About Chicago VeganMania Vegan culture and community have grown rapidly in the last few years.   Not long ago, most people had never heard the word vegan. Vegans – people who live compassionately by not eating or wearing animals or products that come from animals – were basically invisible. We did much of our shopping in tiny health food co-ops, and our dining in a few carefully selected restaurants. Now there are dozens of products with the word vegan gracing the fronts of the packaging in most supermarkets, and vegan options abound in dining establishments all over the place. Celebrities describe how their vegan diets give them their sexy bodies or protect them from heart disease, and the small but burgeoning vegan culture is moving from the fringes to middle America. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Chicago. Famous as the "hog butcher to the world", Chicago boasts more than a dozen exclusively vegan restaurants (and dozens more vegan-friendly ones), several local vegan food companies, and a rapidly growing community of herbivores. Chicago VeganMania is a celebration of this dynamic new community. We bring together the vegan restaurants and food companies, leaders and entrepreneurs,   doctors   and chefs, businesses and organizations,   singers and dancers, and we put them in one big place to show them all off to the world. You certainly don't have to be vegan to attend or enjoy   Chicago VeganMania. You don't even have to understand or care why people would adopt a vegan lifestyle. We just want you to have fun.   Chicago VeganMania is basically a big friendly party, a festival where you can eat wonderful food, enjoy great music and lively entertainment, and have an opportunity to discover unique vegan products and learn the secrets of vegan chefs. There are even places where you can learn about the whys and hows of veganism is you're so inclined.