Columbus VegFest 2017 & Giveaway!

This post is way overdue since the VegFest was over a month ago! Still, better late than never! This was only the second year Columbus has had a VegFest and was my first year attending. The organizers did a great job and I am really glad we went!

There were vegan speakers and cooking demonstrations throughout the day. The photo below shows Da’Ves Malone, Founder & Executive Chef of Sprouting Dreams, preparing a delicious BBQ jackfruit recipe. Da’Ves makes wonderful vegan dishes and is available to do events in Ohio. Be sure to check out her Facebook page!

We also saw a wonderful presentation by Victoria Moran of Main Street Vegan. She is the author of Main Street Vegan, The Good Karma Diet, and ten other books! Her books are fantastic and her website has lots of great vegan information, so be sure to check it out! I didn’t get a photo at VegFest but found this one online:

After the two presentations, we got some snacks from a couple of the food trucks that were there. We couldn’t find seats at first, though, and were trying to eat standing up and I didn’t get photos of the food! This is not a good thing when you are a food blogger! Anyway, the food was delicious and I recommend both Sobremesa and Zaki if you are ever in Columbus:

We visited lots of vendors but I didn’t get many photos. I think I was too excited to talk to all the other vegans who were there! I did get a photo at the Red Lotus Foods booth and their cashew spreads are fantastic! You can order them online and every one we tried was really good!

The folks at the CLAWtheory booth were really nice and I got one of their cute T-shirts! They do some great advocacy work and you should definitely check out their website. They also did a post about Vegan Kitchen Magick that you can see by clicking this link!

Finally, we stopped at Rust Belt Pepper Company’s booth and met the family that makes this super yummy roasted red pepper relish:

They were kind enough to give me a jar of each of their original and spicy versions. I planned to use one and give one away, but they were so good that we ate both! So, I am doing a giveaway and will order two jars for the winner!

This pepper relish is good enough to eat right out of the jar!

It is great on crackers, chips, fries, and hummus!

I also made a creamy sauce with the pepper relish (3/8 c), vegan mayo (3 TBS), lemon juice (1 1/2 tsp), and Magickal Seasoning Blend (1 tsp):

The relish is lovely on sandwiches:

And, it also makes a great topping on vegan meatloaf! I only had three of my vegan burgers left in the freezer, so I defrosted them and pressed the mixture into a mini loaf pan. I topped it with the pepper relish and baked it at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. The pepper relish made a perfect glaze!

Comment below, on Facebook, or on Instagram to enter to win your own Rust Belt Pepper Co pepper relish! Enter by October 8th and tell me if you want two jars of original, two spicy, or one of each of you win! (Giveaway limited to US residents.)