This past Sunday was the VegOut picnic in Sydney’s Centennial Park, wrapping up the two week VegPledge as part of 350.org’s Global Work Party on 10/10/10. The sun came out in full force for a few hours to allow for a beautiful afternoon. Hundreds of Sydney-siders attended to form a giant 350 in the park for this awesome photo (which was featured on Ecorazzi – well done!)

It's like a real life "Where's Wally?" I am at the top of the 3, third from the left!

By my last count there were over 300 pledges on the VegPledge website and looking around the event, I saw lots of VegPacks. I did my part by ordering 4 for two people. The sacrifices I make for sustainability. The one pictured here was from Laurie’s Vegetarian Takeaway in Bondi Junction and there were others from Nourishing Quarter, and Fatima’s, a Lebanese restaurant, both on Cleveland Street. There was also a sweet pack from Addiction Food that was full of win. And chocolate.

There was also a Sydney Cyclist event called Keep it Wheel that joined in with the VegOut picnic, so it was great to know that there were vegan meals and good vibes going out to a group that might not necessarily eat vegan meals otherwise. Yay for positive veggie outreach!

Overall, it was a great day and event. Congrats to Tim, Bob, Donna and Nikki for organising it!

350 photo shared by 350.org on Flickr under a Creative Commons license.  To see a large, hi-res photo click here.

I have been remiss in reminding people that a vegan community does indeed exist in Perth! Here are some things to keep you busy into the new year:

• Vegetarian week at Curtin University is this week. It’s a little late in the game now, but there are still events! Check it out here.
• As I mentioned in a previous post, Animal Rights Advocates (ARA) is holding Cruelty Free Festival to celebrate World Vegan Day on Saturday, 30th October 10am to 2pm at Earthwise Community Centre. This is the first big event for WVD in Perth for several years, and it is sure to be a fun event with food, music, stalls and family events. ARA is also looking for volunteers to offer just a bit of their time. This could include handing out flyers, helping on the day, setting up stalls, cooking or selling food, helping with art, banner making, staffing the ARA stall  If you’re able to help out in any way, contact Katie at katie@ara.org.au. Click here for more info.

• CALLING ALL ARTISTS!

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Woah. Does anyone else feel like there is SO MUCH happening right now? Labour Day weekend means it’s officially summer and I guess everyone’s coming out of hibernation and getting out there.  We also recently had a vegaroo! brainstorming session, out of which some awesome ideas sprang. I’ll have a full report on that here soon.

In the mean time, here are some big upcoming events you should know about:

Sunday Oct. 10 – The VegOut Picnic is a celebration in Sydney’s Centennial Park, wrapping up the 2-week long VegPledge. You can order one of their VegPacks which are all vegan and include yummy foods from Nourishing Quarter, and vegaroo favourite, Addiction Food. We’ll be there chowing down!

Tuesday Oct. 12 – Karen Dawn, author of “Thanking the Monkey” will be speaking at Samadhi Yoga in Newtown at 7:30. It’s a free event! And if you can’t make it then, be sure to check out Earth Cafe at Samadhi Yoga sometime for some rad vegan food.

Friday Oct. 15 – The Next Sydney Vegan Drinks is going down at The Hive in Erskineville and I have a feeling it’s going to be our best event yet! We’re raising money for Pet Rescue. You can RSVP on our Facebook event page.

Saturday – Sunday Oct. 23-24 – Following the Animals Australia AGM will be there Animal Activist Forum in Palm Beach Queensland. There will be heaps of speakers including, yours truly! I’ll be presenting on Activist Blogging on behalf of WSPA. I’d love to hear from anyone else who’s attending or speaking!

Sunday Oct. 31 – Melbourne will be celebrating World Vegan Day! Sounds like there’s going to be heaps of food and community organisation stalls. Anyone going and want to report on it for vegaroo? Let me know!

Saturday Nov. 6 – It’s the last Sydney Vegan Bake Sale of 2010 from 8-1 at the Newtown Markets. This time it’s benefiting Charlie’s Angels Horse Sanctuary in Queensland. Deliciousness guanranteed.

Sunday Nov. 7 – All the cool kids in Sydney will be at the Cruelty Free Festival in Belmore Park. With over 60 Food and Wine stalls, you may have to drag me away kicking and screaming at the end of the day.

Whew!

You guys! This month marks a very momentous occasion – the 6 month anniversary of vegaroo! Since we launched back in March, a lot has happened. I’ve now eaten my way through Sydney, we’ve had new writers come and go, and we’ve launched the first Sydney Vegan Drinks event. (Next one happening 15 October!)

I thought it would be a good time to reflect and see what our readers, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, etc. would like to see happen with the site.

Unfortunately I started this site while I was new to Australia and still unemployed. Since starting work full-time I’ve had significantly less time to invest in the site. So while I love to dream big, I also want to be efficient about what I can accomplish with my limited time, so that means I want to focus my efforts on the things that matter most to the community.

That’s why I’m asking for your feedback! This Thursday evening I’m having a very informal vegaroo! brainstorming session!

When: Thursday 30 September at 6:30-8:00ish

Where: Iku Wholefood, Darlinghurst location at 62 Oxford Street

Anyone is welcome to come by and give feedback on what they’d like to see more of on the site, or just generally what they’d like to see in the Australian vegan community. And grab some yummy, healthy vego food from Iku! You can RSVP on our Facebook event  or just leave a comment.

If you’re unable to attend, I always welcome feedback. You can leave comments here or email me at sharon@vegaroo.com. Please let me know if you’re interested in contributing as well. The more we can collaborate, the more I think it benefits the community. Hope to see you Thursday!

A group of four vegetarians and vegans that met at a Sydney V Star breakfast and the Walk Against Warming got to talking about ways we could make small changes in our lives to improve our commitment to sustainable living. The next thing we knew, VegPledge/VegOut was born!

Conceived by Donna Frith as a way to join in the 350.org global work party on 10/10/10, Donna was soon joined by Nikki Durr, Bob Ratnarajah, and myself. VegPledge/VegOut has a simple idea: “empowering individuals to make one of the most significant personal contributions a person can make to the green cause—making sustainable food choices.”

To make change feel achievable, we’re starting with a two-week challenge from 27 September to 10 October to make some small but significant changes in your food consumption habits that will reduce your carbon footprint. This can be anything from using reusable coffee cups and water bottles, to reducing use of a car to go shopping, to bigger steps such as growing your own herbs or vegetables. There are fifteen suggestions on the VegPledge.org web site that you are encouraged to choose from and share your pledges with the world, but of course you are welcome to invent your own pledges as well.

The best part, however, comes at the end of the two-week challenge: on 10/10/10, the date 350.org is holding their global work party, we are holding the VegOut at Centennial Park in Sydney. VegOut will be a huge picnic, with blankets arranged in the shape of the number 350 in solidarity with the groups working to make a difference around the world. You can order VegPack lunch boxes made by Sydney restaurants and caterers with a dedication to sustainability on vegpledge.org prior to the event, or you can bring your own vegetarian or vegan food, preferably to share!

We hope that  many pledgers will choose to push themselves to try things that might seem difficult for them, but we also hope that some will decide to continue their commitment after the two weeks are over. The important thing is to choose pledges that are meaningful to you. I’ve pledged to spend the two weeks cooking all of my own meals with organic vegetables purchased at farmers’ markets and groceries bought from bulk food stores. This won’t be easy, considering how often I opt for cheap takeaway, but I think I will feel pretty fulfilled at the end of the two weeks!

If you’re interested in getting more involved, we do need your help! A picnic this big will need a lot of blankets, and we are trying to collect as many as we can in advance so we can be prepared to set up the big 350 on the day of the event. If you can donate a picnic blanket for the day, please get in touch with us using the contact form on vegpledge.org. We will also need some help handing out the VegPacks on the day of, so if you’re willing to chip in, that would be lovely!

Most of all, though, we want to get the word out: not just to Sydney, and not just to Australia, but to everyone, everywhere that is interested in making the world a greener place. So, please, go to VegPledge.org, make and share your pledges, and tell all of your friends! We’ll see you at the VegOut!

P.S. If you’re not in Sydney, we hope you will consider organising your own VegOut picnic, big or small, on 10/10/10 or whenever you can. If you do, let us know and we’ll put the information up on the site.

Not that we needed further proof or anything, but I just felt like it needs to be said: Sydney Vegans Rule! I’m feeling all kinds of warm and fuzzy after our second successful Sydney Vegan Drinks  night on Friday evening. After some more donations came in after the event, we ended up raising $350 for Monika’s Doggie Rescue!

Considering all we asked for was a $5 suggested donation, that is an amazing result and makes me so proud of the generous community here.

And speaking of generosity, there are a number of people I need to thank for their contributions. A million thanks to Georgie of Addiction Food who kindly donated several boxes of ridiculously delicious  Bliss Balls and Macadamia Nut Brownies (and went out of her way to drop them off at my office – what an angel!).

A million more thanks to Derek of Inner West Live  for his ongoing support and promotion of our Sydney Vegan events and coverage of animal welfare issues. Derek is one of the most passionate and generous people I know, and brought in some great folks by way of Tim from Pet Rescue. Thanks, Tim for bringing along a great crowd!

More food donations came by way of Kelsey’s hummus (thanks for giving us all garlic breath!) and Jim’s mini-quiches. You guys are champions! And so are all the awesome people who stopped by, hung out, and generously donated. CHAMPIONS OF MY HEART!!!

We had way more people turn up than I’d expected, and I have no doubt that Sydney Vegan Drinks will keep getting bigger and better. I talked to a number of people about some more optimal venue ideas for our next event. (Though the drinks at Kuleto’s were lovely! The Lady Boy cocktail is amazing and they lit strawberries on fire!) 

But if you have any suggestions for larger or more private spaces that won’t cost us an arm and a leg, feel free to leave them in the comments or email me at sharon@vegaroo.com. I’ve put up some terribly blurry photos on the vegaroo Facebook page.

We’ll keep you posted and hope to see you all next time!

It’s all happening, Sydney. Our vegan community is blowing up and you can start finding vegan events every week! Here are two upcoming vegan fundraisers, and the Top 10 Reasons why you should attend them:

Sydney Vegan Bake Sale: Saturday 28 August from 8-1 at the Newtown Markets

1. Vegan baked goods are the best way to convince your dairy loving friends that vegan food is awesome. Nobody can look at a plate of chocolate cherry cupcakes and say vegan food is boring. It is simply not allowed.
2. We’ve got a wide variety to satisfy just about every food preference or allergy. Gluten-free! Sugar-free! Nut-free! Savoury or sweet options.
3. It’s spring, you guys! Who doesn’t love spending a beautiful day in Newtown? Stock up on baked goods to eat later so that you can stroll down King Street for some of Sydney’s finest vegan food: Naked Espresso, Janet’s Pies, and Green Gourmet just to name a few.
4. Do it for the donkeys!!! We’ve got not one, but two awesome charities we’re raising funds for this time around! Donkey Welfare with Heart and…
5. Sydney Pet Rescue and Adoption! Do it for the kitties!!!

And don’t forget to follow Sydney Vegan Bake Sale on Twitter and check out the blog.

Sydney Vegan Drinks – Friday 3 September at 7:30 at Kuleto’s on King Street

1. Booze! Look, it’s really just that simple. Sick of being asked where you get your protein? Come drown your sorrows with people who get it. Psyched that your local market finally sells organic smoked tofu? Come celebrate life’s little victories!
2. Snacks! You can’t have a good happy hour without some snacks. We’ll have some goodies on hand from Addiction Foods. (The best!)
3. I’ll also be serving up some vegan bar food. Not sure exactly what yet, but sweet Jesus, have you seen some of stuff they make on the Vegan Happy Hour blog??? Got any requests?
4. You will meet cool people! Look, I can’t guarantee that you will all meet someone that you’ll end up falling head over heels in love with, I’m just saying that the universe is magical and mysterious and you should be open to all of life’s possibilities. (HUH??)
5. We’re rasing money for an awesome no-kill shelter, Monika’s Doggie Rescue. It’s just a $5 suggested donation but all your money goes to them. Do it for the doggies!!!

You can RSVP on the Facebook Event page or just leave a comment here letting us know if you’re coming! Hope to see you at one or both events!!! Do it for this guy:

OMFGSOOOOOOCUUUUUTE!

I just wanted to put together a quick post thanking everyone who came out to our first Sydney Vegan Happy Hour last week. Despite the terrible rain, we managed to have a pretty good crowd of about 25 people or so at The Courty. It was great to see some familiar faces and also meet some new Sydney vegans. Thanks of course to Inner West Live for co-sponsoring and helping us promote the event, and to Michelle and Elizabeth for bringing some tasty treats to share!

I had also hoped to make it to the Sweet Tomorrow Dessert Competition this weekend, but I was too exhausted Friday night to cook. From the sounds of it, I missed out on some great entries! From judge, Leigh Drew, here were the winning dessert results:

Overall Winner – Full High Tea, including tea, soy milk, tea service, cupcakes, Oreos, scones, lemon cake, Florentines, choc dipped strawberries, gingerbread, cucumber finger sandwiches, cheez/tomato/basil finger sandwiches, sundried tomato/pesto/cheez filo tarts, and mini versions of the sweets. [Pictured below left]

Open Winner – Citrus Cake with Tofu Creme and Walnuts [pictured below right]

Raw Winner – Sesame Cocoa Slice

Special Mention – Strawberry and Raspberry Chocolate Creams

Special Mention – Many Many Cupcakes (one entrant)

We’ll have more photos from both events up on our Facebook page shortly. Stay tuned for news of upcoming happy hours and other good times.  This weekend in Sydney there’s a Gluten-Free Expo   in Olympic Park! Since there tends to be a lot of overlap there with the vegan community, I hope to check it out and report back on the vegan goods!

If you’ve somehow managed to avoid me tweeting, Facebook spamming you, posting it here and on Inner West Live, and basically babbling incessantly about it, then allow me to fill you in on some news. This Thursday vegaroo! is hosting Sydney Vegan Happy Hour!

July 29, The Courthouse Hotel in Newtown from 6:30 – 8:30ish. We’ll have beer and snacks and vegan cupcakes and massively good times. I mean, how can you not, with these two crazy kids hosting the night? You can RSVP on our Facebook invite, here on the blog, or just show up. Whatevs.

And since I’ve already heard from many who can’t make it on Thursday night, know that I’m going to try to plan something for a weekend next time – but it is much harder to find venues, so if you have suggestions, I’m all ears.

And perhaps there are some other upcoming events you’d like to attend?

This Saturday is the Sweet Tomorrow Vegan Dessert Competition in Cabramatta and I’ve already busted out my practice recipe.

On August 8th the Vegan Society of NSW is hosting brunch at Naked. As if you need an excuse.

And of course, we know you’ve already marked your calendars for the next Sydney Vegan Bake Sale on August 28th but, hey another reminder can’t hurt.

Be sure to check our event listings for other upcoming events including ones all over Australia. And let us know if there are any we’re missing.

Hope to see you out and about soon!

The next Sydney Vegan Bake Sale will be Saturday August 28, 2010 at the Newtown Square Markets from 8am until 1pm (unless sold out sooner).

The proceeds will be donated to Donkey Welfare and Sydney Pet Rescue and Adoption.

If you’d like to bake something for the stall please contact me first via sydneyveganbakesale at gmail dot com

Drop by to make a purchase and help us raise money for some animals in need.