“Akira’s vegan adventures” is a blog series that chronicles experiences at vegan-friendly or vegan-exclusive food vendors. If the vegan scene in Columbus is popping, imagine how the general food scene is.

My friend Karen found this event on Facebook and asked if I wanted to go. This seemed like a perfect way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon. To fit in with the expected hipster crowd there, neither Karen or I drove there; she biked and I took the bus (free if you’re an OSU student).

I walked through the back door of Savor Pint in Clintonville (one of Columbus’s many neighborhoods), and a wall of sizzling smells hit me. Various food vendors stood proud, each executing their own vision of what vegan BBQ should be.

Wanting to try a little bit of everything, I first bit into some seitan ribz and was amazed at the flavorful bbq sauce and the seitan’s chewy texture. I then had some mac and cheeze, where the cheeze sauce was on point. Karen and I tried some of each other’s food — it was all delicious.

By the time we finished catching up and eating round 1, we went back to the vendors and ordered some more food. My last item were these fish sliders (no alternative spellings here). They were fried to order and, with the tartar sauce, tasted like some of the best fried fish I’ve ever had.

By then I had to leave to catch a flight to Denver for JSM, but I’ll definitely be back the next time this event rolls around.