This past weekend I participated in Vegfest, a healthy food festival in the Seattle Center. The annual event is put on by Vegetarians of Washington. Instead of just attending, I worked a shift at the NARN table.

The NARN booth had a great selection of pamphlets and flyers about topics such as how dairy and eggs are cruel and unhealthy, that humane meat is a myth, and why fishing is unsustainable and causes a lot of suffering. We had information for parents who have vegan kids, and a restaurant guide for people looking for vegan places to eat.

A brand new tote was for sale too. They’re made from recycled bottles and have my new favorite slogan printed on them: The future is vegan. I’m not the only one who liked them. People snapped them up! For $20, you can too.

Attendance was great and we talked to a lot of supportive people. Some were vegan, some were toying with the idea, and some weren’t even vegetarian. But there was something for everyone. No matter where people were on their compassionate journeys, we talked to them and had good conversations.

I was surprised that three people came up to me over the course of my shift to tell me that since becoming vegan they’ve gone off their cholesterol medication. One man was vegan for only three weeks before his doctor retested his blood and told him he no longer needed statins. Amazing!

I became vegan for the animals so I sometimes forget I’ve made a really healthy choice too.

The festival had cooking demos, cookbooks for sale, and tons of free food samples. I was really impressed with Dave’s Killer Bread, Daiya vegan cheese, and juices from Blue Print Cleanse.

Have you been to Vegfest or a similar festival? I highly recommend it. It’s a lot of fun to be around like-minded people and have a wide variety of foods to try.