On February 12th and 13th, 2022, hundreds of plant-based and “plant-curious” Rhode Islanders gathered at the WaterFire Arts Center in Providence for the third annual RI VegFest, a 100% vegan food and arts festival featuring passionate small business owners. I was the plant-curious to my best friend’s plant-based, and we spent the afternoon exploring vegan vendors who had come from as far as Los Angeles to share their products with New England.
The inaugural RI VegFest was held in February 2020 and was popular enough that organizers Robin Dionne and BJ Mansuetti decided to open up two days of tickets for this year’s festivities. The VegFest team generated buzz for months in advance on their social media channels, promoting vendors and hosting giveaways for ticket holders. The event attracted vegan culinary talent, sustainable clothing designers, cruelty-free beauty brands, and local coffee and spirits companies, and there really was something for everyone.
My best friend and I arrived at VegFest on Sunday at 2:30 pm with the late entry crowd. She’d already attended day one of the festival, so she knew exactly what booths were must-tries and which we could pass over. I was immediately struck by how many people were there. The event space was cavernous and industrial, but at the booth level, it was surprisingly warm and inviting.
We started with vegan mac and cheese from Basil & Bunny, a local small business that relies on pop-ups until their first brick-and-mortar location opens in Bristol later this year. It was rich and decadent, all without the addition of dairy. I would come to learn that mac and cheese seemed to be the theme of the day. I counted six different booths proffering their own version of vegan cheesiness, and each of the ones I sampled had its own unique twist.
We spent the next couple hours wandering the aisles of vendors, stopping for samples and admiring t-shirts adorned with veganism-related puns along the way. I tried many varieties of mac and cheese, of course, but also frosted brownies, protein powder, sweet potato cookies, and craft kombucha. We got a chance to interact with many of the vendors and ask them about themselves and their businesses. It was inspiring to see the way each of them was able to take their passion and turn it into something they could share with others.
As someone who is not vegan, RI VegFest was a great way to spend an afternoon. But for people like my best friend, who is vegan in large part because of a dairy allergy, the festival meant much more. “I’ve never really received any outward rudeness when I tell a waiter or restaurant I’m vegan, but I think deep down I do worry if they don’t care and won’t write it down. It was nice to be able to relax at VegFest and not worry about any of that,” she says.
“Eating out is probably the hardest thing about being vegan. I’m lucky that Providence has turned out to be extremely vegan-friendly, but there still is the awkward ‘Can you eat anything here?’ text from friends when we go out to eat – and I feel bad and say yes even if all they have for me is a side of broccoli or a garden salad. Being at VegFest was quite literally like being a kid in a candy store. I hadn’t experienced the ability to be picky and eat anything I liked in a long time.”
I don’t know if I’ll personally ever be fully vegan, but experiences like this are a reminder that veganism is so often misunderstood. It’s not about depriving yourself of animal products, but rather exploring creative ways to reimagine those favorite dishes in a way that promotes sustainability and consciousness of the harmful industrial practices behind many of the foods that we take for granted.
I was so happy that I got to experience RI VegFest this year with my best friend. It was such a refreshing break from my typical Sunday routine, interrupting my laundry and to-do lists with great food, better company, and a sense of community. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for VegFest 2023.