A tale from the road

It was late and I was tired. I had just spent a lovely day gallivanting around Bethlehem- and Scranton, Pennsylvania in search of vegan noms. I checked into a hotel that night as I was preparing to fly out to Puerto Rico the next day to meet up with a friend for a two-day jaunt in Old San Juan, which meant getting up early to drive to NYC, where I was departing from. I was getting ready to take a shower and it hit me, I have a giant piece of chocolate cake from Vegan Treats in my bag! Late night indulgence, here I come! I quickly opened the box and without taking a second glance I shoved that cake into my mouth. I closed my eyes for a second as I began to savor the sweet flavor and as I opened my eyes to see what the damage from my initial bite was, there they were… dozens of little ants crawling on top of AND inside of the cake! GULP. I managed to get the first bite down but couldn’t bring myself to eat any more of it. I left the rest for the ants. That’s what happens when you leave something super sweet in a warm vehicle for hours at a time! Sigh.

The reason

Welcome to my project, Will Travel For Vegan Food! My name is Kristin and I’m currently on a yearlong, vegan food focused road trip across the country. The goal is to attempt to eat at all of the 100% vegan restaurants in the United States, while also visiting all 50 states, volunteering at farm animal sanctuaries, and interviewing vegan business owners. I’m about six months in, and have been living out of my van, Gerty. I’m having the time of my life and love sharing my travel experiences, even the icky ones!

The ups and downs

So far, the ant story is actually the grossest experience I’ve had. Haha! Aside from that this road trip has been pretty amazing. There was however, one week where things weren’t going according to plan. I was in DC and one day I lost my driver’s license, the next day I got a parking ticket, the following day I got kicked out of a parking lot for sleeping there, in my van, and the final day of the series of frustrating events, was the starter on the van went. So I had to have her towed to a shop to get her fixed. Oh yeah, a few days after that one of the brake lines went. There’s nothing like pushing your brake petal to the floor to only keep going. Scary stuff! Thankfully I was in a major city and was able to get everything sorted out within a few days, no problems. When you’re driving a 95 sports van with 160,000 miles on it, you expect things to go awry every so often. If anything, I’ve learned to take things as they come, not panic, and just find a way to get it all sorted out.

I’ll be finishing up the East Coast portion of my trip by the end of June and will then begin to head to the middle of the country as I make my way West. Stay tuned, as this adventure is sure to lead to even better, “gasp, omgawd that did NOT happen,” experiences along the way.

Who am I?

Kristin Lajeunesse is a full-time blogger, driver, and eater of vegan food. She’s also a part-time social media consultant and motivational speaker. Kristin founded the first, and currently only website dedicated to providing resources for couples looking to veganize their wedding day, Rose Pedals Vegan Weddings. She’s got a MA in Integrated Marketing Communications from Emerson College and a BPS in Business Management, with a Specialization in Equestrian Studies from Cazenovia College. Follow Kristin’s vegan food journey and road trip at wtfveganfood.com.

 

 

Another vegan-friendly restaurant with yummy appetizers is Cafe Koi. The menu has a special section for “karma appetizers” that includes vegetable dumplings, crispy ginger tofu chunks and yam wedges. For entrees, there are karma bowls, most of which are vegan and loaded with fresh vegetables. A good option is the Lotus Bowl, which includes maple chili greens topped with seared tofu sticks.

- Submitted by Silvia Pikal

Just in case you thought Cowtown was nothing but steak, big trucks and more steak, one of our lovely contributors has an article in the new issue to help you find something other than barely grilled, unseasoned vegetables at a chain restaurant. From Chinese food to great little cafes, you’re sure to find something to appease your stomach and your heart.

Came across this little piece of tour footage we posted while on the road, and I figured it might not hurt to give it some attention again. I can’t say I’ve seen a set-up out here on the east coast like the one we highlight somewhere in Southern Alberta, but I’m sure there are plenty of them all around North America, and many other places.

I’m going to assume it’s a veal farm, or at least these cows are going to end up as veal. I’m no professional, so I could be wrong. Either way, they’re a far cry from the happy cows grazing in open pastures that plenty of commercials would have you believe.

So, watch this, and ask me again why I’m vegan.

Not your grocery store’s tofu (macleans.ca)

Of course, though there is a lot of work put into every issue of T.O.F.U., I don’t know if we had as many issues as Chef David Wong and the staff at Oru. Although, now that I think of it, we did start off using Microsoft Word, which probably gave us more headaches than it was worth. Plus, there were times when I felt like dropping the computer from a shelf would have been a big help…

Photo taken from the Fairmont Pacific Rim website.

Alright, maybe it’s just a crush since they’re not entirely vegan, and they are on the other side of the world, but I can be smitten for today, right?

Lentil as Anything

They have a “pay as you feel” policy, three locations, live music, artwork, films and they are quite active in their community.

Oh yeah, they also share a kitchen with the fine folks who did the cupcake cartoons I posted about a little while ago, Mister Nice Guy Cupcakes.

Swoon.

Now, if they go vegan and add a record store adjacent to the restaurant, I’m going to have to grab my passport and credit card.

With the new issue being completely digital the whole world has opened up in terms of who can be involved. In fact, I’m hoping I will be able to showcase what veganism looks like in as many places as possible. I also plan on doing it in multiple languages. That’s right, if all goes well the next issue will not be restricted to just English articles. I think it’s only right since veganism doesn’t stop at English, right?

So, if you happen to know of a great little vegan cafe down the road from you or perhaps a place you go online that is cool enough to ship to your small town, let me know. I’ve tracked down everything from a bed and breakfast in the UK that looks amazing (The Sands) to a great little bakery in Ottawa, Ontario (Auntie Loo’s). However, I now know there is so much more out there, and that makes me smile.

Of course, it also makes a guy like me want to pack a suitcase and find out how great all these places are for myself! I’m open to donations to make that happen!

=-)

RP

With that in mind, I started thinking about ice cream and how I wish I could get it in more places. If only there were more ice cream shops like Lula’s Apothecary in NYC I could keep cool and satisfy my sweet tooth. Of course, we need a bigger demand for such things in order for them to happen, which got me to thinking whether or not I would enjoy having vegan ice cream shops the world over if people were more interested in it for dietary reasons versus animal suffering reasons.

What do you think? Is a successful vegan shop successful either way, or should the success of the business be measured more in terms of how many people are doing it for animals?

Maybe I’m reading a little too much of Striking at the Roots to consider things a success without looking at their reason for it, but it’s better than just thinking about how hot I am while typing this, right?