[fuzzy]

When: Friday 20 - Sunday 22 February 2009

Where: Federation Square, Melbourne

FREE!

Food & wine??? Yes, plenty - try some yummy & sustainable foods & drinks on offer. See for yourself - [url="http://www.slf.org.au/festival/program/feast"][url]http://www.slf.org.au/festival/program/feast[/url][/url]

Right in the heart of the city of Melbourne, the Sustainable Living Festival is a three-day celebration of cultural innovation and creativity.

The Festival draws together diverse approaches that focus on social and ecological sustainability. Staged at Federation Square, this unique event fuses interactive displays, demonstrations, artworks, exhibits, designs, films, multimedia and live performances.

Together we present a rich program that aims to increase awareness of sustainability, and creates new opportunities of expression and communication for individuals and groups to accelerate the uptake of sustainable living.

For more information & program timetable - [url="http://www.slf.org.au/festival/program"][url]http://www.slf.org.au/festival/program[/url][/url]

[glen]

sounds good fuzzy!

[fuzzy]

I went today & it was fun. Not as much food as I thought there would be but we had a delicious vegie burger, a beer from the good brew company and a coldstream cider.

Heaps of people but it was so well spread out that there was room for everyone. Definitely worth a visit and a great event to have in the centre of the city.

[glen]

sounds good fuzzy. it would have been a nice day to have a beer...even an organic one!

[fuzzy]

I'm not a big beer lover but the organic beers are really nice. Organic is a fluffy word but my interest is in non use of animal products during the filtering. "Finings" are used to clarify beer (& wine) before most end up on the table:

These are the most common agents used during the fining process.
Gelatine - from bones and connective tissues of cows or pigs
Isinglass - obtained from fish swim bladders
Chitin - derived from the shells of crabs or lobsters
Casein - obtained from milk
Albumin - from egg whites
Bentonite - a type of clay
Ox Blood - banned in Europe due to BSE

Fortunately, there are many organic & vegan friendly wines & beers now turning up on the Australian market that don't use any animals products. Macro health food shop has a good selection of wines & a few beers. Mountain goat beer, Little Creatures & Coopers are all vegan & are available from all major bottle shops. Buckleys was the beer being sold at the festival.

[glen]

hi fuzzy, i had no idea there was animal products in beer. I am drinking a coopers at the moment

[fuzzy]

Cheers! Good choice.