So, do you wanna be Vegan?
It all started with one Friday evening, I was bored, and totallyy exciiited at the same time for the National Book Festival the next day...
I know.
You might be asking yourself, "Is this blogger crazy? I expected her to talk about being Vegan and stuufff!"
:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Hey, don't you worry. We will get there! :) *wink!
So,
here it goes,
Well, I have to thank my boredom for that niight cause it led me to discover about this SUPER AWESOME FESTIVAL called the DC VegFest!(http://dcvegfest.com/) on Couchsurfing! (On a side note, I am seriously recommending this site for people who are traveling to some place new! It's really helpful cause you get to connect with locals and fellow couch surfers as well! :) )
YUUUP! You go that riiight! And for people who strive to live healthyy every single daay!! SHOUTOUT TO ALL VEGETARIANS & VEGAANS EVERYWHEERE!!!
It's an opportuniity YOU'LL NEVER EVER WANNA MISS!
Clueless and curious as some are, I decided to GO TO THE FESTIVAL NO MATTER WHAT!
To cut the story short(cause I know you're really excited about the treasures that I found in the Vegfest!), I changed my original plan of going to the Bookfest and instead took the traiiin to DC's Southeast neighborhood!
Oh boy, if you only knew what I had to go through to be able to go to this VEGFEST!!! But let me tell you, it was SUPER WORTH IT! :)
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| I have yet to explore this areaaa!!! In my almooost one month of staying in here, only then did I discover that this was the super "tourist" area here in DC!!! |
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| Yup, i'm actually getting used to this, taking pictures of myself! hahaha! not so many perks of traveling alone! :)))
Shariing my journeyy to my goal for the daaay! I call it my "WALKIING GALORE" mode! HAHAHAHHA!
 You have no idea how ecstatic I waas when I saaw these numerouus white tents despite the heat & the hunger that I was feeeeeliiing!!!!  AND AT LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!  |
WELCOME TO DC VEGFEST 2012! :)
To give you a brief background, the festival has been held annually ever since 2009 in George Washington University and it is the first time ever this year that they hosted it in an outside area due to the volume of small businesses who want to participate. According to one of the organizers that I talked to, last year they only had 70 vendors but this year, it went up to over a hundred sponsors and vendors together! AMAZEBALLS RIGHT? :) Not only that, she said that it's actually a requirement that they sell VEGAN & VEGETARIAN stuff - meaning meat, dairy and egg freee and you won't believe how super delish they are, and unbelievably healthy too! They've got a whole selection of food, from Vegan sweeets(WHICH I OBVIOUSLY DIEED FOR!), healthy oils, and even natural oil essences that you could use as an everyday perfume, meatless strips, meatless chicken, bratwurst, nuggets -
NAME IT, VEGFEST HAS IT!
And I guess the best part about it is that the admisiion's ABSOLUTELYYY FREEEEE! :))))
Haha! Who wouldn't want free access to festivals, right? :D
Going back, let me now share with you some stuff that you might be really interested with and who knows, you might wanna try going VEGAN! :)
#1 - FOR THE LOVE OF SWEETS!
ATTENTION TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE EXCESSIVE LOVE FOR SWEEETS AND WHO DON'T WANNA GAIN EXTRA POUNDS FOR FOLLOWING THEIR SINFUL INDULGENCE! :)
These will be heaven for you! :)
FIRST STOP!
STICKY FINGERS SWEETS & EATS! :)
This is a Vegan restaurant that sells delectable sweets, mostly cupcaaakes, but they do have brownies and a few bars too! Not only that, they also sell healthy meals like salads, pasta,etc! :))) They have won the famous CUPCAKE WARS(oh i wanna join here somedaaay!!) held last Januaryy! WAY TO GO! :)
And btw, if you're really interested in going Vegan, you might wanna check out Doron's book! :)
Next on the list!
RESCUE CHOCOLATES
They aren't named Rescue chocolates for no important reason cause all proceeds from these go to animal rescue groups! Such a sweeet way to fuel great cause! :) At first, I actually thought that they're chocolates for animal consumption! HAHA! But the lady told me otherwise instead! These chocolates also come in many and equally distinct flavors: Peanut Butter Pit Bull, Fakin Bacon, Pick me Pepper, and a whole lot more! Check out their website here for more info! :) http://www.rescuechocolate.com/
DOUBLE THUMBS UP FOR THESE! :)
While I was walking, I saw this crowded tent of people so I went there and figured what the FUZZ was all about!
LO & BEHOLD! I found the my ULTIMATE WEAKNESSS!!!
Healthy & sinful Indulgence at its fineeeest!
Enjoy loooking at these guyyys!! Cause I had a great tiiime looking at them and decidiing which one to pick too!
These are liiike THE BOOOMB PEANUT BUTTER CAKE!
I KNOOOOW! IT'S TOOOO MUUCH!! I WAS LITERALLY ON THE VERGE OF PASTRYYYY DEAATH WHEN I SET MY EYES ON THOOSE! I SERIOUSLY WISH I HAD A LOT OF ROOM IN MY BELLY TO EAT EVERY SINGLE THING!
Well unfortunately, I don't, so for the mean time, I tried something new! :D
I forgot how they're called cause the only thing that I can remember is that they're soooo gooood! They're like crunchy baked crepes with a cream cheese filling pluuus a generous amount of milk chocolate chips inside & out! I have to thank the lady who recommended this cause I was really having a hard time choosing what to buy!
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| RASPBERRY FLOWER CAKE |
On a different note, let me share one of the things that I've learned when going to food fests like this! HAHHHAAHHA! Based from experience, food stalls usually discount their products at closiing time! :) Can you believe it? I got two small cakes from here for a discounted price! A chocolate chip cheesecake for $5 which was originally priced at $8 and the raspberyy flower cake for only $3, which was originally priced at $5! So, it was a great decision that I did not panic buy when I first discovered this Vegan Bakeryyy cause at the end of the day, I got to take home super yummy sweeets at a fairly reasonable price! :D
Another interesting thing that I found in this Festival is the FIRST EVER RAW VEGAN CHOCOLATE FUDGE in the markeeeet!
With every bite, theese fudgyy bars LITERALLY send you to CLOUD 9! :DDD
I was soo happyyy that they got free taste and stuuff so I got to taste two of their super yummy flavors: Macadami Nut Goji Berry and the Original Chocolate Fudge! I seriouslyy have no words especially for the Original Chocolate Fudge! It has just the right amount of sweetness to satisfy your craviing plus it's made from raw chocolate so you really get to enjoy the real thing! :) Aside from these flavors, they've got Cranberry Pecan and Walnut too so you might want to check out their websiite and order some online too! :) I swear, they'll be worth your buck! :)
Here's another sweet treaaat from the
THE BAKESHOP <3
Although I wasn't able to taste any of their products, here's a sneak peek of what they sell! :)))
I seriously wanted to tryy theeese but my stomach wouldn't allow me anymooore!
And theeese tooo!!!!
Well, I can alwaays visiit next tiime! :))
Okay, I know that's alreadyy a lot of sweets but keeep on scrolling down cause I still have more interesting treats up for youuu!
#2 For the love of Peanut butter!!!
Before I attended this Vegfest, the only types of peanut butter spread i know are the plain cream ones and the chunky ones! I didn't know that such product could be diversified as these!!!!
I didn't know peanut butter could be spicyy!!(THE HEAT IS ON flavor)
As you can see in the picture, there's a Maple, Dark Chocolate, Crunch Time, The Heat is on and White Chocolate! The white chocoo wonderfuul absolutely liiived up to its naame cause the moment I tasted it, it sent me straight to a Peanuut Butter Wonderland!
#3 Some POPCORN LOVIN'
Who doesn't love popcorn? It's a healthy snack that you can eat whenever, plus eating a lot of it won't get you fat! That's why I was hooked when I saw these,
Just like the peanut butter, they come in different catchy and unique flavors too! Check them out!
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| ECSTASY!! SPICYYYY FLAVOR! |
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| GARLIC OVER DOSE |
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| ITALY IN A BAG! |
Aside from popcorns and sweets, there were also vendors who sell essential oils that can be used as an everyday perfume! They've got a lot of scents to choose from! What's more interesting are the labels of each scent - they have Obama, Mariah Carey, Jordan, Usher, they even have scents named Egyptian & Arabian Sands which I don't like though! hahahaha! Check this out guys! :DDD
#4 OIL OIL OIL! :)
Interesting selection right? :) BTW, Obama never fails to noticed by customers! hahahaha!
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From this stall, I learned one of the many uses of coffee powder! Do you know that smelling coffee powder actually eliminates whatever it is that you previously smelled? That way, you could really smell the distinct aroma of ever scent that they sell! :) So the next time you go in a perfume store and would want to check out several scents, better yet bring some coffee powder! :)
Aside from using natural oil as a perfume, its most common use would be for cooking, or even a dip for your French bread! :) Let me introduce to you this premium extra virgin oil that I've discovered from the Festival!
And I seriously can't believe that they're made from these seeds!!!
Talking to one of the owners of this, she told me that Sacha Vida is actually extracted from the seeds that are found in the Peruvian Amazon. It's a small business that they're trying to sell in a larger market with her brother and I'm really amazed by their innovation on this!
Trying it out with a crisp bread gave my taste buds a burst of the ground of the earth. It's something very new and intriguing. I also got to taste the seed itself, ofcourse I loved the chocolate covered ones, but the plain and salted ones are really great too!
Give it some time and it will definitely gain its momentum in the market! If you would like to know more about this product, visit their website here :D : http://sachavida.com/sacha-vida-oil/product-highlights/
#5 INTERESTING VEGAN FINDS AT YOUR LOCAL GROCERY STOORES(that you probably don't know about yeeet!!)
THESE ARE SUPER DELIIISH! They taste like CHEESE WHIZ but they're definitely a million times healthier than the spread!
Also, did I mention that I got my merienda solved for that day by just the food stalls' free taste? :) HAHAHAHA! :D especially that picture you see above! They made my tummy very happy that day! :)))
Gluten Free-Primal Strips!
For Italiaaans at heaart!! These healthyy pastaas are a must tryyy!!! :))
Forget about Haagen Dazs, Ben & Jerry's, Magnum and all those sinful ice cream selection and just buy these! They're equallyyyy yummy and best of all, they're gluten freeeeeee!!!!! :))))
If you're a Hunt's bean fan, you would want to check this out cause they're freshly made by a family who is very passionate about beans! Not kidding! The guy even told me that they do all the work from crushing to making the beans into these yummyy dips! They have a wide variety of flavors like this chipotle dip(which is extremelyyy gooood!!),
For Italiaaans at heaart!! These healthyy pastaas are a must tryyy!!! :))
Forget about Haagen Dazs, Ben & Jerry's, Magnum and all those sinful ice cream selection and just buy these! They're equallyyyy yummy and best of all, they're gluten freeeeeee!!!!! :))))
#6 Move over Mr. BEAN, It's time for some BETTER BEAN!!!
If you're a Hunt's bean fan, you would want to check this out cause they're freshly made by a family who is very passionate about beans! Not kidding! The guy even told me that they do all the work from crushing to making the beans into these yummyy dips! They have a wide variety of flavors like this chipotle dip(which is extremelyyy gooood!!),
A fresh concept yet agaiiiin! :)))
#7 FOR BOOKWORMS OF ALL SORTS!
Here's a Vegan treaat!!
I'd loove to have theese for Chriiistmaaas!!!
I dunno how this book is related to being Vegan but if you have the time, why don't you check it out? :)
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| Author of The Terror Within |
#8 Vegan for Fashion!
Festivals such as this won't be complete without souvenirs such as shirts, cute little chicken key chains, clothbags, pins, accessories and a whole lot more! What's nice about other vendors who participated is that they sell things for a specific cause. One of the main reasons also why some Vegan people restrict their diet from meat, dairy & eggs(aside from the obvious reason that they want to live a healthy lifestyle) is for their campaign against animal violence. That's why in the festival, there were a lot of non profit organizations who raise funds to support such cause! #Go figure!
And for the last part, let me share with you this super I dunno-what-to-say experience! haha! I was about to leave when I saw this challenge at Yelp's stall. Ever curious as I was, I took the challenge! You just have to figure out whether the flavor of the drink: tamarind or basil. At first, I was like, hmmmm...I never tasted basil juice before so this might be hard. hahahaha! Funny though, I put on the blindfold as instructed and took a sip. I was like, DUH! This has gotta be tamarind!!! Hahahaha! 
And I got this BIB as myy priiize!!! :))))
All in all, it was a fun and a wonderful experieence!! You know whyy? Cause I proved to myself that whatever it is that I set my mind on to, be it a career or fitness goal(well sometimes I can't help to give in to my sweeet cravings!) or any thing that I want to accomplish in a certain day, I can ALWAYS ALWAYS REACH IT IF I HAVE THE DETERMINATION & PERSEVERANCE to begin with. Cause again, if you only knew what I had to go through to be able to go to this event! I almost gave up and decided to just stay on the house but I didn't, and that's what made this Vegan journey WORTH IT! :)
So,
do you wanna be Vegan now? :D
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