Melbourne: World Vegan Day

IT seemed only fitting that we should attend World Vegan Day. After all, we are all vegans, it was Jamie's birthday, the event was happening (for the 10th year running) in Melbourne (at Princes Park) and the sun was shining on a perfect day.

Although the journey (by public transport) required us to take the train, bus (because of maintainence works) and then tram, it was well worth it.

We shared the day out with our friends, who have three boys. There were activities for children, like min-golf, table tennis, toy racing cars, mini-skittles and a park play area. There was also live music, speed dating, workshops and talks. But best of all was the food. If I'm honest, that's the reason we decided to attend.

Arriving around lunchtime (of course), we surveyed the options. Jamie went for the burger and I opted for a curry feast, which was delicious, and Zenchai and Kobra just pinched from us what they liked. We found a spot on the grass and all tucked in. 

There were many other options, ranging from gourmet raw to wraps to salads to juice bars to cup cakes to raw food deserts to pizza. But the biggest queue of all was for vegan ice cream. The line never shortened and, for that reason, we never bothered to join it.

There were many other stalls, non-food-related, focusing on cruelty to animals, like horse riding over jumps and whale fishing. There were stalls selling vegan cosmetics and chocolate. 

Australia does well in so far as promoting vegan products and lifestyle. Regular supermarkets have lots of options (although groceries are expensive here). 

We headed home, satisfied but with a little space in our bellies reserved for the cake Jamie had made for herself (she's a cake-making fanatic - and genius - and had been planning this one for weeks), using organic chick peas, apple sauce, dark chocolate, coconut milk, cashews, maple syrup, cherries etc.

But we had to wait a little longer. With the temperature perfect and sun starting to descend, we first headed to the beach to let the kids expend more energy digging holes and running about in the (cold) ocean.

Then, needing to refuel, we all made a good attempt at polishing off that cake!