Pasadena, California
May 2017
Eat Drink Vegan is a food and drink festival that is held at the Pasadena Rose Bowl and Brookside Golf Course in California. This was my 2nd time coming out and supporting this delicious conscious event and can’t wait to come back next year!
With a regular ticket purchase (starting at $55) you get unlimited pours of the region’s best craft beer, wine, ciders, kombucha, cold brew, craft sodas and new to this year, tea tastings. Upon arrival you get a cute souvenir glass that you use for your unlimited pours throughout the day. Cheers!
My favorites from the kombucha was from Boochcraft located in San Diego CA, Conscious Kombucha located in Orange County CA and Cha Cha Kombucha located in Costa Mesa, CA. Boochcraft grapefruit had a kick to it since it contains 7 % alcohol and gave me a good buzz while getting my dose of probiotics. all at same time.
The cucumber watermelon from Conscious Kombucha was refreshing, bubbly and had just a hint of sweet watermelon YUM! The strawberry basil and passionfruit flavors from Cha Cha Kombucha tasted so good! The balance of the strawberry and basil was perfect and the tartness from the passionfruit made me go back for more.
One of the dishes I was really looking forward to trying was the Nashville Hot Shrooms from Donna Jean, located in San Diego, CA. The spice from the batter was a nice kick. I was expecting it to be way more crunchy than it actually was. It kind of reminded me of the breading on calamari and not so much like deep fried chicken which was what I was expecting. But the pickles and green onion were a great add on and the presentation was perfection.
This tofu BBQ ChK’N burger from Chickpea and Olive from Brooklyn, New York, exploded with flavor and took me by surprise! I have to say out of all the savory things I tried throughout the day this had to be one of my favs.
My love, Villn, waited in line for more than an hour to get 3 types of grilled cheese sandwiches and tater tots from, The Original Grilled Cheese Truck, located in Gardena, CA. He got the Caprese Mozzarella grilled cheese sandwich, regular cheddar cheese and the Chicken and Waffle Melt with cheddar cheese. To his disappointment the Caprese sandwiches did not come out melted, possibly due to the hoards of people waiting in line. The cooks were probably rushing to feed all their customers which in return made one customer pretty upset. But on the bright side, the Chicken and Waffles melt came out melted and was the highlight of this course. Oh and the tater tots, well they tasted like tater tots LOL.
The next dish is from Sage Organic Vegan Bistro located in Echo Park, Culver City and Pasadena California. The cauliflower sampler came in 3 flavors, BBQ, Orange and Buffalo. I appreciated the orange flavored cauliflower as I haven’t seen that option as widely available as buffalo or bbq. I must say it was delicious especially dipped in the vegan ranch dressing!
I also tried The Good Burger from Pomodoro E Basilico located in the UK! I saw their instagram insta snap of them making their “meat” from scratch and knew I had to support them and give it a try. The good burger came on a white brioche bun, seitan “beef” patty, garlic mayo, beetroot ketchup and cashew cheddar. The seitan was very flavorful and all the flavors from the sauces came together nicely. My only critique was I wish the bun and “beef” patty came out a little bit more hot. Definitely awesome to see a vegan restaurant come out to vend internationally!
The next dish is from Southern Fried Vegan, located in Los Angeles, California with a location in Portland Oregon. I tried the southern fried chikun on top of mac and cheeze and it was pretty bomb! Between the chickun and mac and cheese, the mac and cheese wins due to the creaminess and flavor. I thought the chicken could have had a bit more flavor and crunch.
Finally on to dessert! I decided on Yoga-urt which is located in Glendale, California. The thing I appreciated about Yoga-urt is that they use all organic products as well as soy and gluten free base which is pretty rare.
I personally decided on the 2 scoop Golden Rose and Green Tea. The golden rose had a lot of flavors going on such as turmeric, rosewater and saffron which made it stand out and burst with different spices. The green tea was exactly that, creamy yummy green tea.
I got to try more flavors since my friends got different ones. The lavender blossom tasted like a massage in your mouth! It made me feel relaxed and ready for a massage lol! Ganesha’s sweet greens tasted just like a green smoothie but in yogurt form. The salted caramel zen lived up to its name. My top 2 were the green tea and Ganesha’s sweet greens.
We were craving more ice cream so we headed to Nada Moo, which originated in Austin, Texas. This place uses a coconut milk base which makes you do a double take when eating it due to its super rich creamy texture. Hands down the best vegan ice cream texture I’ve had. I decided on the Birthday Cake Cookie Dough and was completely happy with my choice. It had bits of cookie dough all mixed in, made me feel like a kid again!
There were so much food to try it made me wish I had three stomachs! I definitely would recommend Eat Drink Vegan to vegans and especially non vegans. It is so amazing what people can create using animal friendly food. Supporting an event that supports the animals and the earth, who could say no?! There are more and more vegan events popping up, so be sure to do some research and check them out!
For those that are interested, there will be a vegan festival in Long Beach CA on July 8, 2017!
Happy healthy eating!
