Definitely highlight for me was seeing my boy Chef David Cressler Jr of Verdes Garden Fresh, the man is a genius with salad. I'm not normally a salad person (yes in the 20 years I was vegetarian and the last 9 years I've been vegan - I understand it sounds ridiculous) but this man can make even the strongest of non-salad believers see the light! It's not your traditional ingredients and dressing, David sources everything locally, even growing a lot of the produce himself. He marinades and sauces a lot of the salad ingredients separately then lovingly compiles them into a multi level taste sensation! Even my eleven year old daughter who hates mushrooms tasted his mushroom salad and said "your salad dude is a genius" LOL You want to make your kids eat their veggies - this is how! Look out for him at Bull Park Market and Jarboe Park Markets (both Jax Beaches).
Delicious fried rice and "chicken" from the Zen Butcher...
I very much enjoyed some GF vegan delights of Govinda's Cafe and then was dismayed when they said they are in Gainesville (Get out there people of Gainesville and get you some!)
I was excited to see so many GF options from the Nile Ethiopian Restaurant which I didn't even know existed - I will definitely be going there!
Had a delicious natural ice block from Guanabana Ice Pops, I totally flaked on taking a picture though - you have my word they were delicious! I had the guanabana flavor which was kind of like lychee.
And tasted some pretty choice kombucha by Mother Kombucha out of Gainesville (available in Winn Dixie, Publix and Earth Fare). I got the Blue Rose flavor, so good! As you know I like to support my local peeps and I can't get enough of Gnarbucha (loyal for life!) but they were there :( Also if you don't happen to live at Jax Beaches then you can find Mother Kombucha at your local!
A couple of amazing animal organizations were present such as Sage Sanctuary and Gardens for Education, CJ Acres Animal Rescue Farm and Community Unity Animal Sanctuary (go buy some of their awesome vegan t-shirts to raise money for their sanctuary).
Also had a nice chat to a guy from Green Chef which is a food delivery company that delivers ingredients and recipes straight to your door helping people create delicious vegan meals and they cater to a number of dietary restrictions which other companies don't seem to.
