2018 Great Lakes Veg Bash
Zygote Nation was there! ... At the 2018 Great Lakes Veg Bash on Aug. 4, 2018, at the Washtenaw County Fairgrounds in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Several dozen food vendors, along with a greater number of natural product business shilled their wares at this regional vegetarian and vegan food festival. Non-profit organizations supporting causes like veganism were also present.
Hundreds of people attended the event during the several hours I was there on the sunny summer day. A backdrop of live music added to the pleasant vibe and enjoyment.
Here is my list of the bash’s notable vendors and products:
Carina Eden
Photo by Michael Sirak
Carina Eden markets topical gels to balance the body’s seven chakras. These energy centers run along a vertical line upward from the groin area to the top of the head. Carina Edenburg, this business’s creator, designed one gel to correspond to each of the chakras. She is a certified natural and integrative medicine therapist. Her red-colored gel, for example, is meant to enhance the root chakra in the pelvic area; this chakra is associated with safety, grounding, and physical power. In addition to a base of organic aloe vera, these chakra gels contain fruit pigments, essential oils, and homeopathic remedies (e.g., Bach Flowers). Plus, Edenburg infuses them with “intelligent spiritual energy, frequencies of light, sound, color, energetic stones, crystals, and sacred geometry,” states the Carina Eden website. Edenburg did a reading of the condition of my chakras at her table at the festival. (She was doing these consultations for anyone who wanted one.) She was spot on in identifying the area of my body that needs attention. Carina Eden also sells an earthing gel and a bliss balsam.
Photo by Michael Sirak
Photo by Michael Sirak
Why Bars, a Birmingham, Michigan-based business, offers snack bars featuring raw, organic ingredients and free of soy, dairy products, and preservatives. The company make five varieties: vegan apple, vegan cacao, vegan cherry, vegan choco peanut, and vegan mango ginger. I tried the choco peanut and the cacao bars. Both were excellent; think fresh-tasting, healthy rice krispie-like treats. I do not know if that same description similarly would apply to the apple, cherry, and mango ginger bars since I did not try them. As an indication of the quality ingredients the company uses, here is the ingredients list for the vegan choco peanut bar: organic puffed brown rice, non-GMO brown rice syrup, non-GMO peanut butter (roasted peanuts, sea salt), organic Peruvian cacao, organic chia, organic coconut oil.
New Health
Photo by Michael Sirak
New Health, a business located in Ferndale, Michigan, just northwest of Detroit, sells “full-spectrum” hemp extract derived from the stalks and seeds of Colorado-grown hemp plants. The extract contains not only cannabidiol (CBD), one of the hemp plant’s health-beneficial non-psychoactive cannabinoid substances, but also additional cannabinoids like cannabichromene (CBC), cannabigerol (CBG), and cannabinol (CBN). The extract also has terpenes, which may enhance a person’s mood, aid in falling sleep, and alleviate inflammation, according to New Health’s website. I was most interested in the company’s complete blend, but it also offers an everyday blend and an extra-strength concoction. These products do not contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the hemp plant’s principal psychoactive constituent, according to the company. New Health also offers additional products such as a salve and a tincture for pets.
Fresh Food is Fun
Photo by Michael Sirak
In addition to offering its Kaleamazoo Chips (i.e., kale chips), Fresh Food is Fun of Kalamazoo, Michigan, makes something different: kale-based power bars. While the chips come in five flavors (chocolate chili, garlic parm, lemony kick-it, lime coconut, and spicy sriracha), the bars are available in three: chocolate, garlic parm, and lemony dill. I have never seen kale-based bars before. They may be out there; I am just not aware of them. These bars are tasty and feature predominantly organic ingredients; not surprisingly, they kind of taste like kale chips, but that is not a bad thing at all. The ingredients are clean. For instance, the chocolate power bar contains chocolate-chili kale chip crumbles (with organic kale), organic pumpkin seeds, organic sunflower seeds, maple syrup, organic chia seeds, organic flax seeds, organic sesame seeds, chocolate chips, organic puffed amaranth, organic cocoa, organic cinnamon, and sea salt. Fresh Food is Fun also sells spice packets “for the do-it-yourselfer to bake a batch of kale chips.” When I checked the company’s website, there were two flavors available: lemony kick-it and lime coconut.
Suzy-Q’s Earth Remedies
Photo by Michael Sirak
Suzy-Q’s Earth Remedies makes personal care products by hand in Macomb Township, Michigan. Among them are an anti-aging serum, bath bars, beard oil, foaming hand-wash, insect repellent, lip-rescue balm, muscle and joint relief salve, sunscreen stick, and a vapor rub and cough remedy. They feature certified organic and/or ethically wildcrafted ingredients, according to the company’s website. The Outlaws blend of the company’s sanitizing spritzes caught my eye ... and my nose. For me, this blend smells nicely masculine with its mixture of aloe vera, witch hazel, thieves essential oil (clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus radiata, and rosemary), peppermint, lime, spearmint, and oregano.
