% respectively last year). There is no clear reason why fewer people were thinking about changing their diet than the year before, but it may be that more of the respondents were already eating a small amount of animal products; lots of the meat eaters and vegetarians wrote this on their form. The event may have attracted people who eat a small amount of meat because many found out about the event from coming to Pogos, and people who eat lots of vegetarian/vegan food are more likely to come to a vegan restaurant. There were a larger number of ex-vegetarians this year, and maybe they are less likely to go vegetarian again once they have made the decision to revert to meat eating.

32% of the meat eaters were planning to eat more vegetarian and vegan food as a result of the fayre. A fifth of them had never considered going vegetarian while 32% had thought about becoming vegetarian before the fayre and 48% had been vegetarian before but had started eating meat again.

Seven of the meat eaters who completed the questionnaire reported that they were thinking about becoming vegetarian as a result of the fayre. All but one of them had either thought about being vegetarian before (4 people) or had been at some stage (2 people). Encouragingly, two meat eaters said that they were thinking of becoming vegan.

Fifty five per cent of the vegetarians said that they would eat more vegan food after the fayre but would continue to eat animal products. Just over half of these had thought about going vegan before and a fifth had been vegan in the past, although 28% had never considered it. A further five respondents reported that the day had encouraged them to think about becoming vegan, 3 of these had been vegan already, one had thought about being vegan before the event and the other one had never considered it

What helped people to change their diets?

Respondents who indicated that they were changing their diet because of the fayre were asked to tell us about their reasons for doing this by selecting from a list of options (they could tick more than one). Their responses are shown in Table 5:

Table 5: If you are changing your diet or thinking about it because of today, what helped you to make this choice?

The taste of the food and gaining more of an awareness of the range of vegan food available were clearly important to both vegetarians and meat eaters. Information about the cruelty involved in animal farming industries and health benefits were also key factors for a large proportion of people.

Respondents were also asked if there is anything else that would help them to start or maintain a healthy vegetarian/vegan diet lifestyle. They could choose more than one option from the following list:

* More information (please specify type of information)
* Joining a vegetarian/vegan group
* Having a vegan buddy (being in contact with an experienced vegan who can give you advice)
* Other (please specify)

Their answers are shown in Table 6 below.

Table 6: Would anything else help you to start or maintain a healthy vegetarian/vegan lifestyle?

Having a vegan "buddy" was the most important factor for the meat eaters, closely followed by having more information, (such as recipes and where to buy cheap vegan food) which was the most important factor amongst the vegetarians. However, the vegans were keener on joining a vegan group. People also wanted recipes or a cookery course and more availability of vegan food in shops and restaurants at affordable prices. Some people mentioned issues such as willpower and personal conviction.

Feedback for Pogo Café

Some of the comments on the questionnaire indicated that this event was a good promotional event for Pogo café, with respondents saying they would visit the café again.

"Very good food, I have been meaning to eat here for a while, and will return for a meal with a friend when I have money. Thank you."

"First time here and the food was orgasmic, will be up for another visit soon!"

Generally, the comments about the café were very positive, such as

"Pogo is the best place in London & a blessing for Hackney"

"Very cosy little caf, never seen it before, but like atmosphere very much"

There were a few suggestions for improvement such as a space for children to play and a childrens menu (to include falafel, houmous, pitta & salads etc, parsnips & potato chips with salsa)

A few people suggested changes in the internal decor such as some plants and one commented that the restaurant is very off-putting from the outside.

Other people commented that Pogo needs to advertise more as it is not on the main street, and suggested libraries and the Round Chapel in Hackney.

Further thoughts about the day

The day appears to have been a great success, with visitors full of praise and many people asking for it to be repeated. Most people were very complimentary about the food and atmosphere and were particularly grateful for the recipe booklet.

Some people asked for more recipes or vegan cookery lessons. The only criticisms related to too much food being cooked with tomatoes and better labelling of the food so people could see what it was.

Overall however, the vast majority of visitors were very complimentary and appreciated the effort that had been put into organising the day:

"Thank you for today-it was real eye opening. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was wonderful"

"I thought the food was fantastic! What a great event!"

If you would like to help at our next vegan fayre, please contact;
Vegan Campaigns BM Box 2300 London WC1N 3XX
info@vegancampaigns.org.uk

To plan a food fayre in your own area, see the excellent guide on Realfood's website www.realfood.org.uk

Thank you to the following companies for sponsoring the vegan food fayre:

Beanies www.beanieshealthfoods.co.uk
Pogo Café www.pogocafe.co.uk
Troody Skrumptious www.troodyskrumptious.co.uk

Appendix 1
Free Soya Shake-Vegan Fayre Questionnaire!

We hope you have found today's free food fair an enjoyable and informative event. To help us plan future events, we have devised a short questionnaire. Hand in your questionnaire to one of our volunteers to receive a free taster of deluxe Soya shake.

1. How did you hear about today's event:

q Handed flier/food in street today

q Saw advertising board today

q Saw poster/flier (please state where)

q In the press (please state which publication)Š

q By email (please say which list/who sent it)Š

q On the web (please state which site)Š

q Word of mouth

q Other (please specify)

2. How would you rate the quality and taste of the food served today overall

q V Poor

q Poor

q Satisfactory

q Good

q Excellent

3. How would you describe you current diet:

q Meat eater

q Vegetarian

q Vegan

q Other (please specify)

4. How would you describe you attitude to going vegetarian before today:

q I have not considered going vegetarian before today

q I have thought about going vegetarian before today

q I have been vegetarian but started eating meat again

q I am already vegetarian/vegan

5. How would you describe you attitude to going vegan before today:

q I have not considered going vegan before today

q I have thought about going vegan before today

q I have been vegan but started eating animal products again

q I am already vegan

6. How will your diet change after today?

q I will not change my diet

q I will continue eating meat, but I will eat more vegetarian/vegan food

q I am thinking about becoming vegetarian

q I am definitely becoming vegetarian

q I will continue being vegetarian but will eat more vegan food

q I am thinking of becoming vegan

q I am definitely becoming vegan

Please turn over to complete the questionnaire

7. If you are changing your diet or thinking about it because of today, what helped you to make this choice (tick all that apply)

q Gaining more awareness of the range of vegan foods available

q Gaining more awareness of the availability of vegan foods

q The taste of the food

q Information about the cruelty involved in animal farming industries

q Information about the heath benefits of a vegan diet

q Information about the benefits of a vegan diet to the environment/people

q Other (please specify)

8. Would anything else help you to start or maintain a healthy vegetarian/vegan lifestyle (tick all that apply)

q More information (please specify type of information)Š

q Joining a vegetarian/vegan group

q Having a vegan buddy (being in contact with an experienced vegan who can give you advice

q Other (please specify)

9. Any further comments, or suggestions

If you would you like to be included on a mailing list to receive updates about future events, please give your details below:

Name and address:

Name

Address

Postcode......................Tel

Email

Thank you very much for taking the time to complete this questionnaire and for participating in our vegan food fayre.

Please hand in your questionnaire to receive your free deluxe soya shake

Pogo Café 2005