We’re so uplifted by our experience at the Parliament of World Religions, where we co-sponsored the first vegan banquet in over one hundred years and hosted an Interfaith Vegan Coalition exhibit booth. Read on for more good news and vegan advocacy highlights.

Our Interfaith Vegan Coalition and vegan meat company Good Dot co-sponsored a fully vegan banquet hosted by the Charter for Compassion. The response was so overwhelmingly positive that event organizers pledged to make future banquets vegan.

At our Interfaith Vegan Coalition booth, attendees sampled vegan food provided by new vegan meat company Good Dot, learned about our religion-specific faith-based vegan advocacy kits, experienced a museum exhibit on religion and animals, watched a trailer on the new documentary, “A Prayer for Compassion,” picked up vegan recipes, and joined our Carnivores Anonymous program for help with transitioning to a plant-based diet.

Check out our favorite vegan advocacy highlights from the Parliament:

• Rabbi David Rosen boldly urged fellow religious leaders to go vegan during an interfaith panel presentation.
• Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Neal Barnard, MD, presented his new concept of “universal meals,” which remove allergens to reveal the vegan meal within. 
• In an all vegan panel presentation on justice, Dr. Lisa Kemmerer, Dr. Alka Arora, Charlotte Cressey, and Candace Laughinghouse invited participants to include nonhuman animals in their concept of justice.
• During the closing ceremony, Swami Chidanand Saraswati declared that the next Parliament should be an all-vegan event!
• Read this blog for details about our Parliament experience.