U.S. Veg Corp's Vegan Fest Bringing the Farm to the City

New York, NY, May 03, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Farm animals will find a place in the heart of the city, as the seventh annual New York City Vegetarian Food Festival presents two highly respected animal advocates, May 20-21 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea.

One speaker is Irina Anta. After graduating from Yale Law School, she joined the Compassion Over Killing (COK) organization as legal counsel. Her talk at the festival is titled "Introduction to Factory Farming."

COK works to protect farmed animals through litigation and undercover investigation. Most recently Anta assisted with an investigation of Superior Farms, exposing abuses at the largest lamb slaughter facility in the country.

A lifetime lover of animals, she became particularly passionate about farm animal issues in law school after watching documentaries about industrial agriculture. Now based in Washington DC, she is able to speak for the animals not only in English but in Russian, Spanish and Italian as well.

Another festival presenter is Gene Baur, co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary. For 30 years he has traveled extensively, campaigning to raise awareness about the abuses of industrialized factory farming and our cheap food system. Time Magazine has called him “the conscience of the food movement.”

He is also a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Baur grew up in Hollywood, earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology, and obtained a masters degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University.

Farm Sanctuary’s first rescued animal was a sick sheep who had been discarded on a pile of dead animals behind the Lancaster, Pennsylvania stockyards in 1986. The sheep, who regained her health and lived for more than 10 years, was named Hilda. Sanctuary team members raised funds for their fledgling organization by selling vegan hot dogs out of a VW van in the parking lot at Grateful Dead concerts, among other exploits.

Baur played a role in passing the first U.S. laws to restrict industrial animal farming systems. In 2002, he led a campaign in Florida to pass a ballot initiative banning gestation crates for pigs. He and Farm Sanctuary were also sponsors of California’s Proposition 2 to ban veal crates, gestation crates and battery cages, which passed in 2008 with more than 63% of the vote.

In 2012, Baur started competing in marathons and triathlons to demonstrate how plant-based foods can fuel top athletic performance. In July 2013, he participated in his first full Ironman Triathlon in Lake Placid, NY.

Baur’s best-selling books include Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day, and Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food. His festival talk will be based on these topics.

Other speakers at the festival will include physicians, professional athletes, vegan chefs, legislators, and dietitians. There will also be special children’s activities, a ballet performance, yoga classes, film screenings, cooking demonstrations, and book signings.

Additionally, the festival grounds will be packed with a variety of vegan vendors, offering cruelty-free clothing, beauty products, and food. Many of the food vendors will dish up free samples for attendees as they wind their way through the pavilion.

The New York City Vegetarian Food Festival is presented by U.S. Veg Corp, a production and marketing company which also founded and produces the Arizona and California Vegetarian Food Festivals. Additionally, it produces other plant-based events throughout the year including various vegan food competitions, Vegan Drinks Brooklyn, and other smaller scale events.

For more information on the upcoming New York festival or to purchase tickets, please visit http://nycvegfoodfest.com/index.php.
Contact
U.S. Veg Corp
Sarah Feoli
917-767-7283
www.nycvegfoodfest.com
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