The Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale has made its way to Toronto, and I was at Toronto Vegetarian Association headquarters this afternoon to check out and pick up some yummy goodies! Founded in 2009, the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale is a 1-week event (April 23rd – May 1st, 2011) that provides the public with a chance to try some delicious sweet treats, gain knowledge about vegan baking and cooking, and to support local charities,organizations, and causes. Groups, retailers, and organizations from around the world participate in this event by baking vegan treats (many of which are also either organic, raw, gluten, nut, and soy-free, or all of the above) and using the proceeds from the sale to support and further the cause of their choice.
I’m so happy I got the chance to partake in this event this year! The Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale made its way to Toronto this past week at the TVA headquarters Wednesday evening, and will be making its way to Bloor and Bathurst at Panacea Eco Shop tomorrow from 1-4pm. If you’re interested in getting involved, I encourage you to go! There’s plenty of yummy eats to snatch up and it’s for a great cause. Panacea’s proceeds are specifically going to the Toronto Cat Rescue and I know for a fact that MANY of you are animal-lovers and are passionate about helping out animal shelters and rescue organizations, so I think it’s a great opportunity to get involved in the local community 😀
I had a great time reading up on baking ingredients while I was there and I had a veeeerry fun time picking out baked yummies to bring back home with me! There was plenty to choose from: maple pecan sticky blondies, oatmeal cookies, raw chocolate cake, and the items I ended up choosing. I chose some mini blueberry buckwheat muffins (for my mom), a banana chocolate chip muffin (for my brother), some chocolate minty melty cookies, and some DELICIOUS chocolate oatmeal white chocolate sandwich cookies (quite the mouthwatering mouthful…both verbally and literally, mmm!). It’s been so fun learning about vegan baking and ingredient substitutes for things like butter and eggs. I’m excited to try out some vegan baking of my own sometime. Meanwhile, I’m having just as much fun eating vegan sweet goodies!
What makes the experience rewarding for me is knowing what makes vegan baked goods VEGAN. It’s not enough just to SAY something is vegan the same way it’s not enough to claim something is “organic”. It’s important to educate myself when I can and conversely, I think it’s equally important to make this information accessible and available. Here’s a list of some of the ingredients used in these desserts that make them vegan: maple syrup, ground flaxseed, grapeseed oil, lemon juice, mint extract, and olive oil. I’m super happy I got to go to the bake sale today. After a miserable week of chillier temperatures and rain, it was beautiful and warm and sunny today and there was no way in hell I was going to pass up this opportunity. So here’s me reporting back with my goodies, and I hope those of you who are interested get to go to Panacea tomorrow! Happy weekend everyone!
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The Toronto Vegetarian Association is located at 17 Baldwin St. on the 2nd floor (just west of McCaul St.), literally next to Vegetarian Haven. Panacea Eco Shop is located at 588 Bloor St. West (on the north side), just west of Markham St. The nearest major intersection is Bloor St. West and Bathurst St. Click on the links in my blog post for more information on the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale, TVA, and Panacea.
Ate by Ate 