Vegan Food Fair 2016

Vegan Food Fair, Auckland, NZ

This past Sunday was a good one in Auckland! Why, you ask? Well dear readers, it was the inaugural Vegan Food Fair! This is exactly what you’d expect. Picture your standard food fair, but everything is vegan! Or, Tracey’s dream come true!

This event started on Facebook with an idea to get a few of the vegan food vendors in the city together for a fun day of food. The interest soon grew, and grew, and grew (!!) and the event organisers had to come up with another location! The event was moved to the ASB Showgrounds and was the perfect place to house the 55+ (yes! OVER fifty five!!) vendors! The gates opened at 10am and when Mac & I arrived around 10:15am (our flat is only a 20 minute walk from the showgrounds), the place was already starting to fill with people!

The majority of the vendors were outside on the grassy area and inside there were even more vendors! We did a lap of the area and saw some friends I’ve been fortunate enough to meet that are rockin’ the entrepreneurial act, and also some businesses I’ve been following on Facebook and Instagram! Here’s a (delicious!) sampling of what we saw at the fair:

The Green Seed

Our friends Esteban and Oxana have started up a snack food business called The Green Seed that offers raw goodies that are perfect for when you approach ‘hangry’ levels. They sell raw granola, and my favourite coconut chips! The coconut chips come in two flavours – beet & raspberry, and smokin’ BBQ (which are mind-blowingly delicious!). Esteban and Oxana have their products in quite a few stores in Auckland and I’m excited to follow their business as it continues to grow!

Vigour & Vitality

Hayden and my friend Sharna (see below) are opening a fully vegan bakery in Tauranga this winter (a first for the area!). Hayden started Vigour & Vitality and specializes in making activated and stone-ground nut & seed butters that are out of this world.

The Nourishing Baker

Sharna has been Auckland’s Nourishing Baker for about a year now and she’s certainly made her mark. Her cakes are certifiably swoon-worthy and absolutely beautiful (and freaking delicious!). I’m definitely putting Tauranga on our list of places to visit on our road trip – there’s no way I’m missing a visit to this bakery once it opens!

Little Island Coconut Creamery

I first tried Little Island during our second trip to Piha with my parents and I wondered what took me so long! Their ice cream is coconut-based and it’s DELICIOUS!

Nusantara Indonesian Tea Cafe

Last, but CERTAINLY not least is my friend Shasha and her Tea Cafe. As you know by now, my Thursdays this year were spent at the New Lynn Night Market with this lovely gal and her delicious food. I flexed my volunteering arms again on Sunday and helped out Shasha one last time for a few hours (which was all that was necessary as we sold out of EVERYTHING in less than 3 hours – despite making WAY more food than usual!) There was a constant line at the stall for 2 straight hours which was amazing to see!

Honourable Mentions

I haven’t been lucky enough to try the food from the all of following places, but I have been keeping up with their businesses and I’m hoping I’ll be able to visit a few of these places before we leave NZ!

Wise Cicada

Though I haven’t tried Wise Cicada yet, it’s been on my list for a while! Their stall at the food fair certainly encouraged me to get my butt in gear before we leave Auckland as their treats looked amazing!!

Mr. Shankly’s

Mr. Shankly’s is a popular food truck serving up filling & tasty eats all across the city!

The Midnight Baker

These guys are in a few grocery stores and at the fair they were sampling some of their delicious nut butters that tasted like cookie dough. Yes please!!

Angel Foods

Angels Foods is rapidly growing and is a welcome product to see on the grocery store shelves. They make dairy-free products that are essentially exact to the real thing! We’re talking mozzarella, parmesan, sour cream, & cheese sauces!

Kettle Korn

Mac & I had some samples of this Kettle Korn at the fair and we were VERY impressed! Though we didn’t buy any, the price & flavour were VERY tempting!

Lalele Organics

One can never have too much ice cream, am I right?! Lalele serves up sorbets which are fruity, fresh, and lip-smackingly good!

Tart Bakery

You can’t mention ‘vegan’ and ‘bakery’ in Auckland without hearing about Tart. Their donuts are to die for and the line at their stall definitely proved that!

Wise Boys Burgers

I first learned of Wise Boys Burgers at the December vegan pot luck when they were just in the beginning stages of starting up their food truck. Since that time business has been booming! Their food truck makes amazing plant-based burgers that have been drawing long line ups wherever they are parked!

Final Thoughts

I don’t know if there are enough words to adequately describe how amazing this event was. It started raining about an hour into the event, but that didn’t hinder anyone in the slightest!

It was so amazing seeing SO many people out supporting the vegan businesses & community here in Auckland. This lifestyle is gaining momentum and I’m so happy to have been a part of this energetic and thriving community for the past 6 months. I wonder if a Vegan Food Fair like this exists back home in Ontario? … If not, I may have just found myself a new project to start when I get back!!