My Big Fat Italian Veganfest (And My Small Skinny Scruffy City One)

Last Updated on August 21, 2025

Although I’ve attended festivals that focus on vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, this year I attended my first VeganFests, which were about a plant-based lifestyle. The festivals I’ve visited in the past had a joyful vibe from the focus on animals and health. Would the vegan festival experience be the same?

My Big Fat Italian VeganFest

During my vegan tour of Italy, we attended Europe’s largest VeganFest in Bologna, Italy. Bologna was super-busy with tourists, and I was wondering if they were vegans attending this event, but it turned out Italy’s National Soccer Team was playing Poland that evening. I should have known they weren’t vegans from the yelling, chanting, and beer-drinking.

The VeganFest is a 4-day event and receives thousands of visitors. I slathered on my sunscreen but was surprised when it ended up being in a convention center. No problem there; I appreciated the air conditioning and regular bathrooms.

And we weren’t the only festival in the space – this vegan festival experience was part of an organic food convention. And what was cool was that there was vegan food in the other sections, too.

I was looking for T-shirts and earrings with vegan messages; the cool vegan tees my tour friends wore inspired me to up my game. But there weren’t any at this VeganFest, which was industry-funded. The focus was on marketing new vegan products rather than supporting sanctuaries.

Tasting Yummy Vegan Food

My first visit was with an olive oil vendor, who educated me about oils but couldn’t sell me anything because oil isn’t allowed in a carry-on, and they didn’t ship to the US. Next stop: a vegan chocolate vendor. Now that’s what I’m talking about! There were too many choices for a vegan not used to options. Just for fun, I tasted 100% cacao chocolate. It wasn’t bad. But I chose a large bag of vegan chocolate-covered orange peels from Sicily. Heaven.

We ate vegan pesto pasta while watching an Italian panel session on allergies. We couldn’t understand anything they were saying, but it was nice to sit down. Then we had front row seats for the cooking segment, which they were broadcasting live. It was fun watching how they film an event. And the chef leading the cooking segment gave our English-speaking row a shout-out on the air, then afterward came over and thanked us for watching.

The Vegan Festival Experience

The array of products was eye-opening. Foods, beverages, household products, furnishings, mattresses, and clothes. Even an Italian Vegan Magazine called Funny Vegan. It was fun talking with vendors, some spoke English well, and others didn’t. I really liked it when the vendors thought I was Italian. What a compliment!

Feast your eyes on an entire bakery display of vegan pastries. The product marketing paid off big-time in the opportunity to taste many vegan products:

• Olive oil gelato, which sounds strange but tasted amazing.
• Vegan dessert sauces such as pistachio, chocolate with almonds (like Ferrero Rocher) and pine nut.
• Many different teas, some with unique ingredients like corn, carrot, and beet. (We sniffed these.)
• Golden milk and golden milk candy. Golden milk is sort of like a vegan chai tea latte with turmeric. I’m a fan. Here is a recipe if you want to try golden milk.
• Wheat milk. Surprisingly good.
• I’d never had a chestnut. These were steamed and a little strange. Chestnut-eaters, how are they served the U.S.? Roasted, right?
• One fellow talked me into trying a sort of compote called crema di zucca e porro, which was a pumpkin, leek, and cantaloupe mixture. Sold. I bought a loaf of pumpkin bread to go along with it.

The weirdest stall had donkey pictures all over it and some sort of cream product. Thinking they were supporting a donkey sanctuary, we stopped. It ended up being donkey-milk-based body cream. They milk the donkeys and make the cream. What were they doing in the vegan section? Actually, they didn’t look pleased about being in the vegan part, either.

My Big Fat Italian vegan festival experience was not what I expected, but it was enjoyable. I left without any souvenirs but with a pretty good vegan food stash.

My Small Skinny Scruffy City VeganFest

About a month after my return to the US I attended a festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. I’m not making fun of Knoxville when I call it Scruffy City. Other cities have mottos like The Big Apple (NYC), Charm City (Baltimore), and Indoor Foliage Capital of the World (Apopka, Florida), but Knoxville chose Scruffy City. Apparently, the Wall Street Journal called the 1982 World’s Fair host “a scruffy little city,” and the name stuck. So, Knoxville embraced it. The city isn’t scruffy, and it even has a Scruffy City Orchestra.

I expected the VeganFest to be sparsely attended because of its unique vegan focus in the comfort food South. I was wrong! There was a big crowd, and every vendor ran out of food. I waited 30 minutes in line to try the Impossible burger, but that gave me an opportunity to chat with some other vegans and vegan-wannabes. The Impossible Burger is an almost perfect imitation of a beef burger; my only criticism is that it doesn’t look exactly like a meat burger, so that makes it harder to trick people into thinking it isn’t vegan. Just kidding. I wouldn’t do that.

Vegan Outreach

The focus of the festival was different. There were vendors selling products, but sanctuaries were well-represented, and I upped my T-shirt and vegan jewelry game to support them. The person at the Elephant sanctuary table told us her daughter’s first volunteer task was to put the elephant’s toys away. It sounded easy, but she discovered the elephants play with tractor-trailer tires, barrels, logs, and heavy chains. I guess the elephants are like kids – they can’t get them to put their own toys away.

At one table was Vegan Outreach, an organization that distributes animal advocacy materials. They also use virtual reality to highlight the abuse of farm animals. I tried the virtual reality glasses, although I stopped before the scenario became disturbing. It was powerful to imagine yourself being one of the animals and experiencing the terrible conditions.

The Vegan Rapper

The Scruffy City event schedule was different, too. They were not broadcasting live, but the events were well-attended. I went to see Atlanta hip-hop artist Grey. Check out his video on YouTube video called Vegan Thanksgiving. He inspired me with his joyful outlook on the vegan lifestyle. He reminded us that we are conditioned to eat a traditional diet and change is hard, and shaming people about their food doesn’t help. But positive, upbeat, and fun role modeling does. Grey’s wife was wearing a Plant-Based Kickin’ t-shirt to show off their impending new family member.

Knoxville did not provide the array of product tastings I experienced in Bologna, but I did taste Hempé, which is a tempeh product made with hemp. The vendor made a mock chicken salad for tasting. Yummy. The two women at the Revolution Gelato booth were so busy they scooped for 6 hours straight. By the time I got to the front of the line, there was only vanilla left. But I’m a vanilla kind of gal. It was fantastic.

My vegan travel agent Veg Jaunts and Journeys had a table, and I promised to take a turn there while Laura went to a Pig Preserve sanctuary talk. It was fun talking with people about the unique experience of a tour with vegan extras. My vacation had the usual elements of a tour plus yummy vegan food and a few vegan-inspired side trips. I had no idea vegan travel agents existed until last year’s Knoxville VegFest. I’m so glad I stopped by their table.

I’m Not Vegan. Why Should I Go to a Veganfest?

Any festival is fun because the organizers and vendors do their best to provide a great vegan festival experience.

If you are interested in exploring plant-based diets, you’ll find resources and get to try new foods.

You can support animal sanctuaries.

You can listen to presentations on animals and healthy eating.

Even if you are not interested in a plant-based lifestyle, you can eat healthy, yummy food, and not feel guilty about it. I didn’t feel guilty about my giant vegan vanilla waffle cone at all.

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