GUEST: Crystal Kozlak is program manager for the Food for Thought program at Animal Place, a farmed animal sanctuary in Grass Valley, California. Crystal became inspired to go vegan after taking an animal ethics course during her undergrad at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Crystal worked as a campaign coordinator for Animal Place's Brave the Cage campaign for 2 1/2 years educating college students about the egg industry. Crystal is also the event producer of Vegan Oktoberfest 2021. And she volunteers with Long Beach Water Wagon, delivering essential supplies to her homeless neighbors.

MAIN QUESTION: Why should animal organizations consider serving vegetarian or vegan food at their events?

TAKEAWAYS:

• Food for Thought is a campaign that encourages animal organizations to serve only vegan or vegetarian food at their events.
• The idea behind the campaign is that animal organizations’ missions are to help animals so their communities look to them to set standards for the treatment of animals. Serving vegan or vegetarian food is consistent with this mission as it shows compassion for all species of animals.
• Food for Thought offers grants for organizations to test out serving veg-only food for an event as well as grants for formally adopting a veg-only policy. 
• Supporters attend events to support an organization’s mission. They are not attending for the purpose of getting a meal. Most people are fine skipping meat for a single meal – and, in fact, more and more people are doing this in their own lives.
• To cater veg food successfully at your events, two tips that may help would be to search for local restaurants that serve vegetarian or vegan in your community and looking into hiring them to cater an event. Another tip is to stick with foods that are naturally plant-based such as pasta with marinara or a taco bar with corn tortilla shells, beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado.

LINKS:

• Animal Place 
• Food for Thought campaign 
• Food for Thought grant opportunities for food at events and for adopting the Food for Thought policy 
• List of animal-friendly food companies that offer assistance with plant-based food donations, coupons, and recipes 
• Leadership recommendation: "How to Resolve Workplace Conflicts" by SHRM