As a number of local food vendors and restaurants in Edmonton prepared to serve thousands at the city’s annual Taste of Edmonton event, a display by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) raised awareness for choosing to not eat meat.

At Churchill Square late Thursday afternoon, a female PETA supporter laid nearly nude on a to-scale plate, wearing a drizzle of barbecue sauce alongside a large salad – an organizer said they wanted passersby to consider how the meat on their plate ended up there.

“We want people to stop and think, and like our display says, try to relate to who is on your plate,” Emily Lavender, a campaigner with PETA said. “When they see meat on their plate we want them to think that that actually came from an animal that was an individual, had a personality and a will to live and was terrified to go to a slaughterhouse.”

Lavender highlighted a number of vegan restaurants in the city, and events celebrating vegan food at Taste of Edmonton on Saturday, July 23.