IEPER HARDCORE FEST

Proud BE Vegan Lifetime Achievement Award winner!!

We are proud and amazed to win the very first edition of this prestigious award. True fact, Ieperfest has been offering plant-based food since its very first edition back in 1992!! Rooted deeply in the international hardcore scene, it seemed very logic to us to do so. The OGs that were around that day listened to bands like EARTH CRISIS, CONFLICT, YOUTH OF TODAY, etc. Those all stressed the importance to live a meatless/plant-based cruelty free lifestyle. Even if not all of us in the collective were vegan at that time (and still not today to be honest), it was thé way for us to do things. No blood on our hands, and we wanted to share that with the bands and audience.

Green policy
Ieperfest has received lots of praise for its efforts to reduce & prevent waste. The ethical side of not consuming any animal products is one thing; the world and climate as a whole also benefit from it. So many studies have proved that a shift towards plant-based protein is not only way healthier for us humans, it’s also largely decreasing our ecological footprint.

We need to thank dozens of volunteers that spent their precious time taking care of the Ieperfest catering. Some of them saw an opportunity to launch a professional career on the side afterwards, others were grassroots die-hards that only cared about the vegan message and wanted to spread the wonders of delicious vegan food.

Let’s not be overly optimistic, a majority of the Ieperfest crowd is not really interested in the catering and doesn’t care at all. However, there have been sooo maaaaaany visitors that praised us for the amazing food selection we offer, and how it influenced their diet after visiting the fest. It’s the best compliment we can get, a bunch of volunteers standing for what they believe in without making compromises.

Things have not always been easy and obvious. We remember discussions about going more commercial and selling meat at the fest (blasphemy). However, the small vegan core (as little as one person at a certain time) never surrendered and managed to convince the rest of the collective to stick to Ieperfest’s unique offering of yummy vegan catering!

OGs will most surely remember the infamous potato burgers that we offered back in the day. Maybe not the most culinary and tasteful, but they did the job at that time. The vegan mayo we used to make ourselves was referred to by some, inside and outside the collective, as “paint”. Apparently, its strong structure didn’t meet every one’s expectations and requirements. Fair enough, things were rough sometimes so we had to improvise with whichever plant-based ingredients available at a given moment. But it was plant-based and no animals suffered for it. That was the main thing back then …

… And actually, it still is today. Thanks so very much to BE Vegan for recognizing Ieperfest and embracing the message we have been spreading for over 30 years. The struggle is not over, it continues on a daily basis. The future is plant-based, go vegan!