A Week of Feed-Ins: COK Serves 1,500 Vegan Food Samples to Los Angelenos

COK kicked off the month of June by dishing out over 500 vegan pizza samples from Cruzer Pizza along with hundreds of Compassionate Choices and Easy Vegan Recipes to West Adams Preparatory High School students at its International Issues Advocacy Fair. We offered a variety of familiar flavors — BBQ chicken, Philly Cheese Steak, Hawaiian, Meat, and Margherita — and each one was a hit! Students were amazed by the taste and empowered to learn about the benefits of choosing plant-based foods. Plus, they were excited that Cruzer Pizza is only minutes away from school.

A few days later, on June 13, COK visited the Beryl Heights Elementary School to attend the Kinder-Carnival. We were greeted with hundreds of smiling young faces eager to taste the kid-friendly–and animal-friendly-snacks that we brought along including Gardein chicken nuggets, veggie dogs, celery and “cheese” dip, cinnamon raisin toast with Tofutti cream cheese and Earth Balance butter, and dairy-free chocolate milk. The kids kept coming back for more, quickly devouring our more than 500 food samples–we even made Daiya cheese quesadillas on the spot. This peaked their parents’ curiosity who were delighted to find out that their kids were enjoying healthy foods, many of which were allergy-friendly, and asked where they could buy these products. One parent who described herself as a “steak and potatoes girl” told us she now plans to eat vegetarian foods for at least two days a week.

COK’s next stop was the Westwood Subway restaurant near UCLA, the most highly-trafficked franchise in the country. We handed out nearly 450 delicious Tofurky sandwiches to passersby and Subway customers along with fliers asking them to support our WeLoveSubway.com campaign. Several people were so excited about the idea of Subway offering veggie deli slices that they immediately went into the restaurant to talk with the manager. That same day, we also received several comments on WeLoveSubway.com from Los Angelenos including this one:

“Received the Compassionate Choices pamphlet. Thank goodness there are people who care about the humane treatment of animals. After seeing the horrendous cruelties committed by factory farms, I have become more interested in vegetarian options.”

A West Adam’s student chooses an Easy Vegan Recipe for dinner.

Hungry high-schoolers crowd the table for vegan pizza samples.

Volunteer Erica Ann serves gelatin-free peanut butter crispy treats.

Volunteers Jessica and Melissa serve sandwiches to a curious Subway customer.

 
A Subway employee expresses that adding Tofurky deli slices is “a good idea.”