World Vegan Day wrap-up

Another year, another World Vegan Day celebrated in Melbourne - at the Abbotsford Convent again. This year I decided to go at lunch-time so we could enjoy the hot food. Never again - early is definitely best!

First, the food. D chose a Funky Pie for lunch - this is the Chilli Non-Carne. We initially lined up for about 15 minutes to get this - they told us there weren't any. So he got a Spicy Thai instead. Then, when he started to eat it, he quickly realised it was still frozen - not cold - frozen. Last year, we got the pies & they were still cold in the middle. We can deal with cold, but this was a little silly. So, he lined up again to get a new pie & this time they had some Chilli Non-Carnes ready. It was still only luke-warm, but I think D was determined to enjoy it after all the hassle.I had wanted a Funky Eezy Chic 'n' Cheezy pie, but they didn't have any, which I'm glad about, because I got this awesome Potato & Olive pizza instead. It was made by Crumbs Organic Bakehouse, but I think was being sold as part of the Lentil as Anything stall (the signage was confusing). This was only $3.50 (compared to the $6.50 pie) & was crunchy, hot & delicious. Underneath the potato slices was a layer of caramelized onion & garlic - yum!Dessert had to be Fritz Gelato. D chose a scoop of Go Bananas, and I got 2 scoops (because I couldn't decide on a flavour). This is Bounty & Passionfruit Kick. What can I say - perfect as always.After lunch we fought our way through the crowds to look at the stalls & I picked up a couple of things, but I really couldn't be bothered with the stress of it all so we didn't stay long. I did pick up this Jokerz bar before we left though (it's like a vegan snickers). It was so good - I'm just glad they're so expensive ($4.50) - because I could really get addicted!Things I liked at WVD this year:

• It was more spread out. The music had it's own stage area which meant you could hear yourself think in the other areas.
  
• There was a good variety of stalls again
  
• It's great to see so many people in one place celebrating veganism

Things I didn't like this year:

• Slightly chaotic & disorganised again. The main reason I went was to see the talks - particularly Eating up the World by Bruce Poon. We got there right on time but we couldn't find the talks area anywhere. Initially, we followed the signs. They led us into the courtyard area where all the hot food stalls were. No talks. So I asked the information desk - they told me to go upstairs. Still no talks. By this stage it was 15mins in to the talk so I gave up. On the way out we saw other signs for the talks area that were pointing in a completely different direction.
  
• The courtyard area is too small for the hot food stalls. Once you added the long queues for Vegi-licious, Funky Pies & Fritz to that small space, chaos followed.
  
• Still no seating for people to sit & eat. Which meant people were trying to stand & eat plates of curry while avoiding the mass of other people who were still trying to get their hands on something to eat. If it's at all possible, getting the hot food stalls out of that confined area would be a really good move.
  
• Parking! It's nothing to do with the WVD organisers - parking is always horrendous at the Convent. I'd love to be able to catch public transport there, but it would take us about 2hrs & we always have other stuff to do before or after so will probably always end up driving.

Overall, I'm sure the WVD organisers will count yesterday as a success & good on them for all the hard work!