Sample all the delicious vegan food available in Maryland during Maryland Vegan Restaurant Month scheduled throughout March 2024. Here’s a partial list of some of the restaurants participating: Koshary Corner (Egyptian Street Food at RHouse in Remington, Baltimore), Land of Kush (Soul Food in Baltimore), Golden West Café (in Hampden, Baltimore), Harmony Bakery (gluten-free bakery in Hampden, Baltimore), Sweet27 (gluten-free restaurant in Remington, Baltimore), Applecore’s Bake Shoppe in Columbia, Planta in Columbia, Soul-Tarian in Suitland, etc.

More information can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/mdveganeats

https://www.mdveganeats.com/

The Vegetarian Resource Group has an extensive amount of vegan information as well as recipes on their website at https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/information_in_Spanish.htm Feel free to share these materials with friends and family members.

Pitaya’s fruit powders are vivid additions to yogurt parfaits, homemade popsicles, fruit salad dressings, agua frescas and other drinks, chia pudding, oatmeal, and non-bake cookies.

Read the product review in Vegan Journal here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2024issue1/2024_issue1_veggie_bits.php

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

By Noelle Merveilleux, VRG Intern

If you are looking for an alternative to soy-based tofu, this product might be for you. It is made with fava beans and comes pre-pressed, making the texture extra-firm. Also, it has a slightly nutty taste and pairs well with many dishes. To learn more, visit https://bigmountainfoods.com/products/soy-free-tofu

Photo by Hannah Kaminsky

Have you ever wanted to prepare your own vegan sushi at home? In the latest issue of Vegan Journal, Hannah Kaminsky shares all you need to know from Basic Sushi Rice to Eggplant Unagi Nigiri; Spicy Tu-Not Temaki; Chia Caviar Gunkan; California Temmari; to Sweet Dragon Maki.

You can find these recipes and more here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2024issue1/2024_issue1_vegetable-sushi-renaissance.php

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

Defending Animals explores the many individuals and organizations that work on the front lines of animal protection, focusing primarily on the USA and Canada and to some extent world-wide. As the author states, “…animal protection work includes both care and advocacy. Crucially, the term animal protection emphasizes that animals need protecting—from humans.”

Read the entire book review here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2024issue1/2024_issue1_book_reviews.php

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

photo from The Vegan Bar

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:

Antojitos Veganos, Ave. Main 3140 Santa Rosa, Bayamon, PR 00959

Enjoy pancakes, french toast, nachos, veggie burgers, burritos, and more.

SportsBox Vegan Bar and Grill, 8445 SE McLoughlin Blvd., Portland, OR 97222

Ever wanted a sports bar and a vegan restaurant all in one? Look no further than Sports Box Vegan Bar & Grill. They offer a fully plant-based cruelty-free menu for every sports and esports lover to share. All meals from Sports Box are inspired by your favorite sports snacks and comfort meals. Enjoy a delicious, juicy “Box Burger” with crispy french fries, onion rings, and Sports-Box homemade “box sauce.” Or, have a boatload of plant-based cheesy nachos, saucy buffalo, or BBQ wings for your friends and family to share. They also offer pizza, tacos, salads, and for brunch Chickn’ & Waffles and a Veggie McMuffin. Sports Box also offers party packages for any type of celebration, including birthdays, graduation, retirement, baby showers, and other special events. To book reservations and party events, please visit the Sports Box website.

Planet Vegan, 7845 N. Palm Ave., Ste. 108, Fresno, CA 93711

Located at Park Place plaza, this former food truck turned brick-and-mortar restaurant specializes in burgers, but also offers vegan takes on other American fare, such as Sloppy Joes, “chicken” sandwiches, “chicken” nuggets, salads, and a few breakfast items.  Online ordering is available.

The Coco Nut, 1085 Chambers St., Eugene, OR 97402

The Coco Nut sources locally from Organically Co. and proudly does not serve any gluten, oil, and refined sugars. One of their dishes, called ‘Mango Ceviche Tostadas,’ includes mango, coconut meat, cucumber, tomatoes, shredded carrots, corn, avocado, salsa roja and ranch drizzle on oat/cashew tostadas. They also have soft serve ice cream made with almonds, coconut water, and a rotating daily flavor.

The Smokin’ Onion, 697 Haywood Rd. E., Asheville, NC 28806 (also has a food truck)

the Smokin’ Onion is THE plant-based food truck for comforting meals all foodies will enjoy. As a long-time vegan, animal rights and social justice activist, co-owner Keems wanted to have a food truck that combined her love for comfort food with plant-based cuisine. Smokin’ Onion’s food truck offers a plethora of meals, including a vegan Gyro made with homemade tzatziki, burger, “butter-milk chicken” sandwich, nachos smothered in homemade cashew queso, and gooey vegan chocolate cookies, chocolate peanut butter bars, and so much more.

The Kind Cleaver, Market on South, 2603 E. South St., Orlando, FL 32803

The Kind Cleaver is a vegan deli curated to anyone’s plant-based preferences and taste buds. They offer a wide variety of sandwiches, including the Cowboy Killer (a vegan chipotle “chicken” melt), Buffalo flavored sandwich, and much more. They even have brunch flavored sandwiches, filled with vegan ham, cheese, spiced maple sauce, and mayo ketchup. The Kind Cleaver also offers delicious salads, including a ranch and Caesar style salad.

The Vegan Bar, 931 W. 75th St. #169, Naperville, IL 60540

If you’re looking for a quick and delicious vegan meal, look no further than Vegan Bar. Vegan Bar has the perfect combination of healthy and comfort foods. For Breakfast, they offer avocado toast, delicious breakfast sandwiches, vegan chicken’ and waffles, and a plethora of vegan oatmeal options, including chocolate and peanut butter oatmeal. For lunch or dinner, try Vegan Bar’s “cheeseburger” with salty fries, vegan hot dogs and chicken tenders, vegan nacho supreme.

The Vegan Spot, 407 Hope Mills Rd., Fayetteville, NC 28304

Happy to be “cruelty-free,” The Vegan Spot also celebrates the vegan diet. One of their Pizza choices, Surf N’ Turf boasts a 12-inch buttery vegan crust covered in creamy vegan smoked gouda, soy-free plant based shrimp, organic spinach, organic Portobello mushrooms, red onions, and dairy-free mozzarella. Their Vegan Chicken Lo’ Mein features stir fried plant-based chicken, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, and onions, along with Veggie Spring Rolls. Who’s your Hero? Theirs is an Italian plant-based Meatball Hoagie with marinara sauce and a dairy-free Italian cheese blend. One of their Burger options is the char-grilled Everything Bagel Burger made from pea protein, crowned with vegan, smoked gouda, grilled onions, organic Portobello mushrooms and their secret zesty pow sauce served on a buttery everything bagel. If you need some powerful greens, how about a Side of Greenades? These Brussel Sprouts are seasoned and sautéed in vegan butter to a tender-crisp texture with onions and green and red peppers. Feeling the Fries? Besides Regular, there are Philly Fries, Cajun Fries and Sweet Potato Fries. They offer plant-based Philly Cheesesteaks, Chicken Tenderz and Wings with a variety of sauce choices too. One Dessert possibility is their Vegan Brookie—a soft, chewy Brownie Cookie hybrid.

By Odette Olivares, MCN, VRG volunteer

Current food systems are based on a small number of foods due to production and market practicalities despite nature having a wide variety of amazing edible plant foods that most of the time go unnoticed by modern societies. While agricultural markets sell what has highest demand and represent highest earnings, consumers tend to concentrate their food choices on popular sold foods with low prices.

For example, rice, wheat, and corn are the most consumed cereals worldwide, although there are around 35 types of cereals.¹ Unfortunately, this production model increases the vulnerability of food security by losing a rich plant diversity needed when facing the adverse agricultural growing conditions due to Climate Change. By losing this diversity, we are also losing the opportunity of utilizing the therapeutic properties of unexplored foods. Fortunately, we can recover a lot of incredible foods from old villages and indigenous communities’ knowledge, which fortunately preserve their food traditions. This is the case of Cuajilote.²

Cuajilote derives from Nahuatl. “Cuahuitl” means tree and “xilotl,” corn silk. Also called Kat ku’uk, kat cucumber, or guajilote, it is a fruit that physically resembles conventional cucumber types, because of its color and long shape. However, cuajilote belongs to the Bignoniaceae family, and the conventional cucumber to Cucumis sativus L. Other differences lie in flavor, texture, and length. Cuajilote’s flavor is sweet and very versatile. It is a fundamental ingredient of “salpimentado,” a Yucatecan broth, but it can also be eaten fresh, roasted, in syrup, or in salads.³ Both salty and sweet dishes go well with it.

Nutrition-wise, it has a lot to offer too. For every 100 g, it has 5 g of protein, 21 g of fiber, 55 mg of calcium, and 9 mg of iron. It also contains thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, carotenes, and vitamin C.³ It is rich in antioxidants and polyphenols which depend on its degree of ripeness.⁴ The indigenous and rural community state the infusion of cuajilote’s roots can serve as diuretic and to tackle colds, diabetes, renal insufficiency, headaches, gallstones, and diarrhea.⁴ Currently, scientific studies are being conducted to explain the mechanisms behind these therapeutic uses and to determine more treatment details. So far, its antioxidants and polyphenols content might be responsible for the therapeutic uses that have been attributed to it.⁴

If you ever have the opportunity to try cuajilote, here I provide you with a recipe based on the traditional way of eating the cuajilote as dessert in Yucatán, México.

Caujilote Candy

Ingredients:

4 cuajilotes

2 piloncillos (a raw form of pure cane sugar found in the Latino section of stores)

2 cups water

3 sticks cinnamon

4 Tablespoons soy cream

Procedure:

1. Peel and cut the cuajilote into small slices.
2. Heat the piloncillo, water, and cinnamon together for a few minutes to create a syrup.
3. Add the chopped cuajilote to the syrup and keep heating for 45 minutes, till the cuajilote is cooked.
4. Serve with soy cream on top.

References

¹ U.S. Forest Service. Cereal, Grasses, and Grains. Forest Service Shield. Accessed February 18, 2024. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/food/grains.shtml.

² Castillo-Ruíz R, Castillo-Archila JA, Alemán-Castillo SE, Castillo-Ruiz O, Trejo-Díaz GN. Alternativas para el Aprovechamiento del Cuajilote (Parmentiera edulis): Una Especie Agroindustrial Subutilizada. CienciaUAT. 2022;17(1):123-138. doi:10.29059/cienciauat.v17i1.1635

³ Domínguez JC, Herrera G. Una delicia en el árbol: el pepino kat. https://www.cicy.mx/Documentos/CICY/Desde_Herbario/2018/2018-07-12-Dominguez-&-Herrera-una-delicia-en-el-arbol.pdf

⁴ Santiago Ruiz C, Nuricumbo Lievano VN, Chapa Barrios MG, Vela Gutiérrez G, Velázquez A. Antimicrobial activity, phenolic and antioxidant content of extracts from Cuajilote (Parmentiera Aculeata Kunth) fruits at different degrees of ripening. Journal of the Mexican Chemical Society. 2021;65(2). doi:10.29356/jmcs.v65i2.1270

Read more from Odette at

https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue1/2023_issue1_foods_high_in_iron.php

and

https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2021issue2/2021_issue2_latin_american_calcium.php

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.

Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, reviews recent scientific papers related to vegetarianism in the most recent issue of Vegan Journal. Topics include Longer Family Meals = More Vegetables and Fruits Eaten; and Distance Racing While Vegan.

Read the scientific reviews here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2024issue1/2024_issue1_scientific_update.php

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

Tree Top’s FAVS Fruit Snacks single-portion sized pouches come in Banana, Orange, Peach, and Strawberry flavors, but each is packed with many other fruits and vegetables.

Read the product review in Vegan Journal here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2024issue1/2024_issue1_veggie_bits.php

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