Eat green together

Eating is one of the most important activities in our lives. Not only to stay alive, but also for our social contacts. There are a lot of possibilities and habits in having meal. Sometimes we eat alone, sometimes with friends or family. Some days it has to be fast, other days we take hours to prepare and dine. And then I haven’t even talk about what we eat. An upcoming trend in the Western world is eating vegetarian. To promote vegetarian food, the Dutch Bond for Vegetarians organised ‘the longest vegetarian table’. A record attempt to create the biggest vegetarian meal in the Netherlands ever. A giant table was set up in the centre of Amsterdam to host more than 600 people; everybody was invited to join in. So together with fellow-blogger Lisa, I went to Amsterdam help break the record.

Nature & More sponsored the event with 180 kilograms of organic vegetables! There were tomatoes from Jeroen en Annie (code 555 at www.natureandmore.com), cucumber from Fons Verbeek (code 166) and bell peppers from Ruud van Schie (code 550). Thanks to these vegetables and the good cooking of all the volunteers, the table looked really great. Hummus, quinoa salad, hot carrots, vegetarian kebab and grilled vegetables were served. The food tasted delicious, even the non-vegetarians had to admit that! An enthusiastic and public of mostly adults with a vegetarian lifestyle was present. I was a bit surprised to see that most of the visitors were over 30, I expected more people in my own age category. The only minor point was the Dutch summer; suddenly thick raindrops started falling into the quinoa and a bit later we were in the middle of thunder and rain. We decided not to surrender to this climate change. Most people stayed and enjoyed their dinner under cover of their umbrella's, or even under the table like we did!

The purpose of the event was not to force people to follow a vegetarian lifestyle, but to make them aware of the good taste of vegetarian food. To let people think about what it means to eat meat. And to let people choose for a vegetarian meal, even it is only a few times in the week or month. It was a great opportunity to make an introduction in the vegetarian kitchen and lifestyle. A lifestyle that contribute to people, animals and environment in a healthy and responsibly way. Starting together in the centre of Amsterdam.