How often have you wanted to make a gift in honor of a loved one or friend but weren’t sure which charities are vegan-friendly, pro-environmental, or pro-animal rights? Please remember The Vegetarian Resource Group. You can make a gift in memory of a loved one or as a living tribute to honor someone you care about on a special occasion, such as a wedding or birth. We’ll send an acknowledgment to you and to the recipient(s) you choose. Your gift will support educational programs and help promote veganism.

Make checks payable to The Vegetarian Resource Group and mail to PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203, or donate at vrg.org/donate

The latest Vegan Journal Nutrition Hotline column by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, discusses “What is the difference between dried beans, legumes, and pulses, and why should we eat more of them?” Read the complete article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2022issue4/2022_issue4_nutrition_hotline.php

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photo from Greens N Teff Café

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:

Good Dogs Plant Foods, 1331 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6E 1C6, Canada

Good Dogs Plant Foods offers a healthy farm-to-table menu with a full-service bar, while also supporting local artists (listing art for sale on their website) and hosting events in their Canadian eatery. The menu is evolving and serves—in addition to an array of plant-based hot dogs with their “exclusive” buns—fries, salads, and, of course, dessert. The fry offerings include a Poutine dish as well as kimchi fries with a gochujang aioli. The choices of hot dogs range from a more classic Ball Park Dog with sauerkraut, crispy onions, Dijon, and ketchup, to the upscale Thot Dog whose toppings include house queso, avocado salsa, and shishito salsa. Wash your hot dog down with any of a wide selection of beverages, including wine, beer, cocktails and mocktails, and specialty sodas. The current star of the dessert menu is the Lickity Split—a chocolate espresso brownie with 3 scoops of vanilla bean ice cream, bananas, and decadent toppings including a vanilla salted butter caramel and a dark chocolate drizzle.

Greens N Teff Café, 3203 Columbia Pike, Arlington, VA 22204

Tapping into a long Ethiopian tradition of vegan-friendly food — as they put it, they offer “stews that could have been on the menu during biblical times” —Greens N Teff offer tasty, healthy, hearty, colorful, authentic Ethiopian cuisine. Order a nut- and soy-free plate with a selection of veggies (always including greens) and spicy, flavorful stews mostly based around lentils, split peas etc., on a filling base. The traditional base is Injera, a unique spongy flatbread made from the gluten-free grain teff, which can be used to scoop up the. rest of the food in your hands, but you can also choose rice. If you still have room, smoothies and chocolate cake are also available.

Just What I Kneaded, 2029 Blake Ave. #104, Los Angeles, CA 90039

Craving something sweet? This bakery specializes in vegan (and often gluten-free) treats and goodies. Located in LA’s Frogtown (just north of Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium), it offers a seasonal menu of unique pastries and baked goods, bagel sandwiches, cakes, and more.

North Star Lounge, 301 N. 5th Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104

North Star Lounge is a vegan bar and music venue. The menu includes vegan snacks including BBQ tempeh sliders with house made BBQ sauce, soft pretzels with cashew-based beer chz dip, and pesto calzones filled with house made pesto and vegan mozzarella cheese. Desserts include a chocolate raspberry tart and a pumpkin cheesecake bar. Both cocktails and mocktails are available.

Pietramala, 614 N.  2nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19123

This upscale BYOB in Northern Liberties features a rotating menu of Italian-inspired dishes made with seasonal produce sourced from local farms. The food is beautifully presented. Reservations are strongly encouraged to guarantee seating. BYOB but note there is a wine service charge.

Soulshine Vegan Café, 6516 Ferguson St., Indianapolis, IN 46220

Soulshine Vegan Café offers a plant-based comfort food menu. Breakfast dishes include a chia seed pudding bowl topped with fruit and nuts, a loaded breakfast burrito with sausage and hollandaise sauce, and homemade muffins. Burgers, wraps, and sandwiches are available for lunch including a chicken, bacon, and ranch wrap; steak tacos with Spanish rice; and a hangover burger on a brioche bun. Coffee drinks are available with milk of choice.

TLC Vegan Café, 1930 N. Coit Rd., Ste. 140, Richardson, TX 75080

Chef Troy Gardner’s mission is to help create “a better world, one vegan dish at a time.” At TLC Vegan Café, the challenge will be how to choose only one dish from the wide array of its menu offerings and options. You can order a dish for one or two people or for a family of 4. Gluten-free, soy-free, or nut-free? There are options for you. Choosing to indulge? You might opt for the Impossible Cheesy Lasagna with house-made ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan and served with garlic bread, or the Pig-less Pepperoni Pizza made with nut-free mozzarella, vegan pepperoni, and sun-dried tomatoes. Looking for something lighter? There are salad offerings such as the Rabbit Fuel spinach and arugula salad with strawberries, pears, toasted almonds, and pickled red onions. No Southern menu, this one included, is complete without lemonades and Texas sweet tea. And for dessert, you ask? A variety of options here, too, highlighted with the Buttery Cream Cake, served with Buttercream Icing and Whiskey Sauce Drizzle.

Each issue of Vegan Journal includes a column called Veggie Bits. In our latest issue, we review a variety of Mac ‘n Cheese products from Annie’s, as well as frozen burritos from Higher Taste including Fiesta Fajita, Vegan Bean & Cheese, and Vegan Breakfast Burrito.

Read the product reviews here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2022issue4/2022_issue4_veggie_bits.php

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Each issue of Vegan Journal we review vegan books that stand out from the crowd. In the latest issue Amy Burger takes a look at The Vegan Bean Cookbook by Andrea Soranidis. Her recipes feature a variety of beans in a range of applications, from comfort food to lighter fare. Readers will find inspiration for snacks, appetizers, sides, soups, entrées, and even desserts.

Find this book review here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2022issue4/2022_issue4_book_reviews.php

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The latest issue of Vegan Journal offers results from a You.Gov Poll that The Vegetarian Resource Group commissioned in 2022. Find out how Americans think meat and dairy alternatives based on DNA originally from animals should be labeled.

Read the article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2022issue4/2022_issue4_how_many.php

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By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a non-profit organization whose mission is “to empower you with breakthrough research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment.” They  conducted a survey examining how often facilities run by the federal government offered vegetarian or plant-based (containing dried beans or peas, nuts, seeds, or soy products) options. The survey included 521 federal dining facilities such as federal prisons, national parks, Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospitals, museums, and government buildings.

Overall, they found that 47% of facilities offered a plant-based or vegetarian option more than three days a week, 41% offered this option three days a week, 8% sometimes offered a plant-based or vegetarian option but this was offered less than three times a week, and 4% never offered a plant-based or vegetarian option.

When different types of facilities were examined, the survey found that:

• 100% of federal prisons offer inmates a plant-based or vegetarian option at every meal.
• 80% of domestic Defense Department facilities surveyed provide a plant-based or vegetarian option three or more times a week.
• 74% of VA hospitals surveyed provide a plant-based or vegetarian option at least three days a week.
• 99% of the National Parks dining facilities surveyed offered visitors a plant-based or vegetarian option at least three times a week.
• Over 50% of federal museums and other tourist attractions offer a plant-based or vegetarian option more than three times a week.

In some cases, options were limited to a bean- or plant-based patty or a salad and were faulted for lacking variety. In other cases, there were concerns about the nutritional adequacy of offerings such as a slice of cheese pizza or a bowl of vegetable soup.

You can read more about the survey at:

Federal Facilities Should Offer More Plant-based or Vegetarian Options. Environmental Working Group. August 2022.

To read more about vegetarian options in federal facilities see:

Veggie Meals In (or Near) National Parks

Prisoners’ Rights, Religious Practice, and Vegan Meals in Prison

Do Prison Inmates have a Right to Vegetarian Meals?

Food Service Update and Quantity Cooking Information

Linda Tyler’s Casseroles piece in the latest issue of Vegan Journal serves up the following recipes: Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole, Succotash Gratin, Green Bean Casserole, Smashed Potato and Vegetable Bake, Sesame Soy Curls with Rice, and Millet à la Puttanesca. Start cooking today!

Find the recipes here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2022issue4/2022_issue4_casseroles.php

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

The latest issue of Vegan Journal offers results from a You.Gov Poll that The Vegetarian Resource Group commissioned in 2022. Find out how many vegetarians and vegans there are in the US here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2022issue4/2022_issue4_how_many.php

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

Each issue of Vegan Journal includes a column called Veggie Bits. In our latest issue, we review vegan lip balms from Luxe Beauty, as well as True Made’s Ketchup made with no added sugar.

Read the product reviews here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2022issue4/2022_issue4_veggie_bits.php

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