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A Leader in Calling for Pollinator Rights | Bee Free Honee
This summer, local-based Bee Free Honee announced that they would be shutting down their operations. We met with founder and creator, Katie Sanchez, to talk about her honee’s start, the journey it took her on, and facts about these often misunderstood and abused animals.
A sweet start
Katie created the project by chance during her days of working as pastry chef for Whole Foods when trying to make apple jelly for the first time. Katie explains, “I didn’t want to make jelly with gelatin and I didn’t want it to be so sweet.” After it didn’t turn out the way she had planned, she canned the jelly and left it overnight to find a honey-like substance in the morning.
“At the time, when I thought about the vegan pastries we were making for Whole Foods, we didn’t have a lot of options for sweeteners. I had always wished we could use something like honey that was light and would let lemon or vanilla bean come through, and so I thought this could be a really cool gift for my fellow vegan bakers,” recalls Katie.
Her cousin asking, “why not make it a business of your own?” prompted Katie to turn her researching and consideration of the honey into a reality and work toward bringing it to market.
A honey ahead of its time
The honey was not only a great alternative for vegans, but for all human children and folks who are allergic to honey. (Children are advised not to eat honey due to their young age).
In a time where an increasing number of analogs are being developed for eggs, dairy, and fish and land animal flesh there weren’t direct analogs out there for honey.
Growth and time on Shark Tank
Katie and her business partner made an appearance on Shark Tank as well, where they learned how to explain their product and the importance of protecting pollinator rights when appearing in front of the sharks.
“When I started I didn’t realize the depth of the honey controversy,” recalls Katie. “My dad and his retired beekeeping buddies were all excited about it. I thought that this product can only do good. I was not in any way prepared for the level of disruption that was ready to ensue upon me.”
Katie started out with the original, and then came out with Slippery Elm, which aimed to help soothe throats and calm upset stomachs, before she learned how to make flower pollen infused bee free honee, which had flower pollen extracts custom blended to create a full profile of all the nutrients in the measurement that would equal raw bee honey. “We were the only honey on the market that had a nutrition panel that listed all of the nutrients inside in every tablespoon. No other honey could do that because every pollen profile has a different nutrient profile and it would be too expensive to test every individual honey.”
Katie realized the criticism and slow reception to the honee wasn’t about nutrition, but perhaps something deeper. “Today, I think people are a little more ready to hear the message. I’m hoping that we were at least able to break through and pave the way for the next person,” reflects Katie. “I’m not going to stop trying to help our pollinators and putting information out there, and hopefully the ripple effect will help our pollinators.”
“Starting a business with a mission is really challenging. You have to learn as you go and be accepting. We’re all trying to be the best we can in the world. If we’re really going to save lives, the world, and our humanity, then we have to meet anger with love and acceptance.”
Honey is a health food—for bees
Roughly one third of honey being sold in the United States is produced domestically, while the rest is imported from around the world. What’s more—over three-fourths of what is sold in the US is ultra-filtered to remove the pollen.
“Producers call it honey because it comes from a bee, but because there’s no real definition, they can call it honey and get away with it,” explained Katie.
Filtering helps exporters and importers disguise where their honey is from (as pollen is the only way to identify where honey is from) and import honey potentially contaminated with heavy metals and illegal antibiotics. Learn more about honey laundering here.
The most alarming of this all is that during a time with climate change, disease, and other factors wreaking havoc on pollinator populations, we are taking the “surplus” honey from bees, which isn’t actually surplus, but stores of honey each hive sets aside for consumption in hard times (including winter) to sustain their population. Producing honey is no small feat—during a bee’s lifetime, he will only make approximately 1/12 teaspoon of honey and to make one pound of honey, a colony will have to visit over two million flowers and fly over 55,000 miles, at up to 15 miles per hour according to the Utah County Beekeepers Association.
It’s difficult to determine what is a “surplus” in honey from hive to hive and large-scale beekeepers often remove all or most of it and replace it with a sugar or corn syrup substitute, which is nutritionally deficient and eventually makes bee populations sick. Farming also often limits bees’ diet to monoculture crops and introduces large amounts of pesticides into their systems and can lead to farmed hives crowding out wild pollinators.
“How is this a positive thing for this insect that’s being trucked around the United States, being exposed to every climate in an unnatural manner? Every orchard and grove uses a different pesticide, so they’re being exposed to every pesticide. It’s not just one truck coming in, it’s multiple trucks from all over the US. If one hive is contaminated with mites and another is healthy, by morning, the mites will have moved over to the healthy hive so that it’s contaminated as well,” explains Katie. “Bees are being exposed to everything simultaneously, their food is being taken, queens are being swapped out of hives unnaturally and regularly so that the queen is productive, and we ask ourselves, ‘What’s happening? Why are the bees in decline?’ It’s not a mystery. We’re doing everything we can to kill them.”
“Bees are being exposed to everything simultaneously, their food is being taken, queens are being swapped out of hives unnaturally and regularly so that the queen is productive, and we ask ourselves, ‘What’s happening? Why are the bees in decline?’ It’s not a mystery. We’re doing everything we can to kill them.”
Another bee “ingredient” to watch out for is bee venom, which is collected by randomly shocking bees as they try to enter their hive. It can be found in face masks and other personal care products.
Pollinators in peril
Pollution, chemicals, disease, and climate change are all contributing to shrinking and shifting pollinator populations.
With over 35% of the world’s food supply relying on pollinators to some degree, it’s impossible to imagine a well-fed future without pollinators. In addition to facilitating the creation of the food we eat, pollinators support healthy ecosystems that clean the air, stabilize soils, protect from severe weather, and support other wildlife.
How to support pollinators
You may be reading and wondering, “But what can I do?!” Luckily, there are some excellent ways to support bees and other pollinators.
If you have access to land, start by planting a pollinator garden! Did you know Washington state has a pollinator path running through it? It started with a woman getting permission from the city to plant a pollinator-friendly garden between the sidewalk and the street near her house and grew when her neighbor saw it and decided to replicate it in their yard. It took years to grow as neighbors joined in and created more and more of the pollinator path.
- Stop buying into the monoagricultural system. Buying and planting the same types of plants from large stores (Home Depot, Lowe’s, Menard’s, etc.) leads to nondiversified nutrition for pollinators, plus the plants that are purchased from these stores often have seeds that are impregnated with pesticides so they last longer and people won’t return them (but consequently make pollinators sick!)
- You can look for plants that are indigenous to your area that are pollinator friendly (including Beebalm, Pale Purple Coneflower, Sunflower, Joe-Pye Weed, and Yarrow) that you can plant in your neighborhood that don’t come from big box stores.
- Don’t destroy your dandelions—they are the first food sources for pollinators.
- Get involved with your city—Check out what they’re already doing and ask them to plant pollinator-friendly plants and allow them to grow wild without intervention.
- Stop buying honey, beeswax, and other products carrying bee secretions and share why you’re not buying them with others.
Thank you Katie and Bee Free Honee for being a voice for pollinators and calling for their protection. You have inspired many across the country to join you, and your honee will be missed.
Twin Cities Veg Fest 2019
We welcomed an estimated 10,000 people to Twin Cities Veg Fest in Harriet Island Park on September 15, 2019!
We ate, learned, and celebrated compassion under beautiful blue skies beside the Mississippi River.
Here are just a few of our favorite quotes from the 10K attendees, over 150 volunteers, and over 120 exhibitors who joined us:
- Most valuable was being around like-minded people and people who are doing truly great things in animal rescue or welfare and learning more about plant-based/vegan eating. I’m moving to this diet.
- I loved that there was an ask a dietitian booth—amazing.
- I enjoyed: trying out new-to-me restaurants and learning about new-to-me vendors; learning about/connecting with different organizations working locally and beyond; and connecting with other people around food and compassion.
- We really enjoyed the event and the crowd. Beautiful location! Great people to work with!
- Thanks for all your great work preparing for, implementing, and now following up after such an outstanding event. This was my first Twin Cities Veg Fest and I was so impressed by the scale, the variety and diversity among presenters and vendors, and how kind people were in handling challenges that arose while I was volunteering.
We want to express extra appreciation to all who joined us later than planned due to the shuttle mishap, and apologize for the issues with transportation that arose at this year’s festival. Our statement on accessibility and transportation provides additional information and ways to contact us, and also outlines plans for improvement in these areas next year.
What will next year bring? Be sure to subscribe to our email list to stay in the loop.
Many thanks to the donors, sponsors, volunteer committee members, day-of volunteers, exhibitors, presenters, musicians, and attendees who were part of Twin Cities Veg Fest 2019. Together we broke attendance records, helping a growing community to take action on their empathy for animals and to move towards a plant-based diet.
If you have any photos from the festival, be sure to @tcvegfest and #tcvegfest on social! We’d love to hear what you thought about this year’s festival (and take a peek at any of the foods you tried)!
Special Features of the 2019 Festival!
We can’t wait to welcome you to this year’s festival! We’ve got a bunch of new things as well as returning favorites. This week, check out the festival zones made possible by our sponsors.
Metro Transit Zero Waste Area
Biking, walking, and arriving by car are all options to get to #tcvegfest 2019, and we’re most excited to announce that our Zero-Waste Sponsor, Metro Transit, will be offering free rides from Union Depot to the festival!
Be sure to claim your free ride to Twin Cities Veg Fest here!
Pizza Luce Water Area
Be sure to bring a water bottle to fill up at the Pizza Luce sponsored water area!
Spring Farm Sanctuary Cooking Demos
They say that food is the way to the heart and we couldn’t agree more! Check out one or all of the four FREE cooking demos (that come with delicious samples!!) sponsored by Spring Farm Sanctuary.
Reverie Volunteer Area
Volunteering? Stop by the Reverie-sponsored volunteer area before or after your shift to enjoy a free drink and to relax.
Did you know that volunteers get a free Twin Cities Veg Fest t-shirt AND a free ticket to Veg Island Jam? Sign up here to volunteer at the festival and claim your Veg Island Jam ticket!
The Stanford Inn and Resort VIP Area
The Stanford Inn and Resort is sponsoring our VIP Area for all speakers, cooking demo presenters, committee members, and sponsors. Be sure to visit their booth where you can plan a trip to CA or bring their luxurious meals home with an award-winning cookbook!
The Wildcat Sanctuary Family Area
Coming with your little ones? Be sure to visit The Wildcat Sanctuary Family Area at Twin Cities Veg Fest!
So Good So You Main Stage
We’ve got a full lineup of music and inspiring speakers at the Main Stage, sponsored by So Good So You. You won’t want to miss trying out their Digestive juice shot—they’ll be passing them out FREE to every attendee at the main entrance! Learn more about them here.
US Solar Ask a Dietitian Area
Got a nutrition question? Ask an expert at the US Solar sponsored Ask a Dietitian area, staffed by veg-friendly dietitians all day! And if you’ve got a question about solar power—like how you can get solar without a panel on your roof—be sure to stop by their nearby booth!
Want to get more tips about how to have a blast at the festival? Check out our First Time Attendees’ Guide to Twin Cities Veg Fest!
First Time Attendees’ Guide to Twin Cities Veg Fest
Twin Cities Veg Fest is now the biggest plant-based festival in the Midwest. More than 10,000 people are expected to attend this year on September 15 at Harriet Island Regional Park. Admission is free and every attendee will get a free juice shot from main stage sponsor So Good So You. If you’re considering attending the festival for the first time, here are a few tips to make your first Twin Cities Veg Fest experience the best it can be.
Tip #1 – Come hungry.
While there are plenty of things to do at the festival that aren’t eating, food is still the main event. Anyone who comes to the festival with a full belly will be facing some serious FOMO moments.
Tip #2 – Bring a water bottle and plenty of Tupperwares.
The festival aims to be a zero waste event, which means the festival’s planning committee has been hard at work to ensure that over 90% of what’s used is compostable or recyclable. The water area can help you stay hydrated with your own water bottle and bringing your own reusable containers can further reduce the resources needed to operate this event. Plus, this way, you can take home any of the food you’re eyeing that your stomach runs out of room for. If you do this right, you could be basking in the glow of Twin Cities Veg Fest for days to come!
Tip #3 – Take advantage of a free ride.
You can reduce your impact on the environment even further by walking, biking, or using public transit to get to the festival. Thanks to our partnership with Metro Transit, the festival is able to offer free transit for festival-goers. This is a great way to make your travel to and from the festival free and easy.
Tip #4 – Attend with friends.
The festival is most fun when shared. Plus, you’ll get to taste test even more delicious foods when you come with friends or family. Don’t know anyone who wants to come? Volunteering is a great way to meet new folks. You can also pick up a bingo card at the Twin Cities Veg Fest or CAA tables that can serve as a way to get to know others.
Tip #5 – Come early and/or stay late.
Twin Cities Veg Fest is wildly popular, growing dramatically each year. And there’s a good reason for that. So why not make a full day of it? If you’re one of the first people to arrive at the festival, you can avoid long lines and enjoy a free swag bag if you’re one of the first 250 attendees. If you stay late, you can take part in Veg Island Jam, featuring a great line-up of local bands, a cash bar, and unique food items for purchase. Tickets available here.
Tip #6 – Choose a speaker and cooking demo to attend.
This year’s line-up of speakers and cooking demos is fantastic. It’s a can’t miss opportunity to learn for free from local and national leaders in plant-based cooking and animal advocacy. The speakers offer plenty of inspiration and ideas for how to become a more effective advocate for a compassionate world. And whatever your experience level, the chefs offer helpful ideas and tips for becoming a more skilled and confident cook of plant-based foods. Stay until the end to enjoy the tasty free samples!
Tip #7 – Be an adventurous eater.
One of the best parts of the festival is trying new and unique foods. Keep an open mind and take advantage of unique items or foods you can’t normally find in a local brick and mortar location. Haven’t found a vegan cheese you like? Surprise yourself with the Cheese Curds from Radical Eats. Think mac and cheese doesn’t belong inside an “egg roll?” Think again and try Root to Rise’s amazing Mac & Cheese Vegrolls. Some of the other unique offerings include twinkies from Prairie Vegan Pies, the plant-based wings from Chicago’s These Wingz, and the Vegan Snickers Bar from Mod Kitsch.
Tip #8 – Share your experience on social media.
One of the simplest and most effective forms of advocacy is sharing how delicious and fun plant-based eating can be. And you will have plenty of examples of that at the festival. For instance, check out the pineapple smoothie from Jasmine Deli, which is served in a real pineapple. Look out, Instagram!
You can inspire people to try out plant-based eating for themselves by showing your social media followers how exciting vegan foods can be! Use the hashtag #tcvegfest when you post about the festival and to find other’s posts.
Tip #9 – Don’t forget about the non-food elements of the festival.
The food is amazing, and usually steals the show. But there’s so much else to enjoy! Relax in the grass near the mainstage and soak in the live music. Learn about local animal sanctuaries. Sign up for solar. Stock up on gifts and self-care items like cruelty-free and vegan soaps, deodorants, lip balms, and more. There’s even face and body painting!
Tip #10 – Plan for the weather.
Twin Cities fall weather is often unpredictable. Check the forecast before you head out to see if you’ll be more comfortable in a summer outfit or warmer layers. Depending on what is predicted, you may also want to bring sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat, or an umbrella.
Twin Cities Veg Fest 2019 is sure to be our biggest and best festival yet. We’re so glad to have you join us for this fun-filled celebration of compassion! For more information, visit https://www.tcvegfest.com.
Volunteer Shout-Out: 2019 Festival Planning Committee – Part 5
Dedication, creative vision, and passion. The Twin Cities Veg Fest planning committee is short on none, and it shows—our festival has grown to be the largest Veg Fest in the Midwest, attracting over 9,000 attendees in 2018.
Some members are serving on the committee for the first time, while others have returned to help make this year’s festival the biggest and best yet and they can’t wait for you to experience it. This week, meet part of the team behind this year’s festival.
Jodi Miller Gruhn
What’s your role on the festival planning committee?
I work on social strategy and spreading the word about Twin Cities Veg Fest. My goal this year is to increase engagement on the festival social media channels by delivering interesting content and experimenting to see what drives engagement.
How did you get involved with Twin Cities Veg Fest?
I’d been following CAA ongoings and work for years and had attended the festival in the past. I often felt the tug to get involved and I finally jumped in last year!
If you’ve been or helped organize before, what is your favorite part of the festival and what, if anything, is going to be different this year?
What I love most about the festival is seeing in real time just how much plant-based has caught on. People are incredibly curious to learn more and try new foods—they are genuinely excited to be there! I also love that the festival embraces people wherever they are and for whatever the reason is that fuels their interest in the festival.
What (or who) drew you to living a veg lifestyle?
I had been vegetarian for many years and had never really thought I’d go fully plant-based. Quite honestly what drew me to becoming 100% plant-based was social media. Social media brought me information that had always been accessible, but delivered it directly to me. I could no longer deny or ignore the truths that were presented to me each time I checked my feed.
When you’re not working on planning the festival, what are you up to?
Life has been over taken by the purchase and slow renovation of a big mid-century modern house “with potential.” My vision for this home is to make it a hub for beautiful plant-based dinner parties and events with the goal of making plant-based more accessible to my amazing network of human beings.
Maggie Simmons
What’s your role on the festival planning committee?
I am the Instagram Coordinator!
How did you get involved with Twin Cities Veg Fest?
Got involved with CAA in 2017 when I first moved to Minnesota and my first activity was handing out Twin Cities Veg Fest fliers with Sarah Matanah!
If you’ve been or helped organize before, what is your favorite part of the festival and what, if anything, is going to be different this year?
My favorite part of the festival is seeing everyone enjoying and loving all different kinds of vegan food.
What (or who) drew you to living a veg lifestyle?
I am drawn to the veg lifestyle out of the desire to cause the least amount of harm possible to animals and the planet.
When you’re not working on planning the festival, what are you up to?
I am the Communications and Marketing Associate for KIPP Minnesota, a charter school region. I enjoy running, swimming, reading, cooking, and playing with my PUPPY!
Dyne Stephenson
What’s your role on the festival planning committee?
I am the Food Vendor Coordinator. I have been focusing on sending out recruitment e-mails to past and possible new vendors, answering questions, etc. We aimed to recruit more minority-owned food vendors this year.
How did you get involved with Twin Cities Veg Fest?
I have been involved with CAA since 2013 after having Bridges of Respect speak to my high school students. After volunteering for a number of CAA activities, I volunteered as the Speaker Coordinator for the Twin Cities Veg Fest committee in 2017. The last two years I have been the Food Vendor Coordinator on the committee.
If you’ve been or helped organize before, what is your favorite part of the festival and what, if anything, is going to be different this year?
My favorite part of Twin Cities Veg Fest has always been the food choices. It was very satisfying last year to be a part of the food vendor recruitment and then to see all the vendors at Harriet Island. I’m looking forward to seeing it all again but in even greater numbers this year.
What (or who) drew you to living a veg lifestyle?
I met my lovely wife-to-be, Roberta, in 1989 and she was vegetarian. A big influence but what pushed me over the edge was when we went to see Alex Pacheco, co-founder of PETA, speak in Colorado 28 years ago and he had a slide show. I went vegan that night. The biggest part for me has always been not participating in animal mistreatment, torture, and death, and trying to influence others to feel the same.
When you’re not working on planning the festival, what are you up to?
I am a Social Studies and Personal Finance teacher at an alternative school in the Robbinsdale School District. I have two sons, Nations (24) and Henry (16). I enjoy tennis, disc golf, reading, walking, cycling, kayaking, playing guitar, and hanging with Roberta, Henry, and my three cat companions.
___________
Twin Cities Veg Fest is our biggest event of the year, and we need lots of enthusiastic volunteers to help make it a success. Sign up here to be a volunteer and help make this awesome vegan Minnesota get together happen!
Green is the New Black
Can’t wait for Twin Cities Veg Fest 2019? Looking for something to do this Thursday night? Look no further!!
Twin Cities Veg Fest and CAA are proud to be partnering with The New Market and Keiko’s Kitchen to present Green is the New Black: A Plant- Based Popup this Thursday, August 29.
The New Market is looking ahead at planning a number of pop-ups and we’re excited that their first one centers around the plant-based movement! Here’s what they have to say about the event:
The black plant-based movement is one of the most diverse, decolonial, complex and creative movements in the country, and we want to showcase the beauty in our local plant-based community of MSP through this one night only market and popup event.
While vegan often tells you what something “isn’t”, plant-based tells you what something “is” — in our case, plant-based is delicious, defined by showcasing plant ingredients at their best. We’ll have southern style boiled peanuts next to a one of a kind Somalian spice blend, down the aisle from a farmer selling produce at her farm’s peak seasonality. We’re not asking anyone to be 100% plant-based; instead, our market showcases excellent black-owned businesses who identify with what their food is — good for our bodies, good for our planet, and good for our communities. It just happens to be plant-based.
The New Market
At Green is the New Black, Keiko’s Kitchen will be taking over the Breaking Bread kitchen to serve an amazing alkaline, plant-based taco bar—available for one night only. You won’t want to miss their Walnut Taco “Meat,” Jackfruit Barbacoa, Spanish Quinoa, Refried Chickpeas, Sautéed Nopales, Fajita Mix, Pico De Gallo, and Habanero Salsa—YUM!
Other businesses will vend food and non-food products like plant-based beard oil and body creams, just outside the door on the patio and into the parking lot. This market is brought to you in a unique collaboration between The New Market, Twin Cities Veg Fest, and Great Streets Minneapolis. Come stretch your legs before the festival at this one-night-only event and catch all of these awesome local businesses in one place!
The New Market is pop-up market series with black owned businesses reimagining commerce and community. Nationally, African American buying power has reached 1.2 Trillion, and yet only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black-owned businesses. While a dollar circulates for 17 days in the white community, it only circulates for 6 hours in the black community. By gathering black-owned businesses and black entrepreneurs with startup ideas, we re-ignite historical trends of sustainable economics, and vibrant communities, and re-orient our Minneapolis markets around circulating dollars within the black community.
Twin Cities Veg Fest is a project of Compassionate Action for Animals, a Twin Cities-based animal advocacy organization established in 1998. At Compassionate Action for Animals, we encourage people to cultivate empathy for animals and move toward a plant-based diet. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Keiko’s Kitchen is comfort foods made alkaline and 100% plant based.
Other Market Vendors:
Life Juices
Trio Plant Based
Keiko’s Kitchen
Bunka Tea
Nature’s Syrup
baby bonito
Adorn By Kella
K’s Revolutionary Catering
Posh Twenty4 LLC
Mr. Audley Rolle’s Island Fusion Hot Sauce
Wilson’s Image Barbers & Stylists
Rob’s Boiled Peanuts
Green Garden Bakery
Kalahari Peanut Brittle
Jay Jay’s Jams and Such
Head on over to Breaking Bread Cafe on August 29th, from 5-8PM (1200 West Broadway Minneapolis MN 55411) to enjoy the plant-based popup restaurant and night market!
Vegan Eats at the Great Minnesota Get-Together
Who wants some strawberries and creme?? The Minnesota State Fair (August 22nd to Sept 2nd) is rolling around again. Although the glorification of animal agriculture presents a moral quandary (or quandairy if you will) for many vegans, supporting the vegan options if you do attend is a clear decision for your moral compass and, alluringly, your taste-buds.
Tried and true mainstays, French Meadow and Harry Singh’s Caribbean, coupled with stereotypical fair cuisine, like fried fruit on-a-stick and grilled peaches make for an attractive variety of vegan food for this year’s fair.
Here is the map with UMN CAA’s top vegan food picks for the 2019 fair.
Psst! For other State Fair selects, check out Bite Sized Beet’s tried and true guide to vegan-friendly fair eats (now updated through 2019), City Pages’ MN State Fair Foods, and make sure to check out the winner of this year’s MN State Fair Vegan Main Dish competition.
Volunteer Shout-Out: 2019 Festival Planning Committee – Part 4
Dedication, creative vision, and passion. The Twin Cities Veg Fest planning committee is short on none, and it shows—our festival has grown to be the largest Veg Fest in the Midwest, attracting over 9,000 attendees in 2018.
Some members are serving on the committee for the first time, while others have returned to help make this year’s festival the biggest and best yet and they can’t wait for you to experience it. This week, meet part of the team behind this year’s festival.
Michelle Shaw
What’s your role on the festival planning committee?
I’m the Welcome and Accessibility Coordinator, and before I state anything else, it’s important to identify that we are occupying the original homeland of the Dakhota and Anishinaabe people. Recognizing my role in that as a white woman and being inclusive of all of the incredible communities we have is important to me. Plus, it’s part of the volunteering that I do when I’m not helping to organize Twin Cities Veg Fest. Looking at diversity intentionally from every angle as a planning committee is something that we are working on. Whether that be reaching out to potential vendors and sponsors that are BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color), or musicians. Or perhaps we need to be making sure people have the resources to participate in Twin Cities Veg Fest in the first place by partnering with NEON and Appetite for Change. Or it’s possible we may need to look at it in a different way by bringing part of the festival TO a community rather than expect them to come to us.
Like in the case of North Minneapolis, we can’t expect people to travel all the way to Harriet Island for food that might be completely out of their comfort zone. Working two jobs and putting food on the table might take precedence over getting there too. So what do you do? The first step is to create relationships with nonprofits and community members in that part of the community, and work with them to create an event that will be right there in North Minneapolis. We hope you’ll join us for that event on the evening of August 29 for Green is the New Black: A Plant-based Pop-up Market at Breaking Bread Cafe with some Twin Cities Veg Fest vendors and a few new ones. I’m really excited about it, and we want you all to be there!
It’s also my job to make sure we are making the festival as accessible as possible. That means different things for different people. For some, it’s about making sure people who have a hidden disability (like myself) have a place to sit at different parts of the festival because they need to take a break. For others it might be needing a sensory space to get away from the noise or it might mean needing to have all of the vendors facing the sidewalk so that they can easily access them all. Plus, if someone needs to bring their service or therapy animal, we have a space for them to rest and get water. Disability parking is another accommodation. The other piece is we need to make sure everyone knows we have all of these accommodations, so check out our website to find out what they are.
How did you get involved with Twin Cities Veg Fest?
I first started volunteering back in 2017 when I helped out with the cooking demos and sharing samples with people. Laura and I were talking about ideas I had for accessibility for 2018, and suddenly, a new role for Twin Cities Veg Fest was born. However, I first started going to the festival back when it was a really small event in the basement at the University of Minnesota. For a few years anyway, there’d be samples of Peanut Butter Company’s White Chocolate Wonderful and all their other yummy concoctions. Even better, they’d have coupons! I have no idea what year that was, but if Unny can determine what year we were able to move around freely without much of a crowd, I’m guessing it was one of the first.
If you’ve been or helped organize before, what is your favorite part of the festival and what, if anything, is going to be different this year?
I’m really excited about Green is the New Black: A Plant-based Pop-up Market on August 29. Cheese curds at Radical Eats and chicken wings at These Wingz? from Chicago are two of my festival favorites! Also, this will be the first year that we have American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters for our cooking demos and speakers, and I’m really happy that we can partner with Fairview to offer ASL.
What (or who) drew you to living a veg lifestyle?
I had a couple friends in college who were vegetarian, but it was really my senior year in college that did it. In 1992, I traveled to Moscow, Russia, with a group of people taking supplies for orphanages and hospitals. The Russians could hardly afford any food at all and were so skinny, yet we were being fed like royalty with horsemeat and borscht. I was absolutely repulsed and ate very little on that trip but a couple cheeseburgers at McDonald’s. When I got back to the United States, that experience made it easy for me to stop eating every kind of animal. At that time, I still didn’t understand how the dairy and egg industries were contributing to murder. I thought it was merely confinement and limiting freedom (which was still enough to make me stop eating them). But as time went on, I learned that the males were quickly killed after birth (since they couldn’t be used for producing eggs or milk). Or they were kept alive for a few months and inhumanely raised as broiler chickens or calves for veal before being slaughtered. For me, it was all about the animals and eliminating their suffering. I had to stop using animal products in every part of my life and that included feeding my dogs a veg diet too (which they love love love!). It’s startling how much of an impact eating animals has on the planet, though, and it’s only in the last year that I started learning what those facts really are.
When you’re not working on planning the festival, what are you up to?
Oh boy! My dogs would say I spend too much time on the computer. Buddie always stands on me and gives me kisses when it’s time to take a doggy break, so he and Speckles are definitely the highlights of my day. I’ve been on disability for a long time, so I’m starting to figure out what I can physically do again, if it’s not teaching in the classroom anymore. Volunteering to stop Line 3 in northern Minnesota is important to me, in addition to teaching people about the connection between the foods we choose to eat and how that impacts climate change. In other words, please eat plant rich foods and check out Drawdown for environmental reasons to add to reasons of compassion for animals! I also spend some time engaging with environmental justice issues like collaborating with local Indigenous people to create a land acknowledgment statement for cities and nonprofits to use at the beginning of their meetings. The most recent issue that has come up is the Rights of Nature for the Mississippi River. If we could give the Mississippi the same rights we have as people or the same rights a corporation has, that would be incredible. As a teacher, I was always teaching my students the skills for changing the world, and without that path in life, it’s taken me a long while to figure out what my purpose is. I’m pretty sure I’m getting there now.
Laura Matanah
What’s your role on the festival planning committee?
My role is to support the chair and assistant chair with both the big picture of the festival—helping it expand and become more impactful each year, making sure that the committee as a whole is tracking the nitty-gritty details, and ensuring that the festival supports CAA’s mission to help people embrace their empathy for animals and move towards a plant-based diet. This year I’m especially focused on improving our sponsorship packages and relationships, as well as our support of volunteers.
How did you get involved with Twin Cities Veg Fest?
I was hired just before the 2016 festival, so got to see that festival day-of behind the scenes. 2017, the year we moved outside, was my first year helping to organize the entire thing.
If you’ve been or helped organize before, what is your favorite part of the festival and what, if anything, is going to be different this year?
My favorite part of the festival is the sheer joy of having an entire festival focused on a compassionate lifestyle, and how happy everyone there is. This year there’s going to be a lot that’s new:
- Music will become central to the festival experience, and the after-party is going to have some truly awesome and more well known bands
- Speakers will get more attention as they’ll be on the main stage, alternating with music
- Cooking demos will have an exciting new set up with bleachers looking down on the action
- Sponsors and volunteers will get access to an indoor rest and relaxation area, and there’s a great new set of sponsorship benefits, including lunch delivered to your booth
- Greyhounds available for adoption will join us, and there will be many new food options like wood fired pizza and waffles
What (or who) drew you to living a veg lifestyle?
The fabulous community at Compassionate Action for Animals, CAA, opened my heart to animal suffering, and empowered me to start speaking out to end it.
When you’re not working on planning the festival, what are you up to?
Biking, board games, books, and hanging out with family and friends.
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Twin Cities Veg Fest is our biggest event of the year, and we need lots of enthusiastic volunteers to help make it a success. Sign up here to be a volunteer and help make this awesome vegan Minnesota get together happen!
The 2019 Kenny Feldman Animal Advocate Award Goes To…
We’re pleased to announce the winner of the 2019 Kenny Feldman Animal Advocate Award.
We’ve created this award to recognize a person, organization, or business in our community whose amazing work is pushing the ball forward for animals. This year we’re giving the award to Shannon Kimball and the Bridges of Respect program. This volunteer-run program has provided free humane education presentations in the Twin Cities for twenty years.
The program has reached over 38,000 students since its inception. After a presentation about the program at the Compassionate Action for Animals banquet, one guest came up to program leader Shannon Kimball and said, “You presented to my class at Century College—and what I learned helped me commit to a vegan lifestyle!”
Originally started by Freeman Wicklund, the program was taken over by Shannon Kimball several years later, and is now a program of Compassionate Action for Animals. Compassionate Action for Animals will present Shannon with the award at Twin Cities Veg Fest 2019 on September 15 at Harriet Island Park. The award presentation will take place on the So Good So You Main Stage just after a performance from singer-songwriter Mary Bue.
This award honors the memory of animal lover Kenny Feldman. He thought animals were to be cared for and allowed to a live a life with freedom. Kenny was a close friend of Compassionate Action for Animals co-founder and first Executive Director, Unny Nambudiripad. He inspired Unny to become an activist. Sadly, we lost Kenny to suicide 19 years ago. From that tragic loss, we were moved to establish this annual award to acknowledge the contributions of individuals who strive to create a more compassionate world.
The Feldman family wants to thank CAA, Unny Nambudiripad, and current Executive Director Laura Matanah for helping preserve Kenny’s memory and continuing his legacy of being an animal lover and activist in animal rights campaigns. To find out more about Kenny, visit the Remembering Kenny Feldman Facebook page.
Vegan Recipe Club — Preparing for August 2019
If you attended our first Vegan Recipe Cookbook Club in July, thank you. If you didn’t attend and are not sure what it is or who it’s for check out our first blog post.
Our next Vegan Recipe Cookbook Club meeting is scheduled for this Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at 6:30pm at the East Lake Library. This month’s recipes are simple and easy to make. You can pick up the recipe pack in person from the library or download them here for use at home.
This month we will explore a few more recipes from “The Vegucation of Robin” by Robin Quivers and Rachel Holtzman and we’ve also picked a cookbook from Angela Liddon, of the Oh She Glows Blog—one of her first recipe collections, “The Oh She Glows Cookbook” from 2014.
The Vegucation of Robin is as much a personal lifestyle book as it is a collection of recipes. It shouldn’t be lost to anyone that the subtitle of her book is “How Real Food Saved My Life.” Robin Quivers’ switch to a vegan or plant-based diet was a fundamental part her health-improvement goals. While going through the recipes, you may notice that some of the ingredients might be hard to come by at our typical midwest grocery store or farmers market. This might force us to substitute a few of the ingredients for items more readily available near us or during the season. Below is a list of where to look for some of the more difficult to find ingredients.
- Fennel Bulbs — normally available at Trader Joe’s
- Cara Cara Orange — at most Cub Grocery stores
- Pomegranate seeds — at most Cub Grocery stores (with pre-packaged items)
- Blood Oranges — Lund Byerly’s (in season)
- Also get to know the produce manager at your favorite grocery store, they might just order that hard to find item for you.
If you decide to try the Fruity Freezer Pops optional recipe this month, small paper cups make great disposable molds for your freezer pops.
Have fun trying any of the recipes and come to the meeting on the 20th to tell us what you learned and share your knowledge with other interested cooks!
“The Vegucation of Robin”
Quivers, Robin, and Rachel Holtzman. The Vegucation of Robin, 2013
At Amazon.com
- Chilled Cucumber Mint Soup, page 131
- Citrus Salad with Roasted Fennel and Pomegranate, page 133
- Mixed Veggie Grill with Tangy BBQ Sauce, page 174
optional
- Scallion – Tomato Tofu Scramble, page 211
- Fruity Freezer Pops, page 221
“The Oh She Glows Cookbook”
Liddon, Angela. The Oh She Glows Cookbook, 2014
At Amazon.com
optional
