Though we are not vegans, my wife and I are always curious about the food, so we did not pass on the chance to go to VegFest Pilipinas when a couple of friends invited us. Held at The Spine, Blue Bay Walk in Pasay City, the largest vegan festival in Asia was staged last Nov. 19 and 20.
Story and photo by Normandy Dela Paz
Even if we sometimes eat at restaurants that offer vegan cuisine, we were still surprised at the amazing food offerings we tasted at the event, making both of us say to each other after every free sample, “I can’t believe something this tasty is plant-based.”
It was indeed free food samples galore at the festival, and boy did we seize the opportunity to try everything. We walked around the venue three times like two herbivores grazing. The first round was to taste all the free samples, with my wife and I asking each other after every free taste: “It’s okay if we tasted stuff first right, after all, they are offering free samples?” The second round was to taste the free samples again, so we could, erm, get a second opinion from our taste buds on which products we would buy, and now the two of us were asking each other, “Is what we are doing already freeloading?” And the third round was to purchase the vegan food products that our tongues judged as the winners, and of course to again have a go at the free samples, both of us smiling while asking each other, “Can’t we just admit that we’ve fallen in love with the vegan food here, especially the free samples?”
We tried a lot of vegan stuff. For appetizers, we had crackers topped with different types of cheese and spreadable with vegan flavors like bacon, tuna, and chicken; as well as numerous types of chicharon, snacks, and chips. Our main course: Meat-free products such as burger patties, sausages, nuggets, squid rings, fish sticks, tuna, ham, luncheon meat, and bacon. For dessert, we sampled assorted flavors of ice cream and a variety of pastries like cakes, donuts, cookies, and brownies. And to complete our feast of free samples, we sipped various types of beer and kombucha tea. But hey, we’re not freeloaders, mind you, because afterward, we bought tons of snacks, chips, and chicharon (us just being junk food junkies—make that recovering junk food junkies).
Being so full, we barely had enough belly room for dinner at the event. There were a number of restaurant booths to choose from, but we decided to go the tried and tested route and purchased our dinner from the vegan restaurant we usually go to with our friends, The Greenery Kitchen. We just shared a Sisig and Korean barbecue rice meal combo, and then bought a Birria taco at a nearby stall to serve as a chaser, a cup of ice cream for dessert, and a can of flavored kombucha to make it all go down smoothly.
We enjoyed our dinner while listening to the series of talks featured in VegFest Pilipinas 2022, with speakers discussing veganism and social justice, veganism and its impact on the environment, and veganism and mental health. As our one for the road, we bought a glass of milk tea before leaving the festival and we began to eat some of our purchased vegan treats on our way home.
VegFest Pilipinas 2022 was our first vegan dinner date after the pandemic. And we can’t wait to have our usual vegan dinner dates at The Greenery Kitchen along with our friends once it opens again, as well as try the new vegan restaurants we discovered at the event.