The Jerusalem Post - The Jerusalem Post Magazine
Planting a vegan notion
In case you haven’t noticed, this little country of ours can proudly lay claim to being one of the most vegan-friendly places on Mother Earth. Even you animal product eaters out there must surely have taken in an eyeful – if not a mouthful – or two of the plethora of plant-based vittles out there, particularly in Tel Aviv. But just in case that hasn’t entirely registered with you, you get can the lowdown on how to get by, happily, without killing animals and milking them for all they are worth by popping along to Vegan Fest next week (June 5-6). The event, which has been dubbed “the world’s largest vegan festival,” and which is expected to attract 50,000 people, will take place at Tel Aviv’s trendy Sarona spot. There will be dozens upon dozens of stands dotted around the site laden with delectable bites that should leave even the most diehard carnivores licking their lips. At least that is what Omri Paz expects to happen. And there will be a slew of health- and vegan-related workshops over the two days, as well as kiddies’ activities and music shows, and – besides the food – all gratis.
Paz is not only the organizer of the mega-event, he also is the brains and heart driving the Vegan Friendly nonprofit that has been a major shaker and mover behind the meteoric rise in veganism in these parts over the past seven or so years.
Not that Paz has been keen to circumvent animal products since his cradle days. “I was a law student in Jerusalem and ate meat, everything,” he says.
His carnivorous world came crumbling down around him after catching a no-nonsense video by American vegan activist Gary Yourofsky. Paz suddenly realized the sort of – for want of a harsher word – shenanigans that went on in slaughterhouses, farms and other facilities along the way between the living animal stage to meat dinner, or ice cream, cheese or just a glass of good old cow’s milk.
“I decided that very day that I would no longer eat any animal-based food,” Paz recalls.
It wasn’t just a matter of abstaining from anything that comes from animals for himself. Paz wanted the whole world, or as many people as possible, to follow in his tracks, even if it had implications for his academic progress.
“I started Vegan Friendly a few months later,” he explains. “I dragged my law degree studies on for seven years because I became very involved with Vegan Friendly.”
The then-Hebrew University student had to start from scratch. “I checked out vegans on Facebook, and I saw there were a few thousand out there in the various groups.”
Suitably fired by the discovery that he was not entirely alone in his plant-based universe, Paz got stuck into things, and naively believed that all he had to do was the get the word out, educate the less well-informed, and all would be well. He was quickly disabused of that fanciful notion.
“It was all new, and I thought that anyone who didn’t know about this, about what was going in the food industry, would immediately
switch to veganism. I drafted a flyer and I gave a lecture about it in the law department at my university.”
Paz notes that, today, a full 5% of Israelis are vegans, with the same number of vegetarians. But back then, when he “saw the light,” his newfound plant-based dietary habits drew some astonished responses.
“Yes, some people used to say things like ‘What do you eat?’ But that doesn’t happen now. I think almost everyone either has a vegan in their family or knows someone vegan.”
TODAY, THE Vegan Friendly label is a common sight on product packaging and on the doors and windows of eateries that cater to vegan clients. “There are over 50 restaurants in Tel Aviv that are completely vegan, and over 500 around the country that serve vegan food,” says Paz
Over the years, Paz says, plant-based foods and the catering for such foods have become part of Israeli mainstream culture.
“If you got to a restaurant and ask if they have vegan dishes, even if they don’t, they will know what you are talking about. In that sense, veganism is a fixture here. And not just in Tel Aviv. The leading restaurant and café chains in Israel all have vegan items on their menus.”
There is some national pride to be had, too.
“Tel Aviv, twice, was recognized as the most vegan-friendly city in the world,” Paz notes, adding that we can all be proud of how things have developed here over the last few years. “I am very happy to be living in such a vegan-friendly country, and I am happy that I helped to move things in the right direction.”
If you are still wondering what vegans have to eat, get yourself over Sarona on June 6 and 7. As a former vegetarian myself who adored the really pungent moldy French cheeses, I saw over time that more and more vegan cheeses began appearing on the shelves of health food stores, and gradually even supermarkets. And people who – despite their enlightenment about animal suffering and other negative effects of eating animal-sourced food – still pine for something meaty, there are today plenty of meat substitutes out there too.
Paz says that veganism offers across-the-board benefits. “This is not just a trend. Veganism is growing and will continue to grow because of the ecological aspects.”
Indeed, it is said that meat cultivation uses enormous quantities of water – some believe that takes in half of the world’s water resources. And bovine effluence, from both ends of the cow, is one of the biggest contributors to global warming.
“More and more people are aware of that today,” Paz suggests. “That is something that is not open to debate. 99% of people support protecting the environment. Almost everyone wants to prevent cruelty to animals. It is a matter of exposing people to the facts on the ground. All these patterns have been on the up since 2000. There is absolutely no downside to veganism. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”
Paz may be right about that, but there are still plenty of people who
“need” their daily dosage of meat, and who either don’t know, or don’t wish to know, how their steak ended up on their plate.
MERAV BARZILAY is just as optimistic as Paz. She owns the Meshek Barzilay vegan restaurant on Tel Aviv’s Ahad Ha’Am Street. She says there are health-related, ecological and moral advantages to adhering to a dietary regime that does not involve or harm animals. “That’s the great thing about this, that all these worlds fuse. That’s what happens when you do something right. The good things come from every which way.”
She says she gets all sorts dropping in to her eatery.
“We get lots of tourists, both from abroad and other parts of the country. A lot of non-vegans come by because they want get closer to it, and are gradually drawn to it. It’s such a pleasure to feed non-vegans vegan food, and to show them that you don’t have eat animal-based dishes in order enjoy a perfect culinary experience.”
Even so, Barzilay says she is struggling to bring in the older crowd.
“I’d say the vast majority of our customers are in the 20 to 50 age bracket.” Perhaps there will be some “Third-Age” visitors to Sarona next week who may be swayed.
Barzilay, who will be running a cookery workshop at Vegan Fest, says she is excited by the new event.
“It is a great honor to be part of a pioneering movement. I have the greatest respect for Vegan Friendly, for the amazing work in furthering veganism. It is really worthwhile taking part in the festival. I want everyone to come!”
Paz happily notes that the 100 or so business ventures that will offer their wares at very affordable prices at Vegan Fest include some of the most exclusive names in the local food sector.
“What is really amazing is that, besides the food manufacturers, we managed to bring some Israel’s most acclaimed vegan restaurants – 416, Anastasia, Meshek Barzilay and Bana. And there’s Belgian Falafel, which is like a Belgian waffle, only with falafel.” Sounds intriguing.
Bana will be laying out some of its wares at the festival. Co-owner Ella Yerushalmi says the Tel Aviv restaurant, which opened a couple of years ago, came about through a basic lack of supply in the area.
“We eat plant-based food at home, without processed ingredients, and we couldn’t find anywhere that served that kind of food on a day-to-day basis, so we decided to open our own place.” Fair enough. Personal welfare also comes into the equation. “Eating vegan for us primarily means being healthy,” Yerushalmi continues. “It is a matter of respecting our body and ingesting materials that are nutritious without weighing down the system.”
Despite her own life philosophy, Yerushalmi says that Bana is not looking to proselytize anyone.
“We did not open the restaurant in order to persuade people to become vegans or force any ideology on the diners. We just wanted to serve plant-based food because that’s our own nutrition choice. We feel it’s no longer a niche thing to serve vegetables.” IF YOU’RE looking for a dessert after having your NIS 35 main portion from one of the festival stands, you might want to saunter over to the Ilo Ice Cream stand, where Rotem Yakobovitz and her French-born husband, Eli, will be only too happy to offer you a scoop or two of any of the 10 coconut-based flavors they produce at their Kibbutz Hagoshrim business in the Upper Galilee.
Rotem spent 13 years in the US and France, and caught the vegan bug in the States.
“I spent 10 years there, and I found an ice cream I really liked that was based on coconut milk,” she says.
She also found love during her lengthy Stateside sojourn, and eventually she and Eli moved to Paris. When they decided to immigrate to Israel, and began to think about ways of making a living here, Rotem remembered her favorite snack back in the States.
“I suddenly had this vision of that ice cream in America, and of trying to make something like that in Israel.” The Yakobovitzes promptly got down to brass tacks, even though there were a few bumps en route. “I had no idea, really, how to go about it, so I did a lot of trial by error stuff,” she laughs. “I threw a lot of stuff out.” But she stuck to her guns, and by the time they came here, the couple had a half-dozen tried-and-tested flavors in their creative desert locker.
Rotem says she thought their clients would be exclusively vegan, but notes they get all sorts.
“Most of our customers are people who are looking for healthy options. Most of them are not vegans. Some might be sensitive to milk or other things and, of course, there are religious people who want to have pareve [non-dairy] desserts.”
The Yakobovitzes are looking forward to the grand event at Sarona, and Rotem says they will be rolling out their latest commercial baby.
“Until now we have only sold ice cream in boxes, but we now have an ice cream cart, and we’ll selling scoops in Tel Aviv. That should be fun.”
Meanwhile, Paz is looking forward to everyone having a delicious time at Vegan Fest, and harbors hopes of the two-dayer – with its range of free activities, entertainment and vast spread of cuisine – helping to draw ever more people into the veganism domain.
“I have no doubt that will be people who will become vegans after the festival,” he declares. “When you are talking about so many visitors, that’s inevitable.”
And anyone who entertains thoughts of changing their eating habits will find all the help they need from such ventures as Etgar 22+, which provides support for people trying out the vegan lay of the land. Paz says, regardless, he hopes everyone has fun at Sarona.
“They will see all the vegan options out there and all the abundance of dishes you can enjoy as a vegan. You don’t need more than that.”
For more information: vegan-fest.co.il.