Hey there! My name is Dustin Harder and here’s my story…
I became vegan in the spring of 2009. In the beginning it was my dirty little secret, but today I am a proud advocate of compassionate plant-based grub. My work has taken me on the road through the years and I quickly realized maintaining a vegan lifestyle while traveling was no easy task. I decided to take this challenge by the reins and attend New York City's Natural Gourmet Institute, the country's premier health supportive culinary school to hone my mad vegan skills. Through this, The Vegan Roadie web series was born and we were delighted to bring Season One to YouTube for your viewing enjoyment!
WATCH SEASON 1 OF THE VEGAN ROADIE WEB SERIES HERE
Drew Williams (cameraman extraordinaire and all around swell fella) and I are back to bring you Season 2! This time with a full Vegan Roadie Tour rolling in style with a van from Field Roast. The tour includes cook-out pop-ups featuring Field Roast Grain Meat Products, Vegan Roadie Cooking Classes, demonstrations and even a campaign where you can win prizes when you spot the Vegan Roadie/Field Roast van on it's journey!
While these additional stops will be an amazing bonus, the series focus remains on bringing you quality video content. The Vegan Roadie has been called the plant food version of the popular Food Network show Diner's, Drive-In's and Dives. We were even featured in the October 2015 issue of VegNews (bananas!)! And just this month Vegan Lifestyle Magazine did a story on us, get your copy here.
We will leave our homes for three months to capture what America's culinary innovators are up to and need your help to do it! Below is a pie chart with a detailed description of expenses ...mmm...piieeee....
This is broken down to the bare minimum we need to make this happen. Thanks to the very generous donation of the van from Field Roast, it is much less than originally estimated.
Kickstarter Fee - Yes indeedy, there is a charge for using this platform, justly so.
Lodging - While we will be on the road for three months, this amount will provide us with just enough for two months of hotels, sharing a room. We will couch surf with friends and family when at all possible making this just enough for the basic essentials when we need a hotel.
Fuel - We need the go go juice for our wheels!
Production - This expense will cover anything from band aids when I cut my finger while cooking to Drew and I paying rent while we leave our day jobs to film for a few months. It covers the hours we will dedicate booking, writing, scheduling, filming, traveling, editing, marketing and just plain ole hustling to make The Vegan Roadie Season 2 a reality! Also known as spreading plant powered joy, hooray!
Equipment - Always on the crusade to get better and better with the quality of content we deliver, we will upgrade equipment from last season as much as we can with this amount.
Recipe Testing - This will pay for ingredients to recipe test and film with for the 5 Ingredient Challenge. This season I am committed to making this segment solely about cooking in your hotel room, so help me help you keep it vegan anywhere you go!
On this tour we will likely visit 20+ cities, updating The Vegan Roadie blog, instagram, facebook and twitter with content as we do. We will film 8-10 episodes, these are the tentatively scheduled cities; Seattle, Salt lake City, San Antonio, New Orleans, Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, Syracuse, Madison, Kansas City & Portland.
Please share this video and campaign with your brother, mother, friends, Aunt Fanny, your priest and any ole stranger walking by you on the street! They will thank you and so will we!!! Getting the word out is what it's about, and we can't do it without you! #sharingiscaring
In short, we want to be part of the wellness revolution and continue to build a community where people aren’t concerned about labels so much as healthy, inventive and tasty alternatives to meat options. I hope you can join us and donate to make this dream a reality, we can't do it without you!
GET IN ON THE ACTION! Click here for details on Vegan Roadie Kickstarter Campaign Parties featuring Field Roast Grain Meat products in Atlanta, NYC and Seattle the month of February 2016! ...Come say hi, I would love to meet you!
Reward Visual:
Risks and challenges
SCHEDULE
We always run the risk of scheduling issues. Restaurants that get busy on a Monday when they are usually dead and we can't film suddenly, rain when we want to film at a farmers market, traffic that keeps us from getting to a shoot on time.... the hurdles are endless. We promise to reschedule any shoots or something comparable should this happen.
SMALL CREW
We are small but mighty, this can be a challenge in these circumstances, we promise to rise to the occasion to bring you top notch quality episodes.
To give you a realistic outlook, this is a list of positions on a traditional TV show. Drew and I, just the two of us (it's ok to hum the Will Smith song in your head) will perform these functions in Pre-production, Production and Post-production:
Wardrobe, Director, Location Manager, Stylist, Production Designer, Researcher, Company Manager, Producers, Writer, Director of Photography, Boom Operator, Camera Operator, Floor Manager, Graphics Coordinator, Production Manager, Production Asst., Editor... ok... I'm stopping now, the list goes on but you get the point! We GOT THIS and will strive to create nothing but the best for you!
...all while driving every glorious mile of the beautiful US of A!
COOKING
This can be a challenge in the hotel room but that's what it's all about! I am dedicated to bringing you hotel proof recipes this season you can make almost anywhere while on the go!
Questions about this project? Check out the FAQ
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Funding period
- (29 days)