By Rebecca Kaplan, VRG Intern

The Vegetarian Resource Group held a lunch at Candle 79 on Sunday, May 6, 2012 to celebrate VRG’s 30th anniversary. About 30 members of The Vegetarian Resource Group gathered to discuss VRG’s initiatives, how the organization has grown over the past 30 years, and enjoy the all-vegan samplings at Candle.

With some squeezing VRG occupied almost all of the space on the second floor.

Many guests at the lunch had been involved with VRG for a long time, including Linda Long, the photographer for many of the magazine’s cover photos. She brought with her a bottle of champagne and two candles which read “30”, which was one option for the 30th anniversary cover of Vegetarian Journal this summer.

At the lunch, Debra Wasserman gave a speech filling guests in on many initiatives VRG has successfully completed recently, including providing nursing homes with information on making vegetarian meals. Simply Vegan, one of VRG’s titles, is going into its fifth edition soon, and has sold over 100,000 copies, a far cry from over twenty years ago, when it was first published, and Wasserman said, “many people didn’t even know what the word ‘vegan’ meant.”

The lunch was a great chance for VRG members in New York City to connect. Thank you to Heather Gorn for organizing this event.