The May-June 2011 Global Vegan Waffle Party Season has already included celebrations in more than 20 cities worldwide. Wafflers gathered (or soon will gather) in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. I very much enjoyed getting updates and/or photos from several hosts, including Andrea in Boston, MA, Dallas in Minneapolis, MN, Earl in Tokyo, Japan, Ida in New York City, and Carrie in Santa Barbara, CA. (More descriptions and links to external photo albums below.)

The Boston waffle party features some of the best photos of companion animals having a great time. Andrea in Boston reports: “We had three kinds of waffles, tons of fruit, tempeh bacon, smoothies, pan fried potatoes and a couple of toppings. [One photo] is my friends visiting from Austria; hopefully the WP will be really global in the future…After the party, we took our friends for a walk on the beach with the dogs who burned off some waffle calories.”

The Tokyo Vegan Meetup Group decided to connect with one another and have a bit of fun, despite the harsh difficulties experienced in Japan this year. Earl shared this:
“Our waffle party went well this year. Not too big, just 12 of us, but everyone showed up and we had a nice time. We tried a few different recipes this year. Banana-oatmeal-raisin, Carob, some plain, and Matcha waffles. Matcha is a kind of traditional Japanese tea. We made a mix of the naked waffles and then just added some Matcha powder to it. Tasted great and made for an interesting color (see the photos). The best topping this year was a cashew nut cream. We also used another kind of machine that makes bite sized shapes.”

Tokyo’s photos are the first to include a keytar (it brought back old teenage memories of trying to create my own keytar with a belt and duct tape), and their waffle maker is even more creative than the fish-shaped waffle maker they used last year.

I’m a bit envious of the Go Vegan Santa Barbara Meetup’s party because they even had a pool to enjoy alongside all the amazing food. Their photo collection gets the award for the brightest costume ever worn to a vegan waffle party.

The Minneapolis Animal Rights Coalition’s Wafflepalooza Twoza, which gets this year’s award for most musical-sounding event name, attracted a broad range of ages. Some pictures show individuals enjoying waffles, while others appear to show individuals with an intense craving for them. Once again, some very cute kid ‘n’ waffle pics! An impressive assortment of toppings and some colorful plates as well.

Ida in New York City reported that their gathering this year was a low-key event with a few friends. No photos, but it would have been hard to top the delicious vegan waffle photo she posted from last year’s party.

The Brisbane Vegan Meetup’s waffle party, organized by Grover himself, included chocolate waffles and a range of toppings. There was even a dietitian present to answer questions about vegan nutrition–what a great resource.

Thanks again to those who have shared some great highlights! They’ve been a pleasure to see and read about. Highlights from the Tulsa, OK, Albany, NY, and Pittsburgh, PA parties appear in earlier posts.

While I’m always eagerly excited to hear about the fun and creativity of others’ waffle parties, our own annual event also continues to be a high point of our year. The basic house party format hasn’t changed much over time, outside of growing in size a bit. I enjoy the combination of serving freshly-baked food, chatting with guests between baking shifts, and experiencing all the wonderful toppings that guests bring.

Here in Pittsburgh, the weather was wonderful for the evening of the party, and even the plants in our garden and yard seemed to be excited about the event.

In line with this year’s suggested theme of vegan waffles, ice cream and sorbet, we displayed literature on Dylan the Cow, and gave a copy of The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook to anyone pledging $20 or more to Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary or another organization focusing on animal rights, welfare, or environmental issues. Thanks to those who contributed!

Nearly 40 guests attended, including neighbors, long-time and new Pittsburgh Vegan Meetup members, Pittsburgh Cohousing Community members, and others. Many of the guests have moved to the ‘Burgh from other states and countries. (Highlights continued below photos.)

While there were more sweet toppings this year due to the suggested theme, savories were also represented. The tasty variety included:

• amazing amaretto sauce
• apple-pear sauce
• black bean-mango tango
• blueberry sauce
• cherries soft and dried
• cherry fruit spread
• raw chocolate spread with coconut
• lemony cashew kream
• chocolate cashew-based ice cream
• chocolate hazelnut spread
• chocolate pudding
• dairy-free chocolate chips
• coconut manna
• coconut spread with cinnamon
• cran-apple topping
• chocolate hemp milk ice cream
• deep dark chocolate waffle syrup
• garlicky tahina
• granola
• kicky syrup
• madras sambar
• mango sorbet
• mango-coconut sorbet
• mint-chocolate chip soy ice cream
• mint chutney
• mixed fruit sorbet
• neapolitan soy ice cream
• peanut butter fluff
• vegan queso
• roasted and salted pepitas
• ratatouille
• ravishing rhubarb sauce
• raw raspberry sauce
• shredded coconut
• Southwestern mix: black olives, salsa, salsa verde, guacamole, and spicy black beans (in an impressive homemade dish that I should have taken a picture of!)
• strawberries
• strawberry-rhubarb brown rice syrup
• vanilla soy ice cream
• vegan whipped cream

As I look back over this, I’m getting very hungry again! Wow.

Alongside delicious homemade toppings, store-brought brands included Nutiva, Love Street Living Foods (right here in Pittsburgh) Sharon’s Sorbet, So Delicious, Tempt, and Whole Fruit. If you attended the party and don’t see your topping(s) included in the list above, feel free to let me know in a comment.

I can’t really identify a “favorite” topping, because a number of them stood out for different reasons. But I will say that I was particularly intrigued by the coconut manna, and have since experimented with mixing it with cocoa powder and agave. Delicious–although still not quite as good as the Love Street chocolate spread, which makes a yeast-raised waffle taste kind of like a chocolate glazed donut.

Because they got good feedback last year and represent a good variety of relatively neutral waffles, we again featured three recipes available on waffleparty.com: Molasses Yeast Feast Waffles, Zero Excuse Rice Coconut Waffles, and Buckwheat Barley Malt Waffles. The gluten-free rice waffles were particularly popular alongside the vegan ice creams and sorbets.

Several kids attended—after carbing up on waffles and toppings, some played in the front yards alongside the garden boxes while some of the adult guests lounged beneath the lighted patio umbrella.

In the future, I’ll be posting highlights from other parties from this season, for hosts who wish to share this information.

Happy vegan waffling!

Belgium, Canada, England, Japan, and the U.S. will be having vegan waffle parties going on this weekend, as part of Global Vegan Waffle Party IV. I’m looking very forward to hearing about them, getting some highlights and photos to share, and so on! Lots of fun.

We’re excited to have some newcomers adding to the energy as well as returning hosts from one or more prior years, as can be seen on the finally-updated “past years hosts” page. One of them (other than us) has even participated all four years. In some cases, individuals within the same city or Meetup group have rotated hosting so their area continues to have an event. And some hosts have kindly contributed over multiple years in other ways, e.g., mentioning the event on their blog.

I don’t want money to stand in the way of anyone who wishes to throw a fun and meaningful event. If you’d like to throw a vegan waffle party in May or June and want the full cookbook but are currently very tight on cash, just follow these steps:

1) Let me (and the world) know about your event if you haven’t already.

2) Contact me via the contact form by Sunday, May 22, stating, “I’m hosting a vegan waffle party and would love a free cookbook!” and including your mailing address. I’m giving away paperbacks of The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook to the first three individuals and pdf e-books to the next two who do this. I’ll note in a comment to this post if the five-respondent max is reached before then.

3) You might also wish to consider applying for funding to cover food costs via VegFund.

Please note that it may take me a few days to get the book in the mail, and even with USPS Priority Mail, it may take a week to get to you, especially if you’re outside the US. I’m unable to provide arrival estimates. If your party is within a week, you can always use some of the free recipes on this site.

I don’t ask for any justifications as to why you deserve the book; I simply trust that you wouldn’t be asking for it otherwise. Also, in this giveaway, names won’t be publicly announced. (Although you’re always welcome to talk up the book on Facebook, etc., if you like it.) Happy vegan waffling!

Pittsburgh's Waffle Shop billboard (from waffleshopbillboard.org)

A vegan message will grace the skyline of East Liberty in Pittsburgh May 22-29, 2011, when we rent the large billboard atop the roof of the Waffle Shop building. The message, featuring traditional Pittsburghese:

GLOBAL VEGAN WAFFLE PARTY
BE KIND
BE HEALTHY
REDD UP OUR PLANET N’AT

“Redd up” means to clean up, and “n’at” is loosely translated to “and so forth.”

Perhaps some additional Pittsburghers will decide to participate in this year’s Global Vegan Waffle Party!

Waffle Shop, an experimental project run by Carnegie Mellon students and faculty, combines food with an array of social messages. They regularly feature a vegan waffle on their menu, and the associated Conflict Kitchen has featured vegan Afghan bolani.

Thanks to those of you who have already purchased The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook, as you’ve helped to make projects like this possible.

As we’re already in the month of May, we need your help to push up host numbers rapidly. If at least 24 new parties are signed up by noon on Tuesday, May 10* (bringing the total to at least 40), I’ll give away 4 paperback copies of The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook. All hosts signed up by that time, including those who have already signed up, will be eligible. Because we’re a pretty low-budget operation, we probably won’t be having too many more giveaways like this. Winners announced on Vegan Waffles Facebook page by 5/11. So please spread the word!

*GMT -4, U.S. Eastern

Dylan, GVWC 2011 SpokesCow (courtesy Woodstock FAS)

We wanted to add a face to the important issues that our celebration seeks to address, including the treatment of animals in the dairy, egg, and meat industries, and the connections between these industries that are not yet common public knowledge.

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary has kindly allowed one of their residents, Dylan, to serve as this year’s official SpokesCow.

Dylan’s story meshes particularly well with this year’s optional theme of Vegan Waffles, Ice Cream, and Sorbet. It conveys some of the common linkages between dairy and meat production. Dylan was taken from his mother, a dairy cow kept pregnant to sustain milk production, at only 3 days old to be confined and killed for his flesh. Most are not fortunate enough to be rescued as he was.

We’ve put together two one-page flyers for you to utilize at your event, if you find them helpful:

• The first describes Dylan’s story, connects it to our celebration, and refers the reader to any other informational or contribution-related resources you have displayed.
• The second includes more detailed information on Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, for hosts who wish to support or promote this specific organization.

WFAS and Dylan have generously lent their names without any specific expectations in return, as hosts are free to support whatever charity they wish, if any. Whatever the case, Dylan’s story is certainly not unique, and will hopefully add an educational component to some of your events.

Today I was exceptionally excited to learn that The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook was awarded the Bronze Medal in the Natural Cooking Category of the 2011 Living Now Book Awards. Another vegan cookbook, Benessere Well-Being: Vegan & Sugar-Free Eating For a Healthy Life-Style by Laurinda Erasmus, received the gold.

Groovah. Vegan cookbooks rockin’ the top three.

I owe another huge thanks to all the recipe reviewers and people mentioned in the acknowledgments who provided inspiration, including Global Vegan Waffle Party hosts. The book was a ton of work, and your additional energy helped it over the finish line.

These awards, run by IndependentPublisher.com and the Jenkins Group, give shout-outs to books that exist outside the traditional big publisher framework. They “celebrate the innovation and creativity of newly published books that enhance the quality of our lives, from cooking and fitness to relationships and mature living.”

I’m indebted to a number of people for inspiration and ideas for the Global Vegan Waffle Party. Among them is Gary Lowenthal, the largely unseen and unsung orchestrator of the  Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. In several ways, they are “sister events,” having grown up alongside one another over the last few years.

The WVBS is already poised to break its 2010 record, expecting well over 100 events with 50 between now and Sunday alone, but it could still use lots of additional signups. Individuals and organizations are welcome to host outside the recommended April 23-May 1 range, so it’s certainly not too late to organize something. We need some egg-free baked goods to offset all those Easter eggs.

So even if you don’t sign up for the Global Vegan Waffle Party, please sign up to host a Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. Or both!

Few things excite me as much as vegan waffle parties. One of them is creating music. I’ve been composing, in some form or another, since around age 5 or 6. However, this is the first album I’ve released in years, and the first “for sale” album I’ve ever done. While I knew I wouldn’t have time to complete a traditional-length album by March, I didn’t want that to stand in the way. So, I did a 3-song mini album. It includes the second piece heard on the Global Vegan Waffle Party Phenomenon video.

Check it out (the most detailed album description is on CDBaby):
CDBaby | eMusic | iTunes | Amazon: US , UK, Japan, Germany, France

While the album is mostly instrumental, vocal samples emphasize a few key points: the importance of listening to our innermost spiritual and ethical compass, and the emergence of some profound energy shifts in awareness about our interconnectedness.

The first track was named because the Global Vegan Waffle Party video, featuring one of the tracks, was completed the evening before winter solstice—this serves as an analogy for moving into an era of increased enlightenment, following a more challenging period.

This initial album represents somewhat of a leap of faith for Jen and me. Completing some unfinished music has been one of my highest priorities for several years, and parenting was sooner on Jen’s time line. Ultimately, we realized that we both wouldn’t be happy until we were parenting and I was finally working on music again, so we’ve decided to be crazy and jump into both at once. This is even though a few areas like finances seemed less than ideal. On the same day I was uploading music to the internet for distribution, we got the call for our current (and very cool) foster daughter. So we took a few major steps toward dreams on the same day. Wish us luck, and if you enjoy what I’ve done so far, please spread the word. My present goal is to put out at least 20 songs over the next 3 years.

This album is dedicated to the very musical spirit of my Grandma W., who shared much inspiration with me and others before passing on 3/4/09. She didn’t play much techno/dance/trance, but she helped me to learn a few things I still use today.