11800087_498631363623193_2193175994998636312_nVegan Shop-Up
You don’t have to be a vegan to enjoy the ethical delicacies offered at the Vegan Shop-Up; with more than a dozen food vendors serving every animal-free product you could imagine (and some you could probably never imagine if you tried), it’s the place to go for a wide variety of vegan cuisines. We’re not sure exactly which items most of the vendors will be offering, but taking a look at the Cake Thieves Facebook page was enough to convince us that pretty much anything they make can’t be bad. Case in point: vegan Churro Ice Cream Sandwiches, pictured left.

11825005_1504887773136219_2611154077139517707_nSame goes for the vegan comfort food concocted by Peaceful Provisions, like these blacken nachos.

The Vegan Shop-Up Market will be open Sunday, Aug. 30 from noon-5 p.m. at Spreadhouse, 116 Suffolk Street (LES). 

983831_742276725809825_2408597289723367706_nTaste Talks 
The culinary festival that attracted 3,000 foodies to Brooklyn last year will return in September with a kick-off rooftop party on the top deck of McCarren Hotel & Pool. The festivities are co-hosted by Questlove (providing the beats) and star pastry chef Dominique “The Cronut King” Ansel (providing the sweets, prepared on-site by the master himself.) The festival continues through the weekend with an all-day symposium Saturday and Future Food Expo Saturday and Sunday.

Questlove and Dominique Ansel’s Sweet Thinking: A Dessert Party, Friday, Sept. 11, 9 p.m.- 12 a.m. McCarren Hotel & Pool, 160 North 12th Street (Williamsburg). 

unnamed-3Pickle Day
Pucker up for the return of Pickle Day, coming in October to the LES. How different can pickles really taste? Find out by sampling cakes from 15 different picklers, and in between you can cleanse your pallet with a nice bowl of pasta from the Meatball Shop, some Sam’s Fried Ice Cream, or your pick of 26 other food vendors. Also, where else are you going to find pickle trivia, a pickle relay race, a home-pickling contest, and a clairvoyant professing pickle-pertaining fortune futures?
Sunday, Oct. 4, noon-5 p.m. Orchard Street between Houston and Delancey. Produced by the Lower East Side Business Improvement District.Â