Highlights from the Tacoma Vegan Bake Sale + Forks Over Knives

On May 1, the long-awaited Tacoma Vegan Bake Sale Benefiting Precious Life Sanctuary as a part of Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale took place at King’s Books. The event was a great time and a success as we ended up raising a total of $610 for the sanctuary! I recently volunteered there, so I know some animals who will definitely be benefiting from the generosity and kindness of all who made the event possible.

Beforehand, we planners (Joy, Lisa and myself) didn’t know what to expect, as Tacoma hasn’t had a previous vegan bake sale (that I’m aware of) and because we’d never done anything like this before. But so many people came in, bought bags of cookies, dropped off donations and were generally really happy that something like this WAS happening in Tacoma, which was one of the best things we heard all day.

The photos will speak for the event more than I can, so here they are. (All photos courtesy of very talented local photographer Roxanne Cooke, [zoomed images of baked goods] and co-planner/Tacoma Animal Rights Book Club Organizer Lisa Patton).

We had not one, but two literature tables! This was the second one, which had lots of "why vegan" info as well as fliers for upcoming events and a new Veg-Friendly Dining Out guide for Tacoma that Lisa made. We also highlighted some vegan titles available for purchase at King's Books and many of them sold. The first table had info about Precious Life Animal Sanctuary and an awesome video of photos and footage taken at the sanctuary by Dan, Joy's boyfriend.

Macaroons were hands down the most popular cookie choice for bakers and I think we had at least four varieties.

These were one of my contributions to the bake sale: Tomato Rosemary Scones from Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Vegan Brunch.

Co-planner Joy offered up some paradise cookies and gorgeous mini strawberry cheesecakes.

Other co-planner Lisa made a trio of cookies: Lazy Samoas from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, chocolate almond brittle and Raspberry Linzer Torte cookies (also from Isa/Terry's cookie book).

Roxanne contributed a few things to the bake sale including regular and mini-sized cupcakes, and these tasty chocolate chip cookies.

Visitors perusing the offerings.

Victoria (far left) invited many members of her family and they came in waves to pick up baked goods and enjoy them in good company!

Last but not least, King's Books' mascot (well, one of the two) Miko at one point just laid back and got comfortable in the middle of the event. Bake sales are exhausting for cute kitties.

We started out with 6 tables filled baked goods and kept removing them until eventually we were down to just one. We had a few leftovers, boxed them up and Lisa took them to this week’s Tacoma Food Not Bombs feed yesterday. We all had such a great time and I really have to thank King’s Books for letting us hold the event there, and also just for being so supportive of all the vegan things that are starting to happen in Tacoma. More special thanks go to: all the bakers, volunteers, people who passed out fliers and spread the word electronically or otherwise and to everyone who stopped in and helped the cause. We felt like it went so well (and also got many people asking when more events like this would be happening here), that we’re definitely already starting to plan more for later in the year, so be on the lookout for info about those!

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As some of you may have heard or read about already, the new documentary film “Forks Over Knives” opens nationwide on Friday, May 6. The movie explores the rise and increasing number of degenerative illnesses that are slowly taking over the country. The reason the film truly resonates with the vegan community is that it ponders treating these life-threatening diseases not with surgery or pills, but with plant-based food. It also highlights the lives of Dr. T. Colin Campbell (ever heard of a little book called The China Study?) and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic), their dedication to research on curing disease with whole, raw foods and interviews with individuals who are doing just that and succeeding.

An early preview of the film is showing tonight in Seattle at the Landmark Metro, but it will show again on Monday, May 9 and Friday, May 13 at the Varsity Theatre in Seattle. Check out the film’s website for times and exact locations and for those nearest you. I recommend carpooling and getting friends and family together to attend the screenings. It looks to be an inspiring and influential film, and I’ve heard nothing but great things from friends who’ve seen it already in other cities. Look for a review of it after I see it next week.

Next post: first giveaway and blog interview!