The annual Edinburgh Vegan Festival is upon us once again. VFUK held the Scotland’s first ever vegan festival in Edinburgh. Edinburgh will be our forth stop of our 2018 summer UK festival tour. Although this is our forth annual visit to Edinburgh, this year we will have a larger venue than previous years, this year our venue will be at world famous Murrayfield Stadium.
For pics/vids of previous visits ( https://veganfestival.co.uk/gallery/).
We are sure to make Edinburgh Vegan Festival 2018 an amazing, memorable and obviously a cruelty free day out for the whole family. Along with the fact that VFUK is the UK’s only family run Vegan Festival, our venue boasts free parking and the fact that you are supporting the largest growing movement in the world is reason enough to attend, but here are 5 big reasons to visit Edinburgh vegan festival this year.
1. Multi Award Winning Festival
Although Vegan Festival UK has been nominated for many awards over the years, we always got beat to the post by larger business, but last year we were asked to attend the prestigious national P.E.A Awards in London. It was huge honour to be a finalist among some of the UK’s leading sustainable companies, but hearing “The Winner Is Vegan Festival UK” was a little surreal. For more details on this amazing evening (P.E.A Awards), also this July 2nd 2018 we were chosen from a long list of festivals and events, to become the winner of Festival Of The Year 2018. That fact that we have been even nominated for these awards is fanatic, but becoming a finalist and then winning is awesome.
2. Amazing Vegan Businesses
Edinburgh will welcome a large selection of vegan business’s coming from across the UK. If you have ever been to one of our festivals before you may recognize some of our business’s, but this year we have many new companies you may have never heard of. If you are not vegan or vegetarian you will soon realise that removing animal products from our lives, is easier than you think. Come and talk to these amazing companies, maybe taste / try some of there fabulous products and support the vegan movement.
This is what stall holders had to say about our previous event.
3. Speakers & Guests
At all our festivals we have a selection of interesting talks from our speakers and guests, Edinburgh Vegan Festival 2018 talks include :-
A chance to consider how eating vegan curries can change lives – the challenges and opportunities of life in Northern Malawi :- John Riches will talk about his experiences of visiting small-holder rice farmers in northern Malawi and the positive difference trade through JTS is having on the lives of families there and elsewhere. Looking at a couple of personal stories, the session will cover the direct links between individuals working the land in developing countries and the food we eat here. It will consider how changing patterns of consumption here such as veganism can support more climate-friendly forms of agriculture in Africa, which are essential if we are to meet growing global demand for food without destroying the planet.
Go Vegan Scotland by Vegan Advocacy :- A talk about what veganism is, vegan advocacy, the GVS approach and why vegan advocacy is essential.
Paul Brown (Founder of BOL Foods):- With the importance of eating well deeply engrained in Paul, he jumped at the chance to join a fledgling smoothie company – Innocent – in its first year (2001), where he spent 14 years, latterly as the Food Director. It was at Innocent that he headed up the launch of the ‘Veg Pot’ concept, which fundamentally changed the ready meal category in the UK. In 2012, when Innocent was bought by Coke and decided to focus solely on their drinks offering, Paul saw the opportunity to build on the concept, with Innocent’s blessing, and start his own food business.
4. Some Free Vegan Stuff
As with our previous festivals the stall holders encourage you to try their wares, this normally comes in the form of food tasting or drinks. This year we will be handing some vegan goodies and vouchers to vegan restaurants in the area. As with most things that are free – first come first served.
5. Edinburgh Is Beautiful
If you take the time to come and visit us at our new venue (Murrayfield Stadium), why not take in the of Edinburgh’s fantastic tourists hots spots such as the Edinburgh Castle and the Museum of Scotland, or even watch the street performers during the Edinburgh Fringe. We hope to make this event the largest vegan event Scotland has ever seen, but we can’t do this with out your support, so please take an hour out of your day on Sunday August 19th and support our cause.