Bay Area Vegetarians’ Vegan Food Party (VFP) is a community-inspired gathering where new and old friends meet to share conversation and like-minded camaraderie over homemade vegan foods. Both members and guests (including veg*ns and non-veg*ns) are welcome to attend, as long as they bring a vegan dish to share.
And that’s the challenge for the party go’er.. deciding what to bring.
Alicia, who is hosting a Vegan Food Party this Sunday in San Rafael, has a straight-forward guideline for deciding what to bring: “Depends on location–if it’s close, I like to bring something hot. If it’s far, then I bring something that can be served cold or at room temperature.”
One of her favorite dishes is a linguine with a peanut sauce with steamed broccoli. The peanut sauce has peanut butter, rice vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes, olive oil, soy sauce, and water or veggie stock.
Cheryl, who is hosting a Vegan Food Party next month in Pacifica, shares her strategy: “I have selected what I bring to a food part a few different ways. The first time I went to a summer Vegan food party, I went online and searched Vegan Summer recipes and found a wonderful vegan potato salad and I still make it to this day. It was a wonderful way to find a new recipe that became part of my classic recipes. I have also made something that I had somewhere when I was out and decided to have a go and make it on my own without a receipe. It was a Cold Asian Tofu Marinate over rice and it turned out to be a huge success.
I think it is fun to try new ideas and create your own recipes, but I have also made something that I have made for myself in the past too! This upcoming party I am making something fun and that I have made in the recent past.”
There’s a variety of ways to decide what to bring. Tammy and Chris, who hosted the first-ever Vegan Food Party, share a couple of their ideas on how to decide what to bring: “Sometimes we need inspiration to try a new recipe, so we pick one that sounds interesting and bring it to the VFP to ‘animal test it’. Or, maybe it’s an excuse to make a favorite dish that we haven’t had in awhile, like macaroni and cheese. Because we both love vegan desserts, we’ll often bring something in that category, like brownies, chocolate mousse pie, cheesecake, apple cake, or pumpkin pie.”
So, join your fellow vegan food-lovers at an upcoming Vegan Food Party
02/06 VFP – San Rafael 
03/12 VFP – Pacifica 
Thanks to Cheryl for sharing her favorite potato salad recipe that she’s made twice for summer parties.
Vegan Calico Potato Salad
****SPICEY****
For the Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar (Red Wine Garlic)
1 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Sea Salt
Dash of hot pepper sauce
For the Salad:
2 lb. red potatoes, peeled, cooked, and cubed (Organic)
1 1/2 cups cooked whole-kernel corn (*Can)
1 cup shredded carrot (Organic)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced green pepper (organic)
1/2 cup diced red pepper (Organic)
1/2 cup sliced olives (Can)
For the Dressing:
• Combine all the ingredients. Cover and chill.
For the Salad:
• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.
To Assemble:
• Combine the salad and the dressing and toss to mix.
Makes 14 servings