For the first time ever, Glastonbury Festival banned the sale of single-use plastic, and a climate protest march ploughed through the fields. Find out what the Vegetarian Society team saw there.
Eating veggie for the planet
Amanda
As we gathered for Kylie’s Sunday afternoon performance, a surprise guest received a rapturous welcome. It was David Attenborough! The TV legend has recently spoken about how the food we eat matters, so it was a real treat to see him live. He talked about our planet and his latest work under an enormous globe which towered above the Pyramid Stage.
It wasn’t just the main stage that saw all the action. At the South East Corner, reminders about how we must care for our planet greeted thousands of late-night revellers. I visited again during the daytime to see the artwork and installations a little closer up. One of my favourites was an image titled ‘Little fish, big fish, plastic bag’.
Filling up on amazing veggie food across the weekend was easy. Plant-based food teemed out of almost every stall, helping us all to do our bit.
No plastic here!
Alex
This year was my first Glastonbury and the big news was that this would be the first year where no single-use plastic would be sold at the festival! While I can’t compare my experience to other years at Glastonbury I could see a difference from other festivals I’ve been to.
Reusable water bottles were sold on site and there were a lot of free water points to supplement the canned water sold by vendors. The reusable bottles were expensive so I brought a couple of plastic water bottles with me (which I recycled at the end of the festival).
Overall, banning single use plastic made a massive difference and it was reported that festival goers used over a million fewer plastic bottles than the previous year! This also seems to have inspired other festivals as it was recently announced that Bluedot Festival is banning single use plastic this year as well.
Vegan dishes are on the up
Emma
With 2019 being the fifth time I’ve had the pleasure of gracing Worthy Farm, I’ve realised that quite a big proportion of my year is made up Glastonbury fever. Getting tickets in October, paying off balances in March, and generally shoe-horning Glastonbury into every-day conversation from April to June (‘that reminds me of this one time at Glastonbury…’). All leading up to those five days at the end of June!
My first Glastonbury experience in 2014 was considerably different to this year. I had just turned vegan after being a life-long vegetarian, and was very anxious about what I was going to eat. At that time, vegan cheese was only available via dodgy internet orders, so my expectations were low – and I wasn’t wrong! Think pasta with plain tomato sauce and then desperately trying to sustain myself with a packet of rice cakes for the whole week!
Fast-forward to 2019 and my Glastonbury diet is very different. Nearly every single stand had vegan options that weren’t just falafel and salad – it was actually more unusual to see a stand that didn’t offer vegan options. I feasted on everything from ‘Chick’n’ and ‘Baecon’ burgers, to vegan mac’n’cheese, and ‘Vish’ and chips. I even had pie, chips and gravy on the Sunday, which I enjoyed while sat in a camping chair watching Kylie on the Pyramid Stage.
Although Glastonbury is stereotypically ‘hippy’, I do genuinely believe this change does reflect a global switch to a more plant-based world. If the ‘Glastonbury gods’ bless me with a ticket in 2020, I can’t wait to see what’s on the menu next time!
Did you go to this year’s Glastonbury Festival? Are you heading to another festival this summer? Tweet us your story and favourite #FestivalFood at @vegsoc