Our mission is to help improve the health and well-being of people and the world we live in, both by encouraging mainstream Americans to discover the advantages and pleasures of vegetarian food, and by providing support and service to the vegetarian community. We accomplish our mission and goals by: - Holding quality monthly dinners where all are welcome - Producing a regular e-newsletter to inform and entertain - Offering informative classes, to teach nutrition and cooking skills - Organizing a huge annual vegetarian food festival, Vegfest, which encourages the general public to learn more and give vegetarian foods a try - Writing books that explain the advantages of a vegetarian diet, and show how easy it is to do - Writing articles to be published in peer-reviewed medical journals, on the prevention and treatment of disease with a plant-based diet - Participating in other community events, to reach out to new segments of the population - Engaging both vegetarian and non-vegetarian businesses by bringing them into contact with the vegetarian community. - Being an authoritative resource for the medical community, the media and the community at large