Local chefs and plant-based meals will be all over the Meadowlands Expo Center this weekend with the Vegan Food Festival on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 12 and Nov. 13, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event will also include vegan products, plant-based fashion, and live music.
The Vegan Food Festival will include classes on both days of the event in the conference room of the Expo Center such as Nutrition 101, a book club, and the Vegan and Plant-Based Small Business Workshop.
Nutrition 101 takes place at 12:30 p.m. with Marisa Sweeney, owner of the NJ Vegfest and Be Well Integrative Health Services. The class will teach those new to the vegan experience, as well as long-time vegans and others about plant-based nutrition and the latest research on vegan diets.
The Book Club takes place at 1:45 p.m. with Hailey Brock, owner of The Nature of Reading Bookshop. She’ll be hosting a discussion about My Days of Dark Green Euphoria, by A.E. Copenhaver. On Sunday, she will discuss How to Be Animal by Melanie Challenger.
The Vegan and Plant-Based Small Business Workshop takes place at 3 p.m. with Kurt Biroc, the owner of Freakin’ Vegan. The workshop covers marketing and branding, building a presence on social media, separating yourself in the market, product awareness, what to sell, costing out your product, the streamlining process, assessing the market, generating income, consumer trends, and how to survive and flourish with a vegan business.
Participating vendors include Absolute Green, Ascend Cannabis, Bare Life, Barrett’s Garden, Bhakti Books & Art, Bona Bona Ice Cream, Cake Jars, Cookies Para Vos, DKM Cosmetics, Eden’s Sweet Ideas, Fanciful Fox, Feasty Vegan, Got Da Juice, Grandma Emma’s, Healthy As A Motha, Heavenly Healing, Kangen Water, Lovers Rock Sea Moss, Montana Mountain Skincare, The Naked Botanical, The Nature of Reading Bookshop, Oxygen Theory, Plant Base, Redi-Farms, Secret Vegan Kitchen, Spice Sisters, Sweet Trail Bakery, Two River Mushroom, Vegans Are Us, VEGKY Mushroom Jerky, and Wild Bill’s Craft Beverage Co.
Tickets range from $20 to $30 and can be found online at https://bit.ly/3A0Kg7T. Kids 13 and under get in for free. The Meadowlands Expo Center is located at 355 Plaza Drive, Secaucus.
