Recent discussion topics include:

– Our son is about to turn one. My wife and I eat a plant-based diet, but are feeling a bit lost and a little scared as we prepare to transition the baby off of formula and on to “real” food as his primary source of nutrition, while staying vegan. Help?

– How do you educate young children and tell them the truth about where meat comes from and how animals are badly treated, but not terrify them?

– Just got back from my son’s one-year check-up, and the only concern the doctor had about a plant-based diet was the amount of fat (or lack thereof) in whatever plant-based milk we may choose to transition to. Anyone know of any brands/varieties that have comparable fat to whole cow’s milk and also hit the other main important points (protein, calcium, vitamins D and B12)?

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.

By Lucía Rivera, VRG Intern

Nestled among blocks of storefronts in the Hillcrest section of San Diego, CA, Veganic Thai Café awaits visitors with warm lights and an abundance of vegan Thai food. I visited one Sunday afternoon while hungry for a delicious midday meal, which I happily received by the end of my stay.

     The restaurant has an elegantly designed interior, with a unique mural covering one wall of the restaurant. After entering, the waitress quickly sat me and my party of three near the kitchen and filled our glasses with water.

     When reviewing the menu, I noted the statements on the front page describing the key aspects of their menu. Their vegan menu products “contain no meat, dairy products, honey, eggs, and animal products,” although they did mention when asked that they do not pay attention to whether their sugar is vegan or not. Additionally, as noted in their name, this café likes to incorporate organic tofu and vegetables into their recipes. Their extensive menu was broken up into appetizers, salads, soups, curries, specialties, noodles and fried rice, stir-fried, desserts, and beverages.

     My table decided to order two appetizers of summer rolls and soy chicken satay. The summer rolls were fresh and served with plum sauce and peanut sauce. Their tofu was not fried, so I would recommend this order specifically for people who prefer soft textures. Additionally, the satay “chicken” (fried soy protein coated with curry on a kabob stick) was a very nice mix of great flavors and textures, and a good start to the meal.

     For the main course, I ordered the green apple salad with soy “chicken.” While this is usually prepared with a spicy lime dressing, I asked for the dressing on the side. I truly enjoyed my salad, which had carrots, red onions, cashews, lettuce, tomato, soy chicken, green onions, and of course green apple slices. It was a light meal that still provided protein and nutrients through the fresh vegetables. With every crunch of crisp green apple, I became more pleased with the dish. I was also pleased with the size of the plate and the relative amount of soy chicken to vegetables.

     While I stuck to soy chicken, Veganic Thai Café offers several other forms of soy “meats,” such as faux shrimp, beef, duck, and tofu. This variety is perfect for a family like mine where some members are used to non-vegan foods because the replacement proteins very closely resemble the food they imitate. Veganic Thai Café also caters to a wide range of spice tolerance, offering a mix of non-spicy and spicy menu items, with a 1-10 range for the latter.

     Overall, my meal at Veganic Thai Café was satisfying and I would recommend for vegans, vegetarians, or omnivores in San Diego to stop by and get a taste of their own.

Several years ago, The Vegetarian Resource Group created an article on how to be prepared for a disaster. At the time, we were thinking of cases where there was a threat of a tornado, hurricane, etc. Today we’re seeing countries having to confine individuals due to the spread of a virus. The information we published is still helpful and includes a sample menu as well as list of supplies to have on hand. The article can be found here: https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/disaster.htm

According to Good Planet Foods, White Castle will be offering non-dairy cheese on any slider, starting in March 2020 in New Jersey and New York City restaurants, before moving nationally.

For information on other restaurant chains, see https://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.php

For information on vegetarian/vegan restaurants in the USA and Canada, see https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

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 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:

Globally Local

252 Dundas St., London, ON N6A 1H3 Canada

1141 Highbury Ave. North, London, ON N5Y 1A5 Canada

492 College St., Toronto, ON M6G 1A4 Canada

Globally Local is a 24 hour vegan drive thru. Specializing in vegan fast food, this restaurant offers sides, “chickUN,” all day-breakfast, dessert, burgers, tacos and more. All the ingredients used in specific dishes can be found on their website, where you can also place orders. Globally Local also uses a variety of faux meats including house-made chickpea burgers, soy taco meat, house-made sausage, gyro meat and more! These are used in dishes like the “Vopper” burger and “Famous Style Fries”.

Happy Soul

531 13th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34205

Happy Soul offers delicious vegan, soy-free, and gluten-free foods. On top of the creative food found on their rotating schedule, they also offer special homemade drinks like almond milk, kombucha, lemonade, and their most popular, the homemade tea varieties. The restaurant also provides desserts from the attached Sugar Cubed bakery shop like cookies and whole cakes. Customers can sit inside or enjoy the weather with their outdoor seating, and customers can also purchase wholesale food or catering services for events.

Kindred

7537 Maple St., New Orleans, LA 70118

Kindred many local favorites and comfort food staples prepared completely vegan. With a focus on classics like the Poboy Sandwich, Fried Chicken Sandwich, and Cheeseburgers, anyone is sure to find a plant-based favorite here. Kindred also specializes in cocktails and blended frozen drinks to enjoy along with their hearty dishes. Be sure to check out their dessert selection as well.

Lifestyle Café

891 Oak St., Columbus, OH 43205

Waffles, pastries, overnight oats to endless options of delicious sliders that include Bang Bang Shrymp, Sloppy Mo, Beyond Brat, Krabby Patty, and more. A BLT or Kale salad are another delicious option on the menu. This plant-based, wholefood kitchen also offers daily fresh gluten-free options. Be sure to take in your own cup to receive a discount on one of the amazing homemade blends of beetroot, turmeric, chocolate and a large selection of local teas. Weekend brunch at this warm little spot is a must!

Modern Times at The Belmont Fermentorium

600 SE Belmont St., Portland, OR 97214

This is a café and brewery tasting room. Five out of seven entrees are made with Beyond “meat” products. The Reuben fries are topped with seitan and there’s also a Panang fried rice made with vegan spicy soy chicken.

Planetary Burger

3088 Main St., Vancouver, BC V5T 3G5 Canada

Burgers, Fries & Shakes! Not sure which burger to get? Try the tasting flight of sliders to get an idea of what is offered (beet burger, spicy cauliflower burger, mushroom burger, or and classic cheeze burger). Fries are baked, not fried and super tasty. Cashew and coconut-based milkshakes come in chocolate, vanilla, coffee, blueberry açai, and strawberry flavor and are sweetened using dates, maple syrup, and agave. This spot ranks high on the list by the locals so be sure not to miss!

SoBe Vegan

401 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304

And

110 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139 (reopening in Spring)

Calling itself the “ultimate vegan quick casual restaurant,” SoBe Vegan aims to offer a variety of healthy, vegan American style food to its visitors. SoBe Vegan now offers healthy burgers, hot dogs, salads, “chick’n” and 6 different flavors of shakes. With beer and wine offered for adults, a kids menu for children, and dog-friendly, this restaurant is great for families who want to help SoBe Vegan meet their goal of helping the younger generation.

Sweet Soul Bakery

454 Lake Ave., St. James, NY 11787

The mission of this little Long Island, New York bakery is simple–create delicious and satisfying food that is appealing to vegans and non-vegans alike. They offer tasty desserts and treats for everyday and special occasions without preservatives or artificial ingredients, while using organic ingredients whenever possible. Stop in to try the soup of the day, like Loaded Baked Potato or Spicy Zucchini and follow them on Facebook for special events like a Vegan Egg Sandwich pop up!

Spring Café

153D Centre St., New York, NY 10013

Small vegan brunch & comfort food café. Sells burgers, salads, breakfast sandwiches, smoothies, sides, and bao buns. Uniquely, they serve a sandwich made with a Filipino purple yam called ube. Lots of interesting vegan burgers to choose from as well.

Nothing beats a simple graphic to get the vegan message out! The Vegetarian Resource Group created My Vegan Plate to display on outreach tables at various events. If you live in the United States, you can request copies of this handout to distribute by emailing us at [email protected]

You can view the handout here: https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/MyVeganPlate.pdf

This same handout can also be read in Spanish here: https://www.vrg.org/images/miplatovegano.jpg

We also have a version you can print out for kids to color on: https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/MyVeganPlateCP.pdf

Donations towards this outreach are always appreciated: www.vrg.org/donate

How often have you wanted to make a gift in honor of a loved one or friend but weren’t sure which charities are vegan-friendly, pro-environmental, or pro-animal rights? Please remember The Vegetarian Resource Group. You can make a gift in memory of a loved one or as a living tribute to honor someone you care about on a special occasion, such as a wedding or birth. We’ll send an acknowledgment to you and to the recipient(s) you choose. Your gift will support educational programs and help promote veganism.

Make checks payable to The Vegetarian Resource Group and mail to PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203, or donate at vrg.org/donate.

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

The VRG received an email inquiry asking us to look into 7-Eleven pizza ingredients. The reader had been trying to get answers from the chain with no luck. For example, is the crust or red sauce vegan?

(EDITORS NOTE: See bottom of this article for vegan pizza ideas. There are so many frozen vegan pizzas now and restaurants offering vegan pizza, this is your best bet. We’ve come a long way since our staff would order pizza without cheese. But we would still recommend that method as a good way to go sometimes if you don’t want the fat in vegan or non-vegan cheese, and want to load up with vegetables on the crust.)

In January 2020, The VRG sent a contact request form through the 7-Eleven website asking for a complete ingredient statement for the cheese pizza.

We specifically wanted to know:

1. Is the cheese made with animal rennet?
2. Are there animal fats (such as lard) in the crust or sauce?
3. Is the dough made with animal- or human hair-derived L-cysteine?

We also called the 7-Eleven consumer line. They wrote down our questions, and told us they would send them to the corporate office. It would take 3-5 business days to get a response.

A few days later we received an email from a 7-Eleven business consultant for the Maryland region. That email contained the ingredient list for the cheese pizza:

“CHEESE PIZZA 2019
INGREDIENTS: CHEESE (LOW MOISTURE MOZZARELLA CHEESE (CULTURED PASTEURIZED MILK, SALT, ENZYMES), CHEDDAR CHEESE (CULTURED PASTEURIZED MILK, SALT, ENZYMES, ANNATTO (COLOR)), PARMESAN CHEESE (CULTURED PASTEURIZED PART SKIM MILK, SALT, ENZYMES), WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, TOMATO PASTE, NONFAT MILK, YEAST, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN AND/OR CANOLA OIL), SUGAR, PALM OIL, SALT, FERMENTED RYE FLOUR, MALTODEXTRIN, WHEAT GLUTEN, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, FLAVOR (WATER, CONCENTRATED SPONGE EXTRACT), DRIED GARLIC, SPICE, DATEM, DEXTROSE, GUAR GUM, XANTHAN GUM, SOY LECITHIN, ASCORBIC ACID (DOUGH CONDITIONER), NIACIN, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE), REDUCED IRON, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR, WHEAT STARCH, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID, FERROUS SULFATE, ENZYMES CONTAINS MILK, SOY AND WHEAT,WHOLE”

VRG NOTE: “Concentrated sponge extract” is a vegetable- and microbial-sourced ingredient made of water, wheat flour, and microbes.

From this ingredient statement, we concluded that there were no animal fats such as lard (except from dairy) in the sauce or dough. L-cysteine was NOT used as a dough conditioner.

Because the source of the cheese enzymes was not specified, we asked for more information. Kelly soon relayed:

“Took a little while but here is the manufacture’s response: ‘The enzymes in the cheeses come from microbial sources.’”

At this time, our inquirer reported some other information. She related: “I managed to get a pizza [box] from the cashier the other night and read the contact info!”

So she wrote directly to the company on the box. She asked the company:

“Menu Solutions was listed on the back of this product as the customer contact website. I am a consumer who has been trying to find out 1) if the cheese on these pizzas has animal rennet; and 2) if the sauce and crust have vegan or vegetarian ingredients (no animal products or ONLY dairy/egg).  Thank you.”

She then shared with us the response she had received. It was from Scot at Schwan’s in Minnesota, the apparent parent company of Menu Solutions, located in Colorado. (The Menu Solutions website redirected to Schwan’s.)

 “The cheese enzyme is microbial-sourced. There is no egg; however, there is milk in the product. In addition, the product is not certified vegan.”

Happy to have received a response, the inquirer then asked: “In the cheese pizza, is there any pork or seafood by-products (or any animal by-products other than the dairy)?”

Scot replied: “There is no pork nor seafood in the product. There are no animal [ingredients] other than dairy.”

When I asked the inquirer what she observed when 7-Eleven staff warmed the pizza, she detailed:

“At 7-11 stores, you can see them get the pre-made pizza out…They put it on a sheet of paper and put it into their high-speed oven. That’s here in Denver…”

She mentioned that there is a “high-end” 7-Eleven in her city that makes its own crust. She stated: “The one that makes its own is one of 7-Eleven’s new concept stores. They have an actual full kitchen. They even sell ‘tap’ kombucha.”

Interested readers can find out more about 7-Eleven’s concept stores in this article.

Wanting to know more about the concept stores’ ingredients, The Vegetarian Resource Group posed this question to Kelly at 7-Eleven: “One of our members told us that a 7-Eleven in her city (Denver) makes its own pizza. How common is this?

“She also said that another store uses the food service branch of Menu Solutions whose website redirected to Schwan’s based in Minnesota. If true, does Schwan’s supply the entire USA? So, the information you’ve provided about ingredients is true for ALL 7-Eleven stores (that don’t make their own pizza) in the USA?

Also, what is the protocol for warming/cooking the pizza? Could it be prepared close to animal foods or on the same surface as animal foods (including eggs)?”

Kelly responded to The VRG:

“1. All pizza is from the same distributor, so yes, [ingredients] would be the same.
2. We cook the pizza in the same oven as the chicken, beef patties.”

Wanting more detail on the kitchen protocol, we asked: “Do you sanitize the oven between uses? Do you use a baking sheet of some type?”

Kelly replied: “The oven is cleaned and sanitized once a day. We use paper and cooking sheets to cook the product.”

The VRG then asked “Are the paper and cooking sheets changed for each product?”

Kelly responded: “They are supposed to change each time.”

VRG Recommendations

When in doubt about ingredients and you find the staff to be unable to answer your questions, request to see the food packaging. Look for an ingredients label and supplier information. Follow up directly with the supplier if store staff cannot help you.

To avoid cross contamination with animal foods when dining out, ask for a clean baking sheet for your meal and request that it be prepared separately.

TO FIND SOME VEGAN PIZZAS
See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2018issue1/2018_issue1_vegan_pizzas.php

TO MAKE YOU OWN VEGAN PIZZA
See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2018issue2/2018_issue2_pizza_creations.php

YOU CAN FIND VEGAN PIZZAS AT MANY AMERICAN AND CANADIAN VEGGIE RESTAURANTS
See: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

We appreciate the responses from 7-11. Not all businesses are as quick to answer. 

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.

For information about other restaurant chains, see https://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.php

The Vegetarian Resource Group has a graphic called Burrito on My Plate, which shows viewers the water footprint of a vegan versus a meat-based burrito. It takes 225 gallons of water to make a vegan burrito without tofu and 253 gallons of water to make a vegan burrito with tofu. In comparison, it takes 541 gallons of water to make a beef burrito.

The Burrito on My Plate Graphic can be seen here: https://www.vrg.org/environment/BurritoOnMyPlate.pdf

The article detailing how we came up with the numbers of gallons of water needed to produce each type of burrito can be found here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2017issue2/2017_issue2_burrito_plate.php

We recently visited Urban Vegan Kitchen located at 41 Carmine St., New York, NY 10014. It was a Saturday night and they were very crowded. In fact, it’s a good idea to make reservations!

The restaurant seems to attract a diverse young crowd and the staff is friendly and very accommodating. While there, we sampled their Tofu Scramble Plate which consisted of marinated kale, a homemade sausage, home fries, a multi-grain English muffin along with the tofu scramble. (Yes, they serve breakfast items in the evening.) We also enjoyed an incredible slice of chocolate cake along with a mocktail.

Urban Vegan Kitchen also sells vegan t-shirts that say “I once was blind — Now I’m vegan.”