What do vegans eat, anyway?

10/14/09Emerson College students swarmed the Bill Bordy Theatre 7-8 p.m. Dec. 14, eager to learn and taste what vegans eat. Approximately 45 students gathered at the Vegan Food Fest with their own dinnerware in hand ready to delve into a no-animal culinary feast.



Since 2007, Katie Woods, a junior in writing, literature and publishing, has been running the Vegan Food Fest, which entails coordinating the event and reaching out to students to encourage them to come and cook food. She also contacted local organizations and businesses for donations, which she said were generous the first year it was held, and declined slowly after that because of an "apparent economic struggle."

"Grezzo, a new raw vegan Italian restaurant in the North End donated, and Boloco too. We can always rely on them, which is really great," she said. "And people really contributed this year by making their own food, which is awesome," she said.



The foods ranged from wheat gluten with sesame seeds in place of the classic Chinese dish, General Tsao's Chicken (from My Thai in Chinatown) to Grezzo's raw vegan ice cream which is dairy-free, soy free, gluten free and wheat free, according to their website. Some vegans even exclude honey from their diet. Students were reimbursed by SGA and Earth Emerson for their culinary contributions.



Andrew Hutcheson, a sophomore film production major, said he came to the event because he is vegan and he wanted some of his friends to see what it's like to eat the way he does. He said he has eaten meat his whole life until this year. "I came to Emerson and found that the quality of meat was so bad that I just wasn't eating it. I went home and ate a little, then realized when I came back that I hadn't eaten meat for a month and I had no exact craving to and I was getting all the nutrients and there was no reason for me to eat it," he said.



Woods said one of the big issues that the organizers have encountered with this event is how to get people to listen and learn about veganism while they're enjoying the food. "This year we didn't even have that much from people to learn from, but in the past we've had speakers and shown videos and people just get their food and run," she said. "Something we did this year was writing facts on the lip of the plates, because you can't totally avoid it," she said.

Last year the organizers introduced a raffle, where students brought their own plate or bowl to reduce wastefulness and Woods said that was a huge attraction. However, even with the popularity of the raffle-which was a gift bag full of LUSH cosmetic products this year, Woods said attendance declined because the event was held during finals week.