super successful veg outreach event--you must try it!

October 22, 2009

Hola BAV!We just hosted the first official Oakland Meat Tasting. It was a smashing success and I want to share the details with you so you can try it with your friends!A small group of volunteers worked together for about three weeks to pull this off. We asked 50 meat-eaters to come and taste a variety of vegan meats. We needed their feedback. As many of you know, we've been doing more and more vegan food give-aways lately. We want to make sure we're handing out vegan food that meat-eaters will like, not what we like! Like everyone on this list, we're super busy with work. When we do an outreach event, we want to make sure we're creating new vegetarians so that our time is not being wasted. Why put time and money into an event that's just going to scare carnivores away with bad food or negative activists? :)You've probably already guessed that we actually had two goals. We wanted the feedback from meat-eaters. But we also wanted the carnivores to taste a bunch of delicious vegan food in a positive, upbeat setting.Instead of posting to BAV or other lists, we brainstormed to invite brand new people. We invited people on our various sports teams, people from nearby offices, parents, non-veg friends, etc. We were determined to not preach to the choir. I was surprised at the response--it really worked! We made sure folks knew they weren't going to be preached to, lectured, or yelled at. Between that and the promise of free food, we managed to draw in a group of people who would normally ignore veg invites (i.e., to a vegan lecture or vegan film showing, etc).We had PETA Vegetarian Starter Kits and Vegan Outreach "Even If You Like Meat" (how perfect) brochures available, but nothing was pushed onto people. We had four kinds of fake chicken, four veggie dogs, and four burgers. People tasted "burger 1" and "chicken 2," etc., w/o seeing the package. Two of our fabulous vollies (Lisa and Jeff we love you) had created rating sheets and a database to tally the results. Everyone mingled and chatted and ate and laughed. We had 10 vegans on hand to serve and answer questions--but NOT to scare people away. After the main tasting was done we gave everyone a taste of BBQ riblets just for good measure. Then, while the results were being sorted, we served Maggie Mudd vegan ice cream. Maggie Mudd gave us five incredible flavors. The non-vegans in the room swooned. It was so fun to watch everyone eating vegan food, raving about it, laughing, and talking! We'll post the "official" results soon, but I can say this--the BBQ riblets were the #1 favorite and we'll be serving them again. Wow. And of course everyone raved about the ice cream and couldn't believe vegan could be so good.But here's the best part. One of the guests was a friend of mine, Bill. As long as I've known him, Bill has been clear that he will *never* go veg. In fact, while he loves animals and thinks PETA is brilliant, he thinks that the animal rights movement should not advocate for vegetarianism because it's so unrealistic! He has said many times, "Alex, you guys have to make slaughterhouses humane, because asking people to go veg is crazy. People won't do it and animals will continue to suffer." Sigh. So....guess what happened? That's right. Bill left the meat-tasting ready to go veg. Seriously!! He told me, "Alex, I am so mad at you! If vegan food can taste like this, and it's this easy, I'm going to have to change. You've upset my apple cart!" :)I can't wait to see how many other vegetarians and vegans we created. Sorry to go on and on but it was SO fun and SO successful, I just had to share. I cannot recommend this idea highly enough. You don't have to do 50 people. Please consider inviting a few of your carny friends over for a small meat-tasting at your house, or maybe do it at your office for your co-workers. Smile. Be positive and upbeat so the meat-eaters see that vegans are not all crazy and angry and serious and obsessed with little details. Set a great example, don't lecture them, serve delicious food, and have good beverages and literature available. Asking them for their honest feedback will draw them in. Most importantly...have fun with it!Thank you so much, Lisa T, for coming up with this event. Thank you Jeff and Drew for hosting the planning meeting--that was such a nice evening! Thank you Jack and Shani for bringing carnivore friends (and brochures and cookies!) and being part of the event. And thank you a million billion times Henry and Dan and Drew and Jeff and Lisa and Kristie and Mark and Jaci and Michelle for all the work and money to make it happen! Alex

October 26, 2009

Awesome post! Can't wait to see the results. I just got 100 Primal Strips to distribute on two leafleting days this week from money provided by Vegfund.org (which is available to any individual wanting to distribute free vegan food and literature) I tried one and the new recipe is AWESOME. Brian GrupeNorthern California Outreach CoordinatorVegan OutreachPlease visit: www.adoptacollege.orgTo: From: alexbury1Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:04:38 -0700 super successful veg outreach event--you must try it!

Hola BAV!We just hosted the first official Oakland Meat Tasting. It was a smashing success and I want to share the details with you so you can try it with your friends!A small group of volunteers worked together for about three weeks to pull this off. We asked 50 meat-eaters to come and taste a variety of vegan meats. We needed their feedback. As many of you know, we've been doing more and more vegan food give-aways lately. We want to make sure we're handing out vegan food that meat-eaters will like, not what we like! Like everyone on this list, we're super busy with work. When we do an outreach event, we want to make sure we're creating new vegetarians so that our time is not being wasted. Why put time and money into an event that's just going to scare carnivores away with bad food or negative activists? :)You've probably already guessed that we actually had two goals. We wanted the feedback from meat-eaters. But we also wanted the carnivores to taste a bunch of delicious vegan food in a positive, upbeat setting.Instead of posting to BAV or other lists, we brainstormed to invite brand new people. We invited people on our various sports teams, people from nearby offices, parents, non-veg friends, etc. We were determined to not preach to the choir. I was surprised at the response--it really worked! We made sure folks knew they weren't going to be preached to, lectured, or yelled at. Between that and the promise of free food, we managed to draw in a group of people who would normally ignore veg invites (i.e., to a vegan lecture or vegan film showing, etc).We had PETA Vegetarian Starter Kits and Vegan Outreach "Even If You Like Meat" (how perfect) brochures available, but nothing was pushed onto people. We had four kinds of fake chicken, four veggie dogs, and four burgers. People tasted "burger 1" and "chicken 2," etc., w/o seeing the package. Two of our fabulous vollies (Lisa and Jeff we love you) had created rating sheets and a database to tally the results. Everyone mingled and chatted and ate and laughed. We had 10 vegans on hand to serve and answer questions--but NOT to scare people away. After the main tasting was done we gave everyone a taste of BBQ riblets just for good measure. Then, while the results were being sorted, we served Maggie Mudd vegan ice cream. Maggie Mudd gave us five incredible flavors. The non-vegans in the room swooned. It was so fun to watch everyone eating vegan food, raving about it, laughing, and talking! We'll post the "official" results soon, but I can say this--the BBQ riblets were the #1 favorite and we'll be serving them again. Wow. And of course everyone raved about the ice cream and couldn't believe vegan could be so good.But here's the best part. One of the guests was a friend of mine, Bill. As long as I've known him, Bill has been clear that he will *never* go veg. In fact, while he loves animals and thinks PETA is brilliant, he thinks that the animal rights movement should not advocate for vegetarianism because it's so unrealistic! He has said many times, "Alex, you guys have to make slaughterhouses humane, because asking people to go veg is crazy. People won't do it and animals will continue to suffer." Sigh. So....guess what happened? That's right. Bill left the meat-tasting ready to go veg. Seriously!! He told me, "Alex, I am so mad at you! If vegan food can taste like this, and it's this easy, I'm going to have to change. You've upset my apple cart!" :)I can't wait to see how many other vegetarians and vegans we created. Sorry to go on and on but it was SO fun and SO successful, I just had to share. I cannot recommend this idea highly enough. You don't have to do 50 people. Please consider inviting a few of your carny friends over for a small meat-tasting at your house, or maybe do it at your office for your co-workers. Smile. Be positive and upbeat so the meat-eaters see that vegans are not all crazy and angry and serious and obsessed with little details. Set a great example, don't lecture them, serve delicious food, and have good beverages and literature available. Asking them for their honest feedback will draw them in. Most importantly...have fun with it!Thank you so much, Lisa T, for coming up with this event. Thank you Jeff and Drew for hosting the planning meeting--that was such a nice evening! Thank you Jack and Shani for bringing carnivore friends (and brochures and cookies!) and being part of the event. And thank you a million billion times Henry and Dan and Drew and Jeff and Lisa and Kristie and Mark and Jaci and Michelle for all the work and money to make it happen! Alex

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