The second annual West Hollywood Plant-Based Food Festival was a huge success promoting sustainability and climate awareness days before Earth Day this April 22.
The rain was not an impediment for the community to attend the call and as soon as the clouds in the sky began to clear, dozens of residents arrived at Plummer Park, accompanied by their families and pets, ready to eat and learn.
The food festival, hosted by Plant Primarily basically based Treaty Los Angeles and SoCal VegFest, featured more than 30 food vendors offering vegan dishes, including desserts and refreshing drinks. It also included conversations with experts about the correlation between the way we eat and live and how that affects our planet.
“We want to create a space for the community to come together and share resources,” said Joey Gaber of Plant-Primarily basically based Treaty Los Angeles. “We have many nonprofits here that share how they help animals, show people how to transition to a plant-based diet, and teach people how to make Los Angeles more sustainable.”
Last Sunday’s event was perfect not only for vegan food lovers, but it was also a great introduction for those who want to adopt a plant-based diet but are unsure about how drastic that change would be.
Among the group of people who attended was Jaqui, who attended the event accompanied by her dog Cane – a small Labrador – with the intention of exploring a healthier diet. The young woman confessed that, until that day, she had never tried vegan food and what gave her the final push to attend the event was a recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
“I am in the process of changing my diet and lifestyle for health reasons and like most people, I think I was worried about having to eat tasteless food,” Jaqui says with a laugh. “However, after trying some of the samples at the food stalls, I’ve realized that there are so many alternatives for some of the dishes I already love, which makes the transition much less intimidating for me.”
At the event, attendees heard from city leaders talk about the climate, learned about some of the measures WeHo is taking to protect animals, and learned how Los Angeles can become greener in preparation for the LA28 Olympic Games.
Among all the businesses that were there that Sunday was Frescas Signature Flavors, which sells fresh waters. They have traditional flavors like watermelon and strawberry, but, since the theme of the event was focused on vegetables, that day they included flavors like their “Tropical Cilantro”, water that has pineapple, cilantro and lemon or their avocado water, which includes melon, avocado and lemon, a little unexpected, but with a refreshing flavor.
“We like to take traditional flavors and put our own touch on them,” said Misael Alejandro Saquino, a stand worker. “We use superfoods and we don’t use processed sugars; in fact, we use Monkfruit sweetener.”
While walking through the park, we also stumbled upon La Habra Mexican Pandería, operated by José García, who specializes in making vegan Mexican bread. According to García, he took over his parents’ traditional bakery, a long-established business, and has since incorporated a variety of vegan options into his menu; In addition to vegan sweet bread, it also offers ham, fresh cheese, tamales and even vegan Milanese.
Garcia said his goal is not to become rich, but to provide his community with healthy options that reflect their culture and traditions.
“I just thought about all the good food we enjoy and try to create vegan versions of those dishes to show that they can be just as tasty,” García said. “My goal is to offer vegan options at affordable prices, since I know that, as Latinos, we are more frequently diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol; therefore, I try to show my community that we do not have to stop eating what we love, but simply replace the ingredients with healthier ones.”
On the other side of the park was Christine To; Her stand, Candy Coyote, stood out for perfectly representing the theme of the event. Her business not only focuses on offering high-quality ingredients and vegan desserts, both for people and their dogs, but she also uses her profits to make her dream of helping dogs in Mexico come true.
“My passion is to raise awareness through food; I love animals and I want to help them through food, so our mission—that of my husband and I—is to build a dog sanctuary in Mexico,” she commented. “Little by little we are getting closer to that goal. We have already acquired land and we hope to start building our sanctuary very soon.”
The event, which is usually held during the month of Earth Day, was enjoyed by dozens of people, their families and pets, who came to eat and enjoy the day’s activities. According to Gaber, the idea of the event is not exclusive to vegans, but is open to anyone interested in living a more sustainable life.
“We’re not telling people to adopt a completely plant-based diet overnight, but we want them to take that step toward greater sustainability,” Gaber said. “And be open to plant-based foods; it’s better for the environment, but it’s also great for our health.”
