The Bronx Vegan Bazaar hosted their vegan food expo on April 15 at Andrew Freedman home on 1125 Grand Concourse.
Billed as “the first vegan food expo in the Bronx,” the bazaar had a variety of holistic food options, apparel, jewelry and vegan-related books.
“We don’t have anything like this in the Bronx, and we don’t have access [to vegan food] in the Bronx,” said Raidirys McCray, founder of the Bronx Vegan Bazaar.
“Now we’re starting to get there, and I think that it has a lot to do with us pushing. And I just wanted to show how powerful we are in numbers […] And so I wanted to create a hub where it was multifaceted, where you can provide access, get education, create an opportunity for Latinos and black and brown people and everybody, to come invent and create money, or financial opportunities for themselves.”
The Bronx Vegan Bazaar was founded in 2020 by McCray. Through this experience, McCray has learned that the bazaar is like a form of resistance. Figuring out how to fight back the system, she realized that food is a battlefield – to be empowered and make better choices, one must nourish the body with organic nutrients.
“The energy is so beautiful. It’s just like meeting a tribe member […] everybody’s super intentional and conscious and wants the same thing. They just want to uplift up the borough and uplift each person that they interact with,” McCray said.
One of the vendors, Optimum Health Essentials, sells raw vegan food as well as cold-pressed juices made from locally grown produce. Ran by Latresa Baker, the business has been open for a year and a half, but she has been making vegan food and juices for herself for four years.
It began during her healing journey – she wanted to heal naturally from fibroids without the use of medication or surgery. She said she was able to expel two fibroids just from changing her diet, particularly using green foods in an interview with the Bronx Times.
Apart from vegan food, Baker also sells vegan-made products, such as natural toothpaste and chemical-free laundry powder and hair and body butter.
“When I started my business, I was like, ‘why don’t I continue to get these fresh produce and just use them in my business to assist other people in their healing journey and just share my story,’” said Baker said.
Across from Baker was a table filled with a plethora of vegan themed books. Vegan Village Books, run by Amanda Erekson, sells children’s books that are “vegan friendly” – in other words, they do not depict the use of animals for food, labor, or entertainment.
Erekson has been vegan for over 21 years and was vegetarian for 12 years before that. As a child, she always felt bad about animals being hurt or killed for food. When she grew up, she began learning about the food industry, specifically how animals are treated to obtain eggs or milk.
“As an example, when my child was a baby, I ordered some picture books about New York City. And before you receive them – when you order them online – you can’t see all the content,” Erekson said. “When it came, one of the books showed horse drawn carriages in Central Park, and I didn’t want my vegan baby to see that at that age. And so then I thought, ‘okay, how can I find books about New York City or about any other topic that are vegan friendly?’”
Towards the end of the hall sat Gracey’s Culinary Specialities. Ran by Gracey Acheampong, her business is based in the Bronx Terminal Market. Her business began grew from a hobby to her full-time job in 2016.
She calls herself a “curious vegan” – through her African heritage, she learned that African foods are the most vegan. At her table, she sold jollof rice, tofu, chickpea salad, and Akara, a famous West African fritter.
“I just want to show [that] as much as I’m not fully vegan, I love vegan food, and I want to show [this] part of Africa. Let everybody know we have a lot of vegan food from Africa,” Acheampong said.
For more information on the Bronx Vegan Bazaar and future dates, visit https://www.thebronxveganbazaar.com/.
