Veggies 39th Anniversary

Veggies was established as a fully vegan volunteer-led cooperative on 16th October 1984

Watch this space for events at Nottingham’s Sumac Centre and beyond.

This is what we got up on our 37th Anniversary Weekend in 2021

The Vegetarian Society says:

“Veggies Catering Campaign was set up in Autumn 1984 by four friends who were frustrated about the lack of vegetarian fast food available in Nottingham. Their intention was both to provide an ethical fast food stall in the city, and to take the veggie message to a wider audience by participating in demonstrations and gatherings. One of the first things the founders did was to take a giant veggieburger along to a Vegetarian Society protest outside the infamous Royal Smithfield show!

“Veggies has grown and evolved quite a lot over the last [26] years, but the ethical message has remained the same. All food served has been vegan from the start, and as minimally packaged and locally-sourced as possible and practical.

“In addition to producing the famous frozen burgers and sosages which are widely popular in Nottingham, compiling the Animal Rights calendar and Contacts Directory, helping run the Sumac Resource Centre, and fundraising for a range of good causes, Veggies has a tightly-packed events diary. The co-op provides food in all sorts of situations, from carrying boxes of samosas and cakes on protest marches, to cooking up a posh spread for a weddings and other parties. New volunteers are always welcome.”

From The History of Veggies:

In 1984, Tom and Clare from Nottingham’s animal rights group had the idea of presenting the manager of a local McDonalds with a huge veggieburger to represent an ethical alternative to the products of death and destruction sold there.

This was such a success that the logical next step was to do the same thing for the public every day, first from a mobile food van, then from early 1985 from a daily market stall, literally on the next street to McNasty.

Veggies has been a streetwise catering campaign ever since, reaching a highpoint with the 2006 Vegan Society Award as ‘Best Vegan Caterer’.

Many years of ‘campaign catering’ has kept Veggies on the front line. Whether driving along a drainage ditch to support campaigners protecting a peat moor, or jumping the barriers onto a reclaimed motorway, Veggies food always gets through.

From Peace News:

“While there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields”, said Tolstoy. This is why the vegan and peace movements are two sides of the same coin. “One struggle, one fight”, as they say in the animal rights movement.

Veggies has been seen at Molesworth US military base on a snow-strewn February morning in 1985; at Menwith Hill, Fylingdales and Aldermaston; at Faslane 365 and at Heckler & Koch offices in Nottingham, putting a spotlight on the world’s second largest supplier of small arms.

Veggies and Peace News have woven a path together through the decades. From PN’s time in Nottingham, not 100 yards from Veggies’ base at the Rainbow Centre – now evolved into the Sumac Centre, one of the emerging network of independent social centres – to catering for the first Peace News Summer Camp. Veggies’ summer tour also takes in the Animal Rights and Earth First Gatherings, Climate Camps and DSEi protests against the arms trade.

… and this is what we got up to in 2009

Friday 16th October to Sunday 18th October 2009
Veggies 25th Anniversary Weekend! Feeding the hungry without exploiting animals since 1984!

Friday 16th
* What’s Still Wrong With McDonalds – demos everywhere, including Vegan Free Food Give-Away in Nottingham.
* Benjamin Zephaniah Gig. 7pm-9pm at Djanogly City Academy, Sherwood Rise.
* Open Decks Disco. 9pm – Midnight.

Saturday 17th – Campaign Catering at these events:
* National Anti Fur March and Rally, London
* The Great Climate Swoop, Nottingham
* Target Brimar, Manchester Arms Trade Action
followed by:
* Saturday at Sumac : Party Like It’s 1984!
Food, music & drinks at the Sumac Social Club.
Acoustic jammers, Bedroom DJs and other musicians and entertainers welcome!

Sunday 18th : All Day Veggies Bunch and Workday at Brinsley Animal Rescue.

25th Anniversary T- Shirt (from 2009), featuring key events since 1984.

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