Sydney Vegan Festival

Veganism is not for the fainthearted. It’s something that’s developed into much more than an extravagantly costly lifestyle choice, filled with never-ending guilt and feelings of responsibility to animals, nature and Mother Earth. This was the vibe at the Sydney Vegan Festival, where there was a merchandise stand selling T-shirts that read “Vegan is the new black”, as if it were ultimately a fashion statement, along with pamphlets that compared the consumption of pig meat to that of domesticated dogs and other house pets. 

The majority of vegan food stalls were overpriced, with a 250ml bottle of fresh juice selling for $8 and sushi rolls with black rice selling for $4.50 each (they’re usually around $2.50-$3). The “Vegan pulled pork wrap” however, is highly commendable, as it uses a single ingredient to recreate the texture of pork – jackfruit. That talent and creativity shouldn’t go unnoticed. One thing that was observed was the number of people lining up for the meat-inspired vegan dishes: vegan pulled pork, chicken-style chunks, lamb-style curry and vegie sausage. Ironically these herbivorous vegans still seem to crave and enjoy the texture and taste of meat. 

The “79-year-old vegan bodybuilder” Jim Morris was a man who’d retired from the sport and during his talk stated that veganism was an impractical lifestyle choice for anyone who was in competitive bodybuilding, from a nutritional and supplementation point of view. It was the following talk on animal liberation, however, that informed and infuriated this reviewer. While it’s a devastating fact that 7000 litres of water is needed for 100 grams of beef and 550 litres of water for a loaf of bread, it was the insanity of overreaching statements linking animal cruelty to homophobia, racism and sexism, statements that we’re “disrupting the female menstruation cycle” by eating chicken eggs and that we should “equate cows being milked to the oppression of women”. Honestly, when was the last time you ate a piece of meat and wondered what gender the animal was? 

Interestingly enough, the speaker did, however, acknowledge the original Indigenous owners of the land at Factory Theatre and reminded us all to “check our privilege” (in relation to sexuality, gender and race) before attempting to understand another’s point of view.