By Brenda Sanders, VO Community Engagement Coordinator

It’s been more than a week since this year’s 3rd annual Vegan SoulFest and I’m finally starting to feel like myself again.

Organizing an event of this magnitude—even with the help of the amazing volunteers who worked with us this year—definitely takes a toll. After all the post-festival wrap-up, I’ve had a few days to recharge and reflect on the whirlwind that was Vegan SoulFest and I’ve come to a few realizations.

First, Vegan SoulFest is a pretty big deal, and not just because it takes a half of a year to plan and thousands of dollars to execute.

As the Vegan SoulFest co-founders and co-organizers, Naijha Wright-Brown and I have been able to bring together healthcare professionals, chefs, speakers, performers, businesses, and non-profits from all over Baltimore, Maryland and the surrounding areas to provide life-saving information, resources, and inspiration to motivate people to explore the vegan lifestyle.

As if that weren’t awesome enough, we bring all this to a community that’s been systematically ignored by the mainstream vegan movement.

By making information about better health, compassionate choices, and environmental awareness available to marginalized people in Baltimore, we’re creating an opportunity for a seismic shift in the way that an entire group of people see, experience, and engage with the rest of the planet.

Being from this community and having a vested interest in creating positive change for people in Baltimore, I realize how important this work is! I’m extremely excited about Vegan SoulFest’s potential to re-shape the current landscape of these communities.

In addition to reflecting on Vegan SoulFest, I’ve also had a chance to think about the recent decisions I’ve made regarding my activism.

Since I started doing food justice and animal advocacy work, I’ve gone from conducting a one-woman vegan cooking demo in any and every community center and church that would have me to organizing large programs and events with the support of individuals, businesses, and organizations who believe in and support our mission.

One particular organization—Vegan Outreach—has been on my mind a lot these last few days.

I was introduced to Vegan Outreach a few years ago when I first started doing animal rights work. All I really knew about them was that they did a lot of leafleting and seemed to focus much of their advocacy on college campuses. Since I work with a completely different demographic, I rarely crossed paths with VO folks.

That all changed in April of this year when I met Vegan Outreach’s Alex Bury and Lauren Sprang at the Intersectional Justice Conference in Washington State and I learned something remarkable—VO was planning a diversity initiative that sounded suspiciously like an actual diversity initiative.

They were talking about hiring people from diverse backgrounds, paying them salaries with benefits, offering people of color leadership positions in the organization, listening to the opinions and perspectives of people from diverse backgrounds, and, oh yeah, redirecting resources to those of us who are struggling to fund vegan advocacy in marginalized communities.

As I talked to Alex and Lauren, I became more and more convinced that this was real—that an overwhelmingly white animal rights organization was going to take a crack at a genuine diversity initiative.

After I’d spent years scraping by organizing programs and events on little or no budget and being pretty much ignored by the bigger animal rights groups, it seemed unreal that one of the more popular animal rights organizations was moving in this direction.

When I was offered a position with Vegan Outreach, I was happy to accept it and be a part of this wonderful thing that was happening. The VO employees, board members, and volunteers are such warm, thoughtful, and sincere people who are eager to take this organization into unfamiliar territory. They’re open to considering points of view they’d never thought about before, and willing to acknowledge missteps and make changes as they grow through this process.

I’m proud to be able to say that I’m involved in this exciting journey Vegan Outreach has set out on!

As I’ve contemplated the future of vegan advocacy, I can’t help but see an awesome opportunity to give a platform to diverse perspectives, experiences, and voices.

People from diverse backgrounds have such a wealth of lived experiences and accumulated knowledge to contribute to this movement. As the focus begins to shift away from the traditionally dominant perspectives and more room is made for the rest of our voices, the result will inevitably be a blossoming of new thoughts and ideas that will expand veganism forward for everyone.

I’m honored to be one of those voices and I’m thankful for the support from Vegan Outreach in helping me to bring information about the vegan lifestyle to my community!

By Lori Stultz, VO Rocky Mountain Outreach Coordinator

Kim Sujovolsky, founder of Brownble, is here today to offer a few tips on how to successfully transition to a plant-based diet.

If you or someone you know is in the process of cutting out animal food products, this short video will be a non-intimidating, and helpful resource!

And another big shout-out from VO to Kim for her ongoing support!

In this video, Kim references the earlier “Veggie Bowl Brownble Style!” video she made for VO, which can be viewed here.

Kim also speaks in this video of the vital importance of “Finding Community” as one of her tips. Another way to do so—not mentioned in the video—is through VO’s Vegan Mentor Program where you can get one-on-one support to make the transition to go vegetarian or vegan.

VO’s Maryland/DC Events and Outreach Coordinator, Jamila Alfred, is looking for housing while touring throughout the southern U.S. in the coming weeks. She’ll need places to stay in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina.

Jamila’s leafleting schedule and dates for her tour are listed below. If you live in or near one of these cities and/or schools and are willing to house Jamila, please send an email to [email protected].

Thank you!

10/4: North Carolina Central University (Durham, NC)
10/6: North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro, NC)
10/7: Winston-Salem State University (Winston-Salem, NC)
10/13: Savannah State University (Savannah, GA)
10/14: Edward Waters College (Jacksonville, FL)
10/18: Florida A&M University (Tallahassee, FL)
10/19: Albany State University (Albany, GA)
10/20: Fort Valley State University (Fort Valley, GA)
10/25: Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL)
10/26: Alabama State University (Montgomery, AL)
10/27: Troy University (Troy, AL)
11/1: Alcorn State University (Lorman, MS)
11/2: Jackson State University (Jackson, MS)
11/3: Grambling State University (Grambling, LA)

By Jack Norris, RD, VO Executive Director

This past August, I went to my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio to visit family. During my week at home, I snuck off to Indianapolis, Indiana to give a talk on nutrition.

The talk was organized by Joel Kerr of the Indiana Animal Rights Alliance (IARA)—a very successful local group. I was so impressed by all the work IARA is doing that I’ve asked Joel to write a future blog post about their methods—stay tuned for that!

I always love visiting Indianapolis because the city is beautiful and Joel always takes me somewhere amazing to eat. This time, we visited The Sinking Ship where I had a delicious Seitan Gyro Wrap with a side of Mac and Teese.

About 50 people attended the talk. As always, I emphasized that while no vegan is going to come down with a clinical diagnosis of protein malnutrition, incorporating high-protein foods in meals can increase the satisfaction of a vegan diet. For an interesting read about this topic, see my article, Story from a Once-Failing, Now-Thriving Vegan.

Thank you, Joel and IARA!

By Alex Bury, VO Organizational Development Consultant

Example #382 That It’s Very Hard To Be Vegan—Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

Last weekend I discovered Sub Zero Ice Cream.

Sub Zero Ice Cream is a chain of cute little ice cream shops where you not only create your own ice cream, but it’s made by injecting liquid nitrogen.

I’m not even kidding.

First, you toss your chosen liquid base into a bowl with flavorings and extras—like pecans or strawberries. For a minute everything seems normal, but then WHOOOSH! The ice cream maker is enveloped with gas like a smoke machine from the theater!

It’s a little off-putting—did your order just disappear forever?—yes, but also fun!

I assumed that, as a vegan, I’d have to once again suffer and skip this chemistry miracle because all of their bases were milk and cream. Five minutes before finding the store I didn’t know I was suffering, but as soon as I saw that fluffy cloud explosion I knew it was unfair I couldn’t have any.

That’s when my friend, Janet, pointed out the menu. They had a long list of vegan options! You could get vegan almond yogurt as your base, coconut milk, almond milk, and more! Better yet, all the servers knew exactly which toppings were vegan.

Three minutes later I was eating an espresso ice cream made with the vegan yogurt base, filled with chocolate chips and almonds. And nitrogen. Can’t forget the nitrogen. It was delicious!

I’m just kidding. All I could taste was creamy cold ice cream, coffee, and chocolate.

Check out their website to see if there’s a location near you and grab one before summer fades!

By Jamila Alfred, VO Maryland/DC Events and Outreach Coordinator

If you missed the 3rd annual Vegan SoulFest in Baltimore, Maryland, I’m sorry for your loss.

This popular festival combines the essence of veganism with African­-American culture—creating a sense of community and comfortability amongst vegans of color. Not only is it a wonderful concept, the event was as fun as can be!

The food was terrific, of course. There were several types of cuisines, including Indian, gourmet raw, and soul food. It took me an hour to figure out what to eat, and, after having to make some tough decisions, I decided to get a chili cheez dawg with mac n’ cheez and corn salsa. It was fantastic!

The vendors were outstanding as well. SoulFest had everything from fresh produce at a farmers market stand to crystal and jewelry shops. Needless to say, I can’t spend money for a while.

Congratulations and a huge thank you to the SoulFest organizers—Brenda Sanders, VO’s Community Engagement Coordinator, and Naijha Wright-Brown, Baltimore vegan restaurant owner who you’ll all get to meet in the coming weeks!

By Lori Stultz, VO Rocky Mountain Outreach Coordinator

Stop what you’re doing. Now.

I mean it.

Put whatever you’re doing aside and join me in celebrating the Wanyama Box—a 100% vegan gift box to send to your non-vegan friends and family.

I’ve got your attention now, right?

The goal of Wanyama Box—Wanyama means animals in Swahili—is for vegans to order them for their non-vegan family and friends. Each box will be filled with 9 to 11 plant-based snacks, promotional offers from vegan brands, and a Vegan Outreach leaflet!

The goal of these gift boxes is to dispel myths about vegans eating twigs and berries. If vegans can show their non-vegan loved ones that vegan food is delicious, then there’s one less barrier between them and veganism.

A little about and from Nzinga Young—the genius behind the Wanyama Box.

I had trouble finding an activism strategy that worked for me during my first vegan year. I did a lot of writing and kept a vegan Instagram account, but I knew I should’ve been doing more to advocate for animals.

I remembered something I did as a kid. I was raised vegetarian and got teased all the time for eating fake meat. To show my classmates my food was actually delicious, I’d share it with them every chance I got. I wondered if the same tactic would work as a vegan, so I started sharing plant-based food with my family and friends.

In the past eight months, I’ve gotten one friend to go vegan, three to go vegetarian, and even more to eat vegetarian in my presence. Sharing food worked so well for me that I wanted to give other vegans an opportunity to recreate the strategy.

We don’t all live in metropolitan areas with access to great vegan food. To make this accessible, I sampled hundreds of vegan food items and put the best into each Wanyama Box.

I hope the packages dispel negative assumptions of vegan food and open lines of communication. The grand gesture of a surprise package will show our family and friends how serious we are about a vegan lifestyle and encourage them to make a change.

Now that you’re as excited as we are, we strongly encourage you to visit the Wanyama Box website to sign-up for email notifications about the project. It’s set to launch this fall.

By Lori Stultz, VO Rocky Mountain Outreach Coordinator

For anyone who doesn’t consume dairy, we’re all too familiar with the line “hold the whip” when ordering a tasty beverage from our favorite large chain coffee shop.

Good news! Those days are slowly, but surely, coming to a close. Peet’s Coffee and Tea in the U.S. announced earlier this year that they’d be offering a housemade vegan coconut whipped cream as a permanent addition to their menu that will leave your sweet tooth satisfied!

And if you act quickly, you can add this delicious vegan whipped cream to one of four coconut-themed coffee beverages, which can be made vegan upon request. These are part of Peet’s “Coffee Meets Coconut” campaign, but they’re only available through Tuesday, August 30, 2016.

Peet’s coconut whipped cream can be substituted across all beverages offered, and will cost an additional 35 cents.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my coffee date…