VeganMania 2014!

            I’m sorry for the delay in an update.  We finally went on our vacation to both Ecuador and Peru in September and it was a blast!  I enjoyed myself a lot more than I was expecting despite a few bumps in the road along the way.  I shall be updating about the food and sights in another entry but I’m still in the process of editing my nearly 4,000 photos that I took while there.  A bit overboard?  Perhaps, but when everything I saw was amazing it’s hard not to take a photograph.

Just a few of the vendors

            Today, I figured I’d update about this year’s 6^th annual VeganMania that was held on the 11^th.  It was our 4^th time going to the event and the 3^rd time since they moved the event to the Broadway Armory.  I always look forward to the event for a number of reasons.

I quite enjoy the speakers that they have each year.  There’s always a broad spectrum of speakers – someone for everyone to listen to.  My wife knows more about the ‘famous’ vegans in the community and even though she tells me about them, without a face or direct exposure to the people she’s talking about, I have the same blank face your dog has when you say anything more complex than “sit” or “treat” to him/her.  It never fails that each year there’s some speaker she knows about and I respond with, “Who was that?” This is followed by a confused look on her part but that’s because she doesn’t understand why I couldn’t automatically recall some name she mentioned six months ago. (I have the memory of a goldfish…)  However, after sitting through the talks, I always come away with new people in the community to appreciate.

In the past I’ve enjoyed talks given by – but not limited to – Jenny Brown (from Woodstock Farm Sanctuary), Dr. Oppenlander (author of the fantastic book, Comfortably Unaware), Erin Red (host of Red Radio), Kristin Lajeunesse (of the Will Travel For Vegan Food blog), and Ellen Jaffe Jones (speaker, author, & athlete; wrote Eat Vegan on $4 a Day).

David Robinson Simon

This year was no exception.  The 1^st speaker we caught was David Robinson Simon, lawyer and author of Meatonomics.  My wife has the book but I haven’t been able to read it just yet – an issue I plan to correct very soon.  Surprisingly, I did remember my wife telling me about the book and the author before we showed up.  See?  A broken watch can be right, after all!  Mr. Simon touched upon a few points that he expands on in the book.  For example, he talked about how the meat and dairy industries work with the government in a myriad of ways including their effective lobbies in Washington.  He also discussed the true cost to taxpayers for that hamburger you buy at that golden arches burger joint.  The talk was fascinating and despite vaguely knowing the issues addressed in the talk, it is alarming to hear cold, hard facts coming from someone who obviously put a lot of work into the research and cares about the topic.  I’ll talk about the book in-depth once I read it.  Stay tuned!  Needless to say I highly suggest checking out his book!  It will blow your mind.

Left to right: Mariann Sullivan and Jasmin Singer

            The next speakers were the hosts of Our Hen House, Mariann Sullivan and Jasmin Singer.  Again, I knew of them thanks to my wife listening to their podcast.  Other than recognizing the name of their podcast I didn’t really know what to expect.  They gave a talk on what struggles a newbie might have in the world of veganism.  It wasn’t necessarily a topic that concerned me since it’s been awhile since I’ve been a newbie vegan, but it was quite funny and you could totally feel the enthusiasm the two had talking to the audience and for sharing their experiences with veganism.  After the talk I told my wife that there was yet another podcast I would have to start following.  Check it out!

Another reason I love VeganMania is the food, d’uh.  Every year I stuff myself with as much food as I can when I’m there.  There are around a dozen or so different restaurants and other vendors who have dishes for you to try in the food court.  And everything looks and smells so good!  I try to vary my selection when we get there but sometimes there are a few favorites we just have to visit.  I’ll sometimes try something from the Chicago Diner or Native Foods Café since I love their food but then I try to get something from one or two other vendors (at least).  This year, I tried some soft serve ice cream from Temptation, a gyro-like plate with BBQ seitan bits from another vendor, a salad from Native Foods Café, a raspberry chocolate cupcake from Chicago Diner, and a few bites from food my wife had, too.  Besides the main food court there were a few businesses set-up through the main room that were giving away samples of their products.  My stomach was quite happy by the end of the day.

My seitan gyro

My wife's kale burger - so good!

My salad from Native Foods Cafe.

Tofurkey samples, which were so good!

Yet another reason I go is to refuel my vegan batteries.  I’ve said it before but it’s cool to be around others like you when you’re in a relatively small minority of the larger population.  Everyone seems to be in a good mood when they’re there and the vibes are infectious, which, given the current state of the world, I should probably avoid catching to be on the safe side.  It’s very cool to see vegans, vegetarians, and the veg-curious all come together in one place.

My swag!  Too much?

Lastly, probably my favorite reason for going is all the vegan merchandise.  My wife and I are suckers for funny and/or in-your-face bumper stickers.  I never thought I would be one of “those” people when I was younger but I can’t deny that I am.  I love watching people in my rearview mirror as they read the stickers and either shake their head or laugh or take pictures of their favorite ones.  I picked up just two this year but I think they make good additions.  The “eat humans” sticker is from Action for Animals and the “humane meat” one is from Herbivore.  I also like my vegan message shirts that I sometimes get.  I’d go broke if I bought everything I wanted to get while there.  I picked up a t-shirt from Compassion featuring an elephant breaking out of chains with the caption, “Animals Are Not Property”.  It’s pretty b.a.

All in all, a very fun time!  I can’t wait for the next one.

Sorry for the lack of decent pictures.  I was using my phone’s camera this year and the quality kind of shows.  I’ll step up my game with the next entry!  Until then, keep calm and vegan on!

You can not only find Compassion HERE but on Twitter at: @compassionco

You can not only find Herbivore HERE but on Twitter at: @herbivorecc

You can not only find Action for Animals HERE but on Twitter at: @action4animals

You can find David Robinson Simon a number of ways online like HERE.  Follow him on Twitter at: @meatonomics

You can also find Mariann and Jasmin from Our Hen House a number of ways online like HERE.  Follow Our Hen House on Twitter at: @ourhenhouse

For the skinny on VeganMania, go HERE.

I’ve mentioned a few others here before but:

You can find Erin Red on Twitter at: @erinred

You can find Ellen Jaffe Jones on Twitter at: @EllenJaffeJones

Restaurant Review: Native Foods Café

            I apologize yet again for another gap in posts!  My wife’s family recently visited us from Vancouver, British Columbia, so I was unable to post for a while.  I was too busy drinking, eating, and being merry.  It was also the week of my wife’s birthday and since she’s the talented one when it comes to baking, she really wanted to go nuts and she baked several pies, a cake, and even ice cream.  To say that I’ve spent the last few days trying to recover is an understatement.  I thought that I would update with yet another restaurant review to get back into the swing of things.  Besides, I’ve been meaning to update about Native Foods Café for a long time.

            I absolutely love Native Foods Café and if they are reading this (HI!), I hope they know they should make a new restaurant out in the Chicago burbs.  My stomach would quite appreciate it.  I might be able to make it to one of their restaurants more than once every other month if that was the case.  For those of you lucky enough to be near one, Native Foods Café is a very cool chain restaurant that is popping up in more and more locations.  They serve what they call “fast-casual” vegan food, which basically means you get to a counter, order your food, and sit down until they bring the food to your table.  Usually, the food arrives within minutes of you ordering.

The ones in Chicago all opened up within the last few years and we’ve been to all three locations.  Each one is a bit different in style but the staff, food, and atmosphere are all equally great.  I’m partial to the one on Clark Street, which also has outdoor seating, since it’s easy to get to from Union Station and the lakefront.

            Our most recent visit took place this last week when we wanted to grab lunch with my wife’s mother and stepfather.  They are omnivores but are pretty open to most of the vegetarian or vegan places we take them.  Native Foods was on the top of our list of places we knew that all of us would enjoy and nobody would leave hungry.  Their ingredients are homemade and their dishes are made fresh each day.  Their homemade seitan and tempeh are both quite delicious!

            This trip was a bit lighter than usual.  Normally, as many of you readers are aware, my wife and I try to starve ourselves before we go out so we can stuff ourselves on the food at the restaurant.  However, this time we had to limit our meals because we had plans to eat dinner with my family for my wife’s birthday.  Such a shame because since Native Foods Café changes their menu every so often, there were a few items I would’ve liked to have tried.  At least what I did have on this visit was fantastic!

            My wife had the Ancho BBQ Brisket, which looked really good.  That’s a possibility for me on our next visit.

            My wife’s mother and stepfather both had the Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger, and they both really enjoyed it!  As my wife’s mother said, she gave the meal two thumbs up.  It kept them full for most of the day, too.  If you were planning a day of walking around the city, this would probably be a good meal to fill up on before continuing on your journey.

            As for yours truly, I had the Twister Wrap with sweet potato fries.  The wrap had salad greens, avocado, cucumber salsa, chipotle sauce, and Native Chicken (which you can get either blackened, grilled, or crispy).  It was amazing!  I’m a sucker for sweet potato fries so it’s no surprise I liked that part of the meal.  As long as they have this on the menu, I would highly recommend ordering it.  Omnivores would like it because it’s hardy but doesn’t contain anything too “weird” for them.

Twister Wrap!

Since I didn’t take a lot of photos for this visit, I thought I’d add on the meal we had at this same location during our previous visit.  My wife and I split a polenta appetizer.  Unfortunately, since the menu changes, I forgot the specific name of this dish.  It was also quite delicious and I hope it comes back on the menu.  Just look at how good that looks!

I had the Philly ‘Cheese Steak’ for my main meal.  Now, I have to admit that I’ve never had a Philly Cheese Steak when I was an omnivore and I had never been tempted to eat one before.  It looked disgusting and like a heart attack on a plate.  So I’m not sure what possessed me to try this dish but I am quite happy that I did.  It was surprisingly good – if not a bit messy!  The portion – like everything at NFC – was large and worth every penny.  It’s not currently on the menu but if you see it when you visit, get that, too!  Heck, order one of everything.

            They also have a customer loyalty program, which can come in handy if you go there with any sort of regularity.  For our last visit, for our two main meals we were able to save ten bucks off our order because of it, and like I said, it’s not like we go there every week.  It’s free to sign-up for it so there’s no reason not to get it.

Artwork hanging up at the Clark Street location.

            So, with that, I will let you go back to salivating over the pictures I posted.  If you have a Native Foods Café in your neighborhood or in a location you plan to visit, I highly recommend stopping in for a quick bite to eat.  If you’re an omnivore or someone who is veg-curious and are looking for somewhere to eat-out at, check this place out.  You can load up on food for a decent price.  And for us broke vegans, what more could you ask for?

            Until next time, keep calm and vegan on!

You can check out Native Foods Café HERE to find locations near you and to see their current menu.  You can find them on a few sites including Twitter at @nativefoodscafe