On Saturday, December 14th, Gentle World participated in Northland’s very first Te Hiku Spirit, Mind, Body Health Expo.
With close to 400 people coming through the doors of Kaitaia’s beautiful Te Ahu Center, Gentle World’s table was the only one promoting veganism.
Our efforts were met with unprecedented enthusiasm as our volunteers talked to attendees about the importance of veganism, offered samples of delicious vegan food, sold Gentle World’s pioneering recipe books, gathered signatures for upcoming educational events, and promoted our website and newsletter, while also giving visitors to our booth the opportunity to talk about the health and ecological benefits of a plant-based diet with vegan physician Peter DeWolfe.
In a perfect illustration of how far veganism has come in NZ from where it used to be, we were happy to connect with several Kaitaia vegans, and took the opportunity to inform them about how much vegan food is now available at their local supermarket.
The best thing were the people’s reactions! Everyone loved the food, including the three kinds of store-bought cheeses. Lisa DeWolfe’s home-made cashew cheese was also a huge hit (recipe here!) We were even asked to cater vegan food for a 400-person event…
We wish to extend our warm thanks to the following generous sponsors:
Real Foods Corn Thins; Health Discovery crackers; Angel Food cheeses and dairy-free parmesan; Zenzo cheese; Tonzu nuggets, sausages and marinated tofu; and Norton Road Organics juices, made from organically-grown fruit sourced from local New Zealand farms.