Vegan Groups in St. Louis

Organized and maintained by Project Animal Freedom, the nonprofit behind VeganSTL. These are groups and recurring meetups we organize or moderate ourselves. Learn more about VeganSTL. Last updated August 2026.

Find your vegan community in St. Louis

Vegan living is easier, and a lot more fun, when you have people to share it with. That's why Project Animal Freedom (PAF), the nonprofit behind VeganSTL, runs a growing family of vegan groups in St. Louis: online communities you can join tonight, and in-person meetups built around books, potluck food, and board games.

We call the smaller, recurring meetups community circles: a repeatable format, a cadence you can plan around, and familiar faces month after month, so you never have to walk into a big event alone.

This guide covers what each group is for, when the circles meet, what it costs (usually nothing), and the easiest way to join. You don't need to be a longtime vegan or a seasoned activist to start here.

New to the St. Louis vegan scene? Pick one:

Join St. Louis Vegans on Facebook

See upcoming vegan meetups

Get vegan event updates by email

Community circles: recurring vegan meetups in St. Louis

At Project Animal Freedom, community circle is our name for a smaller gathering with a repeatable format and a cadence people can come back to. Some meet monthly; others return several times a year. What they share matters more than the exact schedule: an easy reason to gather around something you already enjoy.

A market or festival can introduce you to hundreds of people. A circle is where you learn a few names, pick up last month's conversation, and come back knowing someone.

The Uncaged Page: St. Louis' vegan book club

The Uncaged Page meets on the third Wednesday of every month from 6 to 8 p.m. at Adina's Vegan Cuisine (6746 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63133), one of the city's most beloved vegan soul food destinations, so you can order dinner and dig into the discussion at the same time. Our first meeting is Wednesday, September 16, 2026.

The circle is for people who want to explore veganism, animal rights, and social justice in more depth than a comment thread allows. Our first read is The Humane Hoax, an anthology edited by Hope Bohanec that takes apart the myth of happy meat, humane dairy, and ethical eggs, one essay at a time. Future picks will range across animal ethics, advocacy, food systems, culture, and the wider fight for a kinder world.

You don't have to finish the book (each month's event page lists priority chapters if you're short on time). You don't have to be vegan. Bring curiosity and a willingness to talk, or just come and listen. As our club puts it, we're here to liberate our hearts and minds from the prejudices that bind us, to liberate our nonhuman friends from captivity and exploitation, and to liberate our world from injustice, one page at a time.

• When: third Wednesdays, 6 to 8 p.m. (first meeting September 16, 2026)

• Where: Adina's Vegan Cuisine, 6746 Page Ave.

• Cost: free to attend; Adina's full vegan menu is available for dinner

• Best for: readers, students, advocates, deep thinkers, and anyone who wants richer conversation

• Start here: find the next meeting and this month's book on our events calendar

Plus, join our official Uncaged Page vegan book club mailing list via the link below for upcoming meetups, announcements, and other book club-related information!

NOTE: Joining our Uncaged Page mailing list does not obligate you to read a given book or attend any of our meetings. Instead, it is conduit of information for all things related to this enthralling community circle!

Plant Lovers Potluck: a free monthly vegan potluck

Plant Lovers Potluck is built around the simplest way we know to make friends: sharing a meal. We gather on the second Tuesday of every month from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Lafayette Square Inn (1815 Lafayette Ave., St. Louis, MO 63104), a lovingly restored 1876 Victorian whose owners generously open their doors to our community. It's completely free.

Bring one vegan dish or drink to share. Homemade is wonderful but not required; a store-bought contribution is just as welcome. (Vegan means no meat, dairy, eggs, honey, or any other animal product.) Label your ingredients if you can, for friends with allergies, and bring a serving utensil if your dish needs one. That's it.

The series began in August 2026 and is meant to be low-pressure, affordable, and easy to return to month after month, with themed holiday editions in October, November, and December. If you want a social event where conversation happens naturally around a table, this is your table.

• When: second Tuesdays, 7 to 9 p.m.

• Where: Lafayette Square Inn, 1815 Lafayette Ave.

• Cost: free; bring a vegan dish or drink to share

• Best for: new vegans, vegan-curious friends, families, home cooks, and anyone who wants an affordable recurring meetup

• Start here: find the next potluck on our events calendar

Vegan Game Night: board games and an easy way to socialize

Vegan Game Night is our longest-running circle, with PAF-hosted game nights dating back to 2022. It recurs throughout the year, usually on a Sunday evening from 7 to 10 p.m., at Pieces Board Game Bar and Cafe (2727 S. 12th St., St. Louis, MO 63118) in Soulard, home to a library of more than 1,200 games and a vegan menu that includes a full lineup of vegan cookies.

The games do some of the social work for you. Grab a table, learn something new, and enjoy a built-in topic of conversation even if an open-ended mixer isn't your thing. If you're new to St. Louis, new to veganism, a little shy, or you simply prefer a rulebook to small talk, this one was built for you.

Pieces charges a small game-library fee (currently $3 per player, waived for kids under 12) and welcomes guests of all ages. Food and drinks are ordered separately from Pieces.

• When: throughout the year, usually Sundays, 7 to 10 p.m.

• Where: Pieces Board Game Bar and Cafe, 2727 S. 12th St.

• Cost: $3 game-library fee per player (kids under 12 free); food and drinks separate

• Best for: gamers, newcomers, introverts, friend groups, and anyone who prefers an activity-centered night out

• Start here: find the next game night on our events calendar

Online vegan groups and event updates

In-person meetups are one layer of the community. If you need a restaurant recommendation tonight, want to hear about an event before the weekend, or would rather introduce yourself online before showing up in person, start here.

Our vegan Facebook groups

Project Animal Freedom moderates six St. Louis Facebook groups and one national group, each with a job to do:

• St. Louis Vegans: the broad community hub for local vegan conversation, questions, recommendations, and events

• Vegan Foodies of St. Louis: restaurant finds, food photos, and where to eat vegan across the metro

• Vegan Activists of St. Louis: animal rights news, protests, marches, and outreach opportunities

• STL Vegan Market Community: local vegan businesses, vendors, and market announcements

• Vegan Singles of St. Louis: for vegan singles looking to meet other vegan singles

• LGBTQIA+ Vegans of St. Louis: for LGBTQIA+ vegans and allies, home of our Pride booths and Vegan Pride Parade

• Vegan USA: our national group, for vegans anywhere in the country

All seven are free. Each has its own focus and its own membership guidelines, so read the group description before you request to join. Cover photos and one-click join buttons for every group are just below this article.

VeganSTL on Meetup

Prefer reminders in an app? VeganSTL on Meetup has more than 1,200 members and carries our upcoming meetups, markets, dinners, and outreach events.

Get dates in your inbox

The VeganSTL mailing list is the simplest way to keep up without checking several platforms. You can also follow Project Animal Freedom on Instagram and Facebook for reminders, photos, and recaps.

Outside St. Louis? Find a Project Animal Freedom chapter

St. Louis is PAF's home base, and our chapter model reaches across the Midwest. At last count, that means Columbia and Springfield in Missouri, Decatur and Springfield in Illinois, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Rochester, Minnesota. For the live list, and to apply to launch a chapter where you live, see the Project Animal Freedom chapter directory.

How community circles fit into our theory of change

Project Animal Freedom exists to build a fully vegan Midwest by 2056. A potluck won't get us there by itself, and we don't pretend otherwise. But movements need relationships as much as they need messages, and that's the job community circles do.

Here's what the research shows. In Faunalytics' landmark study of current and former vegetarians and vegans, people who had given up the diet were far more likely than current vegetarians and vegans to say they'd had too little interaction with other veg people (49% versus 25%), and more likely to say they weren't active in any veg group or organization at all, not a potluck, not an online community, nothing (84% versus 71%). Those are associations, not proof that a meetup keeps anyone vegan; Faunalytics is careful about that, and so are we. But the advice Faunalytics drew for advocates was to treat veganism as a long-term relationship, not a single point of outreach, and to give new vegans a sense of community and ongoing support. A 2023 qualitative study in the journal Appetite, based on interviews with 20 young adults who had recently tried a vegan diet, points the same way: participants described acceptance from vegan and non-vegan family and friends as important to keeping it up, and the authors concluded that support should help people with the practical and social challenges, not just the reasons to switch.

So we don't claim that a book club saves animals on its own. We claim something smaller and sturdier: the social side of going vegan is real, it's a part we can do something about, and circles are a low-cost, repeatable way to do it.

Here's how the pieces fit together:

• Discover. Big, joyful, low-commitment events introduce St. Louisans to vegan living: STL Vegan Market, our annual Vegan Ice Cream Social (237 people in 2025), and the St. Louis Veganuary Challenge, which drew 768 sign-ups in January 2026.

• Connect. Community circles and online groups give a curious visitor a reason to come back, and a regular the chance to become a friend.

• Act. For anyone who wants to go further, the next invitation is advocacy: marches, protests, leafleting, tabling, and the rest of the 50-plus events we organized in 2025. Join Vegan Activists of St. Louis or apply to volunteer whenever you're ready.

• Lead. Some regulars become hosts. Some hosts launch new circles or step into chapter leadership. That's how we hope the model spreads across the Midwest.

Nobody has to climb the whole ladder. If all you ever want is a monthly potluck, you belong here. If you want to run one, there's a path for that too.

How we'll add more community circles

Three circles is a start. We'll add more whenever three things line up: real interest, a reliable host, and a format people can come back to. That could mean a circle built around a hobby, a stage of life, or a part of the metro that's a long drive from the city core.

Every circle needs a host. Want to lead one? Apply to volunteer and tell us your idea. Want to see one exist but can't host it yourself? Tell us anyway. The next circle on this page could be yours.

Vegan groups in St. Louis: frequently asked questions

Do I have to be vegan to join?

No. Our community circles and our general groups, starting with St. Louis Vegans, welcome vegans, vegetarians, and the vegan-curious alike. A few affinity groups exist for a specific community, like LGBTQIA+ Vegans of St. Louis and Vegan Singles of St. Louis, so read the group description before you request to join.

Is the food vegan?

Everything shared at Plant Lovers Potluck is 100% vegan; that's the one rule of the potluck. The Uncaged Page meets at Adina's Vegan Cuisine, a fully vegan restaurant. Vegan Game Night meets at Pieces, a mixed-menu restaurant with a solid vegan menu, cookies included. Each event page has the details.

How much do the groups and meetups cost?

The Facebook groups, the Meetup group, and Plant Lovers Potluck are free (the potluck asks you to bring a vegan dish or drink). The Uncaged Page is free to attend, with dinner from Adina's available for purchase. Vegan Game Night means paying Pieces' small game fee, currently $3 per player and free for kids under 12, plus whatever you order. Each event page lists anything that changes.

Are the community circles family-friendly?

Plant Lovers Potluck is family-friendly, and Pieces welcomes all ages at Vegan Game Night, with the game fee waived for kids under 12. Check the event page before bringing children to anything else, since venue, start time, and book selection vary.

Can I come by myself?

Absolutely. Circles are designed for people who don't already have a group to arrive with. At Game Night the games give you something to do, at the potluck the table does the introductions, and at The Uncaged Page the book gives everyone a common subject.

How do I find the next meetup?

Check the events calendar, join VeganSTL on Meetup, or subscribe by email. The calendar is the evergreen link; each month's potluck and game night gets its own page.

Can I start a community circle with Project Animal Freedom?

Yes, and we hope you will. If you have an idea for a repeatable gathering and want to host it, apply to volunteer. If you'd rather suggest a circle than run it, contact us.

Ready to find your people?

You don't have to join everything. Pick the format that fits you: a Facebook thread, a shared meal, a good book, or a board game, and start there. Bring a friend next time. That's how a community grows, and it's how a vegan St. Louis gets built: one table at a time.

Join our vegan Facebook groups

View our directory in the teal section located below!