I was pretty amazed to find a vegan market in Kyoto, Japan. After all, this is the land of fish stock. But I have to stay it was a pleasant surprise to know Kyoto is holding a vegan festival.
I was even more amazed to see how many people came to the market, locals and visitors alike. Everybody showed great interest in the festival and all that was sold there.
More so than anything – I was thrilled to discover new shops, bakeries, and restaurants that exist in the Kyoto area and offer full or partial vegan options!
By the way – this post is about the vegan market in Kyoto, but there are other markets in the city too. I wrote a whole post about the second-hand markets of Kyoto.
What & Where
This year’s vegan market in Kyoto was in Okazaki Park, near the iconic Heian Shrine. A beautiful location, ideal for celebrating the old and new attitudes in Kyoto! There were dozens of booths offering vegan food, desserts, pastries, ingredients, and products made without animal abuse. I was happy to support this concept by buying a lot of delicious food and ingredients – and man, I bought quite a few things there
Another aspect that impressed me was some booths displayed photos of animal abuse from various industries: pet breeding, circus training, livestock fattening, the fishing industry, as well as the infamous poultry, dairy, and meat industries.There was even a booth with a movie screening about animal rights. The NPO that oversaw it is the Animal Rights Center based in Tokyo.
Finally, it’s time to talk about the:
VEGAN FOOD!
So starting with what my Mom used to call “real food”: for lunch we (my husband and I) had curry noodles and yakisoba. Both were delicious, and only 700 and 600 yen, respectively!
If you plan to visit this market in the future, please note that some booths were sold out by 13:00. Therefore, if you want to be able to pick up your favorite dish out of this abundance, it’s better to get there early.
There were also vegan croquettes and other snacks you could enjoy alongside your lunch.
For dessert we had two delicious cakes: one was chocolate-orange and one tiramisu. However, this caught the attention of a sweet 3 year-old! Despite his parents’ embarrassment, he was constantly trying to become “our friend”. He was so cute!
We also bought ourselves “souvenirs”: Samurai ramen and grated vegan cheese. Although the cheese was not organic or anything like that, sometimes mental health is more important than physical – so we bought it
Free samples of vegan pancakes and vegan drinks were constantly being offered to us. We even found several booths that offered organic vegetables and gluten-free products – even a gluten-free patisserie!
Just so you know…
The market was held in early November, so beautiful autumn leaves of red, green and yellow were surrounding us everywhere. The journey to and from the park, along the canal and surrounding area, was wonderful on this bright sunny day.
The market started at 10:00am and finished at 16:00. I expect it is likely to be at the same time in the coming years too.
By all means: GO THERE EARLY! Most of the desserts and lunch sets were sold out by 13:00. Don’t let yourselves miss out on the most popular goods!
If you would like to receive information about upcoming markets (not only the vegan market in Kyoto) and other events in the area, make sure you subscribe to Blue Vagabond’s newsletter. You’ll always be updated!
See you next year!
Like the post? Great!
Share it with your friends and let me know what you think in the comments (:
No Comments