IVU and Vegsource - together at last!

In October 2012 the 40th IVU World Veg Congress will join with the Vegsource Healthy Lifestyle Expo in Los Angeles, California.

We’ll be in San Francisco for the SF Veg Festival the previous weekend – October 6-7 for that one, then a short flight down to LA for the weekend of Oct. 12-14 for those that want to go to both. Both events will have some extra days for more talks, workshops, and sightseeing trips.

Here’s Jeff and Sabrina, who set it all up in LA, and the 2011 Expo in full swing:

The link between IVU and Vegsource goes back to 1998, when we were looking for somewhere to put the IVU website. Jeff and Sabrina offered us free space on their Vegsource.com server, and we’ve been there ever since. Along the way we’ve also been able to provide space for some of the smaller local groups that are members of IVU, and Vegsource has hosted a whole bunch of other veg groups and individuals.

The International Vegetarian Union was already 90 years old in 1998, and Vegsource was still in its infancy but, as so often happens, the youth are more up to speed with new technology than us oldies …

A few years later the first Vegsource Health Expo was held in Los Angeles, and as the IVU Congresses rotate around the world, we soon started talking about combining them for one year. We even talked about moving both of them over the border to Mexico at one time, but never quite seemed to be able to tie it down. Until this year.

When we realised the Expo would be the weekend after the San Francisco Festival it was a no-brainer. We’re on our way!

A couple of years ago Hazel and I managed to get over to LA to stay with Jeff and Sabrina for a few days, then took the short flight up to San Francisco. We stayed there with Jeff’s parents, an amazing couple, and met up with everyone from the SF Vegsoc. That's Hazel following the stars on the right....

If you join us in LA this year we begin with a bus tour on Thursday October 11, which will include an encounter with some rescued wolves, the Getty Museum, the superb Native Foods for lunch, Venice Beach, Hollywood, Universal Studios - all hosted by Chef AJ.

There are plenty of other attractions in the Los Angeles area of course, anything from Disneyland to the wolf sanctuary – rescued from being shot in Alaska apparently. So you can find plenty more to do if you want to stay on longer.

On Friday October 12 we have 'International Day' with speakers from around the world, see below for the program.

Saturday and Sunday, Oct 13/14 will be the great VegSource Healthy Lifestyle Expo with top-name speakers including John McDougall, MD; Neal Barnard, MD; Caldwell Esselstyn, MD; Michael Klaper, MD; Jeff Novick, MS, RD; Brenda Davis, RD; John Robbins - along with cooking demos and more (even a talk by me on vegan history).

All of this will be at the Warner-Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills:

Here's the program for Friday October 12:

9.00-9.45 - Opening panel with representatives from Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America -- Introduction to the International Vegetarian Union (IVU) and World Vegetarianism and Veganism, with photos of veg activities around the world. Panel members to include: - Marly Winckler, President of the Brazil VegSoc; Chair of the IVU Council - Saurabh Dalal, President of the VegSoc DC, USA; IVU Deputy Chair - Susianto Tseng, President of the Indonesia VegSoc; IVU Asia-Pacific Coordinator - Emmanuel Eyoh, President of the Nigeria VegSoc; IVU Africa Coordinator - Dilip Barman, President of the Triangle VegSoc, NC, USA; IVU North America Coordinator - Shabari Saha, UK, IVU Liaison Officer for Europe - John Davis, UK, IVU manager
9.45-10.45 - Brazil! - Marly Winckler, Monica Buava and Alex Fernandes on "Preservation of the Amazon Rainforest", "Segunda Sem Carne" (Mondays Without Meat campaign) and "Who we really are"
10.45-11.00 - coffee
11.00-11.30 - Dr. Susianto Tseng, Indonesia - "Role of Tempe Formula as a Source of Vitamin B12 and its Implementation for Vegetarian Diet"
11.30-12.00 - Emmanuel Eyoh, Nigeria - "The Vegetarian Movement in Africa"
12.00-12.30 - Aris la Tham, Jamaica/Costa Rica - "My Raw Food Plate - How To Develop A Vegan Raw Food Dietary Plan In Accordance To The USDA My Plate Nutritional Guidelines"
12.30-1.30 - lunch
1.30-2.00 - Dr. Annie Potts, New Zealand - "Vegan Sexuality: What It's About and How it Challenges Meat Culture"
2.00-2.30 - Saurabh Dalal, India/USA - "Diet and Environmental Connection from a Science-based Perspective"
2.30-3.15 - closing panel, questions for all speakers
time for a swim, then 6.00pm dinner by the pool

For all details of the IVU days in Los Angeles at: http://www.healthylifestyleexpo.com/ivu.htm - just click on 'home' for the full Expo weekend.

Do come and join us!

For more on the both California sessions - San Francisco and Los Angeles - see: www.vegetarianvegan.org

For vegan history, see my free e-book: ‘World Veganism – past, present and future.” You can download it for free, or replace your existing copy at: www.ivu.org/history/Vegan_History.pdf (6mb)

IVU on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalVegUnion