Hi-Ho, Come to the Fair!

Toronto, 1985. Loverboy, The Breakfast Club, jelly shoes, and fast food. I don’t know you, but the chances are good that your hair was bad, and you could identify the Hamburglar more easily than the Prime Minister.

But the times they were a-changin’. The animal rights movement, kick-started a decade earlier by the publication of Peter Singer’s seminal book Animal Liberation, was gaining momentum. National groups like PETA, and many local analogues, were busy exposing the long-hidden horrors of factory farming and advocating more compassionate food choices. At the same time, concerns about body image were on the rise in the mainstream, and with them came an openness to any new diet that could promise weight loss and optimized health.

Enter the Toronto Vegetarian Association, stage left.

Well, to be fair, the TVA was actually founded 40 years earlier (seriously, in 1945! Not exactly a time we associate with vegetarianism on this continent...), but it wasn’t until the launch of their annual vegetarian food fair that they really gained a public presence. Its growth since then has been nothing short of exponential: in 1985, the event was held at George Brown College, lasted one day, and drew in 465 people. The following year, attendance was more than quadruple the first. Now it arches over a much-anticipated weekend at Harbourfront, and brings in over 15,000 visitors from Ontario and beyond. In fact, the event has overshadowed its organizers: a lot of Torontonians know about the food fair, but far fewer know who’s behind the curtain. The TVA is currently run by three full-time staff and a truckload of amazing volunteers. Every year their magic puts Toronto on the map: the vegetarian food fair is the largest event of its kind in North America.

What can you do at the food fair? What can’t you do? Vendors of everything from food to clothing to crafts to supplements to health services come to hock their wares. Last year I picked up a cookbook, a funky faux-leather bracelet, and some vegan cookies that would put your grandma to shame. Oh, and I had a free spinal analysis. Want to know what’s going on in the non-profit world? You can stop by and pick up educational literature or chat with representatives from a number of animal and environment-focused organizations. You can watch internationally renowned vegetarian cooks in action. You can attend workshops covering topics in nutrition, wellness, environmental impacts of food choices, and animal advocacy. You can sit by the water and stuff your face with enchiladas and carrot cake. And it’s a welcoming crowd, whether you’re a hard-core vegan or just want to add a few more veggie meals to your diet. So if you haven’t been, get your calendar out now and write it down: September 11-13. It’s an awesome time.