By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

If you’ve ever wondered if your vegetable consumption is similar to that of the average American, you will enjoy scrolling through reports from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA keeps records of how much food is available each year, on average, for each person in the United States. They do this by tracking domestic production, initial inventories, and imports of a particular food (for example broccoli) and then subtracting exports and end-of-year inventories. The national supply is divided by the U.S. population to calculate an estimate of food availability per person. While these estimates of food availability cannot tell us how much of a food an individual person eats, they provide an estimate of what is available for the average American individual. These estimates can be used to identify trends in food production.

The most recent report looks at the years 2000 to 2019. The part of the report that examines vegetables shows that over these two decades, the total amount of vegetables available decreased by 4 percent from 417.4 pounds per capita to 400.1 pounds. These totals include fresh, frozen, canned, and dried forms of vegetables.

The largest increase in vegetable availability was in the red and orange subgroup which includes sweet potatoes, chile peppers, and bell peppers. In 2019, 49 pounds of these foods were available per capita, compared to 35.1 pounds in 2000. Dark green vegetable availability also increased going from 21.7 pounds per capita in 2000 to 27.5 pounds in 2019. This subgroup includes broccoli, kale, spinach, and romaine and leaf lettuce.

More legumes were available in 2019 – 11.1 pounds per capita compared to 8.5 pounds per capita in 2000.

It’s encouraging to see that more red and orange and dark green vegetables and legumes are available since these are important sources of nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, and zinc.

Other vegetables with greater availability over the past 20 years include

• Asparagus 1.3 lbs/capita à 1.9 lbs/capita
• Brussels sprouts 0.3 lbs/capita à 0.8 lbs/capita
• Carrots 13 lbs/capita à 16.6 lbs/capita
• Kale 0.4 lbs/capita à 1.1 lbs/capita
• Squash 4.4 lbs/capita à 5.9 lbs/capita

And with lower availability:

• Lima beans 0.56 lbs/capita à 0.37 lbs/capita
• Cabbage 10.3 lbs/capita à 7.1 lbs/capita
• Corn 27.1 lbs/capita à 18.9 lbs/capita
• Green peas 3.7 lbs/capita à 1.9 lbs/capita
• White potatoes 138 lbs/capita à 119.1 lbs/capita

It’s fun to speculate about what led to these changes.

Resources

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2021/february/us-supplies-of-vegetables-available-to-eat-in-2019-down-slightly-from-2000-but-variety-has-grown/

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-per-capita-data-system/

See The Vegetarian Resource Group’s 2021 YouGov poll of 8- to 17-year-olds in the United States at https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/Yougov2021youthteenwriteup.pdf900

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 COVID-19 pandemic many are doing take-out and/or delivery now):

Apron Strings, 434 Porter Ave., Ocean Springs, MS 39564

Located in the greater Biloxi area, Apron Strings is a fully-vegan bakery with a rotating menu of lunch foods offered as grab-n-go items. A small selection of retail products is available as well. Diners rave about the cupcakes and po-boy sandwiches. Parking is available in front.

Bar Vegan, Ponce City Market, 675 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE, Ste. N-215, Atlanta, GA 30308

This minority-woman-owned bar and lounge (from the same owner as popular restaurant Slutty Vegan) is upstairs in the Ponce City Market Food Hall, which has a number of other cocktail bars and wineries.  It has a cool, classy ambience, with a DJ, velvet chairs, and big screen TVs. Bar Vegan serves a very wide range of drinks, specializing in cocktails combining nutritious vegan ingredients with alcohol. Vegan food — a delicious Vegan Philly cheese steak and tater totz — is also available, under the ‘Dinkies’ label. Food and soft drinks can be ordered to go from a take-out window as well as for eating in the bar.

Eliza’s Vegan Café, varies, Florence, SC

This fully vegan café focuses on organic, local café dining—“on wheels”! As a food truck, you can see their locations and schedule on their website or social media accounts. Order can range from popcorn chicken salad, bacon cheeseburgers, three layered lasagna, and much more!

GuacStar, 920 E. University Dr. #204, Tempe, AZ 85281

GuacStar is a refined way to eat Mexican plant-based cuisine. They “want to make healthy food sexy.” They have a great variety of flavorful tacos, rice, nachos, desserts, and drinks. Examples include: Tres Leches Cake, Seasonal Guacamole, Chimi Cheeseburger, and La Casa Maragarita. Located in the heart of downtown across the street from Arizona State University Campus.

MeDiet Café, 7293 W. Sahara Ave., Ste. 8, Las Vegas, NV 89117

MeDiet Café has a unique and heartwarming story, as the founder’s mother inspired him to always eat healthy. He dealt with cancer, which further made him want to promote healthy eating with blogs and his variety of healthy items offered at his cafe. MeDiet has wonderful options of pancakes, acai bowls, juices, smoothies, tacos, soups, and more. Examples include: Cauliflower taco, avocado BLT, vegan cake pops, French onion soups, and blueberry pancakes. Located near Spring Valley in Las Vegas, this definitely is a hot place to check out!

Planta, Rosemary Square, 700 South Rosemary Ave., Ste. 142, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Planta promotes environmental sustainability. Their menu includes vegan sushi, their signature Planta burger, spicy lumaconi pasta with cashew mozzarella, and unique pizza combinations (gluten-free dough available). Several items are available to share with friends including cauliflower tots with truffle almond parmesan. Planta has an outdoor bar.

Vegan Café Jax, 2624 Atlantic Blvd., Ste. 3, Jacksonville, FL 32207

They serve smoothies, bowls, wraps, quinoa, sandwiches, black bean burgers, soups, salads, beverages, and desserts. The BBQ’d jackfruit and “el vegano” salad look particularly delicious and the “rotating” desserts may be worth the visit alone.

Yummvees, 3511 Courthouse Rd., Richmond, VA 23236

Their brunch menu offers main, sides, and sauces and the dinner menu includes small plates, soup & salad, sandwiches, main dishes, sides and sauces, desserts, and smoothies. You might want to order artichoke lasagna or the butternut squash mac and cheese.

See: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506005414/en/Impossible-Foods-Secures-Child-Nutrition-Label-for-Impossible%E2%84%A2-Burger-Launches%C2%A0-Insights-Report-on-Kids-Climate-Change

Dandies Marshmallows are delicious and vegan. They roast wonderfully over any campfire and can be used to make S’mores with vegan graham crackers and chocolate. Be sure to grab some the next time you go camping. For more information see: https://dandies.com/

Naina wrote, “In my 9^th grade year, I noticed that students at my school were unable to engage in science due to the minimal educational opportunities present in my rural town in northwestern Arizona. Also, many students had not yet established a connection with the intricacies of the natural world outsides of sports such as hunting and fishing. I knew that I needed to find a way to interest students in the ecological sciences and then develop an appreciation of the beauty and peace of nature outside of these destructive practices.”

“I first applied for and won a $500 grant from the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation, which I used to buy plants, supplies, and tools. I assembled a team of high school students and began breaking ground in a deserted area at the edge of my school’s campus. At first, the rocky terrain, insecure water connection, and oven-like climate threatened to stall the garden’s progress. However, I planned a winding canal system to store and supply water for the trees, bushes, and crops growing in the garden, and installed a greenhouse and raised beds for various varieties of plants.” … “We have grown peaches, plums, apples, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, cilantro, spinach, broccoli, onions, corn, and okra to name a few … Any students who have worked in the garden and helped during our planting season can take home and give away the produce they have grown.”   

“When I go to college at the end of this year, I plan to entrust the Garden to my school for its upkeep. I have established a garden club which under the supervision of my science teacher will look after it.”

“In my 11^th grade, I also pioneered a salad bar in my school district cafeteria.” “I conducted a survey of all students and faculty at my high school to determine the impact a new salad bar would have on our school cafeteria … I sent a memo to the school district administration to introduce my plan. I then assembled a salad bar needs assessment committee that included my culinary teacher, faculty members, and student representatives. We brainstormed ideas for the salad bar’s offerings, determined the new lunch line procedures, and set the school days the salad bar would be in operation. I scheduled a meeting with my district’s principal and superintendant where I presented the survey results, and addressed my plan to move forward with the salad bar … I also proposed the equipment necessary to store and serve the salads. After hearing my ideas, the administration quickly approved the project and allocated funds to purchase a two-door self-serve salad station for the cafeteria.”

“Monday, March 16^th was the Salad Bar’s Grand Opening Day. Flyers were sent to students across the school district, and a school newspaper article detailing the unveiling of this new cafeteria addition was already in circulation. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic ground all school operations to a halt. Classroom learning migrated to the cloud, and months passed without a single student stepping foot on campus. My vision to implement a salad bar at my school had been paused … (Then) I was elated to hear that I could begin the salad bar in a new school year, but knew that I would have to  recalculate its setup. Once the school year began, I met with the salad bar needs assessment committee and decided to send an online order form every morning to faculty and students, enabling them to select the options they would like on the salad bar, and then coordinate with the culinary department to pre-assemble the individualized salads. As I worked with other culinary students in the morning, reading orders and portioning salads while wearing gloves, masks, and keeping a safe distance, I gained hope in the fact I could make my goals a reality.”

“My school was a tough place to implement a salad-bar project as most of the students and staff come from ranching and farming backgrounds, and meat is always a part of their diet.” The salad bar was open to students from September to December last year. Then the salad bar was only for faculty due to the COVID-19 restrictions. After its success, it was implemented for everyone. “This week I began the salad bar in person and participants can now order and pick up their salads in my school’s cafeteria. Earlier approximately 200-300 students ordered from the salad bar, and the most popular toppings were the roasted nuts and cranberries, and crunchy spiced lentils. Previously, all of the salads were distributed in pickup boxes to prevent COVID-19 contamination. Now, my school district has allowed the salad bar to operate-in-person. I am working with other students at my school to take orders and create the salads-in-person in my school cafeteria.” Naina made sure that options such as nuts and baked tofu were available.

Naina hopes to become a neurosurgeon and recommend vegetarian diets to her patients.

The deadline for the next scholarship contest for high school seniors graduating in 2022 is February 20, 2022. To see rules and other scholarship winners, visit vrg.org/student/scholar.htm  

To support additional scholarships and internships, donate at vrg.org/donate, call (410) 366-8343, or send donations to VRG, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.

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 COVID-19 pandemic many are doing take-out and/or delivery now):

Dom’s, 134 North Spruce St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101

They have small and large plates including several cauliflower dishes, nachos, crab cakes, burgers, BBQ, chicken, and a few pasta dishes. Kombucha, lemonade, and other drinks, as well as dessert are also available. Some menu items can be made gluten-free on request. It is an interesting combination of Asian, Italian, and traditional vegan fare.

Dunedin Vegan Deli, 2340 Main St., Clearwater, FL 33763

They offer a selection of breakfast foods, wraps, burgers, subs, sandwiches, salads, pizza, and wings, as well as a separate menu of gluten-free items. You can also buy deli “meats” by the pound. They also sell hard to find vegan grocery items and a huge selection of drinks. Sandwiches are mostly made with house made seitan.

Grown Together, 209 E. Mills Ave., El Paso, TX 79901

Order from Grown Together to experience El Paso, TX’s first vegan food preparation facility, which is focused on health, fully vegan dining. They offer a range of cuisine types and respective nutritional information for all of their offerings. Five or more meals must be ordered for delivery and the weekly menu is released every Friday.

Indigo Burger, 5743 Stevenson Blvd., Newark, CA 94560

They offer “In-N-Out” style burgers, sandwiches, and fries, all with house-made sauces. They also have vegan chicken, tacos, smoothies, and other drinks. The Loaded Fries with Impossible Meat Crumbles, caramelized grilled onions, jalapeños, and house nacho cheese sauce made with potatoes and carrots sound particularly inviting. From the look of things on their Instagram page, you won’t go away hungry!

Juicilicious, 224 North Broadway, Salem, NH 03079

Juice bar offering mostly organic, gluten-free, and raw drinks and food. They serve a wide variety of juices, smoothies, tropical bowls, toasts, salads, and wraps. They use locally grown produce and items from local businesses as much as possible.

Mucho Gusto, #1 Calle Muñoz Rivera, Trujillo Alto, PR 00976

At this ice cream and dessert kitchen, all offerings are vegan and gluten-free—and also made from scratch! Mucho Gusto can be found in front of Trujillo Alto’s Codepola and Funeraria Piñero Memorial. From classic vanilla to guava to sunflower stracciatella, Mucho Gusto offers many flavors of ice cream that can also be accompanied by cookies and cakes.

Phatties, 242 W. Mission Ave., Ste. D, Escondido, CA 92025

They offer appetizers, salads, burritos, taquitos, quesadillas, a taco bar, dessert, and a kids menu. Their tortillas are handmade and their Black Bean Tortilla Salad sounds great!

Plant Base Café, 1372 Vegas Verdes Dr., Santa Fe, NM 87507

Serves Mexican, American, and Italian meals. Mexican dishes include Loaded Nachos with house-made chips, Queso Flameado with a veggie protein of your choice, and Tostadas. American dishes include Burgers, Avocado Toast, and Buffalo Cauliflower Wings. Finally, Italian dishes include Spaghetti with your choice of sauce, Build Your Own Pizza, and Caprese Salad. Don’t forget a dessert on the way out!

By Amy Burger

I feel lucky to have been able to work as an intern for The Vegetarian Resource Group during the Spring 2021 semester. I hoped to do an internship as part of my Master of Arts in English, but due to the pandemic, my school’s listed opportunities were much more limited than usual, and often required hours that wouldn’t work for my schedule, since I have a full-time job. As a result of these factors, finding an internship placement seemed like a challenge, but as it turns out, the answer was closer than I’d imagined. Over the previous several months, I’ve been receiving copies of Vegetarian Journal as a perk of my membership with The VRG. Many of the issues featured interns writing about their work with the group, and recent such columns indicated that a remote internship might be possible.

     Fortunately, it was. I was able to work remotely from my home office, writing articles, learning about layout and copyediting, and getting a better understanding of the nonprofit world. Not only did the internship represent an opportunity to work with an organization whose mission I care about, and to learn hands-on, it also allowed me to further develop skills I’d learned in my classes, through taking a grant-writing workshop and writing several pieces, from restaurant guide listings to articles for the VRG.org blog and for Vegetarian Journal. The tastiest parts of this experience were when I got to write a review of a local restaurant, try fishless tuna for a Veggie Bits review, and sample recipes from Vegan Boards, a new cookbook I had the chance to review.

     The internship lasted for fourteen weeks, and for the last few of these, I focused on two more in-depth projects related to The VRG’s upcoming 40^th anniversary in 2022: an article about former scholarship winners, and one about former volunteers and employees. These projects required a lot of legwork, in terms of tracking down current contact information and getting in touch with people to get answers to my questions for the articles, and then putting everything together. While writing them was somewhat challenging, it was ultimately very rewarding.

     In communicating with individuals who’d worked at some point with The VRG in some capacity, I was impressed by the universal esteem for the organization. People told me how much they loved The VRG, respected its work, and thought fondly of it. One frequent comment was of appreciation for The VRG’s grounding in science. The evidence-based ethos of the organization has been part of its identity from the beginning and has contributed to its reputation as a trustworthy resource today.

     As an intern, I can also say that The VRG is an incredibly supportive organization to work for. I, and other previous interns, appreciate that the coordinators allow each individual to pursue their own interests through their work, and connect them to opportunities related to these interests.

     While my internship is ending and graduation is finally in sight, my involvement with The VRG is just beginning. I plan to continue volunteering by writing articles and helping with projects, and maybe someday soon I will be able to visit Baltimore and thank them in person.

For more information about interning with The Vegetarian Resource Group, see vrg.org/student/index.php

To support The Vegetarian Resource Group internships, donate at vrg.org/donate  Or join at vrg.org/member/cabdacae.php

By Shantika Bhat, VRG Intern

As a vegetarian, it is often hard to find places that have great vegetarian and vegan options. Upon my visit to my first vegan restaurant, it felt very reassuring that I could get food from a place without stressing over my dietary needs. If you had similar experiences, I suggest if you are living in the Baltimore or Riverdale, Maryland area that you should check out Gangster Vegan Organics! Whether you are looking around the Baltimore Harbor or trying to explore your vegan food options, Gangster Vegan Organics might be the perfect spot for you.

On my first visit to the Cross Street Market in Baltimore where one Gangster Vegan Organics is located, I had a tour of what foods people near the harbor like to eat. During the time of COVID-19, businesses have been hit hard and seeing all of these small businesses in one place made me feel relieved. Gangster Vegan Organics has wonderful options from sweets, to green juices, to burgers, to bowls, to smoothies, and even salads; there are so many options to choose from, which put me in a dilemma. The prices of the items for the quality seemed like a great deal as well. After making a tough decision, I decided to get the Alchemy (Mediterranean) which has:  pickled cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, brown rice, romaine, Mediterranean marinated garbanzos, ginger date sauce, and cashew cheese. I have never had cashew cheese before, which made me very curious to see what they all tasted like.

As soon as I got my bowl, I was in awe of how beautiful the colors of the veggies looked together. From the dark fuchsia-colored cabbage to the green cucumbers and orange carrots, this bowl was a beauty. In my first bite, I was shocked at how strong the pickled cabbage and its addition to the bowl really stood out. The combination of the tomatoes, carrots, garbanzo beans, and cucumbers helps to clean the bite and smooth out the bowl from the strong Mediterranean and ginger sauces. Overall, this was one of the most delectable bowls I have had in a while. This made me want to explore more of the menu the next time I come to this place. I would rate this restaurant a 9.5/10 because of the great service, location, and food variety.

If you haven’t been to Gangster Vegan Organics or you don’t live in Baltimore/Riverdale, MD, whenever you find yourself in these areas looking for a healthy place to grab food, with an expansive menu, and a great area to explore, I highly suggest you try Gangster Vegan Organics (and what a cool name too).

Check out the restaurant’s website

For information about other veggie restaurants throughout the USA and Canada, go to vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

Arpi wrote, “Knowing that millions of animals are suffering and being killed in factory farms each year, just to be served as school lunches that would usually be left uneaten, completely broke my heart. I knew that something had to change … I decided to create a plant-based survey and send it out to students across my school district. In this survey, I questioned if the student would want to have more plant-based options, what plant-based meals they are interested in, and what their reasoning was behind their answer. I then used ArcGIS (an online mapping application) to create a dashboard displaying the survey results. I included bar graphs, pie charts, and maps to demonstrate the percentage of students who wanted vegan and/or vegetarian options and I displayed where the data was gathered from with the use of a pie chart and a map. I then set up a zoom meeting with my school’s nutritional services director where I pitched my idea and used my survey and dashboard results as evidence that our school district had a clear demand for more plant-based options.” Arpi’s reference stated: “She got the whole district food services administration to join Zoom, and led the meeting, presenting fact based data to support incorporating vegan options on a regular basis for school meals. Our district food services director was so impressed with the work she had done researching affordable vegan options for our lunch and snack menu that she thanked Arpi for doing the survey saying that data does make a difference, and asked her to send her the data collected from her survey. Through her efforts the food service director did commit to including falafel, soymilk, fruit parfaits, and other vegan items to the school menu.”

Additionally, to further encourage vegetarianism in her community, Arpi partnered with the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition to represent them at her high school’s AP environmental science courses. As a guest speaker, she spoke to two classrooms regarding the ethical and environmental issues linked with factory farming. In addition, she also created a quick-and-easy vegan recipe tutorial on her school’s tv show, Quarter Past Clark.

For her senior thesis, Arpi did a paper on food subsidies. She plans to focus her career around advocating for and creating new food-based policies in the United States. She said, “Major topics that I am interested in are transitioning governmental food subsidies away from animal agriculture towards fruit and vegetable farms. … I believe that in order to further spread the vegan and vegetarian movements, it is essential to stay compassionate in all aspects of life, by treating everyone with kindness, both humans and nonhuman animals alike.” Arpi will be attending UC San Diego for a political science and public policy major, with a minor in climate change studies.

The deadline for the next Vegetarian Resource Group scholarship contest for high school seniors graduating in 2022 is February 20, 2022. To see rules and past scholarship winners, visit vrg.org/student/scholar.htm

To support additional scholarships and internships, donate at vrg.org/donate, call (410) 366-8343, or send donations to VRG, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.