NJ Vegan Food Festival returns with empanadas, ice cream and a mission of compassion

A lot can change in six years — just ask Kendra Arnold and Marisa Sweeney.

The Morristown-based duo organized the inaugural New Jersey VegFest in October 2016 as a one-day event at the Hyatt Regency Morristown, intended to be a modest gathering of 30 or so vendors that sold a couple hundred advance tickets.

“There didn’t seem to be, from my perspective anyway, much of a vegan community in New Jersey,” Sweeney recalled. “People were kind of scattered about … so it was like wrangling cats. It was really hard to pull it all together.”

Ultimately the plant-based and vegan-curious community presented itself — 2,000 people showed up, and the gathering had to be moved to the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus. The 2022 New Jersey Vegan Food Festival takes place there on Saturday, Nov. 12, and Sunday, Nov. 13.

Under their Vegan Local banner, Arnold and Sweeney present events across the state, with weekend gatherings in Asbury Park in the spring, Atlantic City in the summer and Secaucus in the fall.

“When I go to do events, I feel like I’m still as worried that everything’s going to go work out as I was at that very first event, even though I have like 40 events behind me,” said Arnold. “But I do think it’s really cool to see how the state and the food scene has changed in New Jersey. It is a lot different than it was five years ago or six years ago when we started.”

This weekend's event will feature approximately 80 vendors across both days. Among the food and drink available: the heralded empanadas of Prospect Park’s Freakin’ Vegan, the frozen treats of Bona Bona Ice Cream of Port Chester, New York, and beer by Icarus Brewing of Lakewood.

Animal advocacy organizations including Halfway Home Animal Rescue Team and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will be in attendance. There also will be talks on nutrition by Sweeney, a registered dietician, as well as a discussion on vegan entrepreneurship by Freakin’ Vegan owner Kurt Biroc.

“I think everyone connects with veganism in different ways, and they’re motivated by different things,” said Sweeney. “It’s humanity. It’s environmental. There’s even a social justice element, there’s an intersectionality element. And people come from all different walks of life, too, so we want to accommodate the best we can.”

Go: New Jersey Vegan Food Festival, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Meadowlands Exposition Center, 355 Plaza Drive, Secaucus, $20 per day or $30 for a weekend pass; theveganlocal.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ Vegan Food Festival returns with empanadas, beer, mission