While the Multi-City Vegan Waffle Party is only in its second year, it’s hard to believe this was the 11th annual waffle party overall. And it once again, thanks to our guests and other hosting cities, it blew away our previous expectations.

This year the multi-talented Vance Lehmkuhl at Vegcast.com interviewed me about vegan waffles and waffle parties. I may post some highlights about it in the near future, but in the meantime you can listen to the full interview (look for Vegcast #63, May 22, 2009).

As shown in the list and map on the right hand side of this page, several more cities (and countries!) threw vegan waffle parties this year. I’ve already received a few brief reports and photos, but I’m looking forward to getting a few more so I can post them here.

In Pittsburgh, participants included practicing vegans and vegetarians, individuals curious about veganism and vegan food, and others simply looking to try something different and have fun. The delicious vegan waffle toppings included eggplant and onion, sambar, nut-based gravies, green mango chutney, fresh fruits and jams, multi-layer bean dip, sloppy tofu, vegan ice creams, fresh homemade salsa, baked apples, and many others. Out of respect for privacy, I’ve blurred faces in the pics below with the exception of mine and Jen’s.

Wafflers congregate around vegan waffle toppings

Guests chat between bites

We enjoyed beautiful weather the afternoon of the party, so some of  the wafflers sat outside…

Fresh air aids digestion of vegan waffles

…While others relaxed in the living room.

Wafflers eat and enjoy conversation

As for the vegan waffle recipes, I served slight variations on the yeast-raised vegan waffles which have always been popular in the past, banana-spelt waffles, a rice-based waffle, and some “gourmet” waffles with fillings.

To make the party more environmentally friendly, we took a few additional steps to reduce waste. We didn’t want to use a bunch of disposable plates and cups, but we also didn’t want large stacks clunky, breakable plates and unstackable cups-especially given that we’d have limited room with a large crowd in our relatively small dining room. As a compromise, we invested in some recycled Preserve plates and cups, which are lightweight, stackable, and dishwashable on gentle cycle. They’re initially much more expensive than disposable plates, but should pay for themselves as we reuse them over time. A few of our neighbors also allowed us to borrow some plates and cloth napkins.

To simplify collection of used items, we set up several labeled bins for the following: plates, cups, silverware, non-recyclable trash including food scraps, recyclable trash, and compostable items such as lightly soiled paper napkins.

Jen with the vegan waffle party recycling system

Roughly 45 people attended over the course of the evening, and we ended up with less than half of a 13-gallon bag of non-recyclable, non-compostable trash. If you try a system like this for your party, I’d love to hear how it worked!

Our neighbor Gary Crouth dropped by with some of his MOO (no dairy products; stands for “Make Our Own”), a homemade laundry detergent placed in reused bottles, along with a message on the benefits of making certain items at home. This can not only save money (costs less than 10 cents a cup to produce), but can yield environmental benefits by reducing shipping, and can even form the foundation of local/neighborhood bartering systems. Pretty innovative stuff-so cool that we let him bring MOO in lieu of a vegan waffle topping. He doesn’t have a website up yet, but you can get more info by emailing MOO (at) digbybooks (dot) com.

MOO "Make Our Own" samples

Even though we’ve already had our annual waffle party in Pittsburgh, it’s not too late to have yours, especially if you’re doing a waffle-related event in conjunction with the first Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. If you’re hosting something along these lines in June, or plan to do something in 2010, please let us know.

Finally, I’ve been asked whether I’m involved in a secret marketing conspiracy with Isa Chandra Moskowitz, as her Vegan Brunch cookbook was released within a few days of the Vegan Waffle Party, and its front cover features her holding a stack of vegan waffles. While these may be interesting coincidences when taken together, I must deny these speculations. We simply set this year’s Multi-City Vegan Waffle Party on the same weekend it was held last year. Nor can I speak to whether the Vegan Waffle Party impacted how her book was designed or released; I can only say that I’m extremely flattered if it actually did. I hope that vegan waffle parties inspire even more people to buy her book. Although I haven’t yet seen it, I have no doubt the recipes are delicious. And, of course, I hope that her book inspires even more people to throw vegan waffle parties. Our efforts can’t reach everyone, so any assistance from others is welcome!

And thanks again to our neighbors and friends (Jen and Kevin, Anne Lynch, and others), who helped us out in various ways.

Happy vegan waffling!

We’ve adopted “Vegan, Green & Delicious” as the theme for Pittsburgh’s 2009 vegan waffle party, to promote awareness of the connections between environmental responsibility and reduction of animal product consumption. Tell us about your May or June party plans so I can email you the Vegan Waffle Party Host Primer, with several vegan waffle cooking tips and recipes not found on this site.

Vegan Waffle Party Host Primer

And if the budget’s tight, see if your event may qualify for assistance through VegFund! While “being green” has dramatically increased in popularity, some very important areas of environmental stewardship remain largely ignored. Among them is the need to reduce our animal product consumption drastically.

When people eat animal flesh, they obtain only a small portion of the plant nutrition, water, and other resources originally consumed by the animal – after all, any living creature needs to use much of its food energy just to sustain itself. By consuming plant-based foods directly, we eliminate the “middleman” (or middlecow) and reduce our impact upon Earth’s resources. By some estimates, it takes five pounds of grain and 2,500 gallons of water to produce each pound of beef (Kostigen & Rogers, 2007). And this one example is just the beginning – practices such as the use of antibiotics and hormones wreak further havoc upon the environment, and many concentrated animal farming practices increase the likelihood of dangers such as species-jumping viruses.

This year, we’re also striving to make our party greener in other important ways beyond the food itself. We’re not trying to be perfect, but are doing things like borrowing dinnerware from neighbors and friends so we don’t have to use so many disposables.

If you’d like to blaze the trail by hosting a vegan waffle party this year, we’d love to hear about it!

Sources

Kostigen, T. & Rogers, E. (2007). The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time. New York: Three Rivers Press.

It’s almost that time of year! On Saturday, May 23, 2009 we’ll again be spreading the word about compassionate and sustainable eating in a fun way, through vegan waffle parties. We’re hosting Waffle Party 11 in Pittsburgh, and welcome hosts in other cities around the world to throw parties on or near this date (May or June).

Please tell us about your party plans via the brief registration form, so I can email you the Vegan Waffle Party Host Primer. (It has several vegan waffle tips and recipes not found on this site.) If the budget is tight and your event adheres to their guidelines, VegFund may even be able to help you cover many of your party costs! The first multi-city vegan waffle party was a lot of fun!

Vegan Waffle Party Host Primer

Waffle parties consist of serving vegan waffles for anywhere from 2 to 100 people. You can have each guest bring a creative vegan topping, or you can provide your own. A number of free recipes and topping ideas are on this site – you might even create a special theme for your party, like all Indian or Mexican toppings, or chocolate. You can throw one for breakfast, lunch, brunch or dinner; and you can invite guests with a range of dietary/lifestyle preferences if you wish – as long as all the food is vegan.

You can throw a free party, or you can suggest contributions at the door as a fundraiser for the charity of your choice.  For example, we plan to raise some funds for Pittsburgh’s new Three Rivers Vegan Society with our party. If you wish to stretch the boundaries a bit, you could even host a vegan waffle bake sale, and also register your event with the cool folks who are catalyzing the first worldwide vegan bake sale this year. (If you throw a waffle-related event during the June 20-28 timeline on their site, we’d still love to post a link to your site here!)

If you wish to host a vegan waffle party, please let us know via the brief registration form.

Last year Waffle Party began to grow, with hosts in several cities serving up delicious vegan waffles. Thanks to sites including Godairyfree, PETA, Soystache, Veganhacker, Vegan Recipes at Blogspot, Vegan World Network, and the Vegan Society for helping to get out the word last year. This year, we hope to shift it toward “above underground” status, with several dozen adventurous hosts spreading the joy of vegan food – will this include you?

Our event is on Memorial Day Weekend in the U.S., which we again feel is fitting given the likely connection between different types of violence. Memorial Day is a time of reflection regarding the myriad people who have suffered and lost their lives in human conflict, along with the families who have sacrificed alongside them. Waffle parties are partially about removing some of the unnecessary violence from the human lifestyle, i.e., our current means of relating to other sentient beings. Because suppressing our recognition of one type of violence may make it easier to suppress others, adjusting the way in which we relate to non-human animals may be a key step toward establishing more harmonious human relations. Waffle parties help us to celebrate the possibilities for a more sustainable, healthy and peaceful future, while also generating awareness.

Have fun, and please help to spread the word!