Photo: BinaryApe

An 'I can't believe it's vegan' event is a wonderful way to introduce people to tasty vegan food. You can run it like a free food fair, or have it more like a social event as a bring and share event or with a buffet where people pay a price per head. In the latter case you can raise money for a good cause if most of the food is donated.

A focus on dairy alternatives, yummy desserts and delicious mains and nibbles does the trick. Our food for food fairs suggestions would be a good starting point if you are doing the food yourselves. Alternatively, get a restaurant to make a special buffet for a set price per head. Really encourage them with ideas and new ingredients to use.

Manchester Vegetarians and Vegans had great success when they ran an 'I can't believe it's vegan' event in 2007:

"On Saturday 20th October the Eighth Day vegetarian co-operative shop and cafe hosted an 'I Can't Believe it's Vegan' Night, with a very exciting buffet. Local groups MVVG and MVS got together and sorted out fabulous goody bags free to those who came, containing goodies from Original Source, Nakd, Detoxyourworld, Suma, Plamil, Mornflake, SoapNuts, Equal Exchange, Cafédirect, Natracare and many others - many people remarked, 'It's like Christmas!' (only without the cruelty to turkeys)! We also did a raffle with many wonderful prizes, such as T-shirts, bags, books and toiletries, which raised £123 for Animal Aid. It was a fantastic evening with the Eighth Day filled to capacity, and you can see photos of us all enjoying ourselves on flickr."