Get ready to puff: Amsterdam Open Air goes veggie
You’d think people mainly go to Amsterdam Open Air for the music, but the uproar following the festival’s announcement that it will have a 100% veggie(vegan) food line-up this year seems to suggest otherwise. People are #ANGRY.
For the ninth year in a row, Amsterdam Open Air is providing something of a kickoff to festival season. Every year, TicketSwap is flooded with people looking for a last-minute ticket. It’s been the place to be for years, and somehow the order for good weather always gets through. This year, AOA is placing another order—well, more like cancelling something. There’s no meat or fish to be found this year: a 100% vegetarian/vegan menu. That’s what AOA announced four days before the festival started.
Don’t steak me
This change has caused quite a stir among festivalgoers, if we are to believe the Facebook reactions beneath the announcement. Plans to grab a Big Mac before the festival after all, and even people spontaneously putting their tickets up for sale. There are also serious concerns about the atmosphere, because: “People are going to let off stinky farts there from all that vegetarian crap.” Festivalgoers’ main issue is the late announcement of this change. To sum it up briefly: “Have you gone mad or something? You should have made this clear beforehand.”
In the past, festival food was mainly about lining your stomach and carrying on, but now it seems to be a defining part of the festival experience. And that’s not surprising, because the choice of food nowadays is simply enormous. E-ve-ry-where.
Project Planet Love
The change is all in the name of the planet and Project Planet Love. Through this project, AOA is trying to reduce the festival’s ecological footprint in every area. Festivals have a huge ecological footprint: thousands of people in nature, a mountain of waste, and lots of light and sound.
Last year, all the food at the festival was already 100% organic, and this year the organisation is taking things one step further with its veggie menu. And that’s not all: AOA’s initiatives for a better climate can be found all across the festival site. So when you do your business in a portable toilet, you’re literally giving something back to nature. Phosphate for fertiliser and biodiesel is extracted from it.
We’re in favour, but perhaps from now on it would still be a good idea for AOA to announce earlier what kind of (veggie) meat they have on offer. Or is the problem with the non-veggie festivalgoers and their fear of an identity crisis? Because what if it turns out that veggie döner is actually pretty tasty…
Photos: Niels de Vries
Read also:
