Vegucated Dessert After-Party Hosted by VegNews

Who: VegNews Associate Publisher Colleen Holland

What: The Vegucated After-Party

When: October 25, 2011

Where: The VNHQ in San Francisco

Why: To toast the new film, Vegucated, following its San Francisco premiere

The Scoop: Here at VegNews, we love throwing parties. Delicious vegan nibbles, a little Champagne, some great music, and excellent guests always make for an unforgettable evening. And now that we've finished zhooshing up our rooftop deck and event space at our Mission District offices, we can hardly wait to play host to many a future vegan soirée.

After welcoming Vaute Couture and its vegan fashion pop-up show in September, the sisters behind Spork Foods and their brand-new vegan cookbook in October, we were beyond excited to host the dessert after-party for Vegucated's San Francisco premiere in November. It was a packed house at the nearby Victoria Theatre for the 7pm screening, followed by a Q & A with the film's Creator/Director Marisa Miller Wolfson, Producer Demetrius Bagley, and star Brian Flegel. If you haven't yet seen this movie, look for a local screening or order a copy on DVD. According to our editorial team in the current edition of VegNews, "Vegucated is a fast-paced, fact-filled, and often hilarious feature-length documentary that's equal parts Saturday Night Live skit and educational tool." In short, it's entertaining, enlightening, and an amazing force to promote a plant-based lifestyle. Check it out!

But let's get back to the after-party. It was a balmy evening in San Francisco and the rooftop deck was softly lit (candles) and perfectly toasty (heat lamps). The dessert spread from Obsessive Confection Disorder alone was worth the cost of admission (decadent brownies! German chocolate caramels! Apple cider candies!), but the 100+ guests also enjoyed Turtle Mountain's coconut ice cream, mint chocolate coconut milk, and the seasonal coconut soy nog. For two hours, people nibbled and mingled before listening to a lovely speech by Marisa about the film. It was an honor to support this groundbreaking documentary, and we look forward to watching it take over the country. For more details, check out the film's website, and the full screening schedule can be found here. Here's to getting Vegucated!

Vegucated's Director, Marisa Miller Wolfson and the film's Producer, Demetrius Bagley, show off their feature in the November+December issue of VegNews at the VNHQ.

Natural Products Expo West 2011

Who: VN Editorial Assistant Anna Peraino and the entire VN team

What: Natural Products Expo West 2011

Where: Anaheim, Calif.

When: March 11-13, 2011

Why: To find out about this year's best new vegan products, of course!

The Scoop: I had heard what I thought were tall tales of the food, beverage, and natural product Mecca that is Expo West, but to be quite honest, I didn't believe it. Boy, was I wrong. Imagine a grocery store multiplied by 50, filled with hundreds of thousands of people, and throw in millions of skillets, slow cookers, and toothpicks, and you have Expo West. The booths were massive (So Delicious' booth was not only two stories tall but also had a Nintendio Wii), the food and drinks were never-ending (think vegan quesadillas, pizza, 10 kinds of peanut butter, and Gardein galore in just one section of one of the 50 football field-long aisles), and the people were everywhere (The Spork Girls! Jillian Michaels! Fabio!).

So Delicious' two-story booth: one of many behemoths

Most of the VegNews team flew down on Thursday afternoon, and the weekend only got crazier from there. The days were filled with taste testing new products (chocolate walnut brownie ice cream, pizza, and orange sugar-covered marshmallow Dandies were three of the thousands), picking our 2011 Best of Show winners (want to know who we picked? Make sure to check out our May+June issue!), and catching up with friends. The craziness didn't stop there: with dinners at Native Foods Café (my burger consisted of a heap of seitan, Daiya cheddar cheese, tempeh bacon, BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, and fried pickle chips) and The Veggie Grill, it seemed like we never stopped eating. Well, to be fair, we didn't.

Native Food Café's Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger. Be jealous.

I'd like to sign off saying it was all fun and tasting spoons, but I'd be lying. A blackout at our hotel (waking up to a room full of lights at 4am? Jarring) and a two and a half-hour delay on our way home were definitely both unexpected (and quite unwelcome), but all in all, it was an awesome and completely exhausting weekend. Want more Expo West dish? Check out our Facebook album for pics, stories, and finds!

Spork Foods Holiday Bazaar

Who: VN Contributor Polly Walter
What: Spork Foods Holiday Bazaar

Where: Spork Foods Kitchen, Los Angeles, Calif.
When: December 5, 2010



The Scoop: 

It never takes much convincing to get me shopping, but I was especially eager to take refuge from a gray Los Angeles Sunday at the Spork Foods Holiday Bazaar. Hosted by sisters Jenny and Heather Goldberg at their gorgeous kitchen/event space, the sale featured eco-friendly and cruelty-free items from local artists including nontoxic nail polish by Sheswai Lacquer in rich plums and reds, I. Ronnie Kappos vintage glass jewelry, and original art and stationery by Kevin Tseng.

A few of I. Ronnie Kappos' offerings

I purchased an amazing vegan soy candle by A Scent of Scandal in one of my favorite, but hard to find, scents—fresh cut grass. As part of their “Candles for a Cause” collection,15 percent of the sales from this scent benefits Farm Sanctuary.

And of course, Spork Foods gift certificates good for live or the recently unveiled online cooking classes were also offered, complete with cute little holiday cards. While clouds gathered outside, guests, including actress Emily Deschanel, were treated to Chef Jenny’s famous Mexican Wedding Cookies and iced tea while they shopped. Heather says that they decided to host the event because of the importance of buying well-made, local gifts. "We love supporting local artists who also make amazing products!" she says. "Since we're lucky enough to have some incredibly talented friends who wanted to sell their goodies, no one has to brave the mall, everyone gets their holiday shopping out of the way, and we can all feel great about our purchases!”

Heather, me, and Jenny, feeling festive!

The event was a huge success, with all of the vendors basically selling out of their products by the night’s end. Hopefully the Spork ladies will make this a tradition—I already can’t wait for next year!

Seed, Spork Sisters, and the 59th Annual Maggie Awards

Who: VN Publisher Joseph Connelly and VN Associate Publisher Colleen Holland
What: One fine day in LA
Where: Venice, West Hollywood, and Los Angeles, Calif.
When: May 7, 2010
Why: The trophies were waiting

The Scoop: Colleen and I have been on the road pretty much non-stop since early February—publishing duties keep us busy, y'know. Why not jam as much into this 48-hour SoCal trip as possible?

Thursday night was Forks Over Knives; today began with chopsticks at Venice's stylish Seed Restaurant. The baby of Love, Eric author Eric Lechasseur and his wife Sanae Suzuki, this quaint and cozy restaurant not far from Muscle Beach serves such a dazzling selection of fresh macrobiotic fare that one visit won't do it justice. We'll be back. Thanks, Eric!

Seed's Saisai Donburi Macro Bowl

Just around the corner from Seed is Eko Zone, a spacious, well-lit vegan shop run by the lovely threesome of Dana Riley, Bill, and the one who does the real work, the photogenic Kosmo. If you ever need to pick up a copy of VegNews, they sell it here!

Eko Zone's Dana, Bill, and the white-and-fluffy Kosmo

Since I had just seen Chef Tanya Petrovna at the Farm Sanctuary Hoe Down six days ago, we stopped at the Westwood location of her Native Foods to see if she was around. She wasn't, so we settled for a non-macro Boogie Bar.

Native Food's cookbook and Boogie Bar

A last-minute invite by the dynamic duo that is the Goldberg sisters, had us "rushing" from Venice to West Hollywood through legendary LA traffic. Heather and Jenny, the insanely adorable owners of Spork Foods have opened a fashionable loft studio where they teach cooking classes, film their VegNews TV segments, and actually spin vinyl! I was in heaven. Heather and Jenny are raising veganism to a new level, which is a good thing, don't you think?

The chic, hip Spork Foods loft

Heather and Jenny Goldberg

Next up was a pit stop at "Sunset Grill," aka the West Hollywood Veggie Grill on Sunset Boulevard (Colleen's first visit). We bumped into a young man cautiously eyeing the menu; sensing apprehension, VegNews offered to buy him his very first veggie burger (the Santa Fe Crispy Chickin', for those who appreciate detail). Wouldn't you know that our new friend, Tamon George, is actually a professional football player (defensive back) for the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders and was the number nine overall pick in the 2009 CFL draft? Later, his lovely Persia White-look-alike girlfriend Sarah Fontenot joined us. Of course, she's beautiful and a budding silver screen actress. If this story isn't sappy enough, the handsome couple met when they were five years old! Another order of Sweetheart Fries, please.

All the way from Saskatchewan: Tamon George and Sarah Fontenot

A quick change into evening wear and we were off to the big show: The 59th annual Maggie Awards, the "Oscars of the Magazine Industry." VegNews picked up two (including Best Lifestyle Magazine for the third year in a row), and had the pleasure of sitting with Madeleine Buckingham, publisher of fellow San Francisco magazine Mother Jones. Madeleine and MJ were the evening's big winners, taking home four Maggies, which translates into bragging rights for our table, as seen here:

Mother Jones' Claudia Smukler and Madeleine Buckingham with VegNews' Joe and Colleen

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