After the amazing success of Viva!`s Incredible Veggie Roadshow in Solihull, Coventry campaigners were keen to keep the momentum up with another Midlands event that would inspire people to change their diet!

The Coventry Free Veggie Food Fair took place on Saturday 2 April 2005. The event was combined with many other cruelty-free attractions under one roof, which all helped to make the day a huge success.

The front of the venue was made to look as inviting and colourful as possible, with bunting, flags, streamers and banners. Nobody could fail to notice there was a special event on! Posters and A-boards advertising the event were displayed across the city. And whilst some volunteers distributed flyers, others walked around the immediate area with vegan samples to whet the appetite of potential veggie/vegans and encourage them in to sample lots more! All of this certainly paid off as the crowds flooded in all day!

Around 300 people attended the event and they were falling over themselves to sample the wide range of food on offer. Everything from pizza, quiche, samosas to soup, nut roast & various sandwiches. Also cheetin cheese/sausage on sticks and a range of bootiful cakes incl chocolate & brandy 'cheese' cake and black forest gateux! The public was scoffing the food as quickly as volunteers in the kitchen could get more cooked/prepared and on the tables!! The food supply had totally run dry by the end of the day!

Whilst people enjoyed their veggie feast, they were encouraged to fill in a short questionnaire about the day. 70 such questionnaires were handed in throughout the day, which gave the organisers an idea about how successful the day had been at changing the publics diet and will help them plan future events. Most people attending the event seem to have been meat eaters, and many of them said they would be eating more veggie/vegan food in the future. Several said they were determined to turn vegan!!

As advertised beforehand, the event was always going to be far more than just a free veggie food fair, and it didn`t disappoint!! There were stalls from various groups including the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, Viva!, Coventry Greenpeace and the grassroots vegan campaigning group Realfood. Vegan goodies on offer included chocolate, cosmetics, T-shirts, toiletries, books and campaign merchandise like leaflets, stickers, posters etc. A tombola raised over £70 which helped to pay for the food and hire of the venue.

Whilst all this was going on upstairs, a downstairs room was set aside for various talks and workshops throughout the day. Geoffrey Thomas of the Dr Hadwen Trust gave a talk to a packed room, about the alternatives to using animals in medical research. And especially for the many young children at the event, a Fruity Faces Food Workshop gave them a chance to learn about, be creative with and eat various fruits.