BRISTOL VEGAN FAYRE

SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER 2005

10AM - 6PM AT THE L SHED

PRINCES WHARF WAPPING ROAD BRISTOL

An estimated six thousand people descended on the L Shed for the world's biggest vegan event, The Bristol Vegan Fayre.

The show was organised by Bristol hemp firm Yaoh, and was sponsored by Essential, Wild Oats, Health Unlimited, Beanies Health Foods, Earthbound, Plamil, Redwood Foods and the Vegan Society.

Over 100 stalls, 30 speakers and entertainers provided vegan products and information throughout the day.

Highlights include the vegan Shoulderpress competition, organised by the Vegan Bodybuilders and sponsored by Redwood and Yaoh.

The competition included both the girls and the boys, and was won by Kate Cooke and Michael Ros respectively.

The Vegan Fashion show gave visitors an insight into some of the beautiful cruelty free footwear and accessories available today.

And Julie from Yaoh did a most amazing demonstration live on stage on How to make a vegan Blackcurrant Tofu Cheesecake. The 'here's one I made earlier' bit went down very well indeed, especially with the Kids.

The Bristol Vegan Fayre is essentially a fun family day out, more of a party than anything else. Entrance was free to the public, and many made full use of the excellent talks room, which included speakers form the Bristol Cancer Help Centre and Vegfam, who were our special guests.

There was a big emphasis on vegan sports nutrition, with a talk from both the Veganbodybuilders and Gareth Zeal, former nutritional advisor to a number of premiership football clubs.

Also, a live demonstration on stage from James Southwood, who is a UK Kickboxing champion.

Live music took the form of an appearance from local group Bigfoot, who supplied an eclectic selection of live folk, Celtic and country. Meanwhile Dj's dropped tunes through the PA all day long, both inside and outside.

And to round off the event, the worlds first ever vegan Custard Pie fight, sponsored by Marigold, which saw a number of brave souls (including the organiser) cover themselves and each other in vegan cream.

Check out a few pictures of the day here , thanks to Yaoh, veganbodybuilding.org, and Birmingham Vegetarians and Vegans.