More than veggies at Central Florida Veg Fest

Somewhere, the words Veg Fest conjure terrifying visions of Brussels sprouts and lima beans hosting a Woodstock-style concert where good tastes are banished. Maybe this appears in the minds of children still pushing everything green off their plate, or maybe the famously broccoli-phobic former President George H.W. Bush.

However, for 12 years, Central Florida Veg Fest has been proving there is more to veggies than just veggies. Vendors and nonprofit organizations will transform Orlando Festival Park into a marketplace of ideas. (10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 2911 E. Robinson St., free, cfvegfest.org)

Of course, there will be plenty of leafy greens and lots of things that look and taste like meat but aren’t. There also will be education on to eat such things. In addition to attending chef demonstrations, you could learn how to get your eating in line with the planet at classes hosted by Orlando Permaculture, a company that “helps people understand a way to live a little bit more environmentally,” says executive director Justin Marcano.

The South Florida native has promised an education on tropical fruits, “biome-appropriate plantbased diets” and eating rotten (I’m sorry, fermented) foods.

Several organizations will focus on animalfriendly eating, but some are coming to be friends to animals we almost never eat.

Nancy D’Angelo of St. Cloud, a member of Florida Parrot Rescue, will be on hand to answer questions about the statewide association that finds permanent homes for abandoned birds.

“It’s part of the pet community most people don’t think about,” says D’Angelo, who has been with the Tampa-based rescue for five years. “A lot of time parrots lose their home because a lot time people don’t realize what’s involved in owning a bird.”

And it isn’t just parrots. This is your chance to adopt a macaw, a parakeet or even a parrotlet. (Look them up. They are adorable.)

Or your Veg Fest experience could be so abstract it would take some critical thinking to see how it applies.

“On one level, it doesn’t really connect at all,” says Mark DeMaio of the drum circle he will lead several times throughout the day. The Orlando resident says you have to look at the drums symbolically and the rhythms of our daily lives. “The food cycle and our eating cycles … Rhythms for the shucking of the wheat and rhythms of the pounding of the bread.”

DeMaio and his drums also will march in IBEX Puppetry’s Endangered Species Parade.

So even if salad isn’t your bag, there will be plenty of non-leather bags from which to choose.