NYC Vegetarian Food Festival

We decided to check this event out since we have been eating healthier lately and wanted to discover some vegetarian eats.
As I scored a few cheap passes through a discounted ticket site we went for the last two hours on Saturday at 4pm as a friend told us it was way too overcrowded during the afternoon.
When we arrived it was still busy but not too bad. Easy to walk around room at the Metropolitan Pavillion where it was held this year. Good thing we only paid $ 5 a ticket since if we had to pay the full $ 30 — $ 40 we would have felt like we wasted our money. A decent amount of vendor tables but much of them were similar in products and offerings. Samples were small, and many were charging for things such as vegan empanadas ($ 5). Plus, all the annoying kids with equally annoying hipster parents and the baby carriage crowd kept getting in the way.
Why do so many of the vegan/​vegetarian crowd look like hipsterish crunchy granola hippies?
Ate many samples, took home some items we bought, and found a few things we actually liked. It’s one of those food and drink shows to walk around and try something different. Hit or miss at many tables.
Sorry, but most of the foods here tasted like dirty anus, or have little to no taste at all save for the fatty stuff like donuts and cookies which aren’t what I would call healthy. Damn tho, the Cinnamon Snail rocks those donuts!
Yeah, we ended up hitting an Italian joint down in Chelsea for some pizza and pasta in red sauce as we were starving for some real food, and needed to get the dirt taste out of our mouths. As we sat outside feasting on a beautiful Saturday evening that pizza and housemade pasta was glorious.

I attended the vegetarian food festival for the first time on Saturday. I arrived for the last two hours so the entry fee was $ 5. Vendor participation was OK but I thought it would have been twice as many for an event in NYC. Vendor samples were small, as you would expect and it didn’t take long to cover all the vendors. Drink products seamed to make up the larger share of samples with not so many food samples.
Overall for $ 5 it was OK but couldn’t imagine paying the $ 40 day entry price, way to much for to little.

So horribly run, long lines, incredibly crowded, I’d love to know where the ticket money goes. $ 30 is pretty steep for a crowded venue. I went to see Dr. Gregor and the area he was to speak in was completely filled 15 minutes before the lecture was to begin with another 100 or so people looking for seats. I only went to see him and I couldn’t even get close, it was really disappointing. I could’ve tried to stand for an hour to listen but the acoustics were terrible as it was an area off a bigger room with vendors and wooden floors and it was very noisy. Also, there were many vegan places selling meals but seriously about 5 tables and 3 chairs for the thousands of people in attendance. This is their 6^th year running this show and obviously they either haven’t learned or they don’t care about how to make the public happy. Very few activities for children, and the kids area was very noisy.

I’ve been here twice, the first time was their first year ever and was free, the second time was this year, and tickets were something like $ 30.
My biggest complaint is the ticket price. I guess it’s worth it if you went to hear the speakers, but they really should have sold tickets to just see the speakers, and had a much lower price for everyone who just wanted to sample food. I would have bought so much more food from vendors if I didn’t need to pay $ 30 to get in (and I wasn’t even vegan at the time). $ 30 or $ 40 might be nothing to rich vegans living in Manhattan that are disconnected from the rest of society, but it’s not exactly nothing to middle class foodies or poor college kids.
There were good free samples. It also got crowded pretty fast. I left a bit earlier than I would have liked to because of it.
I’m thrilled we have so many vegan events happening in NYC, I just wish this one was cheaper or free… I mean if the goal is to encourage more people to cut down on animal products or possibly go vegan, tickets should be way cheaper and the delicious food inside should do all the talking.

What an amazing city we live in to be lucky enough to have several vegan /​vegetarian festivals so often! The Vegetarian Food Festival should be called the Vegan Food Festival, since I don’t remember seeing anything non-​vegan here; which is probably a marketing thing (being vegetarians outweigh vegans, and omni’s are more likely to visit a vegetarian festival).
Anyway, YES it was PACKED. CRAZY packed! But that’s to be expected with a massive ordeal such as this. I think it would be nice if they made this event semi-​annual instead of just once a year which would probably help with the overflow of compassionate patrons; «Can’t go this time, oh well there’s another one soon!» Or it could be held (during the warmer months) in a large section of Central Park!
Anyway…
Wall to wall, as far as the eyes can see and the belly can feast there are vegan delectables to satisfy every diet imaginable (except those that exploit living creatures for convenience that is!) From bourbon-​hazelnut cheesecake brownies, to wraps, vegan protein powder, train mixes with spicy-​cherries mixed in, vegan-​dawgs, burgers, etc. Literally anything and everything you can imagine can be made in an undeniably delicious version that nothing had to die for… Yay!
I did dock one star because I felt like they COULD try finding a larger venue. There were vegans practically spilling out the fair-​trade-​organic-​hemp seams.
See you next year!

This year the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival (March 14 & 15, 2015) was just too effing expensive! I bought the $ 15 Amazon Local deal. Regular prices were $ 30 advance ticket or $ 40 at the door. If you’re primarily interested in the seminars then I guess the admission fee might be fair. If you’re cool with spending $$ at food vendors on top of your entrance fee then you’ll like this event.
I think the best food value was Yeah Dawg’s $ 8 satisfying meal of a large hot dog on a thick bun with heaping toppings. Most other vendors were offering small portions at high prices, such as Samosa Shack: $ 4 for one little samosa. The Cinnamon Snail food truck was parked outside and serving as normal even though they reportedly lost their permit. All three of these vendors and more that were at the Festival are also at Vegan Shop Up at Pine Box Rock Shop (
). Same food, same prices, no entrance fee!
Companies offering samples were giving the teeniest tidbits: ¹⁄₁₆^th of a slice of Follow Your Heart American cheese; ½ teaspoon of Gardein meatless crumbles on a fraction of a tortilla chip; ¼-​inch chunk of a Fruit Bliss fig or plum, etc. Unlike food vendors, manufacturers did offer trade show discounts. E.g.: I saved $ 5 on a box of Raw Revolution Glo Mixed Nuts Caramel bars.
I was uninterested in the soaps, tee shirts, faux-​leather goods, massage and chiropractic, etc. (this is a food event!) I liked the Vitamix demonstration. The samples were in 5-​ounce cups. I observed the making of 2 different kinds of smoothie and learned some things I didn’t already know, like it’s okay to leave in orange pits which are, in fact, very nutritious.
If you’re a vegan introducing a newbee to the lifestyle, I’d say avoid this event since it gives the impression that veganism is costly (it’s not!).

It is what you make of it. I would like to give it 3.5 stars but am willing to bump it up to 4.
The 3.5 was for the ridiculousness of waiting 1hour on line. I think they should work on that process. I could understand waiting that long if I got there at 10am when they opened but it was 1:30pm by the time I arrived.
Either way I had fun & there were a ton of free samples. Sometimes you go to these expos & the vendors are so chintzy on the samples, not here. I also discovered a lot of great brands & places to eat.

Super crowded and not nearly enough free samples or discounts to justify the purchase price of the tickets.
All the fake meat options were gross. The nut butters are good. The Indian premade meals were good. The green cookies were actually really good. The mint chip raw vegan ice cream upstairs was the best vegan ice cream at the show.
Even with a half off amazon deal, I don’t think I would go again next year. Feeling claustrophobic.

I was really looking forward to this festival. I purchased discounted VIP tickets via amazon local and it was a good thing I did because we got to skip the line and go right in. Everything I read about the festival talked up the food samples given and I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in the amount of samples available. I expected a «food festival» to have way more samples than this. I understand that there are a lot of people but I was there fairly early in the day.
The first vendor we went to was literally giving out crumbs of cookies, I’m not even exaggerating. There were some people giving out more generous samples but very few and those vendors were the one’s that were nearly impossible to get to because some people have no basic common sense or courtesy to move aside and out of the way once they get their sample to let others through. There were definitely a few times I just could not get to the tables and gave up waiting.
The seating at the guest speaker stages was extremely limited. We waited over a half hour to see someone speak and still did not get a seat. Most people just stayed in their seat for the next speaker so getting there early made no difference. I did enjoy one of the speakers that we saw who did a cooking demo and she gave out some nice samples.
I bought some nice soaps from «The Fanciful Fox» and ate some good lunch (a chick pea panini) and a cupcake that I purchased.
Overall we had a nice time but it was definitely a bit small and lacking in some areas.

Last year, a friend and I attempted to check out the NYCVFF. Not only did we not get in, we didn’t even make it to the BLOCK of the building in which it was being held. There were THAT many people. Thankfully, the story of this year’s fest tells a very different tale.
My BFF bought me a VIP pass, which allowed us to skip the line and get right in. In hindsight, the VIP pass was totally unnecessary, as it was pretty dead during the morning/​early afternoon on Sunday when we went, which was the second [and final] day of the Festival. We probably could have done without spending the extra $ 15 bucks on each ticket [the VIP passes were $ 20/​day and the general admission passes were $ 5/​day], as we wouldn’t have had to wait outside in line for very long to get in. BUT, after last year, it was not worth the risk! Thankfully, there was not a repeat of last year in terms of not even coming close to entering the building, and the folks that put on the conference were smart enough to extend the Festival from the one day it took place in 2011 to two days in 2012.
There were A LOT of venders at NYCVFF. MUCH more than I would have ever hoped for or expected. There were vendors handing out information, vendors selling merchandise, and [my personal favorite] LOTS of vendors handing out samples of FREE FOOD. Most of the food vendors were giving out free food, but some were selling food, too. The food that was being sold was super cheap, but there’s really no need to buy any, because you can consume a meal and a half’s worth of food touring the free samples alone!
The NYCVFF is super cool because it gives you the opportunity to try things that you may not have necessarily had access to and/​or the chance to outside of the walls of the fest. I tried sunflower milk for the first time ever, and FELL IN LOVE. I hadn’t even heard of that before, and I probably wouldn’t have forked over money for an entire cartoon to try it if I saw it for sale somewhere. It was SO GOOD. It took all of the power in me to not buy twenty cartons of it, but I didn’t want to be stuck carrying it around for the rest of the day. Thankfully, it’s not too hard to find at the grocery store, so I’ve been sucking it down by the gallon ever since. A few other things that I got to try that I had never tried before: lentil chips [yum!], vegan caviar [grosssss], faux gras [interesting], and hummus chips [too greasy, but otherwise okay].
The space in which the event was held, Metropolitan Pavilion, was great. The space was very big, it’s centrally located and easy to get to, and there are rows and rows of clean bathrooms. I hope that The NYCVFF continues to use this space in years to come.
I’ll definitely be back for next year’s Fest.

Absolutely a fabulous time. Like the other reviews say, there was a ton of samples. My only criticism would be that there seemed to be a lot more dessert/​cookie vendors than other types of food, The vegetarian sushi was simply amazing and inspired me to make my own at home.
The speakers were great! I bought a book and was able to get the author to sign it (Ellen Jaffe Jones).
I would definitely go again next year.

This was my first time at the festival, after buying the Living Social VIP pass for $ 25. Last year I tried to get into the event but the line was around the block. So for me, the pass was definitely worth getting in with zero wait. The vendors were all GREAT and around the lunch hour they all seemed to be hustling pretty hard to keep up with the demand. The Loving Hut and V-​Spot café were some of my faves. I wouldn’t go back to the festival, but I will visit a lot of the vendors around NYC. The speakers seemed of interest but they need ALOT more space and privacy to conduct their seminars. One was right next to the vendor stations and another just curtained off. Very hard to listen and concentrate on all the info they were presenting. I know it is a new (ish) event so overall I think it still went well. Great turnout this year also… I think this is going to be a regular event for a very long time.

Personally I am an avid fan of Food Festivals. This Food Fest did live it up to all the hype around it. The Vegetarian Food festival was held for two days. I got to know about this event when it was posted on Unilocal.There were two type of tickets to the event — One with VIP entry for $ 20 bucks which skips line and allows mutiple entry/​exit to festival and other with $ 5 where one has to wait in line.
Me and friend had to wait for 35 minutes and we arrived liitle past 11. The line by then was more than a block but the good thing it kept on moving fast. There were so many vendors selling food required for a healthy and sustainable life. Here is rundown with some of the vendors which we tried —
* Wholefoods — Got a bag from them and signed up for the newsletter.
* Daiya– Tried the vegan cheese over bread, pepper jack over tortilla was really tasty
* The Regal Vegan — They had Faux Gras which was heavenly. The Basilicaux with cherry tomato was also very nice.
* Sweet and Sara — Some awesome MarshMallow Delights
* Tumeric — Tangy tumeric drinks with ginger
* Peanut Butter and Co — There had samplings for so many flavours.
* Honest tea — Some really nice herbal tea
* Simply 7 — Awesome hummus with lemon flavour and chips
There were also other vendors which had the merchandise on display. It was nice to see small businesses come out and display their products. There was live music and discussions on healthy living too at the venue. Overall a very organised event for the lovers of Vegan Cuisine.

For those who don’t know, this is basically a trade show for a ton of vegan food… I dunno, makers. You’ve got everything from peanut butter to baked goods, soups and protein bars, live music, books, and clothing and the list goes on and on. People had vegan pâté «faux gras», which you can eat and enjoy without feeling really bad afterwards.
There are two types of admission to the event: regular and VIP. Regular admission is $ 5 (which is dirt cheap considering how much you are going to pack in your belly), but the drawback is you have to wait on an absurdly long line (probably about an hour wait) unless you get to the event between 930−945am before it opens. You can also get VIP admission beforehand for $ 20, which lets you skip the line and lets you enter and leave the event as you please. (With $ 5 admission, once you leave you can’t come back in). I got the VIP admission for my gf and I because I didn’t want to wait, plus I figure it’s kind of like a donation to help out the event and, to be honest, I eat like madman so I knew I was going to get my money’s worth even at $ 20. At $ 5, that would’ve been just robbery basically.
On to the stuff that matters! There are free samples errywhere. I went to this peanut butter stand and this dude was like, «you can try as much as you want of any flavor just keep going man!» I had maple syrup pb, honey pb, and even super spicy pb. They had vegan cheese (read: oh yesss) and cashew-​based ice cream. For $ 1, you could get this like cup of it that would run you like $ 3 or $ 4 at a dessert place. They also had this coconut based ice cream with cherry and amaretto and I was like dying it was so good. I mean, it was insane. Vendors were giving out free hummus with chips, corn chowder, cookies, and I can’t even remember half of what I put in my face. Plus, I got info from the vendors that I really liked so that I can mainline their products into my pie hole later. :)
This was awesome. I don’t eat milk and so this place was absolutely packed with tons of treats for me to eat (for free). Although I do eat meat like a T-​rex, I completely support vegans because they make tons of really tasty things that I can eat. The event is still open for a few more hours today so if you’re in the area you should go. Now. Seriously go. Stop reading this and go… now. :D

I loved the food festival! I had a great time and the samples and booths were amazing! My favorites were:
the empanadas from vspot
the cooking demos
the heat sweets booth (spicy fruit leather)
the teese faux cheese
Spicy raw slaw
The simply 7 lentil and hummus chips
The loving pot’s mushroom mac and cheese with truffle oil
I highly recommend the festival to all levels of heterotroph. I hope they have a bigger space though next year, it was insanely crowded!

I didn’t know who was was more nuts. The promoters who didn’t know how to plan this event or the people waiting on a line that wrapped around the block just to get a few samples. I was all psyched to go, and we went by and saw the unbelieveable line. Now I would have stood on line to see livestock being reincarnated and born into a better life. That’s something worth waiting for to see. But to stand on a line that wrapped around the block for some soy milk samples and whatever would be left. No way Jose. I think even those with VIP tickets had to wait. I wouldn’t have waited for a free meal complete with veggie burgers and a shake. The concept is great and it was heartening to see so many vegetarians and vegans. My bf said the vendors should have passed out flyers and samples outside and they probably would have gotten more business and word of mouth that way. Promoters, next time, try the Great Lawn at Central Park or Governor’s Island.

I agree with Ileana S. about the crowd. I guess they did not expect such a large crowd. I feel like they had a very small budget and thus could only afford this space and to do it on one day.
I was lucky that I was able to get press credentials and I’ll be posting about the fest on my blog (
).
I’m sure next year’s event will be for more than one day and less crowded From a media relations standpoint I think they could have had some sort of media preview like they do for other similar events. The amount of people at the event made it challenging to capture the whole experience. I really enjoyed the Coconut Bliss ice cream and Terry Romero’s demo.
Hopefully next year’s event will go much smoother!

I arrived to the NYC Food Festival to be greeted by a horrendous line. Luckily, my friends had arrived five to ten minutes prior to the event’s start time and secured a spot somewhere in the middle. Part of this line was probably due to the fact that it was a free event catered to «foodies, locavores, vegetarians, flexitarians, and those who simply want to find out more about living a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.» I think that encompasses a wide amount of people in New York, not to mention those who also live nearby in New Jersey.
I was expecting to find a large space with room to walk around. I was expecting restaurants providing samples of their foods, as well as restaurants making orders or having menu items pre-​made to bring to the event. I was also expecting a lot more local entities.
What I did find was a small space with not a lot of room to walk around. I stepped on many people’s feets and was totally scared I was going to knock over a child or a baby carriage. Good luck if you were traveling in a wheelchair at this venue. There were parts of the event that also felt very commercialized, not enough local stuff out there.
Next time, I would like to see sections broken off into, say: marshmallow, chocolate, savory foods, catering, cupcakes.
We stayed twenty minutes tops. I understand that this was the first time this event was held, which I do give them a bit of slack but someone in the planning committee should have known how to throw an event like this.
Better luck next year, NYC Vegetarian Food Festival.