By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Several months ago, The Vegetarian Resource Group got an email that said, “I’m a programming librarian for the San Jose Public Library located in California. I was wondering if you would be interested presenting a few programs with us. From your website, I believe that you could inform people how to become a vegetarian, the benefits, how to manage it, answer questions, and other things. I’m thinking that you could provide information for teens and adults. Let me know if you would be interested in doing 2-4 programs for our library.” The email went on to explain that they wanted to do virtual programs.

     This sounded like an exciting opportunity to talk about vegetarian diets. After chatting with the librarian in charge of program development, we agreed to present a total of 8 programs – 3 for families, 2 for adults, and 3 for teens – all with a focus on being or becoming vegetarian. Each hour-long program was sponsored by a different branch of the library. Programs were free and open to anyone who signed up but were especially promoted to patrons of each branch.

     We decided to cover basic information – nutrition, reasons for becoming veg, easy ideas for meals and snacks – and to have a relaxed, conversational format. I took the lead in developing an outline and possible talking points and Power Point slides. Some weeks we went through all the slides; other weeks, we let the participants’ questions guide our presentation. What did people want to know about? Food ideas were the most commonly requested topics. Participants wanted ideas for quick-and-easy meals and snacks. We got questions about low-cost eating, about traveling to other countries, and about whether or not vegan meats should be a part of veg diets. Teens wanted to talk about being the only vegetarian or vegan in their family and about going to friends’ houses or out to eat with friends.

     One or more branch librarians joined us for each program. Some were vegan, some vegetarian, some-veg-curious. They helped with the technical aspects and often added their own questions and ideas.

     Wendy Gabbe-Day, a vegan parent with 2 vegan children and the founder of Santa Cruz (California) VegFest joined me for the 3 programs for families. She used her personal experiences to address questions about kids with allergies, strategies for getting children to eat vegetables, and feeding vegan kids. VRG interns Lucia Rivera, Nina Lehr, Clarissa Hauber, Hannah Etman, and Rachel Eldering joined me for adult and teen programs and talked about their experiences with vegan cooking and eating.

     Sometimes participants chimed in to share ideas for their favorite vegan dishes or to talk about products that they liked. We made sure to mention the library as a great resource for vegan cookbooks and encouraged people to visit VRG’s website for more information.

     Thank you to the Santa Jose Public Library for making these programs possible!