Bringing non-vegans to the Vegan fair

[danaeonyx]

Hiya, sorry if this is in the wrong place.

Is anyone else brining non-vegans to the vegan fair on sunday?

A couple of friends are gonna come with me. One of them I've shown animal testing videos to (and had to stop sending them as she was getting upset), and the other is her boyfriend. He's a bit worried about being made to feel guilty. I told him not to walk around saying "I eat meat". Lol. I'm hoping they'll learn a lot there and enjoy the food.

I'm really looking forward to it!

[harpy]

My other half may come along - he's a veggie but not vegan. I don't think anyone would be made to feel awkward - as you say they're not that easy to spot unless they broadcast their status They might feel guilty of their own accord though.

I imagine part of the object of the fair is to get the attention of interested non-vegans as well.

[BlackCats]

I'm not bringing anyone but I brought my friend to the veggie roadshow earlier this year.

She was interested in seeing all the stalls and tasting all the nice food samples. She kept tasting food and seeming surprised when it tasted good.

She was very shocked at the pus cells in cow's milk poster and wouldn't have known about that if she hadn't gone. It would be good for your friends to come and get some more information.

To be honest I wish I had known someone who had invited me to a vegan fair when I was vegetarian - I would have made the transition a lot sooner.

I'm looking forward to it as well.

[danaeonyx]

Yeah, I wish I'd found out earlier. I only became vegan october last year!! I was on someone's MySpace and they had a link to the infamous 'Meet your meat' video, which shocked me to the core and made me feel physically sick. I watch it every now and again when people get to me and it strengthens my belief I'm doing the right thing.

Does anyone find, that making the transition from vegetarian to vegan, teaches you about all the stuff you didn't realise you were eating? As a vegetarian I avoided gelating and rennet. But there are so many other ingredients, like glycerin. Which is in toothpaste! I've learnt so much about what's in everything. I don't even trust labels anymore, only if they have the Vegan Society logo on, or if it's from a vegan website. That's also why I like these fairs

[Willowherb]

The more non-vegans at the London Vegan Festival the merrier, it's not all about preaching to the converted. As far as I know it's run by the same people who run Vegan Campaigns and they put on events that introduce non-vegans to the vegan way of life. I'm sure your friends will find the festival thought provoking, danaeonyx.

[BlackCats]

danaeonyx - I was vegetarian for 13 years, or so I thought - I realise now I was eating all sorts of animal products that were hidden in finished products. I just didn't used to read labels at all.

I think some people really have trouble imagining what vegans eat and so the fair could help your friends in that way. Maybe it could influence their diet - (even if they do not have an epiphany and turn vegan there and then.)

[danaeonyx]

Yeah you're right. The most asked question i get is "What do you eat?" Because everyone just thinks of the 4 food groups so in their opinion we just eat vegetables and fruit. Which is kinda true, but they don't realise the extent of it. Tofu, soya, rice, pasta etc. I eat a more varied diet than I used to. I'm still discovering new food!

I was a vegetarian from when I was 12 till last year, at the age of 23, and in all that time I must've eaten and used loads of animal products without realising

[emzy1985]

I'm comming on my own but there are some people I'm waiting to here back from just incase they can make it at the last minute.

1) My family - They are all veggies and I don't think they truely realise how much cruelty they support by still drinking milk and eating eggs etc. They see vegan food as a chore to make and they like to eat out. I wanna bring them to show them and educate them. I think the vegan fayre should be primarily aimed at non-vegans with us just there to look cool, eat good food and meet up with other!

2) My two mates who are vegetarians.....it's all about convience with them too. They can't be arsed and I wanna educate them.

3) Maybe my Ex who is vegan...to meet you lovely guys and just to have fun and the nodding head of..."I know! I'm vegan too!"

[littlemiss]

This will be our second year there, we have a friend coming but she's actually coming because we're going shopping after. She is looking forward to the free samples but otherwise she is carnivore. I did mention earlier that eating McD's in the festival would definatly upset. She's 15 so not sure if its right or us to impact our beliefs too strongly on her anyway. Its a shame cos I've realised there are some good speakers I wanted to hear.My husband is veggie but only really eats choc and quorn so he enjoys it.

[absentmindedfan]

We've had a few...er...'disagreements' with people about bringing non-vegans (and non-VF members) to meet-ups before, in order to stop people bringing a 'friend' who they would then use as a crutch and chat to and ignore everyone else (which has happened in the majority of times it's occured)
But something like the festival is partly meant to be outreach. They can come along, see the variety of people there, the food and products and info on offer and hopefully come away a little more educated and open minded.
I think you would need to point out that it is a Vegan festival, and walking round a crowded hall whinging about the food or the people or how you want a burger could actually cause some grief. I for one, not to mention hardcore vegan AR types, would certainly have a word or two for someone who behaved in such a way.
But I think armed with that caveat it could be a good way to introduce a non-vegan to the lifestyle.

[Willowherb]

I did mention earlier that eating McD's in the festival would definatly upset.

I hope your friend takes on board what you have said, littlemiss, as eating anything containing animal products, let alone a McDonalds, wouldn't go down well. I'm sure someone would ask anyone who walked into the festival with non-cruelty free food to take it outside.

[yum]

I'm going tomorrow. I'm very excited- lots of leaflets- i love the leaflets! I hope we don't get juveniles going out with a burger and being obnoxious about veganism. I'd like to think this will be an event where we can celebrate being vegan. I know someone who is going who is a carnivore and i feel abit uncomfortable about going with them as i know it won't change their view but are using it just as a day out.
xxx

[aubergine]

I think for something like this the more the merrier. The Fayre shows a great cross section of the Vegan community.

It's a shame in my case that there's someone in particular I'm not inviting, because they only see these things as a chance to chow down on Vegan food. The whole point passes them by and back in their usual life they make as little effort as possible.

Anyway, it'd be great for everyone who is coming to say hi to everyone else. Make sure you join the UK-Meetups subforum so you know where to meet us.

[cedarblue]

bring who you like, it's a public event and not a club!

[littlemiss]

Its ok, I only used the mcDonald thing to help her realise people would be upset by that sort of action, she's a nice 15 yr old (they do exist) and she wouldn't deliberatly make comments if she knew she would offen people so she will be on best behaviour now. I expect her to eat a vegan lunch with us in the hall though!
What time are most people going? I cant get there till about 1pm.

[flutterby]

littlemiss, if you click user control panel at the top of the page, then group memberships, join the uk meet up group, you'll find a number of threads on the festival topic, as well as many other uk meet up related threads.

[danaeonyx]

My brother contracted at Greenpeace once and he'd bring in MacDonalds every day

[danaeonyx]

Well they had a great time! One stall gave them a bag full of goodies. And they loved the food So all was good. I was the one wearing the "Powered by Tofu" shirt if anyone remembers (because a lot of people commented on it)

There was SO much food!!!!!

[littlemiss]

My friend had a good time, she said it was exactly how she expected it so I guess I described it well.I'm glad she wasn't surprised. She enjoyed lunch, commented on how good the food smelt and tried out face creams and scheese. She wouldn't give up meat still but i'm glad she came along to see it. Most people won't try anything new or different.

[niallmc]

my 5 year old hated, too noisy and too many peple. it was very hard to et through the crowd. A victim of is own success. I, on the other hand, thought it was amazing and would have loved to have spent the whole day there eating and networking.

[danaeonyx]

It was busy wasn't it! I ended up feeling a bit hot and bothered. But I did have two bags full of stuff!! I would've loved to eat more but I was stuffed

[emzy1985]

I brought my vegetarian friend in the end and met my parents there. My mum being vegetarian too took my mate to a stall and told them she was veggie and thinking about being vegan and they both got a free vegan starter pack with sweets, leaflets and Scheese hehe. AWESOME!!!

[danaeonyx]

My friend got that as well! Pretty nifty She got a lot of stuff

[Agatha]

my non vegan friends didn't turn up. i was slightly hurt because i wanted them to share all aspects of veganism with me for just one day and understadn what its all about. I have never given any of them a lecture or nagged them into making a change so i thought they might even be interested in why i do this. hmph.

[emzy1985]

Auw that sucks Agatha! It seems unfair when we have to endure their omnivorous world every single day. It seemed strange to me, to come outta there and the first thing I saw was some woman eating MacDonalds. I was in 7th heaven inside...was awesome. DAMN REALITY!

[danaeonyx]

Was anyone outside when that kid was kicking pigeons? And the guys looking after her didn't do anything about it

[emzy1985]

You are joking? I would have gone off my tits if I had seen that. In fact I probably would have run up to the kid and screamed in it's face. That would have got some attention.

[danaeonyx]

Unfortunately I am not kidding

At one point she stepped on a tail. But the pigeon got away and seemed ok. But quite of a few of us were outside eating at the time, and we were all wondering where the parents were. It turned out she was with 3 guys who seemed to find it funny

[twinkle]

I sometimes tell kids to stop doing that. They may simply not have realised that pigeons are likely to get scared and have feelings too.

I have to say that when I was little I used to run at pigeons, just because it hadn't occurred to me that they wouldn't like it. I believe someone explained to me that I shouldn't do it and I stopped after that.

The secret would be to do it in a nice way, both to get through to the child without alienating them or trying to make them feel too guilty and also you probably wouldn't want to be beaten up by the 3 blokes in question

[twinkle]

There were some little gits chasing pigeons in the market place today

Old enough to know better too, probably about 10-11ish. There was an elderly lady telling them off and they were ignoring her, so I marched up to them, told the lady I agreed with her and then asked one of the kids how he'd like it if a massive giant started chasing him. He looked a bit non-plussed, but then told me there were no such things as giants

Not sure how much good it did, hopefully he'll at least consider the question, and hopefully the lady felt better having some backup

[BlackCats]

Funny (not the kicking pigeons thing) what the kid said.

This is why I could never be a teacher, one the brats would come out with something rude and cheeky and I would probably really start cracking up.