Montreal Vegan Festival 2020 To Be Held Exclusively Online From World Vegan Day!
Enjoy Cruelty-Free Conferences & Cooking Demos, Plant-Based Panels, and More via Facebook & FVM2020 Website on the 1st, 8th & 15th November
This 7th Edition Aims to Highlight the Benefits of the Vegan Lifestyle for Animals, Health, and the Environment
Montreal Vegan Festival 2020 is set to present a variety of vegan-themed events exclusively online, across three weekends in November, launching on World Vegan Day, Sunday, 1 November.
This digital edition will continue inspiring and informing the curious, experts and skeptics about the vegan lifestyle. After six editions, with the most recent two at the Palais des congrès, the Montreal Vegan Festival (FVM) will once again arouse curiosity and taste buds.
With new dates and new format, FVM 2020 offers a plant-based November on the 1st, 8th & 15th of the month. Via a series of free online videos on the festival Facebook page and website, the festival will feature a number of exciting vegan-related themed events such as; conferences, cooking demonstrations, panels with industry experts, as well as immersions among vegan families and other surprises!
“The health crisis that we experience has forced us to be creative. A gathering of over 10,000 people at the Palais des congrès was impossible. Accordingly, we turned to technology. We are going to bring the festival to the screens of people around the world, whether vegan, omnivore or somewhere inbetween’, stated Alexandre Gagnon, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the FVM. ‘Veganism continues to be topical with the pandemic and the environmental crisis we are going through. Veganism cannot solve all the problems of the world, but it could certainly help with many of them. World Vegan Day is the ideal opening date, and, with the flexibility of being an online event, we decided to spread out over 3 weeks to give our online guests time to properly absorb & share the messages we want to convey this year.”
Veganism’s popularity has increased since the covid-19 pandemic. Google states that vegan recipe searches in Canada have risen by over 25% this year alone. And almost 600,000 Canadians currently identify themselves as vegan according to researchers at Dalhousie University.
But what is veganism?
A lifestyle which refuses the consumption of products of animal origin or produced by the exploitation of them.
There are several reasons behind following a vegan lifestyle:
Ethics: The slaughter of animals to provide meat represents more than 2000 animals per second, or 65 billion animals each year according to the FAO. The high estimates are 150 billion animals including all species (fish, birds, etc.).
Health: “Animal protein increases blood cholesterol levels, something that most people are not aware of. They are the cause of heart disease.” According to Dr. T. Colin Campbell PhD in the documentary, Food Choices.
Environment: Livestock alone is responsible for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, more than the direct emissions of all forms of transport combined. Water pollution and deforestation are also considerable consequences.
The goal for this digital edition remains the same; facilitating access to veganism through events, expert speakers, culinary tips, and more. Thanks to a team of passionate volunteers, and online presence, FVM #7 is delighted to be able to offer these activities to an international audience despite the pandemic.
For more information, follow the Montreal Vegan Festival!
Facebook: facebook.com/festivalveganedemontreal
Instagram: instagram.com/fvmtl
Website: festivalveganedemontreal.com/2020
