It’s not easy to find vegan Japanese food served in restaurants. Here’s a few vegan establishments that do offer vegan Japanese cuisine:

Cha-Ya

762 Valencia St.

San Francisco, CA 94110

Cha-Ya uses centuries-old cooking traditions to prepare their authentic Japanese meals. Menu items at this all-vegan restaurant include sushi rolls, noodle dishes, soups, salads, rice bowls, and desserts.

Kajitsu

125 E. 39th St.

New York, NY 10016

Kajitsu serves Shojin cuisine (an ancient Japanese cuisine developed in Zen Buddhist monasteries) that focuses on fresh ingredients and artistic presentation. Following the Buddhist principle of not taking life, no animal products are used. The menu changes monthly according to what is in season. Diners can choose between two prix-fixe menus — four or eight courses. The meals are served on handmade ceramic dishes, some of which are antiques. You will find Kajitsu is not far from Grand Central Station. Reservations are recommended at this upscale restaurant.

Red White Japanese Vegan

294 Newbury St.

Boston, MA 02115

Red White is a fast-casual restaurant with smoothies and bowls. Fast-casual and bowls seem to go together like beans and rice, but when was the time it was Japanese? With a base of sushi rice, and toppings like tofu, eggplant, mushrooms, yams, and more, all while topped off by any of five Japanese-styled sauces, you’re sure to encounter a new flavor experience.

Shizen Vegan Sushi Bar & Izakaya

370 14th St.

San Francisco, CA 94103

Shizen features a wide variety of traditional Japanese cuisine including soups, sushi, and noodle dishes. Diners can opt to stick with simple dishes like the Avocado Nigiri or Vegetable Gyoza or try one of the many specialty rolls, with options like the Open Invitation or The Candlestick (with live fire). Be sure to check out the dessert menu as well.

Shojin

333 S. Alameda St., Ste. 310

Los Angeles, CA 90013

And

12406 W. Washington Blvd.

Culver City, Ca 90066

Shojin offers an extensive menu of organic and vegan Japanese cuisine including salads, pastas, noodle dishes, curries, and soups. They have even developed three types of seitan, each with its own recipe and cooking method, to correspond with the tastes and textures of chicken, pork, and beef. Their lunch specials are a great value. Shojin on Alameda is located in downtown Los Angeles in the Little Tokyo Shopping Center.

Tane Vegan Izakaya

2065 S. Beretania St.

Honolulu, HI 96826

A completely vegan sushi bar is a rare thing indeed, so don’t miss out. There are dozens of options including vegan nigari, classic, and specialty rolls. If you’d prefer a bowl to a roll, try the ramen or the specialty salads.

Be sure to visit The Vegetarian Resource Group’s online veggie restaurant guide for the USA and Canada here: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

The Vegetarian Resource Group is a vegan activist non-profit organization that does outreach all-year-long. For example, VRG tables at different events throughout the USA and also sends literature free of charge to other groups/individuals doing educational activities in schools, hospitals, camps, restaurants, libraries, offices, etc. Our ability to continue doing this depends on people like you! Your donations allow us to promote the vegan message whenever we’re called upon for assistance. Please consider becoming a monthly, quarterly, or single-time donor to The Vegetarian Resource Group.

Thanks so much for your support. You can make a donation online here: vrg.org/donate

By Kristen Nyampong

Thai food is by far my favorite cuisine to eat as a vegan because it’s so flavorful and versatile. I loved it so much that I had the opportunity of working at a Thai restaurant for a couple of months. Through my job I learned about the different flavors within the cuisine and most importantly what vegans should be aware of when ordering. In this article I will give you tips and tricks to make sure your dish at a Thai restaurant is vegan-friendly.  

Thai food has a very unique flavor within the sauces and curries. Its aroma has a lot of lemon grass, chili sauce, Thai Basil, and unfortunately fish sauce. Moreover, fish by-products are extremely common within Thai cuisine, especially its street food. Thus, if you are planning to dine at a Thai restaurant, call ahead to make sure they have vegan options. They may say yes, but do not really understand that you mean no fish along with no meat, dairy, and egg. So make sure you emphasize no fish sauce. Authentic Thai restaurants should be able to cater to your needs because they make all their sauces in house and some house-made sauces usually do not have any fish by-product. However, some Thai restaurants use premade pastes that usually have some sort of fish by-product.

The way to tell if a dish has fish by-product is by its smell and color. A dish with fish may have a fishy aroma and it will be darker due to the presence of some sort of fish sauce or paste. For example, Pad Thai is a very common dish in Thailand. It is based on tamarind and chili sauce that gives the dish a sweet and spicy flavor. If the Pad Thai is vibrant orange/red it will likely not have fish sauce, but if a Pad Thai is a dark reddish brown color, it likely has fish sauce. This is also the same for Green Curry. Green curry is based on green chilies, lime leaves, lemongrass, coconut milk, and traditionally shrimp paste. If the curry is vibrant green it will likely not have shrimp paste, but a curry that is a dark green does. 

It is very important to make sure your waiter is aware you are vegan and ask MANY questions about the dish you are ordering. Don’t be afraid to ask them to check with the kitchen before you place your order. Thai restaurants always have tofu options and some dishes can be made vegan if they don’t add fish sauce. So ask if they can make a certain sauce dish without the fish sauce. This is true with stir-fries as well. Always ask if the curries do not have any fish paste in them because it will not be noted in the menu item. Although fish sauce is more commonly used in Thai dishes, egg is commonly used in all fried rice dishes and almost every noodle dish. Moreover, you must tell your waiter you do not want egg in any of your noodles or fried rice dish. Some common noodle dishes with eggs are Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, and Drunken Noodles.  

Due to a lot of chilies within Thai food, for some it can be very spicy. There is a spice system that many Thai Restaurants use. It is a five star rating, five star being extremely spicy and one star being mild. Usually if you don’t ask for it to be spicy, they will assume you would prefer it to be mild and won’t add extra spice. Moreover, use the five star system if you don’t want it to be mild and would prefer a little spice. If your food is already prepared and you would prefer more spice, you could ask for the spice condiment rack. Don’t use just any spice on the spice rack because some do have fish sauce like the Nam Pla Prik, which is more liquidity than the other spices. However, the Prik Namsom, which is a vinegar based red chili sauce, and the Thai dried red chili flakes, do not have any fish sauce.  

If you are planning to go to a Thai restaurant, be sure to use these tips! Some usually vegan friendly dishes are Red Curry, Pad Thai ordered without egg, and Massaman Curry. But as previously stated, don’t be afraid to ask if they can make a certain dish vegan without fish sauce. Happy eating!

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

The Vegetarian Resource Group will host a vegan dinner at Su Xing, about a six minute walk from the Pennsylvania Convention Center, on Sunday, October 27, 2019, during the annual meeting of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Meet vegetarian dietitians from around the country. The public is invited.

MENU
APPETIZER: seitan on stick with BQ sauce
SOUP: (choice of): hot and sour soup or tofu and vegetable soup
MAIN DISHES:
chow fun (rice noodle dish)
tofu with black bean sauce
stir-fried spinach
stir-fried string beans
rice
DESSERT: fruit
BEVERAGES: tea and water

MUST RESERVE AND PAY IN ADVANCE
Send $25 per person (includes tax and tip) with attendee names to The Vegetarian Resource Group, PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203. Call (410) 366-8343. Or pay at www.vrg.org/donate and write “Philadelphia VRG Dinner” and attendee names on the “Comments” box.

Nothing beats vegan ice cream during the summer! Here’s some vegan ice cream parlors you can visit:

Cashew Cow

16 S. Eastbourne Ave.

Tucson, AZ 85716

They specialize in non-dairy “ice cream” derived from a cashew base. Choose from many flavors including Vanilla, Strawberry, Lemon Poppyseed, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cookies & Cream, and many more.

Crepe & Spoon

339 22nd Ave. NE

Minneapolis, MN 55418

Located in North East Minneapolis, Crepe & Spoon provides sweet & savory crepes alongside hand crafted ice cream, with a focus on vegan high quality ingredients.

Fomu

655 Tremont St.

Boston, MA 02118

And

481 Cambridge St.

Allston, MA 02134

And

617 Centre St.

Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

FoMu offers a wide variety of vegan ice creams, toppings, sorbets, baked goods, coffees, and teas. The menu includes traditional flavors such as Cookies and Cream to more experimental flavors like Avocado and Thai Peanut. FoMu offers an ever-changing menu of dairy-free, natural, and locally-made items. They do not use refined sugar and their frozen treats are coconut-based.

Frankie & Jo’s

1010 E Union St.

Seattle, WA 98122

This small vegan ice cream shop is located in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. The décor of the shop is a beautiful mix between urban and rustic. The space is very modern but cozy and offers a small area for indoor seating. Their ice cream is mostly made from sprouted cashews, but also sometimes includes coconut milk. They offer a variety of unique, vegan and gluten-free flavors for their ‘everyday ice creams’, such as Chocolate Date, Frankie’s Brown Sugar, Salty Caramel Ash, Tahini Chocolate, Gingered Golden Milk, Chocolate Mint Brownie, and California Cabin. In addition to these flavors offered year-round, Frankie & Jo’s also offers a seasonal menu of ice cream flavors and an ‘every day’ Beet Strawberry Rose sorbet. Their maple-vanilla waffle cones are also vegan and gluten-free.

Ice Dream Parlor

2895 McFarlane Rd. Bay D

Miami, FL 33133

From cones to sundaes to floats, they have everything you’d expect and more, but vegan!

Like No Udder

170 Ives St.

Providence, RI Providence, RI

Like No Udder is a vegan ice cream shop! In addition to non-dairy soft serve and hard ice cream, they offer vegan treats including shakes, floats, and candy bars. They also have a food truck.

Mr. Dewie’s

1116 Solano Ave.

Albany, CA 94706

On the corner of Solano and Kains Street, Mr. Dewie’s sells a cashew-based ice cream that is non-dairy, gluten-free, and soy-free. With favorable reviews, Mr. Dewie’s offers a wide range of flavors from the classic vanilla and chocolate to caramel almond crunch and chocolate orange.

Nanashake

4750 Yonge St. Unit 134

Toronto, ON M2N 0J6 Canada

Nanashake treats are gluten and dairy free and are offered as soft serve or popsicles. Their proprietary ingredients include Fair-trade bananas and nuts. The most popular shake is the Abbogoto, which includes a shot of espresso.  Chocolate and strawberry flavors are also popular.

Not Your Mother

1346 Queen St., Unit 2

Toronto, ON M6K 1L4 Canada

With a variety of 100% vegan soft serve flavors and toppings, Not Your Mother can appeal to nearly everyone. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and pineapple soft serve are topped with things like cookies, candy, and potato chips to create unique and exciting options. All flavors are available as a cup, cone, waffle cone, or milkshake. Not Your Mother is located in Vegandale, along with other vegan establishments.

Over The Moon

238 W. 19

Houston, TX 77008

Something wonderfully unique about Over the Moon is their cookie bowl. Who needs an actual bowl when you could eat your ice cream out of a cookie?

Rock Salt Creamery

16 Parker Hill Rd.

Sanbornton, NH 03269

Despite the name that implies “cream,” Tom Morrison offers these vegan dessert options, which are made from a cashew base. There are nearly 30 flavors, made from natural, almost all-organic ingredients like the more traditional strawberry, raspberry or chocolate, or something a little more out there, like carrot or lemon basil. They are located on a farm.

Sweet Ritual

4500 Duval St.

Austin, TX 78751

Located inside the Daily Juice Café, Sweet Ritual boasts a funky vintage atmosphere and an abundance of vegan soft serve ice creams, shakes, sundaes, espresso drinks, toppings, and sauces. Try the Dirt & Worms Sundae (with Oreo cookies and vegan gummy worms) or the Glitterbeast (with salted caramel sauce, strawberry sauce, and edible glitter). The soft serve is an original recipe with a creamy coconut and non-GMO soy base. Outdoor seating is available at this Hyde Park vegan ice cream parlor.

The Cookie Counter

7415 Greenwood Ave. North

Seattle, WA 98103

Vanilla, Mint Chip, Chocolate, and Strawberry ice cream is always available. Additionally there are flavors that rotate weekly and seasonally, including Blackberry Lemon, Roasted Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb. You can place special /bulk orders online at https://www.seattlecookiecounter.com/vw-ice-cream-truck The Cookie Counter has a weekly ice cream truck! See https://www.seattlecookiecounter.com/vw-ice-cream-truck for the schedule. The truck is also available for catering. The Cookie Counter has gluten free cone options.

Yoga-Urt

1407½ W. Kenneth Rd.

Glendale, CA 91021

Yoga-urt’s delicious handcrafted, fresh from scratch fare is made with organic, natural, non-dairy ingredients, and contains no artificial flavors, sweeteners or preservatives. All of the Yoga-urt soft serve is unbelievably rich and creamy and contains four strains of live probiotics added for digestive and immune health. And for those who like their Yoga-urt in a cone they are handcrafted from scratch, with vegan and gluten-free options.

Recent discussion topics include:

– One parent asked for information for their 17 month old son since they are trying to make sure their covering his toddler needs in terms of iron, iodine, omega 3s, protein, lots of good fats, etc. They also are looking for a veg-friendly doctor.

– What types of vegan advocacy projects are you or your kids involved in (if any)?

– Openings at vegan summer camps were posted.

-Plus more!

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.

Are you searching for that perfect vegan non-leather watch band? These online shops below offer a wide variety of watch straps/bands good for both casual and formal events. Some also sell watches.

Aubry: From the United Kingdom. www.aubrywatches.com

Holbens: Made in Italy. www.holbensfinewatchbands.com/collections/vegan

Hurtig Lane: USA company. www.hurtiglane.com/collections/vegan-watch-straps

Votch: Out of the United Kingdom. www.votch.co.uk

The Vegetarian Resource Group will be exhibiting at the AR conference being held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center just outside of Washington, DC. If you’re attending this event, be sure to stop by our table! We’d love to meet you.

This year’s program features nearly 80 daytime sessions including When Helping Hurts: Activist Burnout and Self-Care, Community Building in Animal Advocacy, Knowing & Defending Your Rights, Understanding Food Justice Issues, Ways To Influence Laws & Politics, How Body & Health Shaming Fail Activists and Animals, Strategies for Defeating the Use of Animals in Science, The Ethics of Sanctuaries, Reclaiming Our Grassroots, Fighting for Fishes, and so much more.

For details on this event, visit: https://arconference.org/

By Kavitha Shankar

In the western world, Indian cuisine is famously known for its tandoori chicken and curries. While tandoori chicken most definitely will not fall under a vegan or vegetarian category, there are many other choices. However, before exploring the vegan scene in/from India, there are a few items one must understand about Indian food, in general.

Depending on which type of Indian cuisine you order, you need to know what ingredients that cuisine warrants in most dishes. For example, if you were to sit at a restaurant in Chennai, a south Indian coastal city, you should know that a lot of the items on the menu are made with fresh tamarind sauce. On the other hand, if you were to visit Delhi, a northern city and India’s capital, the food is bound to be heavy on cream, Indian cottage cheese, and yogurt marinades (like the tandoori chicken, for example). So, how does one unearth the vegan foods from the menu? As I alluded before, knowledge is key. General rule of thumb:

South = Coconut, Tamarind, peanuts (this depends on which part of South India you are in)
See Tamarind: www.vrg.org/blog/2019/07/18/what-is-tamarind-sauce-and-is-it-veg-friendly

North = Dairy (Cream-based gravy)
Note: For simplicity’s sake, we will omit West and East as these are less common in the USA.

In the USA, there are restaurants exclusively for southern and northern cuisines but some combine both under one roof. Clearly, a south Indian type may suit a vegan better. Get ready for a whirlwind tour of the vegan Indian cuisine! Take a deep breath, imagine you are sitting at a table and being served Indian food. First, appetizers.

Indians love appetizers but it is a misnomer, I would say, to call these appetizers. They are solid in content and calories. Here with my meal suggestions, I will safely assume that we are going just vegan and not on a weight-loss program. Either way, go easy on these appetizers if served with a three-course meal; they will quickly fill you up.

My all-time favorite appetizer is the samosa (pronounced sa-moh-saa). Samosas are potato filled, deep fried, and triangular in shape. The outer skin is generally made from refined wheat flour and the filling contains boiled and mashed potato, fresh green peas, and cilantro leaves. Simple, vegan and delicious! Tastes great in cold weather but if you live in Texas, no need to wait for the winter or, you may wait forever! The samosa is generally served with a tamarind sauce and a peppermint sauce. Use caution with the peppermint sauce, as it may contain yogurt when made fresh.

Editor’s Note: Since some recipes include yogurt in the dough, you should ask or carefully look at the label. 

Other lip-smacking, vegan appetizers to die for are pakora; onion fritters made from yellow gram flour, and vada (pronounced vah-daa; deep-fried lentil donut).

Now, onto the main course. Polished white rice in the South and whole grain, flat wheat bread (Roti; pronounced row-tee) in the North. Both of these, as you reckon, are usually safe for vegans. But beware, some recipes call for the addition of milk to the seemingly vegan rotis (also called chapathi; pronounced cha-paa-tee). In addition, avoid parathas (pronounced puh-raa-taas; a richer version of roti). Parathas are toasted in ghee (clarified butter). In fact, caution should be exercised even with roti, in this regard. Restaurants tend to smear the otherwise healthful, innocuously vegan Indian bread with ghee, for flavor. To avoid this, order “sukkah” (pronounced sook-ah; dry) roti and they should know not to add the clarified butter.

So, now you have your bread options laid out. What do you eat these with? To complement your bread or rice, there is no dearth for vegan entrées bursting with the flavor of freshly ground spices, tomatoes, and onions. Try the channa masala (curried chickpeas), bhendi masala (pronounced bend-ee; okra curry), or rajma masala (curried red kidney beans) and you will not be disappointed! As a general rule, stay clear of items that have the following (buzz) words woven into the name of the entrée (or appetizer, for that matter):

Shahi = Royalty and equates to the rich taste of butter etc.

Malai = Cream

Maakhan/Maakhani = Butter

Mughlai = Mughal Royalty which equates to richness of taste; butter, ghee

Tandoori = Marinated in yogurt

Paneer = Indian cottage cheese

Before we move into the third and final course of our meal, a few words about Tandoor. First of all, to be clear, Tandoor is a type of oven and has nothing to do with animal byproducts like yogurt. Second, by now we know that most tandoori entrées use a yogurt marinade. However, there are some tandoori items that are vegan, like tandoori roti; roti made on the tandoor oven.

In India, we have a gamut of desserts or mittai (pronounced mit-aa-yee), but unfortunately, not many that vegans can enjoy off the menu in a standard Indian restaurant. Most of our desserts are made from milk, yogurt, or cream. And, almost all the other desserts contain butter or ghee. Don’t lose heart yet! Many of the laddus (pronounced lad-oo) and some halwas (pronounced hull-va) can be made without butter and ghee. The million-dollar catch is, you just have to find a vegan Indian restaurant. Alternately, if you are able to find a restaurant that makes desserts fresh, you could try ordering the semolina pudding called kesari (pronounced kay-sa-ree) without ghee. This dessert has a short shelf-life and many restaurants make it fresh for the day. If you are lucky, you may be able to order the skinny version without the ghee. Caution! Sometimes they cook the semolina in milk and you will have to explain you don’t want any dairy products added.

There! You have a vegan meal from India!

Good luck in your journey with Indian vegan dining. There is a lot to savor and enjoy. Just remember the buzzwords and the great divide between the South and North in terms of the ingredients and, you are all set! Before I sign off, here is a link to authentic Indian vegan dishes (some modified with kale; we use spinach which is more readily available in India than kale) that vegans can enjoy worry-free:
https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2009issue4/2009_issue4_calcium_indian.php

Bon appetite!

The recall includes Harris Teeter and other brands. See:
https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/pita-pal-foods-lp-recalls-various-hummus-and-dips-due-possible-health-risk