Vegan Practically

I experienced a wonderful vegan catering win yesterday that unfortunately I didn’t think to take a photo of (it wasn’t apples). It was proof of how simple it is to make a vegan happy.

I attended the Southwestern Ontario Feminism and Philosophy Workshop yesterday in Guelph. It is a rotating meeting where we gather to provide feedback on work-in-progress. Yesterday we heard from Guelph PhD candidate in Philosophy, Amanda Narvali, who presented on “The Gendered Harm of Deepfakes” and Guelph Assistant Professor in Philosophy, Sujaya Dhanvantari, who presented on “The Colonial Duration of Gender Violence.” They were both excellent papers that generated lively discussion.

The vegan catering win was twofold. First, there were more vegan vanilla cupcakes than anyone could eat, and with oatmilk for the coffee and tea. My preference, considering I don’t think of animal products as some neutral and benign food options on par with non-animal products, is for vegan-only catering. But for some dairy for the hot drinks, yesterday’s event catering almost perfect.

The other win was Beertown, where we went for dinner afterwards. It’s a chain restaurant with really good food (and, apparently, beer) and what I like about it is that they have a fully plant-based menu. It’s not the only menu — they have a full omni menu as well. But at least the vegans have choices, and that’s something of a novelty still. I had the Plant-Based Asian Bowl, which is one of my two favourite dishes (the other is the Plant-Based Yucatan Bowl). I also scooped a bit of someone else’s guacamole (thanks Samantha!) and it was excellent.

It’s the small things.

I’m still kicking myself for not taking a photo of the cupcakes, which came in three large, clear tote-style trays and were just lovely to look at, delicious to eat, and wonderfully abundant. Today’s blog photo is a step forward for me though (you probably can’t tell and maybe only fellow-photography geeks will care) because it’s among the first few that I took after learning for the first time how to connect my camera with my smartphone to use my phone as a remote shutter.

Whether this post makes you reach for a vanilla vegan cupcake, a crispy apple, or something else altogether, bon appétit!