More Than Pretzels and Beer: PETA Urges Oktoberfest Fredericksburg to Add Vegan Meats to Menu

For Immediate Release:
September 10, 2024

Contact:
Maddy Missett 202-483-7382

With Fredericksburg’s legendary Oktoberfest fast approaching, PETA sent a letter to Event Producer Debbie Farquhar Reeh with an idea that’s a real wiener: Add vegan brats and schnitzel to the menu so that everyone—including those who avoid meat for ethical, environmental, health, or religious reasons—can enjoy the festivities. PETA points out that vegan foods are popular in Germany and that here at home, 62% of U.S. households now purchase animal-friendly foods in place of meat, eggs, and dairy, and the vegan food industry has grown by 20% over the past year.

“Cows and pigs are smart, social beings who love their families and don’t want to be ground into bratwurst any more than we would,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA is calling on Oktoberfest Fredericksburg to prove that it’s really one of the best by adding delicious meat-free fare that leaves animals in peace, not in pieces.”

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year a miserable life and a terrifying death. PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help those looking to make the switch.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Farquhar Reeh follows.

September 10, 2024

Debbie Farquhar Reeh

Event Producer

Oktoberfest Fredericksburg

Dear Ms. Farquhar Reeh:

Prost! I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters worldwide, including hundreds of thousands in Texas—ahead of Oktoberfest Fredericksburg with a suggestion: Please, will you add festive, hearty vegan meats to this year’s Oktoberfest menu so that those who don’t eat meat for ethical, environmental, health, or religious reasons will be able to join in and have a hoppier celebration? After all, vegan foods are big in Germany these days, and here at home we have Beyond Sausage Brat Original, Field Roast Bratwurst Sausage, and Gardein Seven Grain Crispy Tenders, to name just a few appropriate foods. Of course, most beers are great vegan brews.

Common Oktoberfest foods such as bratwurst and schnitzel are the wurst unless they’re vegan versions—and there are lots of those. Obviously, cows, pigs, and chickens are sentient beings who experience pain and fear. Even though eating them or any other animals is firmly linked to some of the nation’s leading killers (heart disease, cancer, and strokes)—and totally unnecessary these days—they are still being killed and their flesh is still being served as if times haven’t changed and the public still held outdated views of them. More and more people, though, are upset that animals on factory farms endure routine mutilations such as castration and tail docking, are crowded together in filthy conditions, and are violently killed in ways that would be illegal if they were done to a cat or a dog. These folks are also looking for something to eat at the fair!

Adding readily available vegan options would likely be something everyone would abrewve of, since 62% of Americans now purchase vegan foods and the vegan food industry has grown 20% over the last year. It would also help protect the health of visitors, as studies show that going vegan helps reduce the risk of suffering from not only the leading killers mentioned above but also diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and other health problems.

An Oktoberfest menu with tasty vegan options would have everyone raising a glass to say ale yes. We’d be more than happy to help in any way we can. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your consideration.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid Newkirk

President