What "100% vegan" means here

Last updated: July 20, 2026

The one question

For every event, we ask a single question: does any part of it use animals, or push value toward using them? If the answer is no, it's listable. If any part answers yes, it isn't — however good the rest looks.

"Any part" means the whole event: the food, the drinks, the stalls, the sponsors on the banner, the activities, the goodie bags. Not just the menu.

The definition we use

We use The Vegan Society's definition — the organisation that coined the word in 1944:

veganism seeks to "exclude — as far as is possible and practicable — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose."

In food terms: nothing derived wholly or partly from an animal.

That "possible and practicable" clause is part of the definition, not an escape from it. Veganism has never been a purity test — it asks that animal use be excluded wherever a real alternative exists. For an event choosing what to serve, sell, and platform, an alternative almost always exists — which is why we can hold the line at 100% without chasing purity.

What we check before listing

Everything served, sold, or given away is vegan — food, drink, samples, merch, goodie bags. One honey stall or leather stand means the event as a whole can't carry the label.
Drinks too. Wine, beer and cider are often clarified using fish or egg products, so an all-vegan bar means vegan-fined drinks — the detail organizers most often haven't been told about.
Every vendor is vegan at the stall. A mixed business can trade at a vegan event — but what they bring must be entirely vegan.
No animal attractions. Pony rides, petting zoos, and animal performances are animal use, so they disqualify. Rescued animals living at a sanctuary are the opposite of that, and sanctuary events are very welcome.
The message matters. An event that promotes animal products — a dairy sponsor on stage, for instance — can't be 100% vegan even if the catering is.

The kitchen question

The trickiest case is a vegan event inside a venue that isn't vegan. Our line:

If the kitchen is cooking non-vegan food at the same time as the event's menu — a restaurant running its regular menu alongside a "vegan night" — we don't list it, unless the venue sets aside dedicated equipment. Keeping one pan vegan is an easy step, so we ask that it's taken.
If the kitchen is cooking only the vegan menu for that service — a private event, a buyout, a hall hired for the night — that's listable. A cleaned kitchen's history doesn't undo a vegan event, any more than a "may contain traces" label undoes a vegan product.

We hold organizers to what's actually in their control: you choose the menu you commission; you can't rebuild someone else's kitchen.

Names aren't proof — in either direction

"Plant-based" doesn't always mean vegan (it can include honey, or sit beside non-vegan stalls). "Vegetarian" usually means dairy and eggs. So we verify what an event actually does, not what it's called. It cuts the other way too: an event without the words "100% vegan" on its poster isn't assumed non-vegan — composition decides, not labels.

Dates are never guessed

We only publish a date we can trace to the organizer or another real source. If we can't confirm the next date, the event waits — a listing someone books travel around has to be right.

When we can't confirm something

Not listed doesn't mean "not vegan." Usually it means one detail — a kitchen arrangement, a drinks supplier, a date — that we couldn't confirm from the outside. Organizers can settle it with one email: tell us how it runs and we'll take your word as the operator, on the record.

And if something we list turns out to breach this standard, we want to know. Tell us — we check, and if it's real, the listing comes down.