Nestled inside the bustling Grand Central Market of Downtown L.A. you’ll find Ramen Hood serving 100% vegan food. Created by Top Chef Season 2 winner Ilan Hall, the new hottest food in town is vegan ramen. This plant-based, meat-free noodle soup is super rich in flavor. I was told the creamy broth is made with sunflower seeds, which explains the pleasant nutty flavor. The al dente ramen noodles have perfect…
World Vegan Day 2015 has come and gone. It was celebrated in Hong Kong with the Meat Free Hong Kong meetup group enjoying a fabulous, fabulous, fabulous hot pot meal at the city’s Pure Veggie House. HK has 7+ million people and 200+ all vegetarian restaurants. It’s thus maybe slightly surprising that so few of those vego restaurants purport to be 100% vegan. This is thus a quick run down…
I’ve always maintained that you could eat your way through Toronto without repeating a single meal. Do I still believe this to be true if you’re a vegan or vegetarian? I do! How about if you’re gluten-free or soy-free? You bet! Let me guess. You just googled “Vegan restaurants in Toronto” and found a fairly large list, but you’re thinking that my first statement is a bold exaggeration. Au contraire,…
Wednesday 26 August witnessed the 2015 Hong Kong Top 10 Vegan/Organic Restaurant Awards presented by Happycow.com. Part of Natural and Organic Products Asia 2015 at the cavernous Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Centre, the ceremony was also supported by Meat Free Hong Kong. All the winning restaurants obviously had in common being geared to the vegan/organic food market. Also as a minimum, all are 100% vegetarian. Within that criteria though…
Nestled between hip art galleries and coffee shops is a 13,500 square foot vegan paradise in downtown Los Angeles called The Springs. This vegan café and juice bar* meets yoga studio and state-of-the-art spa would make any West-sider brave the 10. The holistically assembled desert oasis theme reminds one a bit of the oh-so-cool Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. Every dish is so elegantly prepared and served, boasting the freshest…
On August 1, 2014 I convinced my omnivorous husband and business partner that his Paleo organic meat-mecca restaurant, GustOrganics, absolutely needed to go plant-based. On March 2, 2015 GustOrganics ecame the first meat-heavy restaurant to go entirely vegan in NYC. In two sentences it sounds easy enough—but let me tell you that this was no simple task. We lost thousands of dollars, most of our clientele and some of…
Sarasota County schools now observe “Meatless Mondays,” making Sarasota the first city in Florida to serve all-vegetarian meals once a week. Instead of mystery meat, the schools are serving kid-friendly, meat-free meals, such as hummus and vegetable subs, spaghetti, and taco salads. While the food chief for Sarasota County Public Schools acknowledges that the Meatless Mondays program is a good approach to get kids thinking about ways to fight obesity…
The first time someone serves you chicken, fish, or turkey after becoming vegan, you are shocked. Often, restaurants, family and omnivores don’t necessarily know or understand what this new diet means. You might receive a chicken salad sandwich containing chicken, eggs and mayonnaise because someone might mistakenly think that they are serving a vegan choice. So let’s review some of the things to look out for when ordering a vegan meal, and help avoid…
After Paris, my Just a Pack travel companion and I jumped on a plane and headed to Barcelona, Spain. The city far exceeded my expectations for vegan dining options. In the past, and before I was vegetarian, I traveled all over Spain and what I remember is jamón, jamón, jamón. It seemed like most dishes included it or some other type of meat, seafood, or cheese. So I didn’t really…
It’s no secret that Wales is the fattest nation in the UK. Over a fifth of five year olds in Wales are overweight, whilst nearly two thirds of people in their early forties are classed overweight or obese. But, in Cardiff, there’s work afoot to turn that statistic upside down. Against a burgeoning vegan culture and spiked interest in cookery, Cardiff is on a mission to improve its health. Recently…
Having been vegan for some 20 years now I can’t help but notice the rapidly growing trend of vegan friendly places to visit in Britain today. Gone are the days when we had to seriously stock pile our travel bags with goodies so that we didn’t go hungry (or resort to less compassionate eating choices) when on the road. These days it seems that we can venture just about anywhere…
It’s National Pancake Day so we just want to take a minute to celebrate all of the amazing vegan pancakes out there in the world! There are so many restaurants out there that offer vegan pancakes on their menus, and you can use the HappyCow app to find them all. Here are just a few totally awesome pancake pics from HappyCow users: 1. Champs Family Bakery in Brooklyn, NY 2. Spiral Diner…
Ahhhhh Key West, Florida—the last island of all the keys, the furthest point south of the United States. You drive over a 7 mile bridge to get to this paradise island, but once you are there, you are in a place where it is warm every day, the breathtaking sunsets look like they come from a movie or a painting, where there are coconut palm trees as tall as buildings…