Once a year, my friends and I would throw a vegan potluck for family, friends, and anyone who wants to celebrate vegan food in the Bay Area. We call this potluck “Bay Area Vegan Potluck”, usually held at Temescal Regional Park in Oakland. We’re on our third year this year and it attracted close to 100 guests. Everyone brought vegan food to share, so with 100 guests, you could just imagine how much vegan food we had at the potluck! We had all kinds of pastas, rice dishes, salads, wraps, cookies, pies, doughnuts, fruits, and many more. I brought my vegan Lumpiang Shanghai as well as strawberry-infused spa water. I also brought along my sister who was happy to join the vegan feast. My favorites were the artichoke dip, tempeh crackers, pineapple fried rice, and chocolate chip cookies.
This year, I noticed that there were more vegan Filipino attendees as well as vegan Filipino food. Aside from the vegan Lumpia, we had vegan Sinigang and vegan Sisig. I guess vegan Filipinos are growing in numbers! Come to think of it, the organizers, Jen, Rosie, and I are vegan Filipinos!
One attendee said it was so nice to have a buffet of delicious food and to know that everything is vegan; You don’t have to ask and check what’s in it (unless you’re allergic to something). What a nice feeling indeed. My only regret was that I didn’t get to try everything. Time flew and before I knew it, people were packing up. But then again, I was happy that I took my time meeting new friends as well as catching up with old ones that I hadn’t seen in a while.
A resounding comment from guests was that they couldn’t wait for the next Bay Area Vegan potluck. I couldn’t too. Hopefully though, my co-organizer Jen could make it next time. She felt ill and couldn’t join us this year. I also heard from other IG friends that they wished they knew about this event sooner so they could have gone and joined us. Well, if you’re one of those people and you’re reading this, consider this as a save-the-date! Please mark your calendar. We usually hold the Bay Area Vegan Potluck mid-August. We’d love to see you then!
*All photos are taken by my co-organizer, friend, and planner extraordinaire, @rose_petalz .
If you made any of the dishes posted above, please let me know so I could identify the dish and give credit. Thanks!
Loved your lumpiang shanghai RG! Congrats on another successful potluck! It was a blast!