Today we feature vegan waffle party hosts Marisa and James, who are passionate about vegan waffles, and also the ways in which our well-being is impacted by food policies. Marisa kindly responded to my questions.
City
Seattle, WA
When did you host your first waffle party, and how many have you hosted?
First party was 2012; this year will be our third consecutive vegan waffle party!
How does hosting waffle parties fit in with your personal mission?
My personal mission involves creating a vibrant and fun community, maintaining an active devotion to breakfast, taking time to celebrate life’s pleasures, and glorifying waffles. While my personal mission goes far beyond that, waffle parties hit most of the bases and are a fun way to include others in a pursuit of these values.
What’s the coolest thing you’ve experienced or witnessed at a waffle party you’ve hosted?
I love that waffle toppings are so diverse. I’ve seen people unfamiliar with cooking from scratch stretch themselves and find delight in creating something delicious, as well as learned new techniques and ideas from others. One guest at my first waffle party brought an onion and a pound of shitake mushrooms and proceeded to make a savory mushroom puree in the course of about 10 minutes – I would have never thought of that myself, and was impressed to learn something new without the tedious process of searching around cookbooks and the internet for inspiration.
What causes and activities are you most passionate about?
Making the best use of our space on the planet! Be it through gardening and farming organically, eating mindfully, caring deeply about those around me, working on local politics and community development, or opening my house to vegan waffle enthusiasts, I want to make sure everybody has a chance to live a good life.
Tell me a bit about your favorite social cause or organization. It may or may not be at all related to your waffle party involvement. How are you involved, and what are the one or two biggest things you wish more people understood about it?
Right now, I’m really concerned with how much corporate involvement there is in our food system. Recently I worked on a campaign to label genetically engineered foods and was surprised to see how much influence corporate agribusiness has on our elections. If large food companies are avoiding the FDA’s oversight and buying elections in the United States, I’m scared to imagine what else they’re doing to our food. Buy foods produced locally, and reduce your dependence on foods that are not organically produced!
Anything else you’d like people to know about you, that I haven’t asked about here?
Our signature waffle is James’ Belgian Waffle with Coriander Coconut Cream and Mango Chutney.
Yummers. Maybe that could be a future guest vegan waffle topping recipe post!
Note: Part of WaffleParty.com’s purpose is to inspire awareness of complex social issues. As such, different opinions and approaches are sometimes represented. A given host’s specific opinions and endorsements may or may not reflect the viewpoints of the site’s author, or those of other hosts represented here. This is totally cool. Feel free to add your own comments if you wish. I unabashedly recommend my book Naked Idealism or Hillary Rettig’s Lifelong Activist for additional ideas on dialogue within change-oriented communities.