Relish This: PETA’s Ms. Tofu Mascot to Host Milestone Veggie Dog Lunch for Congress
For Immediate Release:
July 13, 2026
Contact:
Andrew Grant 202-483-7382
On National Hot Dog Day (July 15), PETA’s dancing Ms. Tofu mascot will serve up hundreds of free vegan hot dogs—made with Beyond Sausages and all the trimmings at PETA’s 30th annual Congressional Veggie Dog Lunch, which started as a protest against the meat industry in 1996, but is now a Capitol Hill institution. In addition to the animal-friendly franks, PETA will hand out free vegan cookbooks and Tofu stress squeezies emblazoned with the cheeky message “Mr. Tofu Says: Eat Me!”
“PETA is proud to celebrate 30 years of showing lawmakers that you can have your hot dog and eat it too—while leaving animals in peace,” says PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk. “Congress members know a good deal when they see one: delicious free vegan hot dogs that are a win for both taste buds and animals.”
Where: Rayburn House Office Building, 45 Independence Ave. S.W., Washington
When: Wednesday, July 15, 12 noon
Why: Pigs are soothed by music, and cows mourn when a loved one dies or when they’re separated from each other. But in the meat industry, they’re crammed into filthy sheds or kept on crowded feedlots and subjected to tail docking, castration, and other mutilations with no pain relief. Eventually, they’re forced onto transport trucks for a terrifying journey to a slaughterhouse, where workers shoot them in the head with a captive bolt gun and slit their throats—often while they’re still conscious.
Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically shrinks their food-related carbon footprint, and slashes their risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help anyone looking to make the switch.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a pig is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
