return of veggie fest

Veggies — that’s what’s for dinner tonight! Or in my case — every night.

 
Today, my mom and I headed out to Naperville, Illinois, which hosts Veggie Fest annually. If you’re a long time reader, you might remember last year when we went to veggie fest as well. We were excited to hear when Veggie Fest was returning, as it was filled with awesome vendors that neither one of us had tried before last year. We were really anticipating this year to be just as great!

And what could be greater than seeing four foot long dreadlocks? Pretty much nothing — well, kind of.

When we got to the festival, we immediately got in line for out free Nature’s Path tote bags (which we got last year as well!) and some free products (that I cannot eat but will be making an appearance in the Husband’ lunch very soon). After, we hit up the food ticket booth — I spent $5 for 5 food tickets.

Before actually paying for food, though, there were samples to be had! My mom and I each had a few pieces of cashew cheese — I tried the smoked gouda and the pepper jack. The smoked gouda won in my book! It was pretty good, but the texture kind of freaked me out a bit, I’m not going to lie.

We also stopped by the Clif Bar booth, but none of their samples were gluten free, which was quite a disappointment!

We were both kind of disappointed in the samples/free products area this year. Last year there was a lot more tasting going on — oh well — more food to be bought!

With my 5 tickets, I spent 4 of them on a beet, apple, and carrot juice. Might seem like a bit much to spend my tickets on, but the juice was just calling my name.

Luckily Mom only spent 2 of her tickets on an ear of corn, so collectively we had 4 tickets left over. Just enough to try a Mock Tuna salad!

Funny side note before I tell you how amazing this salad was. The girl who was working the booth recognized me from eating at Borrowed Earth Cafe a few months ago. Apparently it’s not very common for a girl to be carrying around a huge DSLR camera with her everywhere! With that being said, “hi” to that friendly lady! (who I did not ask her name — oops!)

Now to that Mock Tuna Salad — um, oh my gosh my mom and I are still in a tizzy as to how delicious it was. I have to recreate it. I would have liked for the chickpeas to be a little less pureed, but overall it was awesome!

After we ate our afternoon snacks, we headed over to a natural, organic skin care product line booth, where my mom bought us some natural deodorant. I’ve never tried any natural products in that department before, so I’m excited to see how it goes!
 

Before we left, we went to a cooking presentation — more free food? Don’t mind if I do! We saw a presenter make a tomato chickpea salad and some sort of tofu curry dish, which was good, but there wasn’t much “curry” to it if you ask me! It reminded me of a filling you would find in a chicken pot pie!

We both agreed that Veggie Fest was better last year, but it was still fun to go to!

Until next year, Veggie Fest!

Tagged as: naperville illinois, review, vegetarian festival, veggie fest