Taco photo by Hannah Kaminsky

By Nadely Requena, VRG Intern

When I first became vegetarian in 10th grade at the age of 16, I very quickly began to feel disconnected from the people around me and my culture. Growing up in a Mexican household meant that meat was always placed at the center of the table. So, when I chose to not partake in eating meat, it very much felt as if I was leaving my roots and everything I had been taught to follow.

Looking back, 4 and a half years later and now being vegan, my experience and outlook has definitely changed in terms of me feeling connected to my upbringing. My early views were brought upon because I had no guidance, support from my family, and in general, lacked education on alternative diets. I never knew anything other than eating meat because that was the only diet I knew growing up.

As time has continued, I’ve met plenty of people sharing my diet and through conversations, I realized I’m not the only one who encountered these struggles.

Julia Comino, a vegan VRG intern, expressed feelings of disconnection from her Italian family when she became vegetarian at age 13, also dealing with her allergies to gluten and soy. Now, as she’s gotten more comfortable with the cuisine, she’s learned to make alternatives of classic dishes she loves. She continued by saying how cooking alternative Latin American dishes makes her feel more connected to her boyfriend’s Chilean family.

I spoke with VRG volunteer and registered dietitian, Rosemary Lopez, who shared her great love for Latin American cuisine as it makes her feel closer to her family’s traditions. She has been vegetarian for over a year now and continues to find different ways to “veganize” the delicious Mexican dishes she grew up with.

“I feel like eating in the traditional ways that my family (taught me) and (partaking in) the generations (of passing down recipes) … is very meaningful to me,” Lopez said. “I’ve been eating this way since I was little. It’s a whole event. From cooking to putting your ingredients together to actually eating the food. It’s definitely very meaningful to me to be eating these foods every single day.”

Manuel Cortes, the recent winner of The Vegetarian Resource Group’s New York City Scholarship, also expressed his struggles and triumphs with being vegetarian since 6th grade.

“(Cooking Latin American food is even more sentimental) especially with me not being born here,” Cortes said. “I feel like it connects me back (to my Honduran culture) … a lot of the foods that my parents make and my grandparents (are) … years of tradition, which is amazing. But because of me, they get to switch things up and … play around with recipes to cater (to my diet). So, not only does it connect me to my culture, but my family also gets (to try new things and create new memories) because of my lifestyle.”

Hearing just from a few people with alternative diets definitely made me feel like I wasn’t alone with my struggles. It’s natural to not feel the same after doing something for years, but realize that there’s also nothing stopping you from swapping out a couple of ingredients.

Over the years, I’ve learned and experimented with Latin American foods that seemed exotic to me at first. With each dish, I would substitute the animal products or change the measurements depending on the taste. Sometimes it would turn out to be very flavorful, and even better than the original dish, and others, I would just kindly tell myself that we would do better next time.

Given my limited, but valuable, culinary experience I, along with the contribution of others, made a list of our favorite Latin American dishes, desserts, and drinks with possible fillings, substitutions, and combinations. Enjoy!

Main Dishes:

• Tacos & Gorditas (possible fillings)
  • Base: refried beans, squash, zucchinis, mushroom, plant-based meat alternatives, chickpeas, potatoes, jackfruit
  • Toppings: vegan shredded cheese, tomato, lettuce, cilantro, onion
  • Extra: salsa
• Burritos (possible fillings)
  • Base: rice, beans (refried pinto or regular pinto), squash, zucchinis, mushroom, plant based-meat alternatives, chickpeas, potatoes, jackfruit
  • Extra: lettuce, vegan shredded cheese, avocado, potatoes, tomato
• Tostadas
  • Base: refried pinto beans
  • Toppings: vegan shredded cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato
• Quesadillas
  • Flour tortilla
  • Vegan cheese
  • Extra: bell pepper
• Tamales (possible fillings & combinations)
  • Pumpkin
  • Refried beans
  • Black beans and onions
  • Sweet corn
  • Potatoes
  • Refried pinto beans and vegan cheese
  • Jackfruit with tomato, cilantro, and onion
  • Vegan cheese and jalapeños
  • Plant-based meat
• Enchiladas (possible fillings & combinations)
  • Vegan cheese
  • Vegan cheese with spinach
  • Vegan cheese with chickpeas
  • Vegan cheese with refried pinto beans
  • Plant-based meat
  • Toppings: plant based sour cream, avocado, pico de gallo, salsa
• Posole (traditional Mexican stew)
  • Base: vegetable stock, hominy corn
  • Extra: lettuce, cabbage, chili peppers, onion, garlic, avocado, salsa or limes
• Soups
  • Base: beans or lentils
  • Extra: zucchini, carrots, celery, potatoes, cabbage, cilantro
• Chilaquiles (traditional Mexican breakfast dish)
  • Base: tortillas chips (roast or fry), egg substitute (such as Just Egg)
  • Extra: beans, lettuce, avocado, cilantro
• Salad of…
  • Nopale (cactus)
  • Lettuce
  • Spinach
  • Toppings: tomato, avocado, black/pinto beans, chickpeas, corn, shredded vegan cheese, tofu
• Sopa de frijoles (traditional Honduran bean soup)
  • Base: black/pinto beans
  • Toppings: cilantro, tomato, onion, avocado
• Baleadas (traditional Honduran breakfast tacos)
  • Base: flour tortilla, egg substitute (such as Just Egg), refried pinto beans
  • Toppings: avocado, shredded vegan cheese
• Empanadas (traditional baked/fried bread with filling) – (possible fillings & combinations)
  • Tempeh, onion, potatoes, bell peppers
  • Potatoes with bell peppers
  • Sweet potato with black beans
  • Vegan cheese
  • Cashew
  • Jelly (like strawberry) with vegan cream cheese
  • Apple and vegan caramelized milk
• Chalupas (traditional Mexican flat, but heavier taco) – (possible fillings)
  • Base: potatoes, refried beans
  • Toppings: avocado, vegan cheese, tomato, cilantro, lettuce, vegan sour cream
• Arroz con Gandules (traditional Puerto Rican rice and beans)
  • Base: rice and beans (pigeon peas)
  • Toppings: Cilantro
• Arepas (traditional Colombian and Venezuelan cornmeal cake) – (possible fillings)
  • Arepas – naturally vegan, changes with filling
  • Fillings: black/pinto beans, vegan cheese, avocado, cilantro, tomato, corn, plantains, jackfruit
• Mole (traditional Mexican sauce traditionally poured over meat) –
  • Vegetable stock
  • Meat alternatives: mushrooms, jackfruit, sweet or regular potato, plant-based meat
  • Sides: rice

Dips (all naturally vegan, traditional ingredients listed):

• Chimole (traditional Salvadoran salsa)
  • Tomatoes
  • Onions
  • Lime juice
  • Peppers
  • Cilantro
• Pico de Gallo (traditional Mexican salsa)
  • Guacamole
  • Tomato
  • Onion
  • Jalapeños
  • Cilantro
• Sofrito (red or green salsa)
  • Garlic
  • Onions
  • Peppers
  • Cilantro
• Corn or mango salsa
  • Sweet corn/mango
  • Onion
  • Jalapeño
  • Cilantro
  • Lime

Desserts:

• Manjar (traditional Chilean name, but is more known as dulce de leche, or caramelized milk)
  • Alternatives: plant-based milk (it’s popular to use coconut milk), organic brown sugar, coconut cream
• Churros (traditional Latin American fried dough)
  • Alternatives: plant-based milk, egg substitute (such as Just Egg), organic brown sugar or white sugar
• Conchas (traditional Mexican sweet bread roll)
  • Alternatives: plant-based milk, egg substitute (such as Just Egg, aquafaba, chickpea or garbanzo bean juice), organic brown sugar or white sugar
  • Fillings: sweet potato
• Pastelitos de Queso (traditional Cuban cream cheese pastry)
  • Fillings: Miyoko’s cottage cheese, vegan Greek yogurt, hummus, silken tofu
• Pastelitos de Espinaca (traditional Argentinian spinach empanadas)
  • Fillings: vegan cheese, spinach

Drinks (most natural drinks are vegan, listed are most popular ones):

• Agua de horchata (traditional Mexican rice water)
  • Use plant-based milk to make it vegan
• Agua de Jamaica (traditional Mexican and Jamaican hibiscus tea)
  • Use organic cane sugar to make it vegan
• Agua de Tamarindo (traditional Mexican tamarind drink)
  • Use organic cane sugar to make it vegan

You may also be interested in

https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/information_in_Spanish.htm

https://www.vrg.org/journal/CookingAndRecipes.htm#cr-ethnic-cuisine

The contents of this posting, our 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.

Have you ever bought miso and lacked ideas on how to cook with it? There’s so much more you can do with miso than make miso soup! Debra Daniels-Zeller previously wrote an article for The Vegetarian Resource Group titled The Many Faces of Miso. Enjoy these recipes:

ORANGE-RASPBERRY MISO SALAD DRESSING

EAST-MEETS-WEST BEAN DIP

SWEET POTATO-MISO FOCACCIA

CREAMY MISO SOUP

MISO MARINADE FOR TEMPEH

SWEET AND SAVORY BAKED BLACK-EYED PEAS AND CORN

MISO MASHED POTATOES

MISO GRAVY

MAPLE-SAUTÉED APPLES WITH COCONUT-MISO SAUCE

Read the article here: The Many Faces of Miso

Subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Try this simple vegan Blueberry French Toast Casserole for your next brunch or breakfast gathering. Using bananas as the base, it pulls together in minutes and can rest in the fridge overnight, all ready to bake the next morning. And just wait until your guests smell the lovely aroma of French Toast Casserole as you pull it from the oven! A wonderful way to begin the day.

See video at: https://youtu.be/Zjd8NkmWhnc

Get the recipe at https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2019issue3/2019_issue3_blueberry_recipes.php

Share this handy poster with family and friends. You can also print it out and post it on your refrigerator. See: https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/VeganDietsinaNutshellPoster.pdf

By Nadely Requena, VRG Intern

During my first-year as an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin, my sole-focus was on finding my place and becoming accustomed to “adult” life. I was coming from Houston, Texas where I had previously attended a boarding school, already gaining a sense of independence and control of my eating choices. At that beginning of the school year, I had been vegetarian for over three years and the end goal had always been to become fully vegan.

As I lived in the university dorms my first-year, I often switched between a vegetarian and vegan diet, just depending on the foods that were present in the dining halls each day. However, if you are completely vegan, it is totally possible to survive in the dining halls.

Here, you will find a full week’s worth of meals that I had during my first-year at UT. My diet was mostly vegan and the ingredients that were not could easily be removed and are specified in this meal plan. If you have certain dietary restrictions, the dining hall is also willing to make meals that accommodate your needs.

The menu constantly changed every single day, so I was always having to get creative and combine things to make a full meal. If you are someone with an alternative diet, I encourage you to experiment with foods and to also be realistic with your diet while seeing the options your school offers. Food can always be combined and there’s always going to be a way to make it more delicious, as long as you’re willing to try.

I ate breakfast and lunch in the dining hall, plus a snack after a workout or during some late night studying. After I moved out of the dorms, I became fully vegan, now being more familiar with all sorts of ingredients. I won’t be living in the dorms next semester, but needless to say, dorm life provides incoming students with a support group, introduction to life as an adult, and most importantly, a place where you can experiment with food endlessly.

• Monday:
  • Breakfast: 1 biscuit, 1 veggie patty, veggie mix (of squash, bell pepper onion, and eggplant), diced potatoes, refried pinto beans
    • Exclude biscuit & veggie patty
  • Lunch:
    • Main: black bean burger (topped w/ lettuce, tomato, & cheese)
      • Exclude cheese
    • Sides: straight cut fries, jalapeños, broccoli
  • Snack: Clif Bar (white chocolate macadamia)
• Tuesday:
  • Breakfast: yogurt (topped w/ blueberries), chocolate scone
    • Swap chocolate scone for a vegan brownie
    • Check to see if they have vegan yogurt
  • Lunch:
    • Main: 2 flour tortillas w/ veggie fajita
    • Sides: mashed potatoes, veggie mix (of broccoli & green beans), sriracha
      • Check ingredients of sriracha
      • Check to see if mashed potatoes are vegan
    • Snack: peanuts
  • Wednesday:
    • Breakfast: 2 tacos
      • Flour tortillas
      • Smash brown beans
      • 1 veggie patty (cut into pieces)
      • Diced potatoes
      • Toppings: cheese, pico de gallo, red salsa
        • *Pico de gallo: tomato, onion, cilantro mixed together
        • Exclude veggie patty & cheese
      • Lunch:
        • Main: 2 tofu (cooked) slices w/ a Jamaican sauce
        • Side: yellow rice, sautéed mushrooms, curly fries, salad (of spring mix, shredded cheese, bean salad, vegan ranch)
          • *Bean salad: black beans, corn, green beans
          • Exclude shredded cheese
        • Snack: sunflower seeds
      • Thursday:
        • Breakfast: yogurt w/ blueberries, strawberry & goat cheese scone
          • Exclude strawberry & goat cheese scone for vegan snickerdoodle
          • Check to see if vegan yogurt
        • Lunch:
          • Main: 2 slices of pizza
            • *Pizza: available are cheese or veggie
            • Request vegan pizza
          • Side: curly fries, jalapeños, Brussels sprouts, Spanish rice
        • Snack: Clif Bar (chocolate brownie)
      • Friday:
        • Breakfast: 1 biscuit, 1 veggie patty, veggie mix (of squash, bell pepper, onion, and eggplant), tater tots, refried pinto beans
          • Exclude biscuit & veggie patty
        • Lunch:
          • Main: Indian chickpea curry
          • Sides: white rice, cauliflower, jalapeños, tater tots, mozzarella sticks, vegan brownie
            • Exclude mozzarella sticks
          • Snack: veggie chips
        • Saturday:
          • Breakfast: yogurt w/ blueberries, carrot scone
            • Change carrot scone with vegan brownie
            • Check to see if vegan yogurt
          • Lunch:
            • Main: Chinese noodles w/ sautéed tofu
            • Side: fried rice, sweet potato fries, salad (of spring mix, shredded cheese, mango salad/salsa, chickpeas, black beans, vegan ranch)
              • *Mango salad/salsa: mango, onion, cilantro, tomato
              • Exclude shredded cheese
            • Snack: sunflower seeds
          • Sunday:
            • Breakfast: 1 biscuit, 1 veggie patty, black beans, hash brown, veggie mix (of squash, bell pepper, onion, and eggplant)
              • Exclude biscuit & veggie patty
            • Lunch:
              • Main: salad (of spring mix, shredded cheese, chickpeas, beans, vegan ranch)
                • Exclude shredded cheese
              • Sides: corn bread, mozzarella sticks, potato wedges, mac & cheese, jalapeños
                • Exclude mozzarella sticks & mac & cheese
              • Snack: Clif Bar (blueberry crisp)

Note from the editor: Often food services serve fortified plant milks, which you may want to add to your meals.

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

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

At the end of June 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a $308 billion state budget for 2022-2023. This budget features a first for any state in the United States – funding for plant-based school meals in public elementary and secondary schools.

According to the Enacted Budget Summary, the budget includes a one-time $100 million allocation “to support local educational agency procurement practices for plant-based or restricted diet meals, to procure California-grown or California-produced, sustainably grown, whole or minimally processed foods including for use in plant-based or restricted diet meals, or to prepare meals fresh onsite.”

The state budget also includes a one-time $600 million apportionment for upgrades to school kitchens and equipment and food service employee training and compensation that will allow the use of more “fresh, minimally processed California-grown foods.”

To read more about vegan and vegetarian meals in schools see:

Getting Vegan Foods into Elementary Schools

Adding Vegetarian Options into School Lunch Programs

Working for Vegetarian Food in Your High School Cafeteria

Photo from Belse Restaurant Bar & Brewery (@belsenyc)

The Vegetarian Resource Group maintains an online Guide to Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants in the USA and Canada. Here are some recent vegan restaurant additions. The entire guide can be found here: http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

To support the updating of this online restaurant guide, please donate at: www.vrg.org/donate

Here are some new additions to VRG’s guide (Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many are doing take-out and/or delivery now):

Belse, 265 Bowery, New York, NY 10002

Belse’s high-end, culture-agnostic approach leads to options ranging from the beet carpaccio with almond ricotta to a selection of pizzas and flatbreads including mushroom pesto to the Aubergine filet, an eggplant steak in a mushroom au jus. The brunch menu offers a mix of savory items as well as breakfast dishes such as banana pancakes or lemon poppy seed waffles with a maple rum syrup. In line with Belse’s tagline (“The best vegan food tastes even better when you drink responsibly”), the full-service bar and on-site brewery offer a range of beverages to pair with your meal. This includes the 4 signature wines from the Belse winery in Healdsburg, California, and the freshly made brews from the only 3-vessel German brewhouse in Manhattan. Brunch cocktails include the Upside-Down Cake made with vanilla vodka and lemon and pineapple juices and the Black & White Espresso Martini. If you are not already blown away by the thoughtfulness and creativity of Belse, consider this: the restaurant’s logo (hands holding the earth wrapped in a lotus flower) was designed by Shepard Fairey, the street artist who created the “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama.

 Chelsea Cashew Creamery, 719 Broadway, Dunedin, FL 34698

Chelsea Cashew Creamery is a mother & son business in the Tampa Bay area that makes all its ice cream in-house with natural ingredients and no stabilizers or additives. The menu includes flavors such Chelsea’s choice, chocolate walnut, coconut, Dutch chocolate, masala chai, mint chip, pistachio, mocha, and many more amazing flavors.

Folke, 2585 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6K 2E9 Canada

Kitsilano-based restaurant with ever-changing menu based around vegetables from local farms and alcohol from local breweries and wineries.  Order a few small plates to share, or a 6-course tasting menu.  Offerings include expertly selected, paired and prepared vegetable dishes such as beets with rose, hazelnut and rhubarb; dumplings with mushroom xo, gai lan, and ponzu; or a dessert consisting of rhubarb, fennel and chamomile.  Guests can sit at tables amidst the classy indoor décor, at a bar overlooking the open kitchen, or on the covered patio outdoors. Chefs often interact with guests to speak about the dishes and the local farms the ingredients came from, and guests can also come to the daily “patio hang” at 3-5pm with beer, wine, and snacks. Menu prices include gratuity in an effort to pay the front-of-house staff a fair wage.

House of Mexica, 3600 Warren Way #107, Reno, NV 89509

Showcasing the roots of the Mexica (Meh-Shee-Ca) tribe, House of Mexica will undoubtedly catch your attention if not through their authentic Mexican cuisine, then through their bold, eye-catching bright purple logo. This vegan restaurant gives you complete mobility of your experience from their loads of soy and gluten-free options, 5 different “meat” options (Asada, Al Pastor, Chick’n, Nohpalli (prickly pear cactus), Hibiscus), and loads of house toppings to customize your dish. They have dedicated a section of the menu entirely to Mexican classics such as Tacos, Sopes, Tortas, Burritos, and Chimichangas. Additionally, their 12 different Chick’n Sandwiches, Burgers, and Bowls make it impossible for you to not find something you love. Another popular section are their fries as you can choose between the Mexican, Buffalo, Asada, Animal Kingdom, or Mac ‘n’ cheese options. Lastly, they have a selection of “smoothie gods” as you can choose between their water, solar, fire, or earth smoothies, or Mexican classics like Horchata and Jamaica.

Laughing V, 184 Duane St., New York, NY 10013

Tiny spot in Tribeca, a few blocks from the World Trade Center. Partnered with the Laughing Man Café next door, part-owned by actor Hugh Jackman.  Serves both drinks (including coffee — or check out the caffeine-free pink “matcha” with powdered dragon fruit) and sandwiches and baked goods, as well as a small collection of vegan market items (cashew cheese, vegan pudding mix etc.). The food is mostly made from scratch out of unprocessed ingredients (including the bread for the sandwiches): try the Philly Cheesesteak, featuring seitan handmade from lentils and Italian herbs. Seating available at the benches and small park right outside.

Nomoo, 7507 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046

Nomoo serves soy-free, non-GMO burgers, shakes, Everything Vegan BBQ facon, hot chick’n, fried oyster, Beyond patty, fried onion strings, and more. Nomoo has both indoor and outdoor seating, as well as soothing music and a prime location for people-watching.

Rock n Roots, 469 Willis Ave., Williston Park, NY 11596

Enjoy a granola cup, sushi rolls, wraps and salads, panini sandwiches, burgers, and desserts.

Seaside Eatery, 98275 Overseas Hwy., Key Largo, FL 33037

Seaside Eatery is a food truck eatery with outdoor seating. Serving the freshest ingredients to bring you delicious hand-crafted dishes such as the Stack ‘o Cakes, Avocado Toast, Lyndsay’s Bahn Mi, Roasted Vedge, Falafel, Chickpea salad, Hummus, and other dishes. They also offer Boba teas.

Sookie’s Veggie Burgers, 502 State St., Madison, WI 53703

Besides burgers, other items on the menu include spinach chicken pesto sandwich, chicken sandwich, black bean chipotle burger, and fries. They also have desserts produced locally.

The Vegetarian Resource Group is a vegan activist non-profit organization that does outreach all-year-long. For example, VRG has been participating in numerous virtual events by providing speakers on a wide variety of vegan topics. We also send literature free of charge to other groups/individuals doing educational activities in schools, hospitals, camps, restaurants, libraries, offices, etc. Our ability to continue doing this depends on people like you! Your donations allow us to promote the vegan message whenever we’re called upon for assistance. Please consider becoming a monthly, quarterly, or single-time donor to The Vegetarian Resource Group.

Thanks so much for your support. You can make a donation online here: www.vrg.org/donate

By Ruby Sturm, VRG Intern

I’ve been trying to learn how to buy cheap clothes as a vegan. Overall, clearance racks, thrift stores, and yard sales are probably the way to go.

Although I haven’t run across many specifically vegan clothing brands, in the better stores the clothing and shoes are labeled with what’s in them. So you’ll at least have an inkling if a piece is free from animal products. A detailed label is really helpful because animal products can sometimes be hidden in plain sight. I once bought a pair of fuzzy knitted winter gloves. It turned out that the fluffy material hidden inside of the gloves was rabbit fur. Another time my mom bought me a pair of canvas shoes online. The product description read “cotton.” What it didn’t say was that the inserts inside the shoes were 100% genuine leather! There will always be some mistakes, but the more I learn about different brands, the better I get at making sure that what I’m wearing is good for the earth!

If the label doesn’t list what a product is made of, the best thing you can do is Google it. When shopping online, you might notice that product descriptions aren’t great. But you can go to the brand’s website for a more detailed description. Looking up the brand only takes a minute. Of course it’s also important to think about the different labels products can have—cruelty-free, sustainable, and vegan. Cruelty-free means that a product isn’t tested on animals. Sustainable means that the product has a better environmental impact. And vegan means that it contains no materials derived from animals. When buying clothing, it’s best to consider all of these labels. A vegan faux leather coat could still be made entirely from plastic, cruelty-free soap could contain honey and goat’s milk, and a pair of sustainable shoes could still be made from leather.

How could a faux-leather coat be made from plastic well…  Faux leather is a trendy vegan product that no one can seem to make up their mind about. Is it good, is it bad, is it cheap?

Vegan leather companies have different processes for developing this leather-free leather. There are two main types. The first is made of polyurethane, or PU, a plastic-based leather that is cheap and easy to mass produce. My family has a PU faux leather couch that started peeling a year after we bought it. The second type of vegan leather is plant-based. Plant-based leather is usually made from smooth leathery plants such as cactus, banana leaves, or even fruit skins. One sad thing is that I’ve found few plant-based leathers are fully “plant-based.”

Overall, how people shop ethically really depends on their budget, the time they’re willing to invest, and their style. It’s not just about your taste in clothes, but also whether you prefer the ‘thrill of the hunt’ at yard sales and thrift stores, or a more organized approach to shopping, like searching through the catalog of an online store.

For new clothes, one way to save money is at the clearance rack. Avoid stores that have clothing made from cheap synthetic materials that will fall apart fairly quickly but won’t biodegrade. Instead, go to the clearance rack at stores that carry some ethical brands. When I started researching, I thought I’d find some budget vegan brands if I looked hard enough. After all, I really can’t afford to pay $45 for a t-shirt or $300 for a backpack. I know that fast fashion is bad, but cost is a factor for most of us.

If you love some of the expensive vegan clothing brands but don’t have the money, you can also buy them used. Time can be a good substitute for money—sure, they’ve been worn before, but that just doubles your positive impact on the environment! You may prefer hitting the bins at a chaotic Goodwill, a more organized thrift store like Savers, or asking for your grandma’s cool hand-me-downs. Sometimes it’s hard to find things you like that are your size. But you can buy used clothing online, too, at websites like Mercari, Ebay, Thredup, Poshmark, and TheRealReal. (TheRealReal is pretty expensive but hey they have a clearance section!)

Another reason to buy second hand is … just look at all the cool stuff you can get! Thanks to thrift stores and yard sales I have button ups from now ‘till 60 years ago. Some of the neatest clothing pieces I’ve gotten don’t even have tags and I’m pretty sure they were handmade.

This was a cool dress I got from a thrift store that I’m pretty sure was hand-sewn.

And if you accidentally purchase something second-hand that contains animal products, at least you bought it used so the manufacturer didn’t profit from the sale. When people become vegan, many cycle leather and fur clothing out of their wardrobes.

I remember when I would tell people I bought my clothes at a thrift store and they would look at me weird, but now everyone seems to like them… perhaps since clothing has gone up in price. They say time is money. And if you don’t want to break your wallet you still have to invest something. So maybe just invest your time instead!

The contents of this posting, our 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.

You may also be interested:

https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/leather.php

https://www.vrg.org/blog/2016/12/09/whats-the-deal-with-vegan-leather/

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=da0fff93d248d84476b245ccfa2ce5bc&rgn=div5&view=text&node=16%3A1.0.1.2.14&idno=16

Labeling regulations:

https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2022issue2/2022_issue2_unleather.php

Have you ever wondered if an ingredient listed on a food label is vegan or not? The Vegetarian Resource Group has an online guide to food ingredients that lets you now whether a specific food ingredient is vegan, vegetarian, non-vegetarian, typically vegan, typically vegetarian, may be non-vegetarian, or typically non-vegetarian.

You can search through this guide here: https://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php

To support this type of difficult research, please consider making a donation to The Vegetarian Resource Group: vrg.org/donate