This Vegan Cook off was at the Bell House on Sunday, June 2nd, and was set up by the skint. It was a competition, with a People’s Choice set of winners, and a Judges Panel set of winners. The event was sold out but still relatively comfortable. Wasn’t too packed, but had enough people so that you felt that strong communal excitement. The vendors and consumers were all so happy to be there, I was constantly reminded of how sweet this community is. Compassionate people rule. The lines wrapped around the moderately sized venue and didn’t have us wait take too long at all. As the event went on, the lines got shorter, so we more easily got out third to sixth rounds.
The absence of branding by the vendors made us think that there were some stipulations to keep the consumers opinions and votes objective. We later found out that for some reason, almost nobody put their business cards or signs out. There were more pictures of the people’s food in domestic situations printed out than anything, which shows how much these people just love what they make. They weren’t as interested in getting their name out there as much as they were interested in sharing their food and showing how beautiful they can make these tiny bites look. Actually, they weren’t all that tiny. The Chia Seed empanadas, which won second place in the People’s Choice Awards, were quite large and amazingly delicious. We saw dishes that ranged from drunken delicacies, like the Brostini; Waffle Fries topped with Mac n Cheese, to the bodacious beauty of the Artichoke Soup with Sunflower seeds and Tofu crumbles.
Check out some of the snacks we got.
The Judge’s Choices were:
Jackfruit Pot Stickers with Wasabi Mustard Sauce (AMAZING)
Gourmet Cheese Log
Zatar Hummus on pita chip
The winners of the People’s Choice Awards were:
Gourmet Cheese Log
Chia Seed Empanadas
Soul Bites
The Soul bites were Collard Greens, Mashed Potatoes, and other country delights on a quinoa crust. I had about 6 of them, and they were sumptuous.
See you next competition! We will be the smiling super happy goofy people, if you can pick us apart from the rest of the excited crowd.
*Sorry for the bad photo quality 🙂 didn’t have my DSLR and it was pretty dark
