SAN FRANCISCO-- The famous site of San Francisco’s old exposition center will be the home of the 4th iteration of the California Vegetarian Food Festival + Symposium, as this popular plant-based celebration arrives at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, a Non-Plus Ultra venue, on September 21.

Headlining the Apple Symposium Stage will be Dr. Will Tuttle. The visionary author of the best-selling book Healing Our World: A Deeper Look at Food, Tuttle is also a former Zen monk and the recipient of the Courage of Conscience award.

Anchoring the Vegan Athletes panel will be 6th degree black belt champion Mirko Buchwald. While still a teenager in Britain, he joined the anti-fox hunting group called Hunt Saboteurs. Now a vegan for more than 40 years, he can often be found teaching at his karate studio in Haight Ashbury.

Back by popular demand: Sid Garza Hillman, who will moderate a panel on raising vegan children. Sid is the Wellness Programs director at the Stanford Inn Eco-Resort, and also the race director of the Mendocino Coast 50K trail ultramarathon.

Other highlights on the Apple Stage: an environmental panel with Seed the Commons, led by Prime Roots co-founder Kim Le; and an interview with Grammy award-winning baritone Lucas Meachem. 

Over on the Pear Stage for cooking demonstrations, festival attendees can expect to learn from and sample tastes from innovative vegan chefs such as Elysabeth Alfano (known as the Silver Chic Chef), Lisa Brooks-Williams (Vegan Iron Chef award-winner), Timaree Hagenburger (Foodie Bar founder), Amy Kunde (Veggie Geeks founder), and Tirzah Love (private chef for the Sacramento Kings).

When it’s time to shake out the cobwebs, attendees can head over to the Mind Body Zone where they can join pilates and yoga classes. There will also be a designated meditation area, and a session on foot reflexology.

If you want to shake that tail feather instead, the Banana Stage will be featuring live music and entertainment. 

As always, the festival will feature a variety of vegan vendors handing out food morsels. Popular companies to look for will include Rescue Chocolate, The Cultured Kitchen, Vegan Veritas, and Kuli Kuli. And for the younger set, the Kumquat Kids Area will dish up arts and crafts, storytelling, and educational yet fun activities. 

New this year will be a designated pitch space—called The Kelp Tank—for budding entrepreneurs. 

Presented by U.S. Veg Corp, the California festival got its start at the famous Raleigh Studios in Hollywood and this year will make its debut in San Francisco.  “We’ve been presenting large-scale festivals like this for the past decade, and we love to discover fertile new grounds for the plant-based message,” says U.S. Veg Corp co-founder Sarah Feoli. 

In addition to the CA Vegetarian Food Festival, U.S. Veg Corp also produces the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival and the AZ Vegetarian Food Festival among other plant-based events. “Our purpose with every program is to inject excitement into the V-word,” she said. “It used to be the case that ‘vegan’ meant virtuous but bland. Not anymore!” 

Each festival also lends a platform to a variety of non-profit organizations engaged in any of the three main pillars of a vegan lifestyle: namely that veganism is ideal for one’s health, saves the animals, and keeps the planet greener. U.S. Veg Corp partners with a charity in one of those fields and holds a raffle to aid with fundraising. For this year’s California edition, the beneficiary is Project Wreckless.

The California festival will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 21. For further information or to purchase advance tickets, visit cavegfoodfest.com.