Don’t be Scared, it’s just a Vegan Bake Sale
Veganism has come a long way (as the internet regularly pronounces) — but perhaps even better than the advancing acceptance of the choice to be vegan is the proliferation and growing sophistication of contributions to delicious, delicious vegan bake sales.
It may very well be a fact that the majority of vegans suffer tremendous sweet teeth to the point where they created their own day, World Wide Vegan Bake Sale Day, just to celebrate all treats baked in the vegan way.
Or perhaps it’s a devious tactic to win more sympathizers to their cruelty-free agenda. Either way, stop resisting. You too can address your need for treats at King’s Books on April 29th at “Sweet Eats,” Tacoma’s own vegan bake sale.
Vegan cupakes by Alicia Betty; photo courtesy of Vegan Score
Veganism in Tacoma has been growing steadily over the past few years and this kind of diversification can be seen as a sign of a maturing and evolving urban dining culture. The more access, sensitivity, and understanding for consumption preferences, the more diverse and inviting a city’s food scene becomes.
And veganism isn’t just about food: many vegans choose to live a cruelty-free lifestyle in order to draw attention to the plight of animals and the environment due to undeniably horrific practices in industrial agriculture and scientific research.
Says Sweet Eats organizer Joy Clendening “I’m vegan because I don’t believe another being should have to suffer for me living my life. Every creature great and small deserves the life they were given and it is no one’s right to take it away from them. I hope in the future we will have even more options in Tacoma than we do right now, as well as a more prominent voice in the animal rights community.”
I had a chance to ask organizer Joy Clendening about the April 29th event and she shared what she, Dawn Quinn of Vegan Moxie, and Dan Martin have been up to as they get ready for the bake sale.
The event is in its second year, organized to celebrate World Wide Vegan Bake Sale and all proceeds will go to support Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
“I love being able to spread the wonderful news that eating vegan tastes good. We don’t just eat tofu and lettuce, but also yummy baked goods galore.” said Joy, when I asked what inspired her to work on this event, “Plus it’s a wonderful feeling to see animals who were once abused in some way get something back from the community. The chimps who live at the sanctuary were all once used in research so giving them even a bit of happiness brightens up my day.”
Joy plans on doing a lot of baking for the event: “My specialty would be cupcakes or cakes. I love making them and feeding them to my entirely carnivorous workplace. My favorite treat would be cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, simple but delicious!”
And Joy has her own theories on the added benefits of attending and supporting a vegan bake sale, “People shouldn’t miss the bake sale because there is going to be a massive amount of out-of-this-world treats and when it’s for a good cause the calories don’t count.”
On April 29th, head over to King’s Books, get some treats, learn more about what it truly means to be vegan, get some great baking tips and ideas to improve your healthy food options, and enjoy the snack varietals your local community offers.
Want to learn more about vegan opportunities in Tacoma? Check out Tacoma Vegans on facebook and local vegan champion Dawn Quinn at her blog veganmoxie.com.
Vegan doughnuts; photo courtesy of Vegan Score
Below, some thought-provoking quotes regarding our food ethics:
“Just how destructive does a culinary preference have to be before we decide to eat something else? If contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways isn’t motivating, what would be? If being the number one contributor to the most serious threat facing the planet (global warming) isn’t enough, what is? And if you are tempted to put off these questions of conscience, to say not now, then when?
“Perhaps in the back of our minds we already understand [...] that something terribly wrong is happening. Our sustenance now comes from misery. We know that if someone offers to show us a film on how our meat is produced, it will be a horror film. We perhaps know more than we care to admit, keeping it down in the dark places of our memory– disavowed. When we eat factory-farmed meat we live, literally, on tortured flesh. Increasingly, that tortured flesh is becoming our own.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals
“There’s a schizoid quality to our relationship with animals, in which sentiment and brutality exist side by side. Half the dogs in America will receive Christmas presents this year, yet few of us pause to consider the miserable life of the pig – an animal easily as intelligent as a dog – that becomes the Christmas ham.”
― Michael Pollan, An Animal’s Place
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