WITH veganism becoming ever more present in modern lifestyle, last Saturday, August 3, the first North Cornwall Vegan Fair was held in Bude’s Parkhouse Centre, writes Christine Williams.

The event was organised by Rowena Wilson and Kate Orchard who last year had co-founded a new group, North Cornwall Vegans, with the aim of educating people on veganism and how everyone can start to cut down on their consumption of animal products.

The event was sponsored by Moo Free of Holsworthy and on one of the 26 stalls in the Ivor Potter Hall were samples of their products and chocolate bars for sale. As the name implies, the company does not use dairy milk to produce its chocolate confectionary but instead uses high quality natural ingredients. Throughout the hall there were opportunities to sample or buy delicious vegan food; soup, crisps, Thai bean pasties, sausage rolls, cheeses, curries, dahl, samosas as well as cakes and ice cream and a range of coffees that took 18 months to perfect. There was a selection of clothing for sale such as t-shirts made of recycled cotton bearing the logo ‘Please be nice to animals’, baby buckle carriers and babies’ nappies for hire.

Throughout the day in a separate room, talks were given on various aspects of veganism and on some stalls films were shown on such subjects as the healthy benefits of a vegan diet and the Animal Rights March the next day in Truro. There were reminders of the suffering animals undergo such as calves who shortly after birth are removed from their mothers whose milk can be bottled for us to drink. A film entitled ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ claimed to give the hidden truth about cruel farming practices and called for them to be abandoned and the ‘Sea Shepherd’ stall explained their mission to end the destruction of the habitat and wildlife around our coastline and in the oceans. The benefits of animal free medical research were explained by Bude’s Animal Free Research group who are supporting ground-breaking diabetes research at Exeter University.

Other stalls encouraged a healthy lifestyle with animal free cosmetics and essential oils for natural skincare, and on those who wished Jenna Jazz of Newquay offered to apply biodegradable glitter. Another stall offered for sale handcrafted wood and jewellery. Many ‘green’ initiatives were prominent such as reusable cups made from used cups and ReFILL Bude that offers shoppers a zero-waste alternative with their plastic packaging-free shop.

The children were catered for with an animal alphabet search, a kids’ play area and to make them aware of the importance of bees to the eco-system they were invited to take part in a competition to make bees out of recycled material for which prizes were awarded after judging by Paula Meninato of Plymouth.

Tempting vegan lunches were available throughout the day in the restaurant thanks to supplies from Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and a vegan café in Tintagel. Mayor of Bude-Stratton Bob Willingham was among those who enjoyed a delicious vegan curry and on emerging declared the event a huge success. As the day drew to a close Rowena Wilson said she was thrilled with this first Vegan Fair. Stall holders had told her it was the best attended fair they had been to. She was pleased to see such a large number of visitors, not just locals but from all over the country and hinted there might be another such event in the future. Maybe after visiting this impressive event some people will start thinking about becoming a vegan and were even persuaded to sign the 30 day vegan pledge.

One of the entrants in the art competition left the event empty handed despite being crowned a winner. Jaxon Dabin Davis won in the Under 3 category and has a prize waiting for him in Bude Health Store, alongside some of the day’s lost property items.