2018 Chicago Vegandale
Zygote Nation was there! ... At the 2018 Chicago Vegandale Food-Drink Festival on June 30, 2018, on the shore of Lake Michigan.
Dozens of vegan food, drink, clothing vendors from across the United States—including a fair number from the hometown of Chicago—and even a few from Canada (e.g., Toronto) showcased their wares on the sunny, humid summer day on Grant Park’s Butler Field, directly east of Chicago’s downtown.
I am not a vegan and I do not eat many vegan staples like soy- and seitan-based meat alternatives. Still, I was able to find some nice food and drink products and enjoyed myself.
Here is my list of the festival’s top notable vendors and products:
JuiceRx
Photo by Michael Sirak
I am not a big juice drinker, but I was impressed with this local Chicago business’s offerings. I had the Watermelon Mint juice and, about an hour later, tried the Tumeric Sunrise variety. Both were extremely fresh and light tasting, and they made me feel nicely refreshed under the hot sun. JuiceRX also offers nut milks and smoothies at its Chicagoland locations, but did not have them on hand at the festival.
Cado Avocado Frozen Desert
Photo by Michael Sirak
Cado’s avocado ice cream is “the first avocado-based, non-dairy ice cream with heart-healthy avocado fat,” according to the website of this family-owned business from Iowa. Cado offers three flavors: Spicy Lemon, Deep Dark Chocolate, and Mint Chocolate Chip. I bought a scoop of the mint chocolate chip. It was delicious. I would recommend it. Had I not known the ice cream was avocado-based, I would never have guessed it.
Burger UrWay
Photo by Michael Sirak
I credit this Brooklyn, New York-based burger restaurant with understanding that being a vegan does not mean limiting oneself to soy and seitan when wanting a burger-like experience. Burger UrWay offered what I consider to be healthier options at the festival: chickpea- and quinoa-based burgers. I had two of them and they were quite tasty and I would gladly seek out more if I lived in Brooklyn.
HempNu
Photo by Michael Sirak
One of the products I have been closely following in the past year or so is cannabidiol (CBD) oil; that’s due to hemp-plant-extracted CBD’s purported health benefits, such as relief from inflammation, pain, anxiety, and seizures. HempNu, a Texas-based company, states that its coconut-oil-based CBD product actually is a “full-spectrum organic hemp extract,” meaning it contains not only cannabidiol—one of the hemp plant’s many beneficial cannabinoid compounds—but also “all the same cannabinoids present in the original hemp plant” for added health effect. The company’s website states that HempNu uses only the hemp plant’s flowers to derive its extract, allowing for a “much more complete extraction.” HempNu’s CBD oil contains legal trace elements of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive constituent of the hemp plant, but the company notes there is “no ‘high’ effect as a result of using it.” I started taking HempNu’s extract and like it.
The Nosh Pit Detroit
Photo by Michael Sirak
Like Burger UrWay, I credit the Nosh Pit Detroit for offering meatless options that are not limited to soy and/or seitan products. This Motor City business includes a restaurant and a food truck. I looked at Nosh Put Detroit’s online menu and was impressed with the variety of sandwiches, soups, and other meals. For example, it offers a reuben sandwich with corned beets, lentil sloppy joe sandwich, peanut and potato stew, and a blackbean-chickpea burger. The Nosh Pit Detroit table offered a more-limited menu at the festival. I had “the Joshua,” a mushroom-grilled cheese sandwich; it featured vegan cheese, banana jam, and mushrooms on browned rye bread. It was quite tasty. I would gladly eat one again when I am in Detroit.
Closing comments: The event was well-attended; I would estimate there were hundreds, if not several thousand, attendees during the two-and-a-half hours I was there. The grounds were spacious, with plenty of room to move around, so the event did not feel overly crowded. There was a nice vibe, with a DJ playing music, a volleyball court, horseshoes, etc.
Photo by Michael Sirak
