Photo: BinaryApe

This guide has been written by Vegan Campaigns to help you do your own stall from scratch. And there's another excellent guide from the creators of free food fairs at Realfood. Learn from the experts!

A great slant or variation on free food fairs are 'I can't believe it's vegan' events - a lovely way to introduce it if you wish to be up front about it all being vegan. Simply calling an event a free food fair is the alternative that lets the idea of it all being vegan sink in after people have started tasting. Both work well, the latter being best for an audience completely new to veggie food perhaps, whereas the 'I can't believe it's vegan' title works well for veggies, food explorers and to catch attention in the media.

Promoting veganism on street stalls can be a great opportunity to introduce people to vegan food and a cruelty-free lifestyle. You can also do it on a grander scale as a food fair .

A free food stall

The free vegan food is a great way of drawing people over and we have had lots of brilliant feedback about our stalls and the food on them. These stalls really help to break down the stereotypes surrounding vegan food, because people can see how nice the food is!

All you need is a folding table (a pasting table from a DIY shop is ideal, being fairly light and portable), tablecloth if possible, leaflets, food, things to serve the food with and 3-4 people. There should be no problem setting up a stall, but if you are unsure about restrictions in the area you plan to go, contact your local council. Find a busy shopping area and set up your stall in a public place, not a private area like an indoor precinct (unless you have specific permission). Set your stall up so it is not causing an obstruction.

People may ask about nutrition, or where they can get cruelty-free alternatives, so it is very helpful if you have that information available. Before we start the stall we often find out where the nearest health food shop/s are located. On one stall we were giving out Redwoods sausages and we knew a health food shop nearby that stocked them, so pointed people who asked in that direction. Later on the health food shop told us they sold a lot of those sausages that day!

on the stall include:

• Information on the reasons why people go vegan, for example info on the cruelty involved in the meat and dairy industries.
• Information on the practicalities of going vegan:
  • Vegan guides on what food to buy, where to buy it, recipes (these tend to be very popular), vegan-friendly restaurants etc
  • Information about vegan nutrition
  • You could also include a range of information about other non-animal products such as toiletries, shoes and clothing
• Free vegan food samples. Make sure the food is tasty! The food samples could include home made food (have copies of the recipes available where possible) and some shop-bought food for people that dont want to cook (have the packets on show). Imitation meat and non-dairy cheese can be good to show people direct alternatives, and we have found that chocolate and sweet foods are good at pulling people over to the stall.
• posters, notices and ingredients lists

useful extras

It pays to have some practical materials to make it all go swimmingly.

• plates, cutlery, cocktails stick (e.g. for sausages), napkins and other bits and pieces to help you display and serve the food.
• table cloth clips
• scelotape, string, scissors, pens, paper

getting feedback so you know what works best

It really helps you and other active vegans to find out what the punters most appreciate at our events. It's well worth doing a questionnaire. Vegan Camapigns have summarised the feedback for an event they got at a food fair in April 2006 and this is really useful info for all of us.

Read Vegans Campaigns' 2005 post-fair report December 2005 to get further ideas on what really appeals to and draws the punters.

food hygiene - do you need a certificate?

You are a lot more likely to get permission to be in a good spot if one of you has a food hygiene certificate. This is surprisingly easy to get and could be a good investment.

For vegan food the main hygiene issues are that everyone should wash their hands, tie their hair back, and that food should only be out for a limited time. The limitations are stricter on hot food.

Your local council should be able to tell you about local food hygiene courses. We've discovered one company that does a CD you can buy to get certificated at home in about an hour. Please tell us what you think of this if you use it, so we know whether we should keep mentioning it or not! Also do tell us of any alternatives. It's from Dragon Training.

free food - what works best?

We've got a whole separate page on which offerings and themes work particularly well, so take a look at food for food fairs.

Here are companies that have offered free promotional product.

The Wrexham group have done a great write-up of their free food fair in July, it's worth taking a look.

more information

This food fair check list will guide you through the steps required to make a success of it.

building on our ideas

We are developing ideas for street stalls all the time, if you have any other suggestions please email them to Vegan Campaigns at Show email address., and also contact ActiVeg so we can update this page.

a free food fair

This is where you have more than one table of food and leaflets and an area for the fair. This can be a hired building, such as a community hall, or an open area such as the foyer of a shopping centre. Thames Valley Veggies had the foyer of a Reading shopping centre for free for a day during National Vegetarian Week in 2006, using the persuasion of the food fair demonstrating the products of the health food shops and a cafe in the centre, as well as home made food. We also think that using the term vegetarian for what is actually a vegan event is more warming to the uninitiated too.

Choose your venue carefully. The most important feature is location - you need a large number of passing people if you want to make this a big event. Hand washing facilities are also essential, as well as toilets if you are going to be there a few hours.