From vegconomist.com
Vegan Summit Budapest will add live Hungarian-English interpretation, international speakers and a jury-selected awards programme for its second edition, which takes place on November 7, 2026, at the Europa Event Center in the Hungarian capital. Organisers expect more than 1,200 attendees and over 30 exhibitors.
The inaugural summit in November 2025 sold out with more than 1,000 attendees, according to the organisers, who describe the event as Europe’s largest vegan summit by attendance. This year’s edition comes with increased capacity and a larger exhibition area.
Exhibitors from outside the food sector
The 2026 exhibitor list includes telecommunications, automotive and financial services companies alongside producers of plant-based meat, dairy and egg alternatives, food retailers, cruelty-free cosmetics and personal care brands, household goods suppliers and wellness companies. English-speaking staff will be available at every stand so international visitors can sample and buy products.
Organisers say the summit is designed for an audience wider than the vegan community. In a survey of ticket buyers for the 2025 edition, at least half said they did not identify as vegan.
Speakers and awards
The programme combines talks and panels with workshops, cooking sessions, tastings, health screenings and consultations. Speakers include world-record-setting vegan strongman Patrik Baboumian, who will address stereotypes about plant-based diets and athletic performance, and Julia Weibel, farm animal welfare specialist at PETA Germany, who will discuss vegan organic farming and present the organisation’s plan for phasing out livestock farming. Tobias Leenaert, co-founder of ProVeg International, will give a talk titled “The Psychology of Eating Meat.” Hungarian experts and public figures complete the line-up.
A jury including representatives from V-Label Hungary, WWF and Prove will choose winners in four flagship categories, who will receive the newly created Auré Planté Award. Sixteen further categories, among them Plant-Based Meat Alternative of the Year and Vegan-Friendly Restaurant of the Year, will be decided by public vote, with all winners announced at the event.
For every ticket sold, 500 HUF (around €1.40) will be donated to Noé Animal Shelter, which provides long-term care for rescued animals, including farmed animals.
Hungary climbs vegan search rankings
The organisers cite a 2026 analysis by Chef’s Pencil, which found that Hungary rose from 29th to 11th place globally for vegan-related search interest between 2016 and 2025, the largest improvement among the countries analysed. The report identifies Budapest, with its growing number of fully vegan restaurants, cafés and plant-based businesses, as the centre of the country’s vegan scene.
“This year we are reaching another important milestone: we are building a European-level, cross-border event in Budapest. Last year’s stronger-than-expected international interest made it clear to us that there is demand for the Vegan Summit to be open to an international audience as well.
“Accordingly, this year we are expanding with international speakers and attendees, while also increasing capacity, exhibition space and the range of programmes,” said Eniko Toth, lead organiser and marketing director of Vegan Summit Budapest.
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