Chicago Green Festival
By Monica on May 21st, 2008
Last weekend was the Chicago Green Festival, and since Ray and I were in the area anyway, we headed to Navy Pier to see what vegan yummies and green innovations the show had to offer.
The first ‘innovation’ we came across was this blueberry cheezecake from Totally Vegan. I’ve never heard of “Totally Vegan” before and possibly for good reason, this was the worst cheesecake I’ve ever had in my life. Each bite was different, one chalky, the next runny, like it may not have been mixed well? After 2 bites each, it went into the compost bin.
Thankfully there was no shortage of other vegan vendors with other goodies to get that taste out of my mouth, like this delicious bread pudding from Karyn’s Cooked:
After sampling for a couple hours, we made it to the food court where the Chicago Diner, Soul Veg, and Temptation were set up. After harassing the Temptation staff about not bringing Teese for me to buy, Ray and I got two massive cookie dough ice cream cones, not knowing they would weigh about 2 pounds each! So good!
VegNews was giving out these handy totes for renewing your subscription. Mine needed renewing anyway, and then I had a new tote to carry home all of our free loot!
My favorite part of the Green Festival, however, was all the elephant poop. That’s right - there was a ton of elephant poop at the fest!
We learned that many organizations are now making paper products with recycled elephant dung in an attempt to foster a healthier relationship between elephants and the people of Sri Lanka. Apparently Sri Lanka is home to 1/10 of the world’s Asian elephants and they are being killed because they interfere with agriculture. Given that an elephant leaves behind 500 pounds of dung each day, and that their veggie-based dung is almost entirely cellulose (perfect for paper making), many organizations feel that utilizing dung for income is one way humans and elephants can coexist in Sri Lanka. If the elephant is seen as an economic contributor to the region, people may be more tolerant, and may even learn to value the elephants as a part of their world.
The paper is gorgeous, acid free, environmentally and animal friendly. How cool would it be to send out wedding invitations on elephant poop?! Check out MrElliePooh for more info.
And lastly, I am including a recipe for Aunt Yvonne’s Rhubarb Bread, a recipe from Animal Times. (You should get used to seeing a lot of rhubarb posts for a while!) I don’t know who Aunt Yvonne is, but she makes one wicked loaf of rhubarb bread!
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup silken tofu
1 cup soy milk mixed with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (let stand 10 minutes)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts)
1/3 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp. margarine, melted
Preheat the oven to 350°F
In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, vegetable oil and tofu and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. In another bowl, combine the soy milk, baking soda, salt and vanilla.
Alternate adding the soy milk mixture and the flour to the sugar mixture, beating well after each addition. Fold in the rhubarb and pecans.
Turn the batter into a lightly greased and floured loaf pan (8″x 4″x 3″).
Stir together the white sugar and melted margarine, then sprinkle over the top of the loaf. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Becca says:
I thought about trying that cheesecake from Totally Vegan. Good thing I didn’t. Totally Vegan products can be bought at Kramers Health Food stores, and their Jalapeno Cheez spread is pretty good, although very very spicy. No one beats the Diner’s cheesecake though. Yum.
I also thought about hassling the Temptation guys about not bringing Teese. I hoped that they would. What did they say about that?
Oh…and that bread from Karyn’s…big yum. I haven’t been there in a while…guess, I’ll be going soon. Did you see the real live Karyn there? That woman is four twigs connected by a torso. She’s an itty bitty lady.
Now I wish I would have stopped and looked at that poo paper, that’s pretty interesting.
I thought this year’s Green Fest was much more organized and all around better than last year’s. Moving it to Navy Pier was much easier to get to than McCormick–even though large crowds of tourists make me a wee bit testy.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:54 am
Vegan Addict says:
Wow, it looks like you really enjoyed yourselves! It is too bad about that cheesecake because it looks so pretty…I love elephants, so it is awesome to know that their massive amounts of poo are useful for paper making! That’s awesome.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:23 am
Romina says:
Everyone seems to have the best veg festivals! That’s such a cute gift for renewing your subscription. =)
Ooh and that cheesecake looks too good to be true!
May 21st, 2008 at 12:10 pm
VeggieGirl says:
What a fun event!! I’m glad that you got to sample goodies from Karyn’s Cooked and from Chicago Diner (my 2 favorite restaurants in Chicago).
I can never get enough rhubarb, so that Aunt Yvonne’s Rhubarb Bread recipe sounds FABULOUS!! Yum!!
May 21st, 2008 at 12:14 pm
jessy says:
yay for funness!
and that is CRAZY about making paper and such from elephant poo! who would of guessed?! WOW! i’m also jealous of your goody bag! and that rhubarb bread looks so freak’n gooooooood!
May 21st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Jennifer says:
What a fun event! All that food looks absolutely wonderful! And that bread! Wowsa!
Elephant poo?! What will they think of next?
May 21st, 2008 at 12:36 pm
thedalyn says:
I’m totally jealous that you got to go both to the festival and Chicago. As a life long west coaster, I don’t get to go as often as I’d like. That paper looks amazing. The company josh does art for makes paper with seeds in it (so it grows various things when planted) and i though that was cool. Elephant poop is even awesomer!
May 21st, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Monica says:
Becca - From the impression I got, the Temptation guys were heckled all day long about the lack of Teese. That’ll teach ‘em to leave the Teese at home!
I did not meet Karyn, but her food was amazing. I haven’t been to Cooked yet, but I absolutely must go soon!
May 21st, 2008 at 1:07 pm
jd says:
Awesome post! The Green Festival is completely kick-ass, isn’t it?
I love that feeling that you get when you walk in & realize that there are tons of people who care about the environment & that the “green movement” isn’t just a phase or something…
Anyway, I’m so glad to know that your cheesecake wasn’t great because I intended to buy some, but forgot to go back to that booth! I guess I didn’t miss anything since yours went right into the compost bin!
Speaking of missing something - too bad I didn’t know that you were there, we could’ve met up! I was there on Saturday, how about you?
Anyway, we should try & organize a veg blogger meet-up for next year’s Green Festival! Let’s keep it in mind
May 21st, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Vegan on stage says:
HI! Thanks so much for the post… it really is nice to hear kind words… even if theyre from people who ive never met!!!!
THAT FESTIVAL SOUNDS AMAZING@@!!!!!! IM JEALOUS!!! (that cheese cake looks to die for)
May 21st, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Animal-Friendly says:
Aw…I’m so jealous that you were able to go to the Chicago Green Festival! Sounds like it was really great, though
That cheesecake sure looks good. Oh well, looks sure can be deceiving! And the bread pudding from Karyn’s cooked looks yummy, even though it looks like the portion is super tiny!
And the Temptation ice cream- the cookie dough is definitely one of my favorites of the flavors I’ve tried!
It looks like the festival was great. I definitely must try to get down there next year
May 21st, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Kumudha says:
Wow! so many wonderful vegan
products. Cheesecake, bread pudding, and the ice cream look so tasty.
Thanks for sharing Aunt Yvonne’s Rhubarb Bread recipe.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Eve says:
Thanks for the MrElliePooh links. That is f**king amazing!
May 21st, 2008 at 10:43 pm
catherine (FOOD SNOB) says:
Monica, your blog is wonderful! I’ll be back often.
Sorry to hear the cheesecake stunk — that’s never fun.
I will be saving your rhubarb bread recipe — I have a bunch I picked up at the Farmer’s market last weekend (frozen,) and can’t wait to use it! Thanks for the idea!
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:33 am
Chocolatecoveredvegan says:
Ugh, I’ve had a few gross vegan cheesecakes in my life too :o(. They look so innocent and delicious… but oh my goodness, it seems like you MORE than made up for it with the amazing-looking bread pudding and vegan ice cream (Temptation, come to a store near ME!).
P.S. I sent you an email.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Marleah says:
My grandma always made rhubarb pies and things of that nature, and when I was little I never liked it. But I might like it now! I’ll have to try it again sometime …
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Erin says:
My favorite part of this post is the mini-packets of Annie’s dressing. I need those for lunches!
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Vivacious Vegan says:
I’m coming to Chicago (for our 5 year wedding anniversary) and would love your advice! I was planning to visit Karyn’s Cooked and Chicago Diner for sure but any other recommendations would be much appreciated.
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Shellyfish says:
Hello there! Love your blog, totally adding you to my blogroll. That festival sounds so great, and thanks for the link- shows we can use (nearly) everyting! And I love rhubarb bread so I can’t wait to try this recipe!
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:10 am
Erin says:
Not…tried…Goddess dressing…yet??? My goodness, if it weren’t relatively high in fat I would put in on everything. Hope you enjoy it!
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:55 am
Chocolatecoveredvegan says:
Ok, so willitblend.com is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while. Thanks for making me laugh!!!
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Vivacious Vegan says:
We’re coming out June 5th! I’ve been browsing Temptation’s website and I think I’m going to bring a cooler with us so that we can bring some Teese home! We went to Soul Veg in Atlanta and weren’t too impressed. I hadn’t heard of Alice’s so I’ll add it to my list. I’m so excited I can hardly concentrate on anything else!
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:24 pm