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news > 7 April 2006
Vegan Food Tasting Evening in Holborn
On Friday 7 April, Vegan Campaigns held their first Vegan Food Tasting evening. The aim of the evening was to give an introduction to veganism. The serious aspects about animal cruelty were covered and the evening was very positive, with lots of delicious vegan food, a talk on veganism and a light-hearted cookery demonstration.
There were also stalls with plenty of information, and food on sale. Stalls included one selling vegan fairtrade products, from chocolate to rolls. Everyone who came in was given a raffle ticket, with the prize being a vegan food hamper.
The vegan evening was held on Millman Street in the Holborn area, and a small charge of £1 was made for entrance.
The food was a mixture of home-made and ready-made food with donations from Alpro, Booja-Booja, Dove Foods, Frys, Isle of Bute and Redwoods. These were much appreciated and we would like to say a big thank you to all of these companies who helped ensure we had a great spread of food on offer. Between them they donated burgers, sausages, nuggets, cheese, cheatin ham, chocolates, biscuits, soya shakes and much more. Pogo Cafe also helped with the event.
Other food included spring rolls, sos-rolls, nut roast, mini-quiche, pasties, cocktail kebabs, salad, shepherd’s pie, sushi, chocolate cake, lemon cake, scones and cream, energy balls and date slices. Recipes for most of these dishes are available in a booklet that was produced for the evening, and can be downloaded here (243k). It is in PDF format, so you will need a PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer. Alternatively email us if you want a paper copy sent to you in the post.
Alex Bourke from Vegetarian Guides gave a brilliant speech explaining why people go vegan. Alex also covered health issues (mainly how much healthier veganism is!).
There was also a cookery demonstration, where mini-quiche, sushi, vegan cream and chocolate biscuit cake were made. All recipes can be found in the booklet mentioned above.
There was a great atmosphere, which was very relaxed with plenty of chance for people to ask questions about any aspect of veganism. There were many favourable comments, including this one:
“Impressed by the range of products to taste and how good it tasted. I would never have believed this. It has been very educational. Thank you”
Analysis of Questionnaires
A questionnaire was given to everyone who came in and the results are below. Around 60 people came to the food tasting and of these, 48 filled out the questionnaire.
Attendees
20 meat eaters
20 vegetarians
8 vegans
How they found out about the event
17 people found out via a leaflet through the door (12 of these were meat eaters, 5 vegetarians)
3 people saw an advert in the local newspaper (1 meat eater, 2 vegetarians)
1 meat eater saw a poster in a shop window
2 vegetarians saw a poster at the library or college
11 people heard through word of mouth (5 meat eaters, 3 vegetarians, 3 vegans)
1 vegetarian found out about it at Russell Square tube the Friday before
1 meat eater and 1 vegan were handed a leaflet (did not say where)
1 vegan found out through the Vegan Campaigns email list
2 veggies, 1 vegan found out through Green Events
1 veggie found out through Indymedia
2 veggies found out through a stall at Woolwich stall
1 veggie found out through a stall
1 vegan saw a poster in a car window
1 veggie saw leaflet on shop counter
1 vegan found out through Vegan Village
Eating more vegan food
Those who said yes they would eat more vegan foods – 13 meat eaters, 14 veggies, 7 vegans
Those who said no – 1 veggie, 1 vegan
Those who said they might eat more vegan foods – 6 meat eaters, 5 veggies
No answer – 1 meat eater
Change of diet
Thinking of becoming veggie – 5 meat eaters (25% of meat eaters who attended)
Thinking of becoming vegan – 14 veggies (70% of veggies who attended)
Diet will stay more or less the same – 8 meat eaters, 5 veggies, all 8 vegans
No answer – 1 meat eater
Less meat/more veggie food – 5 meat eaters (25% of meat eaters who attended)
Will stop eating fish – 2 meat eaters (not clear if this will make them completely veggie or not)
Not sure – 1 veggie
Therefore, 12 of the meat eaters will make positive changes to their diets (60%)
Comments
“High participation and enthusiasm”
“Great idea, hope to attend more”
“very informative evening … and delicious food”
“I was very impressed with the cheeses, but all the food was of excellent quality. Thank you very much”
“very motivating”
“It was a real eye opener to see and taste vegan food. It’s wonderful to see how much progress the vegan industry has made. I particularly enjoyed the lecture. It was a real eye opener, how all these years I’ve been blinded. Well done for tonight, I wish you all a great success for the future”
“Excellent choice of vegan food. Who needs meat and dairy products”
“These events are very inspiring. Hope to do this in my home city of Philadelphia”
“Nice cookery demonstration”
“Very well promoted, good display of food and other merchandise”
“Friendly atmosphere”
“Interesting talk”
Food people liked
All food that we had on the table had a positive mention at least once. Particular favourites were lemon cake (4 respondents), choc biscuit cake (3), fruit cake (3), Shepherds Pie (6) and spring rolls (6).
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