VegOut! Portland Vegan Food Festival 2019

VegOut was back in Portland recently for round two! For the 2019 festival, VegOut Portland changed things up from last year’s festival, bringing more out-of-state food vendors and vegan booze to the 2-day festival in Holladay Park. I partnered with VegOut to host a couple Instagram giveaways and received a pair of tickets in exchange. However, all the food I enjoyed at VegOut Portland were purchased out of my own pocket. As always, all opinions are my own.

On the morning of VegOut, I threw on a cute outfit, then promptly switched to another outfit when I came to my senses and realized this not a day for skinny jeans and a crop top, haha. I arrived at the festival armed with my “to eat” list, which comprised of vendors that were visiting from California. Many Portland restaurants were participating as well and serving up specials for the festival, but a girl’s only got so much stomach room. To prep for the festival, I had two green smoothies the day before and a small smoothie the morning of because I knew I wouldn’t be eating salads at VegOut Portland. Don’t worry, everything you see here was shared with friends. Sharing is caring. ;) Also, too funny that we all showed up at the festival with foil and tupperware to take food to go.

Check out my VegOut Portland highlights on IGTV!

Man Eating Plant

My first snack of the day was excellent! Lotus-steamed buns with fried beer-battered king oyster mushrooms with cashew hoisin, pea sprouts, cilantro, scallions, pickled chilis, and roasted chili oil. Man Eating Plant was also serving chili garlic noodles, but I did not try them. I heard that the noods were really good too, but don’t make the mistake of starting your day at VegOut with an entire entree of noodles.

Avocadamama

I’ve heard good things about Avocadamama, and I was looking forward to trying them at VegOut… but this was disappointing. I shared the jalapeno taco mac and had a bite of the buffalo cauliflower mac that friend’s ordered. In both cases, the noodles were overcooked and everything was swimming in a pool of greasy sauce. It is rare for me to complain about too much sauce. Maybe Avocadamama was off their game that day?

Veggie Fam

Next up, Veggie Fam’s original hot fried chick’n sandwich. Not as hot as I was expecting, and the texture of the chicken patty was denser than I would have liked. But overall, this sandwich on a brioche bun with slaw and pickles was not bad. This was a good one to wrap up and take to go as it held up pretty nicely.

Evolution Burger

This is not my best burger photo (I blame the food coma), but this one from Evolution Burger was a damn good burger. Keep in mind that VegOut Portland was the weekend after Portland Burger Week, some of us were a little burnt out from burgers (lol). I only had one bite, but it was tasty AF. Nicely cooked Impossible patty, classic toppings, very saucy, plus a slice of soy bacon. To be honest, I don’t love the look of the bacon, but hey, it tasted good.

Cena Vegan

Ahh, Cena Vegan, I’ve been eating to eat you for a very long time. The burritos and tacos were tempting, but I think we picked a winner with the loaded nacho boat. Plenty of chips, refried beans, pica de gallo, seitan carne asada, cashew chipotle crema, and guacamole. One of the guacamole balls got a little squished, but in my eyes and stomach, it’s still perfect.

Eat Love

Before I went vegan, one of my favorite guilty pleasures was fried chicken and sparkling wine. Thank you Eat Love for making my vegan fried chicken dreams come true. I mean, look at the batter on this house-made wheat-based chicken. Real tasty with the dipping sauces. I wish we had something like this here in Portland. I brought leftovers home so I could relive my fried chicken and bubbly pairing days.

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A post shared by Waz Wu | vegan food + living (@waz.wu) on Sep 4, 2019 at 8:53pm PDT

This is what true love looks like…

Note: I received a free ticket to VegOut! Portland in exchange for hosting an Instagram giveaway. This was not in exchange for a positive review and all opinions expressed here are my own.