Green Festival 2013, DC

I have a love-hate relationship with the Green Festival. There was a time when I tried to get into the environmental scene, but shortly thereafter, I realized it wasn't the scene for me. Composting, solar energy, and sustainable farming just doesn't get me going. That said, this year's Green Festival's focus on vegan food did and I was really glad I went.

The Green Festival is held in Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA each year.  As always, there were a number of speakers talking about everything from bicycle commuting to green juicing. I was especially excited to see that Karen of United Poultry Concerns was speaking out against backyard chicken-keeping in response to the pro-backyard chicken-keeping speaker from the prior year.

Throughout the festival, there were a number of vegan food exhibitors like Alive & Radiant, Daiya Foods, and Mira's Homemade Granola. Mom's was giving away produce while Clif was giving away bars. Honest Tea was selling teas using the honor system (how appropriate) for just $1. And there was raw food aplenty.

For lunch, I chose a raw plate from Nyota's Ting International Vegan Catering Company that included cajun nut meat and kale salad. It was delicious.

There were other cool items like a flower pot made of cork.  Oh, and there was a yoga area too.

But, the funniest thing really were the trash Nazis. These people stood behind the Compost, Landfill, and Recycling bins instructing festival-goers as to where to put their trash. They were so passionate that if you threw your plastic cup into the landfill, they would dig it out and place it in the recycle bin. We had some fun messing with them.

All in all, I really enjoyed the Green Festival this year as there was a huge focus on vegan food and skin products. I hope the festival returns to DC next year.