Living in Romiley, we don’t really encounter many vegans so Ebony was pretty excited at the prospect of attending a vegan fair with other vegan children. Chorlton vegan fair happens every year, though we’ve never made it down before so didn’t really know what to expect. We thought we’d get there early to miss the crowds, but there was a queue when we arrived. There were lots of other children waiting in the queue so I was pleased Ebony wasn’t going to be disappointed.
The vegan fair is held at a pub, but most of the stalls are in the garden out back. It was a lovely sunny day in Manchester, and just perfect for lounging around and eating vegan food. As soon as we walked in I spotted an ice cream stall, so took Ebony over to get an ice cream. She never seems bothered when her friends have ice creams and she can’t, but it’s always exciting when she can have an ice cream cone when we’re out and about. Probably for the best that can't have it all that often though considering the gross dribble running down her chin in the photo.
Once she had a sufficient amount of ice cream smeared across her face, we walked over to the grassy area to see some friends. There were lots of circus toys lying around, and loads of vegan children fighting over the favourites. Ebony had a go on a unicycle, stilts and some other things I don’t know the names of. It was nice to see so many other vegan families enjoying the day. I think living where we do, it can sometimes feel a bit like Ebony is the only vegan child in the world. She kept pointing to kids and asking me if they were vegan.
We had a quick look round the stalls, but didn’t manage to find any burgers which was what I was really looking for. I really loved the bug hotel on one of the stores, I’ve been planning to make one with Ebony over the summer but all of the ones I’d seen were huge. This one is much smaller and looked quite easy to make so I think we’ll give it a go when we have a bit more time.
Ebony had been looking forward to having vegan cake all week, so after the ice cream, she decided she wanted a cake for dessert. A few years ago it seemed like every other stall at Manchester vegan events were taken up by cupcakes, but this year there weren’t quite so many. She managed to find one on the V Revolution stall, and savoured it while we waited in line for Teatime Collective. I’ve heard wonderful things about Teatime Collective but haven’t ever managed to make it down there. Hulme is just so far away; so I was excited to try out some of their food. Ebony chose a ‘steak’ and onion pie which she wolfed down, though I’m not really sure how she could possibly still have had room in her tummy for more food. The scones looked amazing but, in the end, I went for a cream slice and it was amazing. So good, I’ve been fantasising about it ever since.
Before we left, I went to see my friends over on the Palestinian Animal League Solidarity stall. The UK based organisation supports the Palestinian Animal League which is the only locally-run animal protection group based in the occupied Palestinian territories. They are working on some really exciting projects over there, and it’s all pretty inspiring. If you want to find out more about the ground-breaking work they’re doing, check out their Facebook page.
After we’d eaten our fill and finally managed to coax Ebony down from the stilts, it was time to leave. I was going back to Burnley for a friend’s birthday dinner party and needed to get a move on. When I got back to Burnley, I discovered one of my friend’s had made creme brulees for everyone for dessert, and she’d even made me a vegan one! Isn’t that lovely? So, all in all, it was a pretty good day food wise.
The only downside to the day was that Ebony really enjoyed seeing so many other vegan kids. A couple of days later, we found out she’s got a place at the local nursery, and when I told her she said, “Yay! Will there be other vegan children there?” Erm… No.
