Vegan Backpacker

The Best Vegan Products Delivered to Your Door

Jill — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:21:21 +0000

Tastes of Oregon Care Package

Hey there, it’s been awhile since we’ve shared an update. We’re not backpacking any more, but have started a new project over at Vegan Cuts that we know you’ll be excited to hear about.

After two years of working on Vegan Cuts, we’re finally ready to combine our two greatest loves, travel and discovering new vegan products. We’ve started an Indiegogo fundraiser to kick off our first travel-themed care package, the Tastes of Oregon Care Pack. We’ve put all of our favorite products from Oregon in one box so you can sample the best local eats without hopping on a plane.

Watch the Video to Learn More

We need your help to make this project happen. Please click here to watch our video and learn more about the project. You’ll see we have a ton of amazing vegan perks we’re awarding to people who contribute. Some of the perks are available worldwide, it doesn’t matter where you call home. We want you to be able to sink your teeth into these products. They’re too good to miss! See…

More About Vegan Cuts

Vegan Cuts is an online marketplace that brings together healthy snacks, cruelty-free fashions, and natural body care that everyone will love – vegans and non-vegans alike. We’re on a mission to support the growth of vegan businesses, and make vegan shopping a fun and easy experience. Sign up to get our weekly Vegan Cuts email updates, and be the first to know about our latest sales and vegan product discoveries.

2011 Roundup: Extreme Vegan Eating in the US, Canada & Mexico

Jill — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:46:09 +0000

Goodbye 2011, hello 2012! I can’t believe how fast 2011 went. In contrast to 2010, last year I felt very much like I was rooted in Ottawa. But looking back at my photos I’m realizing I did get out of town quite a bit.

Halfway through 2011 I stopped making time for blogging (see my new baby, Vegan Cuts), and forgot to tell you about some of the fun places I went and delicious food I devoured. So how about we play catch up with a photo roundup of Vegan Backpacker’s adventures in 2011…

Victoria, BC

In February I traveled to Victoria, BC and returned to some of my favorite spots, including Cafe Bliss, Green Cuisine and Wildfire Bakery.

Washington, DC

In March I visited Washington, DC for the first time and had a chance to feast on Sticky Fingers baked goods, and savory eats from Cafe Green and Busboys & Poets.

New York, NY

Later in March we took a road tip to New York. We went to the VegFest and continued to eat our way through some new-to-us restaurants, like Candle 79, Champs Bakery, Blossom and Cowgirl’s Baking.

Toronto, ON

I managed to make it to Toronto three times over the course of the year. Being only a five hour drive from Ottawa, I’ve visited many times before but the city is always adding new vegan restaurants to its roster and in 2011 I had a chance to feast at The Hogtown Vegan, One Love, Hot Beans, Mylk and Uncookies and Sadie’s new Juice Bar and Ice Creem Shop.

Edmonton, AB

In June work brought me to Edmonton, AB, where I finally had a chance to try the Asian-fusion delights at Padmanadi. Now I’m wondering why it only took me two years to get there!

Montreal, QC

Montreal, QC is only a two hour bus ride away from Ottawa, but I only made it there twice in 2011. Whenever I’m in town, I make a stop at Aux Vivre for bunch. This year I also dined at Crudessence for the first time, and visited Viva Vegan Boutique, the city’s new vegan store.

Portland, OR

Finally, I made it back to Portland! It only took two (long) years. In August we did a little west coast trip and visited during the Vida Vegan Con. I ate at some new places this time around, including food carts like Native Bowl and Kitchen Dances. Enjoyed some donuts from Voodoo and ACME Donuts, and some delicious pub fare at Bye and Bye. So much good food, so little tummy space.

Los Angeles, CA

Visited Los Angeles, CA for the first time and ate at some epic spots: Real Food Daily, Cafe Gratitude, Planet Raw and Seed.

San Francisco, CA

As part of our August west coast adventure, I was back in San Francisco, CA for the second time. Returned to Millennium, ate at Gracias Madre for the first time and devoured some cinnamon buns from Cinnaholic.

Camping Trip!

Went camping as an adult for the first time and enjoyed lots of traditional campfire food made vegan at Algonquin Park.

Halifax, NS

Headed east to Halifax, NS twice, in November and December, to see family and eat at one of my all time favorite restaurants, the Wooden Monkey.

Mexico City

In November we finally got the heck out of North America and made it to Mexico City for a week. We found a few vegetarian restaurants, the Golden Taco and Yug, as well as veg-friendly options at cafes around town.

I may not have traveled to as many new places in 2011 as I did in 2010, but I certainly ate my fair share of decadent vegan food, explored a handful of new places, made some darling new friends, and enjoyed having Ottawa as a home base. All in all, a lovely year.

Interview with Will Travel for Vegan Food

Jill — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:55:42 +0000

I recently interviewed Kristin from the Will Travel for Vegan Food project. Learn all about this epic road trip and how you can support it by funding the Kickstarter campaign.

What’s the Will Travel for Vegan Food project all about?
The “WTF Vegan Food” project is a year-long vegan food focused road trip across the US. The plan is to eat at all of the 100% vegan restaurants in the country, as well as visit all 50 states! :)

I’ll be interviewing restaurant owners, business owners, and attending vegan meetups, as well as volunteering at farm sanctuaries and the like, all along the way.

What inspired your trip?
Nearly a year ago I started reading about unconventional living, and being able to travel while work thanks to the Internet. I had also picked up two books that were turning points for me: Crush It! Why Now Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion and The 4-Hour Work Week. It was like a one-two punch to the gut style, wake up call. After reading these books I was more inspired than ever to following my passions.

Passions: after becoming vegan I had fallen in love with food and I had also been bitten with the travel bug … so within a few months I was creating a plan to leave my 9-5 job and hit to road on what’s sure to be an epic adventure that combines my love of food and interest in travel. :)

Where are you planning to go?
The plan is to attempt to eat at all of the 100% vegan restaurants in the US. So I’ll be going to every state that has an all vegan restaurant. However, visiting all 50 states is on my “BID list” so I’m going to use this as an opportunity to visit every state and stop in the ones that have some good touristy or outdoorsy activities, or must-see US landmarks.

How are you preparing for this adventure?
I started preparing about a year ago, setting up a lifestyle that would allow me to work from my computer. At the time I was working a tradition, in-office 9-5 job but left that job about 8 months ago, started my own business, and now work from wherever there is an Internet connection. It’s pretty great! (Side note: If you know anyone who’d like help with online marketing, give ‘em my number ..haha)

What are you hoping to accomplish?
I feel like there are so many things this trip can accomplish, both for the vegan movement and for me personally. For starters, the overarching goal is to increase awareness of veganism throughout the US. Showcasing those amazing vegan restaurants that might be hidden away or in small towns.

Also, by conducting interviews I hope to share the vegan knowledge of many others, including their vegan passions and to show that the vegan movement truly is taking hold in the US, we just have to keep moving.

Ultimately I want to connect vegans to vegans, connect vegans to non-vegans, and continue to push this amazing, life-changing movement!

Aside from all the vegan love I hope to share, I also see this trip as a personal journey of self-growth and self-discovery. I’ve only ever read about people leaving their “real jobs” behind to find inspiration in nontraditional adventures or living situations. And now I’m about to do that too.

I am fortunate to have incredible support from my family, in anything I’ve ever wanted to do. This has allowed me to follow what people might truly think of only as dreams, and make them a reality. This journey is just another step toward something that makes me so happy and excited that I can’t sleep at night, and I think about it constantly. That’s how I know I need to go for it. Whether I make it or not, I’m going to give it all I’ve got. (did not intentionally rhyme there :)

How can we stay up to date on your travels?
I’m going to be documenting every step of the journey via my website: wtfveganfood.com, as well as posting more frequently about the trip to facebook and twitter. If anyone would like to reach me asap, please email kristin@wtfveganfood.com.

Support the Will Travel for Vegan Food Project

Check out Kristin’s Kickstarter campaign! When you donate money to support her trip, you can earn fun rewards like WTF Vegan Food bumper stickers, t-shirts and more.

Vegans on a Camping Trip

Jill — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:22:40 +0000

John and I recently went camping at Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario Canada. It was our first time camping together, first time camping as “adults” and first time camping as vegans. Luckily, we went camping with another couple who had enough gear for all four of us. Not having to think about packing sleeping bags, tents or tarps meant we could focus all of our energy on packing food. We decided to keep our cooler stocked with traditional camping eats, like s’more supplies, burgers, hot dogs, sausages and enough veggies to make some sweet kabobs.

Making s’mores over the open campfire was definitely a highlight. We made them using Dandies vegan marshmallows, dark chocolate squares and digestive biscuits. It would have been nice to use graham crackers but we couldn’t find any that were made without honey. Despite all of our substitutions, the taste of the s’mores was not compromised! We were delighted to discover the vegan marshmallows melted and toasted up just like the old fashion kind.

What can I eat as a vegan on a camping trip? Let me show you…

Outdoor Herbivore

Prior to this camping trip, I’d been hanging on to several Outdoor Herbivore meals, just waiting for the right opportunity to try them out. We’ve had to resist eating them at home many times, knowing they were intended to be enjoyed outdoors. Well, I’m happy to report they were worth the wait! These meals are so perfect for camping. They’re light weight, easy to prepare, made with healthy ingreidents, taste great and really fill you up after a long day of canoeing. We enjoyed the Blackened Quinoa with Field Roast sausages for dinner. We made (and by made I mean added water — so easy!) the Curried Apple Couscous and Toasted Sunburst Muesli for breakfast one morning. These two meals were substantial enough to fill all four of us for breakfast.

Vegan Camping Food – Cooked with Fire

We had a great time cooking dinners on the camp fire. We roasted up some veggies, burgers and hot dogs. Our kabobs got a little burnt, but we still enjoyed a few salvageable bites. We had a whole pineapple to work with so we marinated some leftover slices in BBQ sauce and then grilled bite-sized pieces on sticks. Pienapple + BBQ sauce + fire = a winning combination! The corn was also a big hit, and came out perfectly roasted after spending a few minutes roasting in the fire.

Vegan Camp Food – Cooked on the Stove

We had a camping stove at our disposal, which was handy to have around when we were feeling too lazy to start a fire. Like breakfast time, for example. We boiled water to make oatmeal and cooked up some veggie sausages in a cast iron pan. These were super easy and satisfying breakfast options.

Camping is so fun! I hope you all had a chance to make it outside and enjoy a little nature this summer.

Who’s going to Vida Vegan Con!?

Jill — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:29:06 +0000

I know I’m far from being the only person who is SUPER excited to be heading to Portland for the Vida Vegan Con. I think we’re all looking forward to meeting some of our online friends and learning from all of the talented vegan bloggers and authors on the agenda.

The conference website has a list of speakers but, as far as I know, there’s no list of people attending. So I decided to make one!

This is by no means a comprehensive list…. yet :) I’m adding people as they comment on the Vida Vegan Con Bloggers Facebook Group and this blog post. Please comment with your URL so I can add you.

Guest Post: Vegan Road Trip USA

chicvegan — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:43:14 +0000

Road trip!

This guest post is by Mandi Hoffman, a vegan blogger and activist hailing from sunny Portland, Oregon. She runs Chicvegan.com, a website for ethical ladies who want to do good deeds while looking hot and feeling fabulous.

Driving across country can be fun – especially when you can have all types of food adventures on your way! My boyfriend and I recently made the long trek from Portland, OR to Charlotte, NC. Admittedly, I did not do much planning for this trip. It came as an unexpected surprise and I hardly had time to get my shoes on before embarking on the journey, let alone strategically plan every stop. As a vegan, this was a bad idea. Since our trip was a rushed one, we had to grab things to eat at whatever place was open during the time we happened to be passing through. While we ended up discovering some truly great places, we missed out on an abundance of others.

Lets quickly talk about the pitfalls of not planning a road trip out at all, when you are vegan. The second night I found myself in a tiny town at the base of the Rockies, eating french fries for dinner at a local diner. That was literally the only veg option on the menu – French fries. Most of the way through southern Wyoming and Nebraska, the only veg-option was bean burritos at chain taco places and bags of nuts from gas stations. Lovely. I grew up in Philadelphia and then moved to Portland, OR so I have always lived somewhere that there are plenty of vegan options that aren’t too hard to find. After this trip, I really began to empathize with those aspiring vegans living in parts of the midwest, or in small towns. Sometimes your only option is to eat at home, FOREVER. And that sucks. Perhaps those people should get out and start an eatery of their own. Trust me – if you build it, they will come.

Portland, OR

Live Sampler Plate from Blossoming Lotus

Oh Portland.. I’ll miss you so. I’ll miss your abundant vegan food. Your eclectic flare. Your hipsters.

Our last meal in Portland was at Prasad, a healthy vegan eatery attached to a yoga studio with myriad raw options. I grabbed a Dragon Bowl (quinoa, beans, sea veggies, avocado and garlic tahini sauce) and a green juice. We also stopped at Food Fight! vegan grocery and got some provisions (and thank god we did!) to supplement during the drive.

Here’s a list of some other great places to eat in PDX. This could be a much lonnnnger list, but I’ll keep it to the crème de la crème.

Blossoming Lotus – My absolute favorite place to eat in Portland. The food is heavenly. The staff is super nice. The atmosphere is great.

Sweet Pea Bakery – An all vegan bakery filled with delectable treats.

Herbivore – Not a restaurant, but an all vegan shop filled with books, shirts, bags, shoes and anything else your heart desires. Located in the famous vegan mini-mall with Sweet Pea and Food Fight!

Outside of places to eat, there are a lot of other cool things to do in Portland. Here are some places worth checking out:

Powell’s Books – The largest independent used bookstore in the world! This place is truly amazing. Over 68,000 square feet of books. Seriously.

Forest park – A beautiful, quintessential Pacific Northwestern forest with a crazy trail system. It’s within the city limits too!

Saturday Market – A crazy whirlwind of adventure that takes over a large portion of the city every…single….Saturday. Be prepared for lots of crafts, street food, street performers and random craziness.

PSU Farmer’s Market – Its like the Saturday Market – but with vegetables! Portland has a ridiculous amount of farmer’s markets, but this on is by far the best.

Columbia River Gorge – The most beautiful place you will ever go. It is about 20 minutes outside of the city and well worth the drive. If you take the scenic route you will pass by a series of falls including Multnomah Falls.

Boise, Idaho

Salad with Tofu at Shangri-la

We stopped for lunch the second day at Shangri-la Tea Room in Boise. Shangri-la is a vegetarian restaurant with a ton of vegan options and some raw options. They also have the best tea ever! We had a pot of MateJuana, a delicious blend of Mate and Kava Kava, and as you might imagine – it was exhilarating. I got a simple raw salad and topped it off with some tofu since I wasn’t sure where my next good source of protein would be coming from. The boyfriend got a chickpea salad sandwich, that he loved so much, I might try to recreate it at home!

Salt Lake City, Utah

Breakfast Burrito form the Bule Plate Diner

SLC is a really cool city and I wish I could have spent some more time there. We came through pretty early in the morning and stopped by The Blue Plate Diner for breakfast. I had a monster vegan breakfast burrito! The Blue Plate Diner is not exclusively veg but they have a good amount of options. SLC seems to be very veg-friendly overall.

Other places to eat in SLC: Sage’s, Vertical Diner and Omar’s Rawtopia.

Lincoln, Nebraska

Lemongrass tofu bowl with sprouts, veggies and rice noodles from Pho Nguyen

Most of Nebraska was a vast nothingness, but once we got into Lincoln things started to look up. We stopped at a little Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Nguyen, that we just happened to be driving by (I never pass up Vietnamese!). We shared veggie summer rolls and I got a yummy lemongrass tofu bowl with sprouts, veggies and rice noodles. Most vegans can happily eat Vietnamese as long as they let their server know they don’t want any fish sauce. Oh, and if you are getting Veggie Pho (soup) make sure you verify that the broth is in fact veg-based.

Other places to eat in Lincoln: Pepe’s, Grateful Bread/Freakout and Maggie’s.

Kansas City, Missouri

Cupcake and Scone from Mud Pie Bakery

Kansas City was another really cool city with tons of veg options! I really wanted to head over to the vegan/raw cafe, FÜD but it didn’t open until 11am and we had to get on the road. Time was not on our side! We ended up stopping at Mud Pie Bakery, a super awesome vegan bakery. I got a giant cupcake and a scone. Yeah, I’m a fatty like that. They were both yummy! It was pouring outside and there is nothing like rain, coffee and a vegan bakery to make a girl feel like shes right back home in Portland.

Other places to eat in Kansas City: Eden Alley and Cafe Seed.

St. Louis, Missouri

Ethiopian at Meskerem

I really, really wanted to go to Pura Vegan but they didn’t open until 5pm. What’s with the weird hours, raw places? Instead, we ended up getting Ethiopian at Meskerem, which was divine! If you have never tried Ethiopian – I implore you to try it. The flavor is unlike any other food you will ever eat. You also get a nice sense of community by digging in with your hands on the community plate. The good thing about Ethiopian food is that they do not use dairy or eggs in their cooking so if you order off the Vegetarian menu, you are totally fine.

Other places to eat in St. Louis: Pura Vegan, Black Bear Bakery and Gokul.

Asheville, North Carolina

Raw Manicotti

On the final day of our journey, we stopped in this little hippie city right outside of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Asheville is only about 3 hours from Charlotte and it is such a fun and beautiful place! The city is pretty progressive and with that comes an abundance of vegan eateries. We fueled up at Laughing Seed, a huge vegetarian restaurant right smack in the middle of Wall Street. They had a good amount of clearly labeled vegan items on the menu, along with gluten free and raw fare. Hallelujah! I dined on the Raw Manicotti and a big green juice. The presentation of the food was gorgeous and somehow it managed to taste even better than it looked. I was thoroughly impressed!

Other places to eat in Asheville: Firestorm Cafe, Green Light Cafe and Rosetta’s Kitchen.

Charlotte, North Carolina

So here we are in our new temporary home. We will be making our stay in Charlotte a short one, and then we will be trekking back to Portland and taking the scenic route this time! Unfortunately, Charlotte is a little lacking in straight-up vegan options, which has helped my achieve one of my recent goals to cook more. There is a raw place called Luna’s Living Kitchen that I am really excited to go to. For quick vegan fare there is also ZiZi’s Vegan ToGo. (Funny story about Zizi’s – They used to be located in Merchantville, NJ by my old office and I would go there on my lunch break. Small world!) There are also vegan options at places like Loco Lime and Zada Jane’s. All in all, Charlotte is not the vegan utopia that I am used to but it does have its own share of options. And I guess it could be worse… I could be in Wyoming.

Vegan in Montreal for a Long Weekend

Jill — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 01:22:13 +0000

Viva Vegan Store in Montreal, QC

Whenever there is a long weekend, John and I try to escape Ottawa and go on a mini vacation. We did just that a few weeks ago when we hopped on a Greyhound bus and headed to Montreal for a few days. Since my last visit, which I think was almost two years ago, a few new vegan spots have popped up. My favourite new addition is the Viva Vegan Store. This place is a little slice of Canadian vegan heaven. They’re well stocked with all kinds of rare goodies (rare to us deprived Canadians), like Field Roast products and Eli’s Earth Bars.

Raw Coconut Ice Cream

The Viva Vegan Store's Dessert Counter

In addition to a bunch of sweet imports, the Viva Vegan Store also has their own selection of locally made pastries and coconut ice creams.

Chocolate Pastry from Viva Vegan Store

We picked up a chocolate filled pastry. I know it kinda just looks like a bun, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts, right? It was especially tasty after we took it home and warmed it up in the toaster oven. Yum!

Chocolate Bars from the Viva Vegan Store

We also picked up two chocolate bars: a rice milk pistachio bar and an Eli’s Dream Big Bar. I have to say, I think we showed some serious restraint on this shopping trip!

Boutique Viva Vegan Store
http://vivaveganstore.ca/
4148 St-Laurent Montreal, QC
H2W 1Y8, Canada
(514) 903-8426

Aux Vivres

It’s pretty much a given that any vegan visiting Montreal is going to eat at Aux Vivres or at least be recommended to eat there a thousand times. We went for Saturday brunch, which is by far my favourite meal of the week.

Our Aux Vivres Brunch Picks

John, his brother Steve, and I ordered a plate each. I chose the Mekong wrap, which was stuffed with grilled tempeh (an upgrade from tofu), pickled daikon radish and carrots, mint, Thai peanut sauce and lettuce. So amazing! John had the waffles, which he didn’t really like due to their soggy, pancake like texture. This boy doesn’t like soggy! Steve had the “Le Complete” brunch plate with scrambled tofu, potatoes, salad, tempeh bacon and corn bread. And don’t let me forget the best part! The side of sweet potato fires. These are my fave!

Don’t miss Aux Vivres if you’re visiting Montreal!

Aux Vivres
http://auxvivres.com
4631 boul. St-Laurent
Montreal, QC
H2T 1R2, Canada
(514) 842-3479

Crudessence

There’s a small chain of raw vegan restaurants in Montreal called Crudessence. We ate at their location by Mont-Royal and were really impressed with the menu. Every dish sounded like a winner, but John and I decided to split a quinoa wrap (cooked, not raw). This creative wrap was made with a layer of greens, nori sheet and rice paper. I love the idea of a multi-layered wrap and totally want to recreate it at home.

We also enjoyed a bottle of blueberry maple komboucha and a chocolate shake. And then there was the blissful blueberry cheesecake that disappeared about two minutes after being set down on the table. We did our best to savour every bite, but kinda got into a competition to see who could snag the most bites. It was that good!

Nirvana Trio

Before leaving Crudessence we picked up a package of macaroons – apricot goji, chocolate cacao and green tea spirulina. They were appropriately named the nirvana trio. I’d highly recommend visiting Montreal and checking out Crudessence.

Crudessence
http://crudessence.com
105 Rue Rachel Ouest
Montreal, QC
(514) 510-9299

We hope to make it to Montreal again in the fall. We’ll be sure to share an update when we do :)

Vegan on a Business Trip: Edmonton, AB

Jill — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:47:46 +0000

Gado-Gado salad with peanut sauce, wontons and hot & sour soup

Last month I headed off to Edmonton, Alberta for a work conference. I’d been there twice before, but always missed the chance to eat at the city’s most popular all vegan restaurant: Padmanadi. This place serves a blend of Indonesian, Chinese, Thai, and Indian cuisine. They have a variety of mock meat dishes, traditional soups like hot & sour, and fried goodies including the wontons pictured above. These wontons were super tasty! Instead of having real or even fake meat inside, they were stuffed with carrot, bok choy, mushroom and pesto. They were served with a delicious plum sauce and quickly disappeared from our table.

Padmanadi Vegan Restaurant

lava cake & ginger beef

I’m not much of a soy meat lady, but having heard so many good reviews I was willing to give Padmanadi’s ginger beef a try. This dish is deep fried, crispy soy in wickedly good sauce. I have to admit I really liked it, even though I couldn’t eat a whole loft of it. I was dining with Stephanie and Matt, two non-veggie colleagues, and I think they liked it even more than I did. It was Stephanie’s first all vegan meal and she was not only impressed but maybe a little inspired to try more veggie options in the future… maybe.

The three of us were quite full after chowing down on all our shared dishes, but felt like we couldn’t leave without trying Padmanadi’s fancy lava cake dessert. This turned out to be a soft, moist cake full of warm chocolate sauce. It was paired with homemade raspberry sorbet and fresh berries. The cake base was a little plain and didn’t really rock my world, but by adding the hot chocolate sauce and sorbet they created a unique and tasty dessert that was fun to share in such lovely company.

If you ever find yourself in Edmonton, Alberta, definitely make the trip to Padmanadi (10740-101 Street, Edmonton, AB. Tel: 780-428-8899). In past years I’ve tried a few other places in town (Cafe Mosaics and the Blue Plate Diner) but it’s by far the best option I’ve discovered yet.

Conference Food at the Marriott River Cree

polenta & ratatouille

Conferences are all about the food. Event organizers know this. If the food isn’t good, the attendees aren’t happy — no matter how good the speakers are! Lucky for me, the Edmonton Marriott at River Cree Resort is super accommodating and was able to prepare some really great vegan meals for me, including this polenta and ratatouille dish with grilled asparagus.

fancy fruit dessert

The last time I was as the Marriott River Cree, I was served a fruit cup for dessert when everyone around me received big slabs of black forest cake. I was kinda bummed. This year, the chef totally stepped it up a notch! The vegan dessert option was still a fruit plate, but worlds away from the average melon-cantaloupe-pineapple-watermelon-strawberry-grape fruit cup that’s become a confusing year-round staple. The chef instead made red wine poached pears with homemade lemon sorbet and berries soaked in some amazing sauce. I was impressed, especially with the sorbet, and was sure to express my gratitude to the staff for creating such a lovely vegan option.

Thinking of conference food reminds me that the Vida Vegan Conference is coming up in just a few weeks. I can’t wait to see what the vegan conference organizers feed a hungry army of vegan bloggers… I imagine it’s going to be top notch vegan eats all around!

Vegan on a Business Trip: Toronto, Ontario

Jill — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:42:58 +0000

boardwalk chocolates

Hey, lovelies! It’s been awhile!

In May I went to Toronto not once, but twice. I usually make it there a few times a year and am always eager to check out the city’s new vegan restaurants, as well as old favourites. One place I always like to visit is Panacea, Toronto’s all vegan store. They’re well stocked with vegan treats and I couldn’t resist picking up a bunch of chocolate goodies, including a box of vegan truffles made by Boardwalk Chocolates. If you have a chance to try anything made by Boardwalk, don’t pass up the chance! I brought these chocolates back to Ottawa and John and I savoured every single one. My faves were the White Cashew (cardamom cashew ganache dipped in white chocolate) and Peanut Butter Cloud (Ontario peanut butter and marshmallow topped with roasted peanut).

Panacea

Here is the rest of my loot from Panacea. Everything was amazing! Especially the Sweets from the Earth peppermint nanaimo bar and the Treasure Bar from Eli’s Earth Bars. The peach slices made by Goody Good Stuff brought back some nice childhood memories of sucking on 5¢ candies. Tell me I’m not the only one who did this…

Rawlicious

One night I went out for dinner and ate at Rawlicious with Lisa from Vegan Culinary Crusade and Nicole from A Dash of Compassion. The three of us had a lovely evening and enjoyed some delicious raw food. I had the raw pizza, which turned out to be some of the best raw pizza I’ve ever tasted thanks to the super soft and moist crust. Lisa had the onion sandwich and Nicole had a Caesar salad.

Raw Chocolate Coconut Truffles

Lisa is such a sweetie! She brought me some of her homemade raw chocolate coconut truffles. They were amazing, of course! Her and Nicole have some awesome projects on the go. Check out their raw ice cream sandwich challenge (open to July 1, 2011).

Cruda Cafe

After eating at Rawlicious, I continued with the raw food trend and went to Cruda Cafe the next day. They were featured on Groupon a few months before, and I bought the coupon knowing I’d make it there eventually. Having $28 to blow, I splurged and picked up two meals and an acai smoothie. I choose the Sweet Potato Mesquite Sandwich, which was made with really nice and soft dehydrated bread topped with a generous amount of guacamole, veggies, sprouts, olives and vegan kombucha cheese. I also bought the Quiche me Lorraine, a small almond herb crust filled with fennel, tomato and creamy vegan cheese.

One Love Vegetarian

Earlier in May John was in Toronto and returned home raving about a meal he ate at One Love Vegetarian. After seeing his pictures, I knew I had to try their food too. I was feeling adventurous (as usual) and ordered the Callaloo, a dish of steamed Jamaican greens served with boiled green banana, yellow yam, Jamaican sweet potato, avocado and plantain. It was a very unique meal and unlike anything I’ve ever had before. I liked almost all of the ingreidents, the one exception being the not so tasty boiled green banana. This place is really close to Panacea, the all vegan store, and definitely worth a visit. The prices are good, portions are big and they play some reggae music that makes for great vibes. Cash only.

Hot Beans

Hot Beans! As soon as I heard about this new, all vegan Latin-inspired takeout joint, I knew I had to eat there. They’re conveniently located in Kensington market so there’s no excuse for missing them. The menu is short but solid. The choice for me was easy: jackfruit taco. It blew me away. I know it sounds strange but it’s freaking ingenious! The texture is awesome. For my side dish, I picked the chips and cheesy dip (made with a potato base) – also a winner. I somehow managed to forget my camera and missed out on taking a picture. Thankfully, I met up with a friend and convinced him to try the jackfruit taco too (not a hard sell!). In the picture above you can see the other side dish option of beans and rice, which was also super tasty! I’m sure you noticed the donut above…yep, that’s a Boston Cream donut. And yes, it was very yummy.

Conference Food

I’m so happy we’ve reached a point where conference organizers are able to accommodate special requests from vegans. Yes, their go-to meal is usually pasta but at least they’re getting a tad more creative and adding things like lentils and olives to standard tomato or olive oil sauces.

One night, I attended a fancy reception that had only meat, fish and cheese hor d’oeuvres. I asked if there was anything vegan and was very excited to be presented with a small bowl of guacamole and plantain chips. Worried that it wasn’t enough, the chef also sent out a bowl of spiced nuts. How kind! I always really appreciate the effort to accommodate and am so grateful when chefs get creative.

Fly Porter Airlines

Porter Airlines VGML

Good news! Porter Airlines has made some small alternations to their in-flight meals and now has a VGML meal that includes a small grilled veggie sandwich that’s made without butter or cheese. How great! If you’re not flying during lunch or dinner, you can usually get a pita and hummus snack box or a bag of salted almonds. Porter is such a great airline and it’s so nice to see them making steps to accommodate vegans and vegetarians. Fly Porter!

So that’s Toronto! The city has no short of vegan options and new ones are popping up all the time!

Vegan Road Trip to New York City

Jill — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:31:10 +0000

A few weeks ago John and I rented a car and drove to New York City with some friends. Oh boy did we take advantage of having three days to eat our hearts out! Last year we spent a week in New York and made a good dent in the vegan food scene, but didn’t even come close to trying all the hot spots. There are just so many vegan joints and more are popping up all the time, like Champs Family Bakery (176 Ainslie St, Brooklyn, NY 11211) which opened since we last visited. We ventured across the bridge and met up with some friends to feast on a sugary selection of Champs’ baked goods including cinnamon buns (best ever!), bear claws, donuts and cheesecake brownies.

Cowgirl’s Baking (259 E 10th St, East Village, NYC 10009) is another new bakery in town and one we knew we had to try. We picked up a trio of cupcakes: the peanut butter bomb (that’s me!), coffee & donuts (that’s John!), and vanilla with flower (for our dear friend Emily).

Kate’s Joint (58 Avenue B, NY C 10009) has been around for years and is a favourite of our friend Emily’s, so we headed there for brunch on the Saturday morning. I didn’t have the best experience, but it’s partly my fault for ordering the Sweet Potato Hash (yams topped with collards, fakin, Daiya cheese and tofu scramble) when I don’t really like three of the four ingreidents. My adventurous menu choices get me in trouble sometimes.

We went out for two fancy dinners, the first being at Cafe Blossom (466 Columbus Avenue, NYC 10024). After a long day of eating I went for a light choice and had the raw Autumn Sweet Potato Rolls, made with coconut noodles, jicama, carrot, red and yellow pepper, scallion, avocado, and almond ginger dipping sauce. John ordered Tempeh Pad Thai and Emily chowed down on Lemon Peppercorn Seitan with (freakishly large) grilled asparagus, seared thyme potato cake, and roasted tomato cream. We topped off our meal with the Blossom Parfait, which had layers of chocolate ganache, vanilla crème anglaise, butterscotch, date walnut compote, and candied pecans. Dreamy!

Our last meal out, the finale of our NYC eating adventures, was at Candle 79 (154 East 79th Street, NYC 10021). I have been wanting to eat here for years and am so glad we finally had the chance. We enjoyed some complex dishes, all with a lot of height (one of my favourite food qualities!). I ordered the Grilled Vegetable Wild Mushroom Stuffed Tempeh with sweet potato puree, asparagus, chocolate mole sauce, and fennel salad. John had his dream dish: a Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Cake with seasonal vegetables, red pepper-coconut curry, ginger-apricot-date chutney and toasted almonds. Emily ordered one of the day’s specials, a walnut crusted seitan dish with a whole bunch of other ingreidents I can’t remember but can assure you paired perfectly and tasted really delicious. Our amuse bouche was a pesto crostini with brussels sprouts and I also had a Coconut Mint Frappe with avocado, coconut, agave, mint and lime. The whole meal was perfect and made for a great end to our last night in New York.

The next day we drove home, carrying with us a whole bunch of vegan goodies that are hard, if not impossible, to get in Canada. We brought back lots of chocolate, marshmallows and other treats we picked up between Whole Foods and the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival. My favourite finds were Hail Merry’s Meyer Lemon Miracle Tart and Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter. Don’t pass up the chance to try these!!