21st: Favourite memory – What’s your favourite ever food memory? Recreate it.
OK, so in all honestly my two favourite food memories (aka best things I have ever eaten) happened this year. But I am not even going to attempt to recreate them because I will never achieve that perfection that Smith & Deli can with strawberries. So I am taking a slightly different approach.
One thing I love is attending vegan market and food days! The best one ever was of course the Vida Vegan Bazaar that I attended last year in Austin. But I also loved attending World Vegan Day in Melbourne two years ago. And even though I didn't get much of a chance to eat or look around, the first BrisVegan Festival held a couple of months ago was a great event as well.
While sometimes the weather may keep me away from things, or the crowds (I skipped a couple of events in Melbourne earlier this month... but I made up for them with other food... I'll blog all about that after MoFo ends), I really do love going to some sort of fun vegan day. So I was very happy when they announced the first ever Brisbane Vegan Markets, which was held on Sunday.
I suspect there would be huge crowds, so I got there right on opening at 9am. It meant that a few places weren't open yet, but we were able to grab a spot at a table in the undercover area (crucial as it was a sunny 35 degree C day) and then I could trot around bringing back food. We started with a scallion pancake from a Tibetan food stall (that also had yummy looking steamed momos that I wish I had also got). Sorry for the burry photo, people kept bumping the table!
I had positioned us right near the I Should Coco ice cream stall, so that I could be first in line when they opened. I am so glad I was, because by the time I got my order the line was huge! We both got the super secret social media special, the Not-Ella. As well as chocolate vanilla swirl soft serve, it had crushed Vego bars, chocolate hazelnut sauce and crushed hazelnuts. So good! Mum got hers in a cup, and I got mine in a cone (of course). Forgive the dirty table... they hadn't cleaned them off before the event started.
By this point, lines were growing long, so I stopped by a couple of stalls to place orders. I got a Spud Pizza (potato, sweet potato, rosemary, garlic, Daiya) from the wood-fired pizza place, and I also got some Sweet Potato Poppers from Green Street food. The poppers were nice, though a bit deep fried for me. The pizza was great, I took half home and had it cold the next day for lunch. Excellent.
I was pretty thirsty by this point as well, so I picked up a refreshing Rosella Rose iced tea from a coffee and drink stand. Disappointingly, the coffee stand had cows milk as the 'non-vegan option'. I would have thought that for one six hour period that could have not served dairy at all given it was a vegan market. Non-vegans can live without dairy milk for one drink!
By this point it was hot and the markets were packed, so we decided to make our exit and return home to cool air conditioning. We were only there for an hour, but places were already selling out of things as we were walking out! It was great to see the turnout there, I just wish that they could have it in a slightly larger area. This venue is quite small and packed, and encourages bottle necks. The good news is that this will now be a monthly even! So hopefully they will eventually be able to move to somewhere with a bit more room for everyone. I look forward to going back again!
Here are a few other photos of the markets. Not many, because it was so crowded even when I got there that I couldn't get a lot of clear shots. Looks like Brisbane is full of vegans and vegan-curious people, yay!
Cute Kitty Photo of the Post
Our final family kitty, Possum. Pictured here having some very serious thoughts!
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That pizza looks so amazing, wood fired pizza makes the best crust! I totally agree about the coffee stand. It seems ridiculous that there needs to be dairy at a vegan market! No one will die if they use a plant based milk in their coffee one time! They might even be pleasantly surprised!!
ReplyDeleteExactly! Hopefully next time they might keep it off the menu.
DeleteOooh, yea that pizza does look and sound great! And that ice cream. I'd totally position myself by that place too. I always need to be first in food lines. hahaha.
ReplyDeleteWaiting in really long lines is annoying. Pizza and ice cream are what it is all about! But mostly that ice cream.
DeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteI wish there were monthly events like this in Montreal too. I remember that when the 1st edition of the Montreal Vegan Festival was held, I thought no one would show up, but the place was sooo packed! It is so great to see that veganism can attract crowds!
I don't understand, though, why that place had to offer cow's milk at a vegan event... Hopefully, they will refrain from doing it next time.
I want that ice cream so bad!
The ice cream is amazing, worth lining up for. But I prefer it when I don't have to. ;)
DeleteI am really encouraged by the number of people in Brisbane who are keen to come along to these events. Apparently Australia is the 3rd fasted growing vegan market in the world.
That is weird! Most vegan festivals/pop-up shops have a rule that the company doesn't need to be vegan, but they can only sell the vegan stuff. My friend and I went to a pop up shop in Philly and there was a make up stall that the owner happily gave us a card telling us her website had more make up, it just wasn't vegan. Her tone seemed more like we would of been interested in the non-vegan stuff, but maybe she was just giving us heads up that she wasn't an exclusively vegan brand.
ReplyDelete