Narcisco, the name of a pig from Guadalajara who has been spared from becoming bacon, will be one of the animals featured at lakeside’s first annual Lake Chapala Vegan Fest on Saturday, September 29.
With 25 vendors, cooking demos, educational talks, and a slew of volunteers, the lakeside vegan community is gearing up for an all-day festival on the plaza in San Antonio Tlayacapan.
Greg Laviolette, Eddie Espindola and Laura Garcia, three of the movers and shakers behind the festival, were chatting one afternoon about wanting to bring more of the vegan culture to lakeside.
“Being vegans, we wanted to do something educational about veganism, especially for the Mexicans, and teach them that being vegan is more than just what you eat,” said Laviolette.
Garcia is a practicing psychologist and the owner of O-Lin, San Antonio’s only vegan restaurant, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. At 42 years old and the mother of six children, Garcia has been a vegan for a quarter century.
Garcia described how, 25 years ago, she attended a farm where the animals were being rounded up for slaughter.
“That image left a strong impression on me,” she says. “I thought, although I couldn’t help those animals from being slaughtered, I could make a difference by not consuming animal products.”
As soon as she made the decision to go vegan, people thought she was either crazy or she would become ill. Neither of these things happened. Instead, she felt great.
“It’s been a dream of mine to open a vegan restaurant,” Garcia said. “Not only to serve delicious food but educate customers about the health and ethical benefits.”
Having raised all of her children vegan, all but the youngest work at the restaurant, along with her husband, Chuy.
“You’re swimming upstream if you want to open a vegan restaurant in Mexico,” said Laviolette. “The good news is that it’s getting better. Every time Laura and her family receive feedback, they see how they’re making positive changes in customer’s lives, such as the five Mexican families who have since became vegan. That is what motivates them to continue their good work.”
Garcia developed her menu items with her kids in mind, such as her pizzas and desserts. She remembers sending vegan cupcakes to school with them for classroom events, and would create hotdogs for them made from chick peas.
With multiple vegan happenings taking place around lakeside, with food usually the main focus, Laviolette wants to broaden that definition by bringing in the role of animals—the reason many choose to become vegan.
“For us, putting on this festival is all about the animals,” Laviolette said. “It’s also in response to businesses wanting to ‘trendify’ the use of the word vegan, which to us is not just a trend. Rather, it’s a commitment to non-violence – something we don’t consider trendy. We want to educate people that there’s a social contract attached to being vegan.”
Laviolette and the others also want to uplift vegan entrepreneurs by bringing in vendors, mostly from Guadalajara. Guests will be able to interact with businesses they aren’t used to seeing at lakeside, such as vegan restaurants and bakeries, personal care companies – even a Cancun-based hippie van/food truck that travels to vegan festivals throughout Mexico.
Along with the various vendors, visitors will get to hear talks focusing on animal rights, nutritional and environmental impacts of a vegan diet, as well as hearing local vegans tell their personal stories. O-Lin will have a booth selling vegan desserts and Laviolette will do cooking demonstrations using locally available ingredients.
“Although some of the more exotic vegan ingredients may not be available at lakeside, we make do with what we have,” Laviolette said. “Laura uses almonds to make her cheese and I use sunflower seeds. One has to be a little more creative living here.”
Laviolette and his partner, Espindola, became vegan 12 years ago while living in Canada. Selling their array of vegan products at Ajijic’s weekly organic market, they both state that their cholesterol numbers are superb and their blood pressure is that of 12-year-olds.
Even their four dogs are vegan, having been so for ten years.
“Our dogs get fed vegan kibble,” says Laviolette. “They also love tofu, mangos and carrots. Like us, they are able to get their amino acids from a vegan diet.”
According to Laviolette, the group’s intention is to run the Vegan Fest each year, moving it around to different lakeside locations.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “what this festival is really about is animals and non-violence. This is the message we’re trying to get across, in the most gentle, educational way that we can.”
Lake Chapala Vegan Fest takes place Saturday, September 29, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the San Antonio Tlayacapan plaza. Free admittance. See Facebook: Lake Chapala Vegan Fest.