Cleveland: Waterloo Vegan Market
The Waterloo Vegan Market is a staple of the who’s who in Cleveland plant-based pop-up events.
Waterloo Vegan Markets are hosted at the lovely Nourish Cafe (inside the Pop Life Building – a currently repurposed bank built in the 1920’s with a bank vault you can still walk into!) — on the second Saturday of every month. The ongoing Waterloo Vegan Market is a staple of the who’s who in Cleveland pop-up events geared towards plant-based folk. Every vendor at every Waterloo Vegan Market is guaranteed to offer nothing but vegan wares and vegan noms; and, I personally adore this kind of dedication to vegan culture as part of local business models. Some of the recurring heavy hitters are…
Rabbit Food (formerly “Wild Spork, rebranded in recent years by the maverick of vegan food trucks in Cleveland, Lee Negrelli: an entire institution of plant-based knowledge. Lee is also the mastermind behind a new grocery store and community educational resource on the eastern side of Cleveland - The Pantry on Third, fulfilling a greatly needed role for green sustainable food options in Fairport Harbor)
Squash the Beef (at the frontal cortex of every Clevelander’s brain that’s fiending for soulful comfort food done vegan. Squash the Beef owners CJ and Chef Curtis are the cornerstone of vegan power couples in Cleveland & their custom homemade culinary approaches to reimagined family recipes are standing ovation worthy.
Pleather (long before I met the owners of Pleather, I was a confirmed addict of their seitan-based vegan jerky. With a current rotating menu of 4 flavors, (Ginger Sesame, Red Pepper Bourbon BBQ, Black Pepper, and Tequila Lime) any bag I get my hands on is inevitably destroyed. Pleather is available at all sorts of local Cleveland grocery spots & taverns (itching for vegan late nite snack scratches) but when you catch Pleather doing a pop-up event is when you should mark your calendars. Their roots shine through in their homemade dishes that they serve up alongside bags of their seitan jerkies.
Garbage Kids (your go-to haven for hand-rolled vegan pizza rolls! Garbage Kids are progressively working hard through vegan community roots to be the one stop option for their frozen snack rolls. The wonderful duo behind Garbage Kids are heavy hitters with the special edition dishes they bring to the Vegan Waterloo Markets - my personal favorite was a a limited edition stromboli!) but any of the array of spots they supply their wholesale rolls to have got a menu I want.
Totally Sweet (Brooksie, one of the two organizers of the entire Waterloo Vegan Market, also leads one of the finest vegan cottage bakeries in Cleveland. Her renditions of pop tarts make my pulse race, for real… but don’t sleep on her special edition slices of cakes and cookies at these markets!)
Other rotating vendors include Vegan Vybes with Caribbean flavor vegan dishes always has a line around the block!, Vampy Vegan with stuffed cookies and Cleveland-inspired “Cassata Cakes” that’ll change your life, B.V.H. Bakery, and the freshly vibrant onsite Nourish Cafe are all worth assigning room on your meal’s dance card at these markets, too! Bottom line: Waterloo Vegan Market events are a must for Cleveland vegans out and dining about.
*Pro tip: Keep an eye on the Vegan Waterloo Market’s social media (Instagram / Facebook) for occasional Friday evening speciality markets and notice of when the outdoor markets are happening, usually June-September. A few doors down from the Pop Life building is one of Cleveland’s finest female owned concert venues, the Beachland Ballroom & Tavern which also has some tasty vegan friendly options on their tavern menus.
