Share this handy poster with family and friends. You can also print it out and post it on your refrigerator. See: https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/VeganDietsinaNutshellPoster.pdf

For my next trick, I’ll be making Lentil-Spinach Pilaf!

Save money while being vegan. Vegan Journal editor Hannah Kaminsky demonstrates Lentil-Spinach Pilaf, illustrating how quick and simple the recipe truly is. Prices show how budget friendly vegan dishes can be. $.58 per serving. Hearty, Healthy, and Easy as can be.

Find more vegan on a budget tips at https://bit.ly/vj-budget Visit Vegan Journal and The Vegetarian Resource Group at https://www.vrg.org/

See the Lentil Spinach Pilaf video at https://youtube.com/shorts/rQfAGc-eVDA?feature=share

Photo from KOKÉ

The Vegetarian Resource Group maintains an online Guide to Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants in the USA and Canada. Here are some recent vegan restaurant additions. The entire guide can be found here: www.vrg.org/restaurant

To support the updating of this online restaurant guide, please donate at: www.vrg.org/donate

AM Café, 2528 Guelph St., Vancouver, BC, V5T 4T4 Canada

AM Cafe is located in the heart of Mount Pleasant, Vancouver. It boasts a broad drinks menu featuring many types of hot and cold coffees, teas, and wild cards like Kombucha and Hojicha. Breakfast and lunch foods include burritos, waffles, smoked salmon croissants, burgers, and tuna melts – all plant-based and vegan. One of two founders and the main chef, Lindsay Loudon, has had years of experience in yachts and boardroom tables where she was taught to focus on fewer ingredients and the highest possible quality of preparation and presentation. Her history has helped shape the meals in AM Cafe to be perfectly simple yet deliciously mesmerizing.

Besos, 239 N. Old Woodward, Birmingham, MI 48009

The stated mission at Besos is “Food that’s bold, whole, and never boring.” Some cold dishes are Avocado Tikka featuring potato flatbread and Curry Leaf-Cashew Yogurt, Lettuce Cups with yam, avocado, Chili jam, and Cashew-Ginger Chutney, as well as Heirloom Tomato Lasagna with Pistachio Pesto and Macadamia Ricotta. Some hot choices are Chickpea Curry with Kaffir lime leaf cream and grilled flatbread, Spicy Udon showcasing Tempeh sausage, Miso broth, and Beech Mushrooms and toasted Cashew, as well as Cauliflower ‘Steak’ with pomegranate, pistachio, turmeric, Tahini, and olives. Of their several Pizzas, a couple are Shroom with caramelized onion, Arugula and Basil Pesto, or Margherita with tomato, garlic, and basil. Some hot brunch choices are Tofu Benedict with “house-made” Cashew Hollandaise and Heirloom tomato; Caramelized Hazelnut French Toast hosting blackberries, whipped cream, and Vanilla syrup; Strawberry Banana Pancakes with maple syrup; Mary Kate’s Mac and Cheese featuring Cellentani pasta, cashew cream, Cheddar, and breadcrumbs; and Hearts of Palm Crab Cakes with Brussel Leaf Slaw and Tomato Fondue. Two cold brunch selections are Cheese Tasting presenting Barn Cat Blue, Truffled Brie, Cave Aged Double Cream, Membrillo, Bosc Pear, and flatbread and Crispy Chicken Summer Roll with Yuzu Peanut Sauce. Desserts include Mary Kate’s Carrot Cake with maple cinnamon roasted walnuts, Custard Coconut Cream Pie with Banana Crème, and others.

Cinnaholic, 3376 Yampa St., Sumter, SC 29150

Offers over 30 flavors of gourmet cinnamon rolls — and they are all vegan! Some include Almond, Blackberry, Butterscotch, Caramel, Cream Soda, Key Lime, Root Beer, & Pomegranate. Toppings range from Cookie Dough Chunks to Shredded Coconut and everything in between. They offer other sweet treats including cookies, brownies, muffins, specialty pie rolls, and baby buns (mini cinnamon rolls).

Frescura Vegan Kitchen, Reparto Industrial Correa, C. Correa Lote #24, Bayamón, PR 00960

This plant-based restaurant and full coffee bar specializes in fresh, Latin-inspired cuisine. The menu features a variety of both comfort food and healthy options, offering soups, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, and salads, along with coffee drinks, alcoholic beverages, and desserts. Frescura is also known for its attractive dining area, welcoming atmosphere, and attentive service, making it a popular destination for casual dining and relaxed coffee breaks among locals.

KOKÉ, 173 Bleecker St., New York, NY 10012

KOKÉ is a Japanese inspired cafe in Greenwich Village, NYC, filled with vegan coffee, tea, soft serve, and pastries that are also gluten-free. Many items contain matcha. Their name comes from the Japanese word for moss and is inspired by Saihōji, the famed moss temple in Kyoto which promotes health, wellness, and sustainability. Many of their items focus a “subtle focus on fermentation” while still giving customers bright and sweet flavors on their city adventures.

Vegan Planet, 2320 NE 2^nd Ave., Miami, FL 33137

At Vegan Planet, the goal is to “…elevate traditional flavors with innovative vegan twists…” A popular appetizer, Vegan Meatball combines vegan ground beef, tomato sauce, and Basil. Breaded and deep fried, King Oyster mushroom becomes Vegan Calamari. Among numerous pizza varieties, there’s Vegan Pizza Ortolana with tomato sauce, vegan mozzarella cheese, eggplant, baby squash, spinach, and red pepper and Vegan Pizza Pepperoni with vegan mozzarella and tomato sauce. Of their several  vegan chicken dishes, two are pan-seared Vegan Chicken Marsala with mushrooms and Vegan Chicken Lemon with vegan Alfredo and rubbed lemon. Vegan Black Truffle Risotto presents Carnaroli rice with white truffle olive oil, truffle sauce, and thin slices of black truffle. Gnocchi lovers, there’s a whole section including Vegan Gnocchi al Pesto with a cashew, walnut, pine nut based sauce, and many more. Vegan Fettuccine alla Bolognese offers “Authentic Italian Organic” Fettuccine with vegan minced meat, celery, carrots, onions, and tomato sauce. Vegan Penne Pink Sauce serves up “Authentic Italian Organic” Penne with tomato sauce and vegan Alfredo sauce. The Popular Vegan Fettuccine Amor di Pasta showcases tomato sauce, vegan heavy cream, mushrooms, and Vegan Parmesan cheese. For dessert Vegan Tiramisu features Vegan biscuits soaked in coffee and vegan cream.

istockphoto

By Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD

Summer squash, such as zucchini, crookneck, or patty-pan, were named not for their growing season. Rather, due to thin skin and high-water content, they would not make it through a long winter’s storage, unlike that of thicker-skinned “winter” squash, such as butternut, acorn, spaghetti, or kabocha.

The summer squash selected for this blog is the yellow crookneck squash, as there has been a bumper crop this year (2026).

If you feel like turning on the stove, a very fast, colorful, versatile dish is to heat olive oil (or oil of your choice) in a pan, and quickly sauté thinly sliced, or small-diced yellow squash with chopped onions, chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned), diced garlic, and salt and pepper, to taste. This is so delicious that you may find yourself eating right out of the pan. Serve, warm, over rice or cooked greens, or cold as a wrap filling.

If you are an early summer riser, you might like to bake summer squash into a casserole, tossing sliced squash with chopped onions, dried vegan bread crumbs, and shredded vegan cheese, to be eaten, cool, later in the day. Leftover casserole can be chopped, to fill halved and seeded summer squash “boats.” These stuffed squash can be heated in the oven (twice-baked squash!) or eaten cold.

If you like to use kitchen gadgets, invest in a “spiralizer” to create veggie noodles. We have seen these in the “bargain bins” in markets, and online for about $9. Once you have churned out your squash noodles, you can either quickly steam or microwave them to use in place of pasta, or serve them uncooked, with your favorite salad dressing. In different seasons, the spiralizer can “noodle-ize” white, yellow, and purple potatoes and sweet potatoes, green tomatoes (ripe, red tomatoes would be too squishy), seeded cucumbers, and carrots.

If the grill is on, toss large chunks of summer squash with olive oil and a spice blend. Roast them quickly and eat hot, or store in the refrigerator and use as a wrap, burrito, or taco filling.

Baked summer squash fritters can be made by shredding summer squash and white potatoes, squeezing out and discarding the excess liquid and combining with a spice blend of your choice (using Old Bay seasoning gives a seaside flavor), dry vegan bread crumbs, and vegan mayo. If the mixture is too loose to form into patties, add additional breadcrumbs or flour. Form into patties and refrigerate for at least an hour. Bake until golden brown, turning once. These fritters freeze well, so, since the oven is going to be on, plan to make a double batch for later enjoyment.

When it is just too hot to cook, use a vegetable peeler to thinly slice the squash, and toss with olive oil, fresh lemon or lime juice, and chopped parsley. Chill until ready to serve. If you are serving a selection of dips, such as tzatziki, hummus, or salsa, cut summer squash into slices or sticks, alongside carrots and celery.

If you find you have an overload of yellow squash, you can grate, shred, or cube it and freeze for use later in the year in soups, stews, and a vegetable blend (the frozen squash will not be firm enough to use for salads and such). If you have the time to dehydrate the squash, slice thinly and allow to dry. They will most probably shrink down about sixty per cent, due to a very high-water content. Plan to use the dehydrated squash later in the year in broths, soups, and in cooked grains and rice.

Spinach and Artichoke Alfredo photo by Hannah Kaminsky

Hannah Kaminsky shows readers how to prepare vegan dishes using different types of vegan milks. Try Royal Milk Tea, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Scalloped Rainbow Potatoes, Spinach & Artichoke Alfredo, Chickpea Korma, and Chai-Spiced Rice Pudding. Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2025issue3/2025_issue3_dairy_free_dishes.php

Subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA only at www.vrg.org/member

Some updates have been made on VRG’s Vegan Nutrition in Pregnancy and Childhood brochure. See: Vegan Nutrition in Pregnancy and Childhood (PDF)

Recent topics brought up include:

– How might vegan toddlers get some extra iron? Here are some ideas, in toddler-friendly form.

– What are some vegan-friendly children’s books?

– The Foundation for Fresh Produce produced a coloring book promoting fruits and veggies that you can print out for your kids.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/VRGparentsandkids is intended to be a group that offers support for families raising children on vegan diets and for vegan kids around the world. We envision it as a place to get advice about a wide-variety of topics: pregnancy, birthday parties, school lunches, Halloween, non-leather apparel, cruelty-free products, summer camps, and more. Please use it as a place to share your wisdom, seek advice, or just find a sympathetic ear. The goal is to offer support.

Consequently, any profane, defamatory, offensive, or violent language will be removed. Feel free to disagree, but do so respectfully. Hateful or discriminatory comments regarding race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs will not be tolerated. We expect that posts should relate to vegan diets and lifestyles. The Vegetarian Resource Group reserves the right to monitor all content and ban any user who posts in violation of the above rules, any law or regulation, SPAM, or anything otherwise off topic.

Please share this information with any veggie families that you know! Thanks.

Cucumber Sesame Salad photo by Hannah Kaminsky

It’s a joy to prepare meals during summertime in the USA and Tess Challis shares a wide variety of dishes using summer’s bounty in the latest issue of Vegan Journal. Recipes included are Cucumber Sesame Salad, Tomatofu Toast, Tomato Basil Gigante Beans, Corn Season Salad, Hummus Eggplant Lavash Wrap, and Farmers Market Herby Potato Salad. Read Tess’s article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2025issue3/2025_issue3_forever_summer.php

Subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA only at www.vrg.org/member

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

Also known as: Span 60, SMS, Sorbitan Stearate, E491, Sorbitan Monooctadecanoate

Commercial source: vegetable (sorbitan: corn, potato, or tapioca starches; monostearate: palm oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil)
Used in: active dry yeast, frozen desserts, ready-to-eat meals, meat substitutes, margarine, chocolate, puddings, imitation whipped cream, icings, baked goods, cake mixes, flavors, human and animal dietary supplements, cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, plastics, coatings, pesticides

Used as: emulsifier, texture enhancer, humectant
Definition: Chemically, sorbitan monostearate is an ester formed from a reaction between sorbitol and stearic acid. It is often used with polysorbates in a wide variety of foods.
Classification: Typically Vegan*

*Stearic acid is found in animal fats, but no companies surveyed use it for this ingredient.

Manufacturers:

Guangdong Huana Chemistry Co., Ltd.: “Our sorbitan monostearate is of vegetable origin and no animal or dairy substances is used in the manufacturing process of sorbitan esters and polysorbates…The sorbitol comes from corn, while the stearic acid comes from palm oil. No petrochemicals are involved in production.”

Mohini Organics Pvt. Ltd.: “Our sorbitan monostearate is of plant origin, not synthetic…Stearic acid is from a palm source, and sorbitol is from tapioca.”

Treveni Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.: “Our sorbitan monostearate is 100% plant-derived…it is neither derived from animal or human origin nor manufactured utilizing melamine/intermediates and/or auxiliary agents which are of animal or human origin.”

Lasenor: “Sorbitol is produced by hydrogenating glucose, which can come from plant sources such as corn starch or other plant-based sugars (like potato starches). In our case, we use wheat…The stearic acid that esterifies sorbitan is a saturated fatty acid that can be sourced from vegetable oils (including palm oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil). While stearic acid can also be derived from other oils or animal fats, we use palm oil as a common source for some of our products because it…can be processed to extract stearic acid.”

Additional Information:

• Sorbitan monostearate does not have GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration like many food ingredients have, but it is permitted by the FDA for food use.
• Lasenor and OU Kosher

For additional ingredient information, see https://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php

To support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, join at https://www.vrg.org/member/cabdacae.php or donate at www.vrg.org/donate

The contents of this posting, our website and our other publications, including Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

The Vegetarian Resource Group is once again sponsoring a video contest. We will be awarding several monetary awards. The deadline for entries this year is July 15, 2026 and the contest is open to all ages.

Create and submit a video relating what you want to tell others about veganism. Some possible topics: food, nutrition, your feelings about veganism, water usage and veganism, veganism and animal rights, or other veggie topics which appeal to you. Humor and feelings are appreciated. All videos should be positive, not be critical of anyone, and not include any footage of animal cruelty. You may submit a video you have already made. Please do not enter videos made completely using AI.

Aspects of judging include accuracy and judges wanting to share the video with others. Entrants give permission to The Vegetarian Resource Group to post and share the video, to link to and from the video, and share the video with the media.

To see the video contest rules, visit: http://www.vrg.org/videoscholarship.php

Previous winning videos can be found here: http://www.vrg.org/veg_videos.php