Twelve years ago, a group of like-minded folks got together to discuss their commitment to a particular lifestyle.

Over the years, the group has grown and it’s reached the point the group will host its first-ever festival on Sunday, Aug. 9.

The Durham Lakeside Vegetarians is holding the Region’s first vegetarian festival at Heydenshore Pavilion in Whitby.

Sally Grande, one of the founders of the Durham group, says the event is free and features “four compelling speakers and nearly 100 exhibitors.

“We hope to get a good start to a new tradition,” Ms. Grande says.

The Durham group began “as sort of a conversation circle,” with members from across Durham, she notes.

Many of the Durham members are also members of the Toronto Vegetarian Association.

“We get together once a month to share and have dinner together. It’s just grown,” Ms. Grande states.

Ms. Grande, 58, became a vegetarian when she was 16.

“It was largely for ethical reasons. The health benefits have proven very substantial for me.”

The ethical reason was “not wanting to kill animals for food or subsidize what we call breeding for consumption,” she says.

“Five years ago, I went one step further and became a vegan,” Ms. Grande adds.

A vegetarian doesn’t eat meat, but may eat animal-based products, such as milk or cheese. A vegan doesn’t ingest anything from an animal.

Ms. Grande became a vegan because “I came to the realization that I wasn’t buying all that much dairy.”

She loves coffee and uses potato milk as a creamer. It’s a new product called English Bay and it’s made in Vancouver.

“It’s an all-Canadian product.”

There are thousands of varieties of foods, so being a vegetarian doesn’t mean eating only salads, she notes.

There are “two major obstacles” for vegetarians to overcome in convincing more people to stop eating meat, she says.

“There’s a nostalgic attraction to the diet you grew up with,” she says, adding that included a “huge breakfast and barbecuing.”

There’s also the media perception that a quarter-pound of beef is “a good thing.”

An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated a “quarter-pound of beef will kill you,” she says. “Even if you decrease meat consumption 20 per cent, you’ll see such an improvement in mortality rates we see right now.”

A professor at Baylor University, Dr. William Roberts, contends “humans are not carnivores,” she states.

Ms. Grande recently returned from a five-day conference in Pennsylvania “dedicated to this kind of thing.”

It was hosted by the North American Vegetarian Society.

“It was a room full of physicians advocating, strongly advocating, for a vegetarian diet.”

The Toronto association holds a food festival each September at Harbourfront.

“It’s the largest North American urban vegetarian fair. We think we’re an opening act for Toronto.”

There’s been a proliferation of vegetarian restaurants opening in Toronto, Ms. Grande says.

“It’s getting to the point there’s a vegetarian restaurant on every corner.”

A vegetarian restaurant, Jasmine Garden, has opened on Meadowglen Drive in Whitby.

Restaurants have been offering a more diverse menu, she notes.

“Almost every pub has a veggie burger on the menu right now.”

The Durham event will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature vegetarian dishes from local eateries, information booths, local chefs and cooking demonstrations, alternative lifestyle discussions (holistic, yoga, vegan) and a farmers’ market. There will also be the chance to meet local food producers, learn about vegetarian vegan cooking.

The four guest speakers include local veterinarian Erika Sullivan, who will speak at 12:30 p.m. on vegetarian lifestyle 101. At 1:30 p.m., Nimisah Raja, CEO of Evolving Appetites, will speak on ‘where do you get your protein?’

David Alexander, the executive director of the Toronto Vegetarian Association, speaks at 2:30 p.m. on diet and the environment. CBC broadcaster and author Erika Ritter will speak at 3:15 p.m. She’s just completed a book The Dog by the Cradle, the Serpent Beneath and copies will be available for signing.

For more information on the Durham Lakeside Vegetarians or the Aug. 9 festival, visit www.veg.ca.

Source

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.