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: http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php
To support the
updating of this online restaurant guide, please donate at: www.vrg.org/donate
Here are some new
additions to VRG’s guide (Note: Due to the coronavirus pandemic many are doing
take-out and/or delivery now):
Café Organix, 420 E. Hospitality Ln., Ste. A10, San Bernardino, CA 92408
Aspiring to help
evolve the expansion of veganism, Café Organix’s mission is to assist in ending
food deserts in the Black and Brown communities. From breakfast sandwiches to
burgers and tacos, Café Organix’s options will surely have your taste buds
excited.
PB&J Bar, 554 Mill St., Danville, PA 17821
The PB&J Bar
serves a variety of foods ranging from French toast and breakfast burritos to
sandwiches and smoothies. Be sure to try their apple sweet potato pancakes for
breakfast. These pancakes are topped with decadent sweetened apples. For lunch
try the stuffed shells with mushroom, spinach, onion, and vegan cheese. To
accompany your meal, try either the fresh pear citrus juice or tropical colada
smoothie. The PB&J bar also serves many vegan treats like cupcakes and brownies.
Be sure to ask about their weekly specials or check Facebook! Get ready for a
delicious and satisfying vegan meal.
Plant Based Junkie, 1635½ E. 87th St., Chicago, IL 60617
Plant Based Junkie
is perfect for anyone looking to indulge in tasty, meatless fast food. They
offer a variety of vegan bar food options including nachos, burgers, brats,
tacos, and fries- all made without any animals products! From vegan cheese to
Impossible meat, Plant Based Junkie will be sure to satisfy your fast food
cravings.
Rosita’s Yah, 203 Academy St., Jersey City, NJ 07306
Rosita’s Yah is a
plant-based Smoothie & Juice Bar with a Latin influence inspired by the
founder’s father’s bakery in Ecuador.
There is a variety of beverage options from an Iced Caramel Macchiato to
Pitaya Smoothie to Carrot Juice. In
addition to serving fresh juices, smoothies, and coffee, Rosita’s Yah also
serves up Latin cuisine. Diners can
choose from Soy Chorizo, Black Birth Seitan, or Soy Chicken to add to their
burritos, tacos, and bowls. Between the
homemade Chia Seed Pudding and the BanaChoco Cupcake with Coffee Frosting,
dessert should not be missed!
Shoals Sound & Service, 2614 Elm St. Dallas, TX 75226
Vegan Latin American
street food paired with fresh crafted cocktails creates an excellent dining
experience. From smoked jackfruit pineapple to mushroom picadillo to guava
picadillo, their large selection of arepas and empanadas offers something for
every palate. Don’t miss out on the cocktails, especially customer favorite
Espresso Martini, vodka, kalhua, cold brew concentrate, and sea salt served up
frothy.
Taman, 1108 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10075
Nestled between East
77th and 78th street lies Taman, a restaurant that specializes in falafel.
Taman features falafel, crispy eggplant (Sabich), and cauliflower shawarma.
These can be served in a pita sandwich or platter. Another entrée option is a
hummus bowl that is either served plain or with falafel, Sabich, or shawarma.
This menu is simple, yet delicious and filled with mouthwatering spices. Be
sure to order an extra side of falafel—trust me you will want one.
The King’s Feet, 1401 University Ave., Berkeley, CA 94702
Enjoy delicious
vegan Italian dishes including many gluten-free options! To start, try the
fried ravioli, a unique twist on pasta. The ravioli is stuffed with rosemary
and cream cheese, then topped with marina sauce. Another fun appetizer is the
calamari, consisting of mushrooms and banana blossoms in nori and shiitake
seasoned panko. For your main dish, try the Cannolicchi Bolognese a vegan
replacement to traditional Bolognese sauce. This pasta dish is made with beyond
beef and features lots of vegetables and plant-based cheese. If pasta isn’t
your favorite dish, try one of their delicious pizzas instead. The spicy
sausage puttanesca pizza featuring olives, capers, red hot beyond sausage, and
marina is highly recommended. The King’s Feet also features a build your own
pizza option, allowing you to create the vegan pizza of your dreams! Be sure to
save room for dessert. Order the tiramisu or New York cheesecake. Get ready for
an Italian Vegan feast that will for sure be a treat!
Vegan Fresh, 24950 Redlands Blvd. K, Loma Linda, CA 92354
The Vegan Fresh is
an entirely plant-based restaurant serving fresh and tasty food. A few favorite
menu items include: the plantain platter and the sweet and sour tofu. The
plantain plate features a delicious combination of fried plantains, black
beans, rice, steamed kale, and fresh salsa. The sweet and sour tofu is a
satisfying vegan take on the Chinese sweet and sour dish. Be sure to order a
fresh juice or smoothie to go along with your meal. They also have an extensive
catering menu that is perfect for any event. Get ready to eat delicious,
healthy, and filling vegan food.
Vegan On The Go, 5552 NW 31st Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 and 1612 S. Cypress Rd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33060
Vegan On The Go
offers delicious, hearty, and healthy options including nutrient packed
smoothies, burgers, salads, and wraps. All of these meat-free items are perfect
for a quick bite to eat and there are a variety of options to choose from,
whether you are looking for a lighter snack or something with a few extra
calories. Favorites include the Peaches & Cream smoothie and the Non
Believer Burger, as well as the Impossible Tacos and the Vegan BLT. Check out
this local vegan eatery that is sure to satisfy all of your taste buds!
Editor’s Note: We
realize that many camps have not opened this summer due to the pandemic. Neverthless, the information below may be helpful in
other settings or during a future camp
season.
Camp is a great experience for children. Whether it’s day
camp, sport camp, religious camp, or sleep away camp, camp can help children
build independence, disconnect from technology, and make meaningful memories
and friendships that last a lifetime. As a former camper and camp counselor, I
know firsthand that most camps are not tailored specifically to kids with vegan
or vegetarian diets. Fortunately, there are plenty of camp friendly snacks and
lunches vegan kids can bring with them.
Before Camp
There are some things parents or kids can do before getting
to camp to help camp directors and counselors better accommodate vegan campers.
When signing up for camps, there is often a section for allergies or special
notes, and vegan campers should take advantage of these sections to note their
dietary needs. Emailing or calling the camp director to figure out their food
practices, such as whether they provide snacks and lunch, if there are vegan
options, or if kids are allowed to bring their own food, is always a great
idea. This advanced notice can allow the camp to prepare vegan options if
needed. Chances are the camp has different food options that are allergen
friendly, but letting the camp know in advance will make things easier on
everyone.
Snacks
When packing snacks for camp, it is important to pack foods
that will sustain kids, especially if the camp emphasizes physical activity. Trail
mix is a classic camp snack, but the traditional version with M&M’s is not
vegan. Making your own trail mix is a fun and interactive way to recreate this
classic snack. Using either bulk bins at the grocery store or snacks already on
hand, mix food items like nuts, dried fruits, cereal, pretzels, or nondairy
chocolate chips to create a custom trail mix. Baby carrots are a great vessel
for dips like hummus, vegan ranch, or peanut butter. If your camp is nut-free,
carrots and Sun Butter are an easy nut alternative. Tortilla chips can be another
good option for dips. Whether homemade or store-bought, salsa and guacamole are
fresh and filling snacks.
Lunch
A balanced lunch should include a variety of food groups and
nutrients, and this is especially true at camp. Packing lunches that are easy
to eat is important in a camp setting. Wraps are an easy way to pack a lot of
protein and nutrients into a neat package. What’s great about wraps is that
everything can be customized. My personal favorite is a Mediterranean veggie
wrap with hummus, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and falafel. Burritos are
another great option. A tofu scramble burrito with peppers, onions, salsa, and
guacamole is a nutritious and filling lunch that is easy to pack and eat at
camp. Vegan quesadillas are another portable, delicious option. There is the
classic quesadilla made with nondairy cheese and soy chorizo or beans. Peanut
butter banana quesadilla is another great option. Take a tortilla, spread your
nut butter of choice, place sliced banana on half of it, sprinkle on some
cinnamon, fold it, and then grill like a normal quesadilla! Salads and bowls
are another great option to bring to camp. Just follow the formula of base
lettuce or grain, plant-based protein, chopped vegetables, and spread of choice
to create a balanced and tasty salad or bowl.
The contents of this posting, our website, and our other
publications, including Vegetarian 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.
Vegan pizza and calzones are delicious! Thanks to Debra Daniels-Zeller, now
you can prepare these delicious items in your own home. In her previous Vegetarian Journal article, Debra shares
recipes for:
– Which is the most versatile vegan milk out there? I have tried unsweetened almond, oats, soy, and flax milk. My favorite is oats as a standalone drink but it does not go well with any of my tea, coffee, etc. What is your favorite? And how do you use it in your recipes or daily life?
– Hi all! My family and myself are new to plant-based eating and have a toddler. While we are reading and watching his kids shows I’ve noticed that eating animal products is the “norm” so I’m curious about books and kids shows that talk about the alternative. Any things good to start the conversation early.
– Parents shared cooking videos they created.
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. 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.
If you’re in the market for a vegan
backpack, you’ll be happy to know that there’s a wide variety of stylish vegan
backpacks available in the USA, Canada, and Europe.
The French company Arsayo offers unisex backpacks in five
colors. They are designed in Paris and made from cork material produced in
Portugal.
Doshi,
an American company, makes backpacks for men and women.
The American company Gosbags offers
backpacks in various colors.
In his new book In
Search of the Wild Tofurky, Seth Tibbott chronicles his journey from
nomadic outdoor environmental educator to clueless tempeh entrepreneur to
pioneering alternative protein figurehead. The founder and chairman of the
Tofurky (Turtle Island Foods) company details the story of how he began a
tempeh shop with an initial $2,500 of savings and grew the business into a
global alternative protein company worth over $100 million dollars. This
journey took decades, and Tibbott does not sugarcoat the difficulties of
building his business. However, throughout the life of the Tofurky Company,
Tibbott continuously holds his original mission and values intact, a large
reason he believes Tofurky is successful, despite his self-admitted initial
complete lack of business intuition.
While today when
we think of Tofurky, we think holiday roasts, sausages, and deli slices, Seth
Tibbott’s original vision for the company was tempeh, which he believed was the
next granola. His ability to pivot into other forms of alternative proteins allowed
his business to expand. This book is a
great read not only for vegans or vegetarians, but also for anyone interested
in entrepreneurship or business. Tibbott emphasizes the importance of having
business values and a mission, and that it is possible to both build a
profitable business and improve the world.
Tibbott’s life
and work philosophy emphasizes lightheartedness in the face of obstacles. He
believes that part of the reason Tofurky was able to grow past its initial
struggles is the lightheartedness of the company and its approach to business.
At first, people did not buy Tofurky because it was better for their health or
the environment, but they bought Tofurky because it tasted good and was a
convenient alternative, and that is how it was marketed. This philosophy can be
utilized in an everyday vegan’s life. Demonstrate lighthearted and positive
veganism, and then your mission of animal rights or environmental preservation
will follow. Hook people on veganism with taste, and inadvertently the rest
will follow.
Tibbott sees the
explosive growth of Tofurky in the past fifteen years as a reflection of a
larger trend in plant-based foods. The market is exploding with demand, and
those with a passion to bring change through food have a place to succeed in a
large part thanks to the decades of work Tibbott spent on Tofurky. Vegan and
nonvegan alike can enjoy and appreciate Tofurky’s business journey chronicled
in In Search of the Wild Tofurky.
The Vegetarian Resource
Group published an article on our blog titled How Sustainable Is Vegan Leather? in June 2020. At the time
we went to press, we had not yet received responses from several companies that
make all-natural vegan leather.
Here we present the Q&A
exchange we had through email with Dr. Luke Haverhals, the Founder and CEO of
Natural Fiber Welding® (NFW), the company that creates Mirum.
The VRG: What is Mirum made of?
NFW: Mirum is made from plants – both fiber and vegetable oils.
Sometimes we use clay and other inorganic fillers as well as natural inputs for
colors (e.g., turmeric can produce a lovely orange color).
Because
Mirum uses only natural inputs, it does not become toxic waste like plastics.
Few people understand that the reason why old clothes, shoes, etc. must be
landfilled is that petroleum-based plastic waste is toxic and cannot decompose
without harming the biosphere.
The
VRG: Do you use ANY petrochemicals at any
stage of production of Mirum?
NFW:
No, Mirum is natural. Mirum is
revolutionary and completely unique in the world in that we do not use any
petrochemicals nor any synthetic glues/polymers derived from petrochemicals.
For example, Mirum does NOT use polyurethane like many others who claim this
high-carbon footprint, petroleum-based material is somehow “vegan.”
This
article points out how plastic-containing materials can never be regarded
as truly “vegan.”
NFW
is pioneering state-of-the-art manufacturing processes that use Plants, Not
Plastic™ because we desire to make the lowest resource (e.g., lowest carbon
footprint) materials possible.
The
VRG: How quickly does Mirum biodegrade and
under what conditions?
NFW: It depends. If a tree falls in the forest, it may take a
long time to degrade. If the tree is chopped into small bits, the degradation
process happens much faster. Mirum formulations are extremely tunable. Mirum is
always degradable since it is made only from nutrients. That said, the absolute
biodegradation characteristics are tunable as well and depend on both the raw
materials utilized as well as the way in which the product is treated at the
end of its lifecycle.
It is also worth
mentioning that Mirum can be recycled. NFW will be scaling and implementing
recycling capabilities as we scale production of Mirum.
While much hype and
funding has been given to biotech “solutions” that cannot scale, NFW has been
quietly working to develop scalable technologies that actually deliver. In the
second half of 2020, there will be major announcements of partnerships with
global brands that know NFW has developed the truly game-changing technology
platforms that deliver.
Note to Readers: When The VRG receives updates from NFW on Mirum as well as
responses from other all-natural vegan leather companies, we will post them
here on our blog.
The contents of this posting, our website, and
our other publications, including Vegetarian 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 (VRG) is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on veganism and the interrelated issues of health, nutrition, ecology, ethics, and world hunger. We have been helping health professionals, food services, businesses, educators, students, vegans, and vegetarians since 1982. In addition to publishing the Vegan Journal, VRG produces and sells a number of books.
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