This Saturday was DC Veg Fest, on the campus of George Washington University. Usually vegetarian/vegan events are gluten free-friendly, plus I love vegetables, so I was pumped.
Right away the tent for Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant caught my eye.
They had spring rolls and tiramisu that were marked gluten free. Unfortunately, by the time I walked around and got back to their tent, they were out of tiramisu. So sad.
Next logical choice? Mung bean pancake from Cafe Green. Just kidding, it was no tiramisu, but it was fine. I wasn’t really expecting mung beans to blow my mind.
Now, not to be a hater, but there were a few things about the VegFest that irked me.
- There were hardly any vegetables. There were cupcakes, Indian food, mac and cheese, and nachos. I swear if someone was selling cups of cut up vegetables they would have sold like hot cakes. As my friend Kaitlin says, there’s a difference between vegetarians and people who love vegetables.
- Equating vegetarianism with animal-loving. I mean, who doesn’t love animals? But it’s not the sole reason why people are vegetarians. And I wouldn’t really call myself an animal lover – they can do their own animal thing, and I’ll do my human thing, and if we happen to be together we’ll have a good ole time. At one point a speaker said that vegetarians are the “kindest people in the world”. Really? I know many a bitchy vegetarian that would prove otherwise.
- No balloon animals or games. It’s a festival people! Aside from one guy dressed up like a giant carrot, it was kind of a serious festival. We missed the cupcake eating contest, but if I’m going to a festival I’m expecting there to be a bean bag toss, or a magician or something. (Also, isn’t a vegan cupcake eating contest a total oxymoron?)
And that concludes my VegFest rant. I think I should stick with my gluten free peeps from now on.
Gluten Free? Gimme Three! 