At Second Annual Vegetarian Festival New Yorkers Can Learn Effective Advocacy
New York, NY, February 21, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Organizers of the New York City Vegetarian Food Festival announced recently that Ashley Byrne will be a featured speaker at the event, which will take place March 3-4, at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan. Bryne is the Campaigns Manager for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Her topic will be how the public can be more effective as animal advocates.
Byrne has held her position at PETA for the past 5 years. The job entails travelling around the world, encouraging kindness to animals through a vegan lifestyle. Everywhere she goes, she said, “I've realized that people are compassionate and don't want anything to do with industries that abuse animals.”
Oftentimes, people will pledge to become vegetarian on the spot, after she has shown them her photos or footage of the places where most farmed animals are raised. “They can see animals being confined in filthy conditions and tormented by the meat industry,” she said.
Byrne has been a vegetarian for 17 years and a vegan for 16. She grew up with dogs and cats, and came to a realization that those animals had a lot in common with the animals who were winding up on her dinner plate every night. Meat disappeared from her diet. When she learned--though books like Diet For A New America by John Robbins--that drinking milk supports the veal industry, and that male chicks are routinely suffocated or crushed to death by egg producers, she knew she wanted to try to do without dairy as well.
During her year-long transition to veganism, she would go without dairy and eggs for progressively longer periods of time but still eat those items on occasion. She recalled: “The last time that I ate cheese I hadn't eaten dairy in weeks, but my family had ordered a cheese pizza, and a grabbed a slice because I was feeling too lazy to make my own dinner. I got such awful stomach cramps that I could barely stand up straight! This actually happened twice, and after the second time I realized that even though I was going vegan for ethical reasons, eating a plant-based diet was really the healthier choice too.”
In the beginning, alternatives at the grocery store were fairly limited. Not so today. “If someone had told me that someday I would be able to choose from vegan options ranging from hot wings and mozzarella sticks, to caviar, truffles, and specialty cheeses, I never would have believed it!”
Byrne thinks she may have achieved her most perfect vegan meal ever, last Thanksgiving with a group of friends. They feasted on Tofurky, a Field Roast, a Gardien chicken pot pie, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, Brussels sprouts, apple-walnut-cranberry stuffing, pumpkin pie, vegan donuts, homemade chocolate bars, and vegan egg nog to finish it off.
She takes pride in her vegan approach to life. “Going vegan is an easy way to take a stand for what you believe in three times a day, every day, even if you are short on time or money!” she said. “Most of us believe in protecting animals from abuse, supporting human rights, and living an environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Choosing vegan meals means voting with your dollars against industries that abuse animals, exploit workers, and destroy the environment.”
Byrne’s presentation at the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival will take place on Saturday, March 3, 4-4:45 p.m. The Festival is presented under the auspices of U.S. Veg Corp.
For further information on the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival, visit, https://nycvegfoodfest.com. To purchase advance VIP tickets, go to https://nycvegetarianfoodfestival.chirrpy.com/.
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Her topic will be how the public can be more effective as animal advocates.
Byrne has held her position at PETA for the past 5 years. The job entails travelling around the world, encouraging kindness to animals through a vegan lifestyle. Everywhere she goes, she said, “I've realized that people are compassionate and don't want anything to do with industries that abuse animals.”
Oftentimes, people will pledge to become vegetarian on the spot, after she has shown them her photos or footage of the places where most farmed animals are raised. “They can see animals being confined in filthy conditions and tormented by the meat industry,” she said.
Byrne has been a vegetarian for 17 years and a vegan for 16. She grew up with dogs and cats, and came to a realization that those animals had a lot in common with the animals who were winding up on her dinner plate every night. Meat disappeared from her diet. When she learned--though books like Diet For A New America by John Robbins--that drinking milk supports the veal industry, and that male chicks are routinely suffocated or crushed to death by egg producers, she knew she wanted to try to do without dairy as well.
During her year-long transition to veganism, she would go without dairy and eggs for progressively longer periods of time but still eat those items on occasion. She recalled: “The last time that I ate cheese I hadn't eaten dairy in weeks, but my family had ordered a cheese pizza, and a grabbed a slice because I was feeling too lazy to make my own dinner. I got such awful stomach cramps that I could barely stand up straight! This actually happened twice, and after the second time I realized that even though I was going vegan for ethical reasons, eating a plant-based diet was really the healthier choice too.”
In the beginning, alternatives at the grocery store were fairly limited. Not so today. “If someone had told me that someday I would be able to choose from vegan options ranging from hot wings and mozzarella sticks, to caviar, truffles, and specialty cheeses, I never would have believed it!”
Byrne thinks she may have achieved her most perfect vegan meal ever, last Thanksgiving with a group of friends. They feasted on Tofurky, a Field Roast, a Gardien chicken pot pie, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, Brussels sprouts, apple-walnut-cranberry stuffing, pumpkin pie, vegan donuts, homemade chocolate bars, and vegan egg nog to finish it off.
She takes pride in her vegan approach to life. “Going vegan is an easy way to take a stand for what you believe in three times a day, every day, even if you are short on time or money!” she said. “Most of us believe in protecting animals from abuse, supporting human rights, and living an environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Choosing vegan meals means voting with your dollars against industries that abuse animals, exploit workers, and destroy the environment.”
Byrne’s presentation at the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival will take place on Saturday, March 3, 4-4:45 p.m. The Festival is presented under the auspices of U.S. Veg Corp.
For further information on the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival, visit, https://nycvegfoodfest.com. To purchase advance VIP tickets, go to https://nycvegetarianfoodfestival.chirrpy.com/.
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Contact
U.S. Veg Corp.
Sarah Gross
917 767 7283
www.usvegcorp.com
Sarah Gross
917 767 7283
www.usvegcorp.com
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