Mark Your Calendars for the First Annual Plant-Based Bushwick Vegan Food Festival : Bushwick Daily

Later this month, Bushwick is getting a vegan food + lifestyle festival, approriately named Plant-Based Bushwick. LightSpace Studios (1115 Flushing Avenue, near the Morgan L) will host the event from 10 AM – 6 PM on May 21st at no cost to its attendees, and seeks to turn the public on to a plant-based and vegan lifestyle.

Founder Elizabeth Walsh hopes that the fest will become an annual event for the community. PBB’s main goal is to educate the public on how embodying a plant-based life isn’t as insurmountable as one might suppose. “We’re showing Bushwick that living a plant-based lifestyle is not expensive and unattainable, but instead accessible, fun, and healthy!” promises their flyer.

Walsh, who is also an architect, became vegetarian in 2013 while studying in India. “I turned down a narrow street that was lined with tiny cages packed with chickens. The chickens looked miserable and there was blood on the ground,” She explains. “Animals are tortured in unimaginable ways when they are killed for food, but it is more than that for me. I don’t want to eat animals, even if they aren’t tortured,” she continued.

Walsh also hopes that the event will be a great opportunity for vegans in the area to connect, bounce ideas off of each other, and support each other. “I love answering questions people have about veganism, and also listening to their concerns about it,” she says.

The beneficiary of the event is EcoStation: NY, the local social and economic justice organization which was founded in response to the lack of fresh food options in some city neighborhoods. The group educates the greater Bushwick community about urban farming and hosts other food justice related classes, making their collaboration with PBB a no brainer. Elizabeth began volunteering with EcoStation:NY after making the decision to become vegan, so she could immerse herself in the principles of a plant based, whole food, vegan diet.

PBB won’t only have food vendors: it will be a truly educational opportunity for those who would like to tackle clean eating and healthy exercise. Clothing and skin care products will also be on sale, to show the public how far reaching the plant-based life extends. There will also be a line up of keynote speakers and free fitness classes.

Unlike other vegan food festivals, PBB is both interactive and free to the public.

The full rundown of attractions is as follows:

PROGRAM BREAKDOWN

Two Yoga Classes: with Giana Abballe and Anthony Malone

How To Lose Weight And Sculpt Your Vegan Body presentation by Omowale Adewale, followed by a 10 minute exercise.

Presentation by Carolina Espinosa, registered dietician nutritionist.

Presentation by Nicole Moore Eisenberg, founder of VOAA (Veg Options Allies & Advocates) titled Finding Your Own Voice in the Veg Movement and How to Use it.

Presentation by Jessica Zafonte, Brooklyn based practicing attorney and animal rights activist, on the animal rights fight through legal and nonlegal means

Presentation by herbalist Dawn Petter titled Edible Wild Plants: 10 Local Weeds For Food & Medicine.

Cooking Demonstration with bloggist, digital cookbook writer Jenné Claiborne will be leading a mini demonstration for her new program, Buddhalicious.

+ cooking demos by EcoStation:NY volunteers, as well as various kids’ activities.

VENDORS

Barry’s Tempeh

Sun Burger Vegetarian Cuisine