The past weekend (Friday and Saturday, actually) was marked by 11th in a row happening of ZeGeVege festival in Zagreb, Croatia - the biggest vegan event in this region.
First of all, the cold facts and numbers - more than 40.000 people have visited the festival with almost a 100 exhibitors selling their homemade vegan food products and cosmetics, representing big companies such as Alpro or Spar, giving lectures about sustainable living, vegan fitness lifestyle, animal saving and helping the environment.
The event was held at the central square in Zagreb - Ban Jelačić Square.
Vida and I decided to take our camera, a rucksack and a few bags (linen, not plastic, of course), leave Aris with her parents and take the tram number 17 to the Square.
Ilica street is always full of people (at this time of the year mostly tourists), but this was more than your usual day in the city center.
When we arrived at the station, dozens of stands immediately caught our attention. At first, we didn't know where to start so we decided to go to Dolac market to buy some quinoa and sesame seeds that we needed for some new recipes.
It was a beautiful sunny day in Zagreb, with temperatures around 30°C.
Let's start with the event programme. I will try to translate everything in this article from Croatian to English as much as I can. This programme is mentioning lectures and workshops held during the event so there's not much point in translating every single word, but I'll mention that there were many workshops on how to make vegan food and meals, how to become a vegan, how to live the zero waste life, how to help the environment and animals etc. All quality stuff.
Crowds have started gathering ever since 8 AM when the event started...
Since animal welfare is our main reason to change our eating habits and since the love for animals led us to this stage of life, it is natural that we visited the animal rights stands first - at the "educational corner".
The posters say "Peace starts on our plates", "We are here because of compassion towards animals", "There's a long way full of suffering from a farm to a plate", "6 months old - we are babies" and "Every time you eat you have a chance to be merciful"
The Anonymous mask has been circling around animal activists for years now - another way to express how they are the voice for the voiceless (animals). There were many leaflets and education flyers at the festival. At this stand, you could also experience the 'Cube of truth'.
Among leaflets the titles are "Life of a chicken", "Truth" and "How to get healthy with plant-based food"
I loved this poster so much - it's so amazing and fulfilling seeing a goat share a table with humans. Filip is one lucky goat.
We came to the tent right at the time Igor Barberić, Croatian director and choreographer (and also vegan), gave a speech and a lecture on how to make vegan cupcakes. Very useful for all of you cupcake lovers out there! Also, Igor seems like a really nice, calm person and an all-around genuine good guy.
When I examined the photos we took at the festival after we came back home, this photo stuck in the back of my mind. There was a woman dressed as a carrot, handing out leaflets about veganism and healthy food, while the child watched her in awe. At the same moment, I thought to myself that this child will probably grow into a loving, caring and compassionate adult, learning to appreciate every life on this Earth, because it was raised the right way. Mascots like this one are a great way of capturing our attention and presenting new ideas and thoughts. You could see people handing out leaflets almost everywhere. Education is the key to this lifestyle.
Now, let's go to the main part of this festival - plant-based food! Woo-hoo! Since I love spicy food, I decided to start the tour with this photo. Notice the redness representing chili peppers. All kinds of spicy sauces and plants could be bought at this stand.
There's no literal translation for this pun, but I'll try to explain - literally it means "Get angry here!", but "ljuto" in Croatian stands for angry (person) and for spicy (food), so it's kind of a joke that works only in Croatian
The old and the young, men, women and children, Croatians and tourists, vegans and non-vegans - everybody wanted a piece of ZeGeVege!
This stand here offered natural homemade products featuring corn, beetroot, turnip, artichoke etc. What I love most about food is the way that it's packed. I'm a graphic designer so I guess that's why haha.
On the next photo, we have a various choice of quinoa, brown rice, couscous, sunflower, millet etc. This was bio&bio's stand. The prices are in Croatian kunas (1 kuna is about 14 cents).
Food isn't the only thing you could buy here - there's also cosmetics such as shower gels and conditioners. Cruelty-free, of course.
Vegan burgers were a huge hit. Can you even tell that these contain absolutely NO meat?! Amazing! And the taste... We were speechless.
People are always wondering why vegans choose the food that resembles meat if they despise it. The truth is, most vegans don't dislike the taste of meat, they just despise the way it's made and want to show that there are many alternatives that taste just as good, if not even better - and no life had to be taken to make it.
Chevapi (or 'ćevapi') is a traditional food of this area - on this festival, everybody could experience seitan as a substitute for meat. People weren't disappointed at all.
The city is full of life, interest in this event is huge.
As a coffee lover myself (although I don't drink coffee to go that much), I praised the idea of longlasting, reusable coffee cups. Although the price wasn't cheap when you think about it, it pays off in the end - and you're protecting the environment.
Powder fans, come here! Maca, ginger, turmeric... Superfood heaven is at this stand! There are so many useful and healthy plants out there that most of us didn't even know existed, let alone that we used them. Nature is amazing.
At almost every stand you could try out their products and decide for yourself do you want to buy something or not. That's how the two of us bought some lovely stuff!
This man's products are truly amazing - we have never experienced garlic powder in such a natural form. The smell is outstanding and it blends well with all kinds of food. The best thing is that you only need the tiniest amount of it to spice up your meal.
Barley and beans could be bought here, along with chutney, very popular in Croatia.
To finish off this lovely adventure, we decided to take a photo of Manduševac - famous fountain at Jelačić Square - with people and stands in the background. According to the legend, that's how the city of Zagreb got its name.
...and back to the writer of this article, Daniel (myself, yeah). It was a beautiful experience for Vida and me and I truly hope that I have managed to demonstrate in words and photos what a captivating event this is for both Zagreb and Croatia.
There were a few stands with exhibitors from Slovenia and Serbia, along with visitors from all around the world. Do you know what's the one thing in common for all those people? They all went home happy and smiling.
Take care of animals. Take care of our environment and our planet.
Thank you for reading. Until next time!