Giving Away Free Vegan Food
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That’s me on the left. Two Vegas Veg* members stand beside me, Jennifer and Shauna.
Yesterday, we invited people at a pet event to try vegan food for free.
This is how we did it…
The food:
I asked for vegan food donations from our local community. Vegans and nonvegans who like to prepare vegan food offered up tasty things like vegan chili, pasta salad, chocolate chip cookies, and more.
The booth:
Our booth at this large event cost more money than we could raise through donations. But since we were offering free vegan food to the public, I was able to secure reimbursement through VegFund. My personal expenses were just for my food contributions and supplies (banner, poster, forks, table cloth, etc.) to set up the booth.
The “staff”:
I asked for vegans to volunteer to staff the booth. With me in the above photo are two of the wonderful volunteers. But even more showed up to help. That’s one of the best things about vegans – they tend to be generous and willing to help out when needed. So our booth was well staffed!
The spiel:
We each came up with different things to say to draw people into our booth.
Some examples:
- “Try some vegan food. It’s free and also cruelty-free. But it’s not flavor-free!“
- “Would you like a cookie? These are made without any animal products like milk or eggs. We’re giving away cookies to promote compassionate eating.“
- “Are you hungry? Would you like a hummus wrap? They’re tasty and vegan.“
I found that just holding a leaflet out to someone without even saying a word encouraged them to come closer to take the leaflet. Then I could offer free food and explain that it’s vegan food.
The leaflets:
I got leaflets from Vegan Outreach. Shauna brought leaflets from PETA.
I asked the volunteers to try to make sure that every adult who came to our booth received a copy of Compassionate Choices.
The downsides:
I am personally somewhat put-off by these kinds of events. I get worried about food contamination, things going stale or getting soggy, transportation problems, etc. To be perfectly honest, I don’t actually enjoy it. I get so nervous and sick to my stomach with worry that someone is going to get food poisoning. Or I worry that people will hate the food and complain. Or that flies, ants, or bees will invade our booth. Or there will be wind, rain, or unbearable heat. None of those things have happened, except I did spill some chili in my backseat. Whoops.
Food adds in a whole lotta potential problems that simply don’t exist when it’s just me and a stack of leaflets.
The upsides:
People like food. It’s a social lubricant. More people come up to a booth with free food than a booth with only literature. And when they try vegan food and enjoy it, they walk away with happy thoughts about vegans and veganism. Food is helpful, maybe even critical, for some outreach events.
What I learned this time:
Don’t even bother with fresh fruits and veggies in any significant quantity. Most people aren’t interested. They want cookies, chili, sandwiches and things like that. One adorable little girl kept coming back for grape tomatoes but she was atypical.
Most people are polite. The rudest thing anyone said was “I like meat.” It was her glare and her tone that made it rude. And then she just walked away. No big deal. A few other people had “issues” and wanted to talk about how they used to be vegan but stopped or about how they know this vegan who… But they were all pleasant enough that I didn’t feel attacked or threatened.
Don’t forget paper weights, water to drink, a snack for yourself, protection from the sun/wind/heat/cold, someone to help you take a break, and a sense of humor.
All in all it was a fantastic event. A great turn-out, positive experience, and nice weather too. I plan to do it again in the Fall.
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