Tips on Finding a Senior Living Facility in the United States That Offers Vegan Menu Options [2026]

By Jeanne Yacoubous, MS

If you or a loved one is an older vegan searching for a retirement community, nursing home, assisted living, or a specialized facility offering skilled care, memory care, rehabilitation, or hospice, it’s no exaggeration to say that your happiness there depends on vegan menu options at every meal. Unfortunately, there are two major reasons why you won’t find much information about vegan senior living facilities in the United States on the internet or in books.

First, there are few senior living facilities that currently offer vegan menu options. This is true, for instance, in most rural areas where cattle ranching or animal agriculture is a way of life except in isolated pockets. Urban centers, especially in non-agricultural regions, are more likely to have senior living facilities offering vegan meals.

Secondly, currently there is no general database of U.S. institutions of all types that specifies dining options at each of them. Websites occasionally present a sample menu, but we’ve found that it may be outdated or not reflective of everything that a facility offers especially when a facility may have several restaurants on its campus, each with its own unique menu. For these reasons, employees may honestly tell us that they offer vegan meals while sending a sample menu with nothing vegan on it. During our research, we’ve encountered this situation many times.

Additionally, although there are a few online articles that publish a short list of the facilities which purportedly offer vegetarian and/or vegan meals, our research reveals many discrepancies between those compilations and what we were told when we had called to confirm facts.

To respond to the lack of information on vegan menu items at senior living facilities, The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) launched a project in 2014 to create a guide called Vegetarian and Vegan Options in Senior Independent Living, Assisted Living, Nursing Home, and Other Senior Facilities. At the time of writing, our Senior Guide provided information on 120+ senior facilities that we have confirmed offer vegetarian or vegan menu options.

However, because there are so few senior living facilities in the U.S. that serve vegan dishes as standard fare, a serious obstacle arises for older vegans who may not be fortunate enough to have such a facility in their neighborhood. Furthermore, if they do not wish to relocate far from home and family, let alone move to another state, what can they do to discover a senior facility that would genuinely accommodate their vegan lifestyle upon request?

In this article, we propose a 5-point list of strategies and tips anyone can use – even if you’ve never done consumer research before – to predict the likelihood that the culinary staff at a certain facility you’re interested in moving to would gladly create a personalized vegan menu and serve it daily to you in your new home.

Our suggestions are based on our conversations with and website reviews of hundreds of senior care facilities. During this research over the past seven years, we have noticed some patterns concerning where these facilities are in the country and how to determine if they truly offer vegan menu items right now to all residents or only on a case by case basis (i.e., upon request). Unfortunately, we reached out to a few facilities that appeared to be vegan-friendly upon first glance, but after sufficient engagement, it became clear they were not.

To reduce the chances of this negative experience happening to you in your own search for a senior living facility that offers vegan options, the following tips may be helpful. Keep in mind that menu offerings may change frequently – sometimes without announcement – at these places, so ask in advance about dietary consistency suitable to vegans from day to day.

Also remember that there are multiple tiers of the availability of vegan dishes across all institutions. There are facilities that:

• Already serve vegan dishes listed on their menu(s)
• May have accommodated at least one vegan in the past and, so, are knowledgeable and prepared to develop a customized vegan meal plan in consultation with a dietitian or your medical team
• Will make a concerted and consistent effort to meet the dietary needs of their first vegan resident (i.e., you)
• Despite their best intentions, will not be able to provide vegan meals to you.

So, in light of these four possible scenarios, it’s helpful to unpack the seemingly simple – yet absolutely fundamental – question as we do here: Does your facility offer vegan menu options? Once you feel reasonably confident about their answer, you’ll feel better about making a major financial decision about this life transition.

To begin seeking an answer to our fundamental question, here are general tips that offer a strategic plan of action for finding a senior facility that will accommodate your vegan meal preferences when our Senior Guide isn’t enough.

Tip 1. Start with the Top 3 Chains for Vegans

Begin your search with these three senior living chains most likely to offer veritably vegan menu options arranged in regular meal rotations that are often seasonal in nature along with standard, “everyday” vegan options:

• Kendal Corporation
• Erickson Senior Living
• Watermark Communities

Located in over 25 states at the time of writing, most locations of these chains display a vegan icon on their website or print menu. The VRG’s Senior Guide lists several of their locations already, but only if we have been able to analyze a sample menu and/or have spoken with the culinary director.

Note also that new locations become scheduled to open in the future – sometimes in 2-3 years – and may or may not yet be listed on company websites. So, it’s a good idea to use our Senior Guide in conjunction with those websites to identify potential candidates for your future living arrangements that we have not been able to vet thoroughly. If you’re particularly interested in one chain that has no current locations in your area, inquire about possible plans to expand in new locales.

Tip 2. Check Out Runner Ups to Our Top 3 Senior Living Chains for Vegans

At this time, The VRG recommends two other senior living facility chains that seem willing and prepared to accommodate vegans based on previous experiences with vegan residents. This recommendation is based on the conversations we’ve had which highly suggest that they would be. Several locations of these chains appear in our Senior Guide already. However, there are approximately 500 of these two chains’ locations nationwide, and we have not been able to screen all of them. It would be worth your efforts to look into these two if our top three chain choices above don’t meet all of your needs as your search for your next home:

• Brookdale
• Brightview

Note that for some of the five chains listed in Tips 1 & 2, calling a website number will send you to a national call center first, and, after a series of questions, connect you to a specific location. It soon becomes clear how time-consuming the process of finding a senior facility that serves vegan menu options can be.

Tip 3. Look for a Seventh-day Adventist Senior Living Facility

Search for a senior living facility that is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church. Many of these facilities are staunchly vegetarian with eggs and/or dairy in almost all dishes. Some may offer “clean meat” as dictated by their religious dietary laws. In fact, we located a SDA facility where the owner and several employees were vegan, but residents desired and received all meat-based meals.

However, we’ve also discovered a few that serve only or primarily plant-based meat analogs and non-dairy cheese on the daily menu. To the best of our knowledge, you do not have to be a member of this religious group to live there. The entries in our Senior Guide that are SDA are designated as such or as “faith-based.”

To narrow your SDA search, you may consult with the community service departments of this denomination by starting with their regional affiliates throughout the U.S as indicated on this map. We found one list of SDA-associated senior living facilities from a local SDA group, but, upon further investigation, there were several SDA apartment buildings that did not serve meals or were shuttered locations. A few places seemed non-SDA, but where SDA residents lived.

A more effective approach to locating SDA senior living facilities that serve vegan meals may be to conduct internet searches using terms such as “SDA senior living in [your state]” or “faith-based senior living in [your state].” The term vegan meal options may not be prominently displayed on websites, so read carefully and look for hints. For example, we first noticed the phrase “vegetarian bacon” on a site that was not even designated as SDA nor was there a posted sample menu. Further inquiry to the owner revealed the senior facility was, in fact, SDA and all named meat dishes on the menu were actually plant-based meat analogs.

Tip 4. Ask Questions to Specific Staff Members at Senior Living Facilities + Vegan-Friendly Hints to Look for

We recommend calling to confirm whether vegan meals are currently served daily even if you see the words “vegetarian/vegan options available” on a website. That phrase does not mean vegetarian/vegan meals are already being served. They may only be available “upon request.” (This phrase is also vague; see Tip 5 for more information.) Always ask for an updated sample menu. If there are several restaurants/dining rooms at one facility, ask about the vegan menu options at each of them.

Vegan options may appear on an “everyday” menu and/or be listed on a daily menu as alternatives to meat-based dishes. A note to this effect may appear in fine print as an asterisk at the bottom of a print menu or be displayed prominently within the main menu listings, so look menus over thoroughly. A strong indication that a particular facility is vegan-aware is when you see tofu and/or tempeh listed as an “add-on protein” – possibly for an additional charge – or a veggie burger listed as a hamburger alternative or even as an “everyday” menu option.

Similarly, the presence of a salad bar offering a variety of beans along with tofu, nuts, seeds, quinoa, farro, etc., may signal a facility’s readiness to accommodate a vegan resident. Likewise, the availability of plant-based milks especially at breakfast is a sign that a facility is already well-stocked with foods and beverages that could be incorporated into nourishing vegan meal plans on a daily basis. The only way to find out the details is to ask specific questions to the culinary or nutrition staff.

Tip 5. Degrees of Vegan Awareness at Senior Living Facilities & How to Know

As we discussed above, there are four distinct scenarios you may encounter when searching for a senior living facility that serves vegan menu options. You probably won’t definitively know which one applies in any particular case through only one phone call or email. In fact, be prepared to follow up numerous times, most likely with different staff members including members of the sales, culinary, and nutrition teams.

A great way to gauge the willingness of a facility to accommodate vegans is how quickly you would be able to speak directly to the culinary director and dietitian on staff, preferably on a three-way conference call or Zoom meeting if you’re not local and can’t stop in for lunch or dinner with them. Only through those conversations could you get a sense of how welcome you would feel (or not) as a vegan if you decided to move in.

Conversely, if no one calls you back in 3-4 business days, then they probably aren’t able to accommodate a vegan. Of course, you may choose to persevere if it’s a facility you’re extremely interested in. Then, follow up and ask to speak directly to the culinary director or dietitian. Otherwise, our best advice is to search elsewhere, especially if you’re short on time.

When you’re calling facilities, be wary of salespeople who state that there have been vegans in the past who were served their own personalized vegan menu, but cannot share with you any examples of vegan dishes on those menus. Because you’re not asking about the identity of a resident or their medical history – which they should not divulge anyway because of privacy laws – they should be able to ask the chef and relay the names of a few vegan dishes that had been prepared at that facility in the past and could be served to you in the future. If they are unwilling to do this, you may wish to look elsewhere for your new home.

Conclusions

The VRG’s Vegetarian and Vegan Options in Senior Independent Living, Assisted Living, Nursing Home, and Other Senior Facilities (Senior Guide) is a source currently available for older vegans or their loved ones searching for a senior living facility that serves vegan menu options. You can benefit the most from our Senior Guide by using it in conjunction with company websites that you discover through your own research following the five tips we suggest in this article.

If, from  using our suggestions, you find another senior living facility that offers vegan menu options, please let us know at vrg@vrg.org! We will add it to our Senior Guide.

See https://www.vrg.org/seniors/senior_vegan.php

Here are some helpful hints in working with chefs.

https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2012issue4/2012_issue4_assisted_living_food_service.php

https://www.vrg.org/blog/2020/05/11/vegan-foodservice-ideas-for-residential-facilities-when-only-two-or-three-requests/

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+vegetarian+option%3A+cost-effective+and+healthy.-a0125064430

https://www.vrg.org/seniors/veganmenusfor51+.pdf

To support VRG research, donate at www.vrg.org/donate

istockphoto

by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Consider these two pieces of information – Australians are one of the highest consumers of meat in the world (1) and approximately 2% of Australians say that they are vegan (2). The United States is also one of the highest consumers of meat (1) and a poll conducted by The Vegetarian Resource Group in 2026 estimated that 3% of U.S. men are vegan. Although there are undoubtedly cultural differences between the United States and Australia, a recent study from Australia of vegan men (3) may provide some insights into the experiences of male vegans in the United States as well.

What is the study?

This study was conducted in Australia where interviews were conducted with 27 men who self-reported being vegan. They were from 18 to 58 years old and had been vegan for 2 to 36 years with an average of 8.8 years of being vegan. They were interviewed in-person or remotely for 40 minutes to an hour (3).

What did this study find?

Initially many men chose to be vegan for health benefits or because their partner was vegan. Over time, the men reported that their primary motivations for staying vegan were their ethical concerns about the environment and animal welfare. A small number of men had ethical reasons for their veganism from the beginning; some reported their motivation for staying vegan continued to be personal health benefits (3).

Most study subjects reported that at least one person, often a close friend/partner/family member, encouraged them when they were new to a vegan diet. In many cases this support came from someone who was already vegan although some interviewees reported being encouraged by non-vegan family members or close friends. Subjects said that it was difficult to be close friends with people who weren’t open and accommodating to veganism and that their becoming vegan helped them to see who their true friends were. Sadly, some reported being ridiculed or ostracized because of their vegan diet. Male-dominated workplaces, such as in the construction industry, were reported to be less supportive (3).

Men reported that, with time, they found that being vegan allowed them to express their values that had always been a part of their moral framework but which they had suppressed. They felt that their veganism created “a sense of living a more authentic and purpose-driven life (3).”

What do the study researchers recommend?

The researchers who conducted this study reflected on their findings and made several recommendations (3):

• In addition to recommending vegan diets to men for health promotion, veganism should also be framed as a way to embody personal values such as compassion and sustainability.
• Health care providers should be taught how to support clients who are transitioning to vegan diets and how to help clients identify social supports.
• Social marketing campaigns should normalize plant-based eating among men and use relatable role models.

References

1. Our World in Data. Per capita meat and fish consumption. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-meat-type?time=2023&country=CHN~USA~IND~ARG~PRT~ETH~JPN~BRA~OWID_WRL~ESP~DEU~AUS. 2023.

2. Clemons R. Plant-based eating. https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/meat-fish-and-eggs/meat-substitutes/articles/plant-based-food. 2021.

3. Lee MF, Madsen J, Bayes J, et al. “I feel like I’m making a good difference to the world”: Interviews with Australian men on their motivations to become vegan. Health Promot J Austr. 2026;37:e70186.

For more information about vegan motivations see:

Comparing What Motivates Veganism/Vegetarianism Now vs. 20 years Ago

Do Vegans and Vegetarians Stay Vegetarian?

Vegan Teens: What are Their Motivations and Health Practices?

Motivations and Attitudes of Vegans

The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal and 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.

This new Girl Scout cookie will be available in 2027. Here are the ingredients:

Whole Grain Oats, Organic Brown Sugar, RSPO Palm Oil*, Water, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Cane Sugar, Unsweetened Chocolate, Cocoa Butter), Cassava Flour, Oat Flour, White Rice Flour, Rainbow Sprinkles (Cane Sugar, Tapioca Starch, Tapioca Maltodextrin, Palm Oil*, Palm Kernel Oil*, Natural Coloring [Vegetable Juices, Paprika, Spirulina, Turmeric], Carnauba Wax, Sunflower Lecithin), Tapioca Fiber Syrup, Raisin Juice Concentrate, Baking Soda, Sea Salt, Vanilla Extract, Oat Fiber, Ground Cinnamon, Rosemary Extract (Antioxidant).

The package states that it is a vegan product. See: https://partakefoods.com/products/girl-scouts-sparkables?utm_source=website&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=launch

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.

The following is being added to our list of senior residences which offer vegan dishes.

Charlestown

By Erickson Senior Living

715 Maiden Choice Ln.

Catonsville, MD 21228

(410) 405-7683

Independent Living, Assisted living, memory care, long-term care, rehabilitation

Sample menus include tofu offered as an add-on to every meal; arugula salad; cauliflower tacos with garbanzo beans; Moroccan vegetable stew with garbanzo beans and lentils; vegan crispy Hawaiian garlic tofu; black bean chili; vegetable stew; vegetable farrato; Thai curried vegetables; vegetarian jambalaya; vegetarian cottage pie; gazpacho; curried lentil soup; Morningstar Farms vegan garden veggie patty (also served as a breakfast patty).

Come meet veggie dietitians from the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group and Vegetarian Resource Group members. The public is invited. You must preregister now.

When: Sunday, October 25, 2026, 6 PM

Where: Casa Rio on the River Walk

Menu:

Linda’s Ensalada de Colores Appetizer: Mixed Greens with Grapefruit, Orange, Bell Pepper, Avocado, and Red Onion with Lime Vinaigrette.

Plus Buffet:

Guacamole

Refried beans

Mixed Grilled Veggies

Grilled Peppers and Onions

Corn Salsa

Pico de Gallo

Chalupa shells

Wheat Tortillas

Corn Tortillas

Mexican Rice

Lettuce, Tomato

Fruit

Water

Iced Tea

Please prepay $35 per person today at vrg.org/donate. In the Comments, write in names of attendees and that this is for the Vegan Networking dinner. Or call (410) 366-8343 with a credit card. Or mail payment to The Vegetarian Resource Group, PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203. We look forward to seeing you there. (Note: Restaurant is a seven-minute walk from the Convention Center.)

VRG intern Chaltu Watkins interviewed vegan advocate Crystal Forman, MPH, MHA, to get ideas on how vegans can prepare inexpensive meals. For example, shopping in ethnic food markets often leads to savings. Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2026issue3/2026_issue3_eat-vegan-save-money.php

Please subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA only here: www.vrg.org/member

photo from istockphoto

By Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD

Fresh pears have a fleeting season, so we might not get beyond eating them as a fresh, juicy snack. If you overbuy, or have an abundance on your tree, you might consider baking pears, using in a sauce, making pear butter… or roasting them!

Roasted pears are a delight and easy to prepare. They are warm, juicy, and caramel-ly. Halve and core just-ripe pears (softer pears will turn into “sauce” in the oven), brush or spray with oil, and roast at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until they are soft (a fork slides in easily). If you would like to create a golden crust, begin roasting cut side down, and then turn about half way through roasting to finish cut-side up.

If you would like to add even more taste and texture, roast pears, cut side up, topping the halves with maple syrup, vanilla extract, and walnuts or with maple syrup, a splash of apple cider, and a sprinkle of cinnamon and ginger powder. If you would like a more savory taste, roast pears, cut side up, topping with balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and cracked black pepper.

Jam-filled roasted pears make a wonderful cold-weather breakfast or a dinner dessert or even a salad topping. To serve two people, you’ll need two pears, jam or preserves of your choice, crumbled nuts of your choice (walnuts or pistachios work well; if you are avoiding nuts, roasted edamame work well, as does toasted coconut), and maple syrup. Cut and core your pears; core a large enough area for about 2 teaspoons of preserves. Place pears, cut side up, on a baking sheet and fill with preserves. Drizzle a small amount of maple syrup on the area of the pears not filled with preserves. Bake at 400 degrees until soft, about ten to fifteen minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with nuts or your choice of topping. Eat warm as a breakfast or dessert or serve on a bed of mixed greens.

For a “snazzy” dessert, core and quarter four almost-ripe pears; do not peel. Toss with organic granulated sweetener to coat and set aside. Melt 3 Tablespoons vegan margarine in a pan or in the microwave.  Toss pears with margarine and then place in a baking dish (with high sides, as we are going to add liquid), peel side up. Bake at 400 degrees, turning to allow all the pear pieces to brown (about ten minutes). Remove from oven, pour over 1 cup white wine or apple cider; add a cinnamon stick. Return to the oven and allow to roast until much of the liquid is evaporated. Place hot pears in a serving dish, scoop small amounts (like a Tablespoon) of sorbet or frozen vegan ice cream over and serve immediately.

Serve roasted pears, right out of the oven, warm, or chilled over hot cooked cereal, sliced corn bread, zucchini bread or cinnamon raisin toast or bagels, vegan yogurt, or silken tofu. Consider including roasted pears as an ingredient in green salads or in savory soups, such as a pumpkin, carrot, or butternut squash soup. If you have extra roasted pears, cut into small pieces and mix into vegan cream cheese or sour cream for a bagel or toast topping.

Each issue of Vegan Journal we review products that are worthy of purchase. In the latest magazine we feature inexpensive vegan foods such as Earth Grown Organic Firm Tofu. Read the column here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2026issue3/2026_issue3_veggie_bits.php

Please subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA only here: www.vrg.org/member

If you ever have the opportunity to visit beautiful Mykonos Island in Greece, you’ll want to make sure that you stop by Rhino Vegan Beat. A VRG member told us that they greatly enjoyed two dishes they ordered at this establishment: The Tofu Power Salad (consisting of Greek lettuce, tomato & grilled marinated tofu, with creamy Rhino sauce, chives, onion chips, and nut parmesan), as well as the Chick ‘n’ Fitty Souvlaki Wrap (consisting of Chicken style tofu nuggets, white rhino sauce, lettuce, tomato, potatoes, and homemade turmeric pita).

Rhino Vegan Beat also has a second location in Athens, Greece! For more info, see: https://rhinoveganbeat.com/

by Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

When The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) launched our guide titled Vegetarian and Vegan Options in Senior Independent Living, Assisted Living, Nursing Home, and Other Sernior Facilities (Senior Guide) in 2019, we quickly realized that most facilities in the United States offered no vegan dishes. In fact, many were unfamiliar with veganism. A few told us that they would gladly accommodate vegans if any moved in yet had not had the opportunity to do so, or may have encountered only one vegan in recent memory.

Surprisingly, we received a similar response about vegetarian diets in senior living facilities although we noticed a few vegetarian entrées on sample menus at locations scattered around the U.S. Those places are listed in this Senior Guide by state (search from the beginning).

Yet, as a response to the growing number of seniors looking for a living arrangement suitable to their vegan lifestyle, The VRG pursued the search, raising awareness to staff and culinary directors about the increasing popularity of vegan diets in a space not traditionally accustomed to it.

In those early years of our Senior Guide, we located a greater number of facilities offering vegetarian options even if they were served only upon request. By comparison, in the last few years, we began to notice more senior living facilities offering plenty of vegan menu options in rotation. Several places clearly identified them by a vegan icon on their print menus or on their websites. As we find them, we list them here as well as their sample vegan offerings. There is no doubt that the likelihood of finding a senior living facility serving vegan meals these days is greater than it was just seven years ago, and will probably increase even more in future years due to an aging population.

The reason for this trend toward veganism is one we’ve witnessed several times before. Whether it’s vegan food on college and university campuses or in healthcare facilities, greater consumer demand results in more vegan options.

In all respects, this Senior Guide should be thought of as a work in progress. Not only are we adding brand new entries as facilities introduce vegan dishes to their menus for the first time. We’re also updating those which had previously offered only vegetarian meals, but now serve vegan dishes as well. These places are proactively addressing the dietary preferences of a growing number of seniors looking to maintain their vegan lifestyle as they transition to a new type of living arrangement in their golden years.

If you know of a senior living location of any type that offers vegan menu items but is not listed here, please let us know at vrg@vrg.org! You will be helping others searching for vegan meals at a senior living facility, making their life transition much more comfortable as it is familiar.