Maine Animal Coalition: Vegetarian Food Festival - MAC's Third Annual Vegetarian Food Festival a Resounding Success!

Vegetarian Food Festival: MAC's Third Annual Vegetarian Food Festival a Resounding Success!

More than 250 people attended Maine Animal Coalition's Third Annual Vegetarian Food Festival. The festival was held on Saturday, April 21, 2007, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m, at the Salt Gallery, 110 Exchange Street, in Portland. Attendees enjoyed delicious vegan food, heard inspiring messages from animal activists, viewed the displays of 15 exhibitors, sampled cruelty-free products, and participated in an extensive raffle.

The Pepperclub Restaurant catered a delicious variety of vegan foods for the festival, including crispy sesame tempeh spring rolls, sweet potato cakes, Indian samosa, portobello sesame strudel, chick pea miso soup, ginger carrot salad, and double chocolate pudding. Several generous vendors donated the other food served, which included vegan cookies from Liz Lovely, vegan pies and muffins from Natural Feast, Purely Decadent and So Delicious dairy-free frozen desserts from Turtle Mountain, vegan cookies, scones and muffins from the bakery at Whole Foods, Sea Chips and Kelp Krunch bars from Maine Sea Coast Vegetables, Maine Munchies from Gladstone's Under the Sun, Primal Strips from Primal Spirit Foods, bagels and Tofutti spreads from The Works Bakery Cafe, and vegan chocolates from Rose City Chocolatier.

The festival featured two guest speakers. Matthew Penzer, animal activist and lawyer, spoke about the challenges of "Advocating for Compassion" on behalf of animals within the legal system. Karen Davis, founder and President of United Poultry Concerns, delivered an inspiring message on "The Truth Behind Poultry and Egg Production: Why I Stopped Teaching English and Started Fighting for Chickens and Turkeys." See bios for the speakers below.

Exhibitors included Maine Animal Coalition, which presented both a vegan cooking display and a display on resources for compassionate living, Delicious TV, Maine Friends of Animals, Farm Sanctuary, Arbonne International, United Poultry Concerns, Inc., People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Humane Society of the United States, Daffodil Lane Designs, The Word - The Universal Spirit, Voice for Animals, Act for Animals, and Generation Vegan.

Raffle prizes included two vegetarian gift packs (includes 1 year subscription to VegNews Magazine, tote bag from VegNews Magazine, gift certificates for vegan food, and t-shirts), a signed book by author and PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk, "Vegan Planet" by Robin Robertson, "Healthy Healing" by Linda Page, "The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook" by Joanne Stepaniak, an Animal Activist Starter Kit, a tote bag and sweatshirt from Pangea, Tom's of Maine product baskets, an Arbonne International Pampermint Foot Care Set and Spa Party, and gift certificates from Pepperclub, Haggerty's Restaurant, and VeganEssentials.

Matthew Penzer on "Advocating for Compassion"

Vegan, activist, and animal law litigator, Matthew Penzer will speak about issues and approaches to advocating for increased protections for animals. Penzer has been an advocate for animals for more than 25 years. Formerly legal counsel for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Penzer has produced groundbreaking work in the fight to advance the status and protection of animals under the law. Included among Penzer's cutting edge efforts are lawsuits against KFC for making false statements about the treatment of chickens, against the California Milk Board for misrepresenting dairy farm conditions, and against the District of Columbia when it attempted to exclude PETA's suffering "circus" elephant from a public art display. He has challenged school practices, resulting in the largest school district in Vermont removing all milk advertisements from its public schools, the largest school district in Tennessee rewriting its policy manual to guarantee student leafleting rights, and the largest school district in Florida removing all flavored milk products from its vending machines. Penzer has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, CNN, and dozens of other television and radio programs. Headlines about his efforts on behalf of animals have appeared in USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and scores of papers across the country.

Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns
"The Truth Behind Poultry and Egg Production: Why I Stopped Teaching English and Started Fighting for Chickens and Turkeys."

Before she was an animal rights activist, she grew up in a sport hunting town in Pennsylvania. What led Karen from there through a teaching career to become an animal rights activist and founder of an organization fighting for the rights of chickens and turkeys? When she met a chicken named Viva and learned about the industry that produced her, there was no turning back. Karen will explain why and what each of us can and must do to help her fight for the rights of turkeys and chickens.

In 1990, Karen Davis founded United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl and includes a sanctuary for domestic fowl. Since 1999, Karen and United Poultry Concerns have hosted six conferences on farmed animal advocacy issues. On March 24-25, 2007, UPC's 7th annual conference featured the topic of "Inadmissible Comparisons" at the NYU law school, co-hosted by Lantern Books and the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (United Poultry Concerns).

Karen Davis is the author of A Home for Henny (UPC); Instead of Chicken, Instead of Turkey: A Poultryless 'Poultry' Potpourri (Book Publishing Co.); Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry (Book Publishing Co.); More Than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality (Lantern Books); and The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale: A Case for Comparing Atrocities (Lantern Books). Karen's essay, The Turkey in History, is in the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Animals and Humans edited by Marc Bekoff and Janette Nystrom (Greenwood). She is updating her book, Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs, first published in 1996, for republication by the Book Publishing Company in 2007.

We want to THANK OUR SPONSORS:


We also want to THANK OUR DONORS: Ajeet Gillard & Arbonne International, Compassion Over Killing, Coffee by Design, Christina Connors, Farm Sanctuary, Generation Vegan, Haggerty's Restaurant, Humane Society of the United States, Institute for Humane Education, Iris Michaud, Katie & John Lisnik, Laurie Grant & Gil Doughty, Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, Maine Munchies/Gladstone's Under the Sun, Marianne Matte, Morning Glory Natural Foods, Pangea, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Robin Watts & Taylor Fawns, Royal River Natural Foods, Seventh Generation, Inc., The Works Bakery Cafe, V-dog Food, LLC, VeganEssentials and Whole Foods.