DC VegFest 2010

It happened the winter of 2008 after years of bragging that while some people treated their bodies like a temple, I winked and said I treated mine like the garbage dump and ha, ha, haaaa. I could get away with it.  One day the rubbish facilitator hung a “Sorry We’re Closed” sign on the shop shrugged and simply stated: “Deal with it.”  So, for about a year or so, I after decades of a blessed high metabolism and an appetite for destruction, I had to face the fact that my luck had run out.

It was a very uggy feeling. I felt unclean inside and out and frankly no diet in the world could be the fix.  Then I read the infamous “Skinny Bitch” by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin.  Say what you may about that book, the two gorgeous authors and their brand, I was hooked.  You see, at that time, I was also practicing yoga and the intake of junk into my body while twisting out the toxins was a contradictory process.  So, I had my ceremonial last kiss with lobster, shellfish, and meat on the little island of Mustique the night before we were leaving to go back to the states. Oh…what an error that was.  It was one painful morning.  At any rate. I figured I had eaten enough of all of that in one sitting for at least a year.

In January of 2008, so began my adventure as a vegetarian turned pescatarian turned a bit of organic free-range chickenarian.  Still no shellfish nor red meat, pig, you get my drift.  Don’t take away my cheese nor eggs though.

Are you a veggie and raring to celebrate being meat free?  This SATURDAY is the DC VegFest 2010: Washington, D.C.’s Largest Free Vegetarian Celebration.

It will take place on Saturday, September 11th and celebrate the best of everything vegetarian in and around the nation’s capital.

Offering something for everyone, this annual event attracts thousands of people in one place to try free food samples, hear from dynamic speakers, explore meat-free cuisine from some of the region’s best restaurants, attend cooking demonstrations, visit dozens of educational booths, shop from several different commercial vendors, and much more.

WHERE: University Yard at George Washington Univ. (2000 block of H. St., NW) in Washington D.C.
METRO: Four blocks from the Foggy Bottom/GWU Metro station (orange and blue lines)
WHEN: Sat., Sept. 11, from noon to 6:00 pm (rain date is Sun., Sept 12)
COST: Free!

The DC VegFest, co-organized by Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organizations Compassion Over Killing and the Vegetarian Society of D.C., will feature more than 50 different exhibitors as well as speakers including:

·         Celebrity Chef Tal Ronnen,  author of New York Times bestseller The Conscious Cook
·         Miss D.C. Mackenzie Green, winner of the 2010 Miss District of Columbia pageant
·         Robert Cheeke, champion vegan bodybuilder
·         Tracye McQuirter, M.P.H., public health nutritionist and author, By Any Greens Necessary
·         Colman McCarthy, former Washington Post columnist journalist, professor and author.
·         Wendy Rieger, NBC4-DC news anchor

The first 400 visitors will receive a free commemorative tote bag filled with food samples, coupons, and information about vegetarian eating.