We had a blast this past weekend at the Vegandale Food & Drink Festival at Historic Fort York in downtown Toronto! The festival is a place where like-minded people and their pets can gather to eat, drink, and dance, resting easy that all products offered are 100% vegan!
Veganism, at its roots, reflects a fundamental care for animals and the environment, and a passion for creating a more sustainable world. Often, people first become vegan due to a deep love and respect for animals, but many commit to the lifestyle for all of the other health, environmental and socio-economic benefits. Being vegan is more than just about what you decide to eat, it’s a lifestyle that rests on being mindful, ethical and wanting to live better.
We ate our way through the two day festival, and in particular we loved the Seasoned Vegan (Harlem, NY), serving delicious gourmet vegan soul food, and Ital is Vital, a local cult favourite vegan West Indian restaurant. The festival’s main attraction was the incredible food and drink offerings (the craft beer was delish), but there was also a small selection of carefully curated cruelty-free merchandise. We were thrilled to have been selected to participate!
The best part of the festival? Meeting so many amazing like-minded people, dogs, and even one pig (hi Truman!!) We had some really interesting conversations about ethical sourcing, traditional methods of production, and the importance of using organic cotton- for both humans and the environment.
At Stray & Wander, we value and respect veganism as a way of life dedicated to consuming ethical, cruelty-free products. Our company ethos rests on providing 100% organic cotton, handmade, fairly traded textiles that have been thoughtfully designed and produced. We work with small family businesses, women’s cooperatives and individual artisans, always ensuring they are fairly compensated for their hard work, and that the products are well made and gentle on the environment. We focus on designing and producing products that are versatile and multi-purpose, with the goal of encouraging people to buy less, and buy high-quality ethically produced products. We’re so grateful to have taken part in this past weekend’s Vegandale Festival and can’t wait to see what else they have in the works coming up this year!
XOXO
Stray & Wander Team