By Sundari Maharajh, VRG Intern
With vegan food growing in popularity, there is a lot more variety of options for plant-based eaters around the country. However, each area or even state has its own regional foods. Being from Houston, Texas, we have a strong Mexican influence on all our food choices due to close proximity to Mexico. This means there is an array of authentic vegan Mexican restaurants throughout Houston such as Cascabel. The south is also home to soul food, which has sparked the start of many vegan soul food restaurants around Texas. To explore the differences between Texas vegan food and East Coast vegan food I contacted several vegans from both regions for their insights.
One responder, Nadely Y. Requena, relayed my experiences with Texas vegan food typically being Tex-Mex or southern food like fried chicken, briskets, biscuits, etc. She also said that a big difference is the authenticity of the ethnic vegan food in the south, and that many Latinos started their vegan businesses around the Latino food and culture they grew up with. She then said that the classic southern dishes/soul food such as mac and cheese and mashed potatoes would be hard to find made as well or as authentically outside of the south.
Hearing from an east coaster perspective, Danielle Choma from northwestern New Jersey said she has no local vegan restaurants in her rural area. She cooks most of her vegan food homemade, or finds veggie options at her local places such as Chipotle. Danielle said however, when she visits Baltimore, the city has way more restaurants with vegan options for her. She mentioned Golden West Café, which serves an array of vegan sandwiches, tacos, and breakfast foods, all from a variety of different cultures, as a favorite of hers. She touched on a similar point that Nadely mentioned, that it is much easier to find vegan food in cities rather than small towns or suburbs. This seems to be a shared quality of the two regions, both having more concentration of vegan restaurants in cities rather than outside of the urban centers.
Noelle Merveilleux who has lived in both the East coast and the South said the main quality of Southern vegan restaurants is that they are either focused on serving vegan health food or serving comfort food. I do relate to her experience with vegan restaurants in the South a lot. While there are many comfort options to choose from like Tex-Mex and soul food, a lot of vegan food spots aim for a healthier approach with food options like raw vegan food, juice bars, etc.
Looking at the VRG restaurant guide, I noticed a wide variety of dishes in both Southern and Eastern Coast restaurants. Both regions offer a range of vegan ethnic food restaurants including many vegan Mexican restaurants located on the East Coast despite my initial impression that vegan Mexican restaurants would be more common in the south. In that same breath, both regions also both have many health food focused vegan restaurants. This narrows the vast regional difference I initially thought there was.
Ultimately, whether indulging in hearty comfort dishes or embracing healthier alternatives, the growing popularity of veganism across the United States continues to inspire new innovations in plant-based dining. It is a joy to see all the different options from region to region as it demonstrates how far vegan food has expanded that we now have regional differences and varieties. While there are still ways to go, particularly in adding vegan restaurants and food options in rural areas, this is still a step towards a more sustainable and humane future, one delicious meal at a time.
To explore the various vegan options in your area, visit https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php