When we heard Honor Roll Productions was putting together the Open Road Music & Arts Festival, VegWorcester was one of the first to jump in and take part in what is being described as “Worcester’s first sustainable and earth-friendly music and arts festival.” We were excited to partake in some vegan outreach and check out the first of what will become an annual event!

Worcester locals headed over to Institute Park this past Saturday, September 4th to enjoy a sunny afternoon of 10+ musical acts, visual arts, fun for the kids, vegetarian food and a vast array of eco-friendly vendors. Among the green-oriented goals of Open Road Festival was bio-diesel generated power for the sound system, recycle bins and organic/recycled promotional materials.

At the VegWorcester table we met many attendees and other vendors who were equally interested in environmental issues and the music as well as trying our free vegan food! At our table we gave out free samples of Thai Peanut and Teriyaki Primal Strips, a meatless vegan jerky voted best new vegetarian snack by VegNews magazine. We also handed out vegan dark chocolates by the company Endangered Species. Their chocolates are ethically-traded and 10% of net profits are donated to help support species, habitat and humanity. We even had some Oreo cookies to share with attendees, based on the thought that many people already eat them and are shocked to find out that they are veg-friendly!

Armed with brochures about reducing cruelty to animals and free vegetarian starter kits, we shared the message of living a veg lifestyle in Worcester and received great feedback and email list sign-ups. One couple said their son had become vegetarian in the past year and they were impressed by how natural the transition had been. Other festival attendees said they enjoy veg food, but haven’t made the jump to preparing and cooking the food themselves. I was excited to share my new Worcester-oriented vegan blog (http://vegpanda.blogspot.com,) hoping to inspire others to experiment with recipes or try some of Worcester’s many vegan restaurant options.

Among the food vendors at Open Road were Loving Hut, a local vegan favorite, (located on Chandler St.) They served up a good mix of crispy appetizers to compliment the tasty rice & lo mein. (Be sure to come to one of the Loving Hut buffet VegWorcester fundraisers. They occur monthly and are only $10!)  To add to our excitement about the veg food options on Saturday, there were delicious veggie dogs for sale at the cart parked just outside the gates! The avocado, tomato and onion toppings were a nice surprise and made for a unique vegan option that many seemed to enjoy.

Check out Worcester Mag’s  Open Road review online with a write-up towards the end about our table!

]]> http://VegWorcester.com/2010/09/06/vegworcester-at-open-road-music-arts-festival/feed/ 0 http://VegWorcester.com/2010/08/30/got-any-veg-friendly-restaurant-tips/ http://VegWorcester.com/2010/08/30/got-any-veg-friendly-restaurant-tips/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:24:29 +0000 Drew http://VegWorcester.com/?p=2726 It’s time to revamp our popular veg dining guide. Got any tips on good restaurants?

Finding tasty vegan food at restaurants is rarely a problem, especially in Worcester. These days nearly every restaurant has good veg options on their menu. Last Spring VegWorcester printed a large number of veg dining guides and distributed them to curious Worcesterites. We are now on the third annual printing of the Guide to Vegetarian Dining in Worcester. Want to help? Look through our online listing at VegWorcester.com/restaurants and see if there are any good spots missing. Send any tips to info@VegWorcester.com or comment below.

2009 Edition: A Huge Success

Last year’s print edition featured 26 listings and a handful of events. We distributed a total of 8,000 copies–5,000 full color copies and 3,000 black and white copies.  These guides are a great tool for showing Worcesterites that being vegan is an easy way to help animals and the reduce our ecological impact. It’s also a great way to send some love to local biz that feature vegan items on their menus.

Over the course of a year, we handed out the 8k guides while tabling at community events, at shows, on college campuses, in Worcester highschools, at our vegan feed-in’s, and at lots of other events. You can download a pdf of last year’s guide.

Going bigger, going bolder

This year we’re going bigger with the guide. To start, we’re going to double our color printing to 10,000 copies. That means that as we get closer to publishing it, we’re going to need to ask more of y’all to step up and volunteer to distribute it. Look out for more details soon.

Post your tips!

So if you know any solid, veg-friendly restaurants, cafes, bakeries or other spots in the Worcester area, post them here. Or send an email to info@VegWorcester.com.

The Vegan Bus crew is coming to Worcester this Sunday, August 29 to give away free samples of vegan baked goods in Elm Park, play some music, then go to Loving Hut for a special lunch and short presentation. You should come out for the fun. Meet them in Elm Park at 11am or swing by Loving Hut on Chandler at Noon for a presentation and lunch. (See schedule below.)

Based out of Northampton, MA, The Vegan Bus is a big old school bus that drives around to community events, advocating veganism. They giving out free sample of tasty food (much like our vegan “feed-ins” in Worcester) and encourage people to think of the animals confined in factory farms. The bus itself runs on waste vegetable oil, collected from local restaurants.

What’s the Vegan Bus All About?

If you’ve been to Loving Hut in Worcester, you’ve no doubt caught a glimpse of Supreme Master TV (SMTV). With two giant flat-screens playing it all the time, it’s hard to miss. SMTV recently did a short film about the vegan bus that explains what the project is all about. They’ll be showing it at the Sunday event, but you can also check out the video on the TheVeganBus.com.

Coming to Worcester This Sunday

Loving Hut on Chandler is celebrating by having a a vegan feast, featuring special items that don’t normally appear on their menu. The meal will be buffet style. The bus crew will be giving a short presentation on their work and Loving Hut will be presenting the vegan bus with a $1,500 donation. Hopefully, this event will include a comically large check.

Schedule

• 9:00 AM: Leave Northampton
• 11:00 AM: Vegan Bus Activity at Elm Park with vegan treats, performances & leafleting.
• 12:00PM: Vegan Bus showing in front of Loving Hut
• 12:30PM: Lunch at Loving Hut
• 1:00PM: Donation presentation
• 1:15PM: Speech from the Vegan Bus
• 2-3 PM: Leave Worcester

Facebook event

RSVP to the facebook event, and invite your friends.

This Saturday Loving Hut on Chandler Street is having their monthly vegan buffet fundraiser for VegWorcester. Same deal as always, $10 for all you can eat. Noon-7pm.

Download a printable flyer (pdf).

WE BEAT PROVIDENCE

PETA recently ranked US cities with less than 300,000 people in terms of veg-friendly places to eat, and placed Worcester seventh. Last year they highlighted the meatball soup at Buddha Hut on Chandler Street, so this isn’t a big surprise.

I’ve lived in Worcester for eight years now, and been vegan for almost nine. What with the opening of Belmont Veg a year or two back, it does feel like the city’s restaurant scene is at a vegetarian high water mark. This PETA thing is a nice tip-o-the-hat.

Local restaurants Belmont Vegetarian Restaurant, Nancy Chang, and Loving Hut helped Worcester grab seventh place among small cities in PETA’s 2010 survey of the most vegetarian- and vegan-friendly cities in North America.

[...]

Olympia, Wash., took first-place honors among small cites, and Burlington, Vt., came in second. Rounding out the top 10 are Bloomington, Ind.; Boise, Idaho; Iowa City, Iowa; Lincoln, Neb.; Providence, R.I.; Syracuse, N.Y.; and Topeka, Kan. The winner among big cities was Washington, D.C.

Link

Cross-posted at Worcesterite

This Saturday, July 10, Loving Hut on Chandler Street is having their July buffet fundraiser for VegWorester (facebook event). Stop by between noon and 7pm for a $10 buffet. 10% will automatically be donated to VegWorcester.

Then on Sunday, July 11, at 1pm Loving Hut on Hamilton Street (formerly Veggie Corner, formerly Quan Yin) will be having a grand re-opening.

This monthly event has quickly become a cornerstone of the vegetarian community in Worcester. The food is always impressive and it’s great to see so many like-minded people get together for lunch (and sometimes stick around all the way until dinner).

RSVP to the facebook event.

This Saturday they will hosting their June buffet fundraiser for VegWorcester. It’s $10 for all-you-can eat vegan fare. Come for lunch or dinner. The buffet is from noon-7pm.

Loving Hut is located at 415 Chandler Street, Worcester (map).

Facebook

RSVP to the facebook event and spend a couple minutes inviting your friends. Support a great local restaurant and help raise some money for this rad activist group in Worcester.

Flyer – Download & Print

Want to go the extra mile? Download and print this flyer and hang it up at your work or at a coffee shop.

The Artichoke Food Coop needs volunteers to cover weekly shifts and fill in the gaps. Haven’t been the Artichoke yet? It’s a small vegetarian food cooperative grocery store with lots of organic, local and bulk item. They’re the spot to go to pick up all your ingredients for a stellar vegan mac & cheese recipe, your bulk spices, and your soy cheese and your vegan marshmallows.

Randi Whitney, the volunteer coordinator, recently emailed us at VegWorcester calling for volunteers.

From Randi:

Volunteers get 10% off all of their purchases at the store! We really need shift volunteers and we also have other jobs for people to do that don’t involve running a shift. We need people to do our signage, help with the website, keep an updated price list in the store, help figure out our new register computer system, clean the store, help fix some things around the store, and other things. People can email me rwhitney26@gmail.com or call me 978-549-4141 if they are interested or have questions. Artichoke is the only food cooperative store in Worcester. It caters to vegetarian and vegan lifestyles and it doesn’t run without volunteers.

Email or call Randi if you can pitch in a few hours.

Definitely pick up a copy of this week’s Worcester Magazine. In it you’ll find the latest article in the Soy de Worcester column. The piece is online, but WoMag always looks better in print.

Valentine Treats for your Vegan Sweetie

Are you a long-time vegetarian, looking for something new to do this Valentine’s Day? Or maybe a die-hard meat-eater with a vegan sweetheart? Somewhere in between? No matter where you’re coming from, these romantic vegan Valentine’s date ideas are sure to impress:

The Bean Counter is the place in Worcester to get vegan desserts for your schnoodle. You can order a vegan cake ahead of time, either a full-sized or a small cake. Not good at planning ahead? Bean Counter is also the spot to hit up if you get a hot date at the last minute or, heaven-forbid, you forget to buy a present for your long-time love. The cafe on Highland Street always has fresh-baked vegan cupcakes, cookies and sometimes even has vegan cakes available for immediate purchase.

This year, Valentine’s Day falls on the Lunar New Year, also called Chinese New Year. Two of Worcester’s East Asian vegan restaurants are celebrating with special dishes and special hours.

Decadent double dipped vegan chocolate apples from CorpseCakes

This weekend will be busy at Buddha Hut on Chandler Street. On Saturday it hosts its monthly vegan buffet. While not usually open on Sundays, this year the restaurant is opening its doors on Feb. 14 for special Valentine’s Day dinner hours.

Duck Yao is celebrating Valentine’s and Chinese New Year and will be offering a special item this weekend: fried, pounded rice cakes filled with veggie ham and beans. Space is limited at this underground restaurant, so make reservations early by calling 413-296-4797.

Plan to spend the Valentine’s evening at home, snuggled up with your sweetie? Stop by the Artichoke food co-op to pick up some decadent chocolate treats and non-dairy ice cream. The Artichoke’s fresh-food selection may be sparse, but there is no better place in Worcester to find vegan and fairly-traded chocolate bars. Choose from a wide selection that includes blended orange dark-chocolate, espresso bean, and almond chunk. While you are there, consider bringing home a pint of the non-dairy ice-cream. The flavors the co-op stocks vary, but if you’re lucky it will still have some coconut-chocolate available.

One Love is the perfect place to relax with your love this Valentine’s Day. Want to spend an hour or two chatting over dinner? This small Jamaican restaurant features many options for those seeking a meatless meal. Sip some water with watermelon and chat while owner Venice Fouchard prepares your food. The rasta pasta and spinach roti are perfect for sharing. The stewed akee fruit has a texture similar to scrambled eggs but a distinct flavor that sticks out from the curry dish. You won’t be let down by the creative and flavorful dishes.

Don’t want to go out this Valentine’s? What better way to impress your date than making a home-cooked, gourmet meal? In addition to a wide array of fresh, organic fruits and veggies, the Living Earth has a bulk foods section and many specialty vegan items like soycheese and mock meats. With all the interesting ingredients available at Living Earth, you’ll certainly be able to come up with a creative dish that woos your darling.

And for those of the creepy, kooky and altogether ooky nature … CorpseCakes is your choice for alternative and sub-cultured goodies for the post-mortem extracted sweet tooth. All CorpseCakes cupcakes and cakes are created to your liking, offering a variety of hand-painted/custom sweets tailored to your dietary needs including vegan tasties. For ordering information e-mail CorpseCakes@gmail.com