The Vegetarian Resource Group maintains an online Guide to Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants in the USA and Canada. Here are some recent 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:

Dirt Burger

407 E. 5th St.

Des Moines, IA 50309

Despite the name, Dirt Burger brings a new kind of clean eating to downtown Des Moines. With a menu featuring only vegan options, the restaurant strives to make healthier eating available for all people with low prices and an easily accessible location. Dirt Burger prides themselves on maintaining a positive atmosphere that welcomes all people to try their patty. Burgers are available with traditional toppings, but if you’re in the mood for something a little more unique, their curry spiced Bombay Burger is a real treat.

El Vegano

Food Court @ Dutch Square Center

421 Bush River Rd.

Columbia, SC 29210

El Vegano is located in the food court at the Dutch Square Center. They serve a variety of plant-based fast foods, using Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat, Lightlife, and Gardein products. Vegans and non-vegans alike will love the simple, fast-food menu options, which include burgers, empanadas, hotdogs, and sandwiches. Pretty much everything is available in both small and large sizes, and everything is under $10! While you are there, try some of their sides too: potato pancakes, fries, and fried plantains.

Make Out

Plant City

344 S. Water St.

Providence, RI 02903

Located in Plant City, Make Out offers oatmeal, yogurt, and acai bowls with toppings for breakfast. For lunch try one of their bowls based on either brown rice, garden herbed farro, lettuce green mix, or soy ginger quinoa then add toppings and a sauce. Their all-day menu features a wide variety of sandwiches including a breakfast wrap, as well as smoothies.

Marty’s V Burger

134 East 27th St.

New York, NY 10016

If you are ever in New York City and are craving some vegan fast food, Marty’s V Burger houses all the vegan goodies you crave! You can order one of their house-made burgers composed of seitan, black beans, and brown rice. Burger patties can be substituted with Beyond Burger for a gluten-free option that will also appeal to your meat-eating friends, but beware, it will cost more for the Beyond Burger, as well as a gluten-free bun. One of Marty’s specialties is the Crabby Patty- a crab-like patty seared crispy on the outside, topped with jalapeno tartar sauce and crisp shredded lettuce, and served on a sesame seed bun. You can top anything on the menu with coleslaw, or have it served on a kale salad instead of on a bun for an additional charge. Marty’s offers homestyle comfort food like drumstix, mac and cheeze (also in Cajun style), cheeze fries, and animal style fries (topped with cheeze sauce, caramelized onions, and special sauce). If you still have room, consider one of their vegan desserts: rice krispy treats (GF, and you can get it chocolate covered!), oatmeal cream pie (GF), black and white cookie, and brownie. Do not worry, there is also a healthier side of the menu featuring salads and smoothies.

Mitasie Café

22722 Lambert St., #1704

Lake Forest, CA 92630

Mitasie Café is all-vegan, with options from all over. The prices are reasonable and the menu is extensive. Get kung-pao soy chicken, vegan pho, vegan pad Thai, and more. With flavors from across East Asia and beyond, there may be something for everyone here.

New Burger

334 S. Water St., 1st Fl.

Providence, RI 02903

New Burger has the perfect comfort food. Their food is elevated by the addition of truffle and guacamole to their burgers, and superfoods to their shakes. Combine the truffle wild mushroom burger, p.c. fries, and a vanilla hemp shake to make the ideal meal. This establishment is located in the Plant City food hall along with other vegan restaurants.

Nic’s On Beverly

8265 Beverly Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90048

Nic’s on Beverly serves inventive, creative, and delicious plant-based foods that you can enjoy inside their vibrant, stylish interior space, or outside on their beautiful patio area. They serve decadent homemade cheeses and tastefully cooked vegetables, no mock meat needed! Their most famous dishes include: crispy maitake mushrooms, chicarron, and vegetable pot pie. A must-try is the peach and heirloom tomato salad! This upscale restaurant is the perfect place to have a romantic date, or to take your non-vegan friends to enjoy a unique plant-based experience. Nic’s is known for creative cocktails and desserts: try the absinthe-laced snowcone cocktail or the cherry chocolate lava cake, which is served with a creamy pistachio ice cream.

Plow Burger

1505 Town Creek Dr.

Austin, TX 78741

Plow Burger is a 100% vegan food truck parked at the Buzzmill center in Austin, TX. Indoor and outdoor seating make this popular location perfect for any day. The menu is simple: two regular burgers, plus a weekly special, wings, and fries. You can customize a little by adding “cheese,” “bacon,” various sauces, or locally sourced GF buns, and on Tuesday they offer a deal that includes two burgers and two orders of fries. Patties are Beyond Burgers, and most of the breads and sauces are from other local companies. They also offer a weekly selection of icecream by Nada Moo. Plow Burger is committed to helping the enivronment, so they donate 2% of all sales to a local forestry foundation.

Restaurant Le Buddha

1620A Sherbrooke St. W.

Montreal, QC H3H 1C9 Canada

Restaurant Le Buddha is a vegan restaurant themed around chakras. Even if that’s not of interest to you, the food should be! The menu presents a variety of bowls, but you can build your own from delicious ingredients like quinoa, basmati rice, beets, sweet potatoes, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, tempeh, tofu, and much more. They also have a liquor license, and sometimes a DJ as well, so this may make a great evening hangout.

V Food Spot

547 Hamilton Rd.

London, ON N5Z 1S5 Canada

You won’t go wrong with simple comfort food from the V Food Spot! Choosing between a Reuben, Spinach Grilled Cheese, Pierogis, Cauliflower Wings, Mozza Sticks, or Mac & Cheese should do it. Cheesy Jalepeño Popper Panini or Grilled Veggie Stack are other popular options and be sure to top it off with one of their many special topping doughnuts made in house daily!

Summertime means that peaches are in season. A previous Vegetarian Journal article titled “Peach Passion” written by Debra Daniels-Zeller offers the following vegan recipes:

Cinnamon-Peach Oatmeal with Toasted Walnuts

Creamy Peach Salad Dressing

Lime-Cilantro Peach Salsa

Coconut-Peach Soup

Tempeh Teriyaki with Peaches

Grilled Balsamic Peaches

Cardamom-Peach Upside-Down Cake

Peach Cashew Cream

Lemon-Peach Jasmine Rice Pudding

You can find the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2006issue2/2006_issue2_peach_passion.php

Subscribe to Vegetarian Journal in the USA only by visiting https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

You can also subscribe to the Kindle version of Vegetarian Journal in the USA and United Kingdom.

In the USA, visit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LBY2Y7K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544727482&sr=8-1&keywords=B07LBY2Y7K

In the United Kingdom, visit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07LBY2Y7K/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1544731957&sr=8-1&keywords=B07LBY2Y7K

By Emily Carter, VRG Intern

If you are anything like me, you probably follow a lot of vegan food news on Instagram, Facebook, and in magazines, and you see photos of beautiful vegan food on the daily. Also, if you are like me, you have no idea how to make food look like that yourself. Last week, two VRG interns, Amy Dell and myself, went with Vegetarian Journal Senior Editor Rissa Miller and her partner Nathanial Corn (together they own Balance Photography) to assist in photographing all of the delicious foods the vegan Greener Kitchen restaurant and wholesaler in Baltimore offers. It turns out there is a lot more that goes into making those mouth-watering photos than I had previously thought!

Preparation is important for ensuring smooth transition between photographing different dishes. Prior to the session, Brenda from the Greener Kitchen put together a shot list to give order to the photo shoot. Organization and timeliness are necessary for food photography because food starts to get droopy and unphotogenic fairly quickly. For instance, when photographing their Philly cheesesteak sandwich, we had to act quickly so that the cheese sauce did not ooze too much (the cheese sauce was incredible if you are wondering). You have to photograph the dishes just like how you want to eat them–right away! 

Clean plates, fresh food, food placement, and lighting are the key ingredients to creating appetizing photos. Great photos are necessary for advertisement and appealing menus, so booking a food photographer is a good investment (unless you are already a master photographer of course). Rissa and Nathaniel did the bulk of the photography, while Amy and I held reflectors and moved food between several photo stations to change up the lighting. Oh, and we also helped eat all the food! Photographing food makes you very hungry, and then very full…like uncomfortably full. 

I took two photos of their seitan sausages, one of which showed Rissa moving a plate away from the shot (rearrangement is her specialty). I took a black and white film photography class in college, and I was never very good, so it was no surprise to me that I did not take the best photos. I learned that it takes a lot of experience to capture food and all of its glory. 

Located in Pigtown, Baltimore, The Greener Kitchen is all vegan. They have indoor seating, a deli with house-made vegan cheeses and meats, delectable desserts, and homemade vegan condiments that you can purchase and take home! The Greener Kitchen is fighting for food justice by providing healthy and affordable plant-based food to the local community.

See: https://www.facebook.com/greenerkitchenco/

http://www.thegreenerkitchen.com/

To see information about other restaurants in the USA and Canada, see: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

For information about interning at The Vegetarian Resource Group, visit: https://www.vrg.org/student/index.php

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 http://www.vrg.org/donate.

Bungalow 360 offers wallets in several colors: http://www.bungalow360.com/vl-wallets.html

Corker out of Portugal offers a wide variety of wallets for men and women made out of cork: https://www.corkor.com/

Doshi makes wallets for men and women: https://doshi.shop/

Green Banana Paper makes beautiful wallets out of banana leaves: https://greenbananapaper.com/

Jeane & Jax Canadian company offers a wide variety of wallets: https://jeaneandjax.com/collections/wallet

K Carroll wallets are found here: https://k-carroll.com/collections/wallets

LaBante London wallets come in a wide variety of colors: https://labante.com/collections/wallets

Pixie Mood wallets from Canada are sold here: https://pixiemood.com/product-category/wallets/

Vegan Chic wallets can be found here: https://www.veganchic.com/vegan+wallets/search.aspx

The Vegan Collection offers a wide variety of wallets: http://thevegancollection.com/wallets/

Vegan Essentials offers a wide range of wallets: https://store.veganessentials.com/non-leather-wallets-c18.aspx

Vegan Wares out of Australia offers many wallet styles: https://www.veganwares.com/shop/shop/wallets/

Vivari offers men’s wallets: https://vivariwear.com/collections/shop

Vegan in Volume is published by The Vegetarian Resource Group and has been greatly received by people working in the food service sector, as well as those that enjoy throwing parties in their own home or simply cooking in volume. This book by Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD offers 125 vegan recipes serving 25. It also offers a lot of helpful advice including A Fast Course in Vegan Nutrition, The Mechanics of the Operation, Food Safety Pointers, and a section on Vegan Ingredients.

The quantity recipes greatly vary depending on the audience you’ll be serving. Nancy includes recipes for breakfast such as Lots of Grains Pancakes and Peachy Keen Breakfast Crumble. A section for kids serves up Squiggly Noodles and “Not-Meatballs.” For dinner parties and elegant dining for adults try French Onion and Olive Tart and Eggplant “Caviar.”

You will also find quantity recipes for special occasions such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, bar/bat mitzvahs, communions, and more. Enjoy Watermelon Gazpacho, Spicy Bean Cakes with Fruit Salsa, Curried Vegetables with Polenta, and Sophisticated Poached Pears. Next, move on to college campuses and try Vegetable Tagine, Two Alarm Four Bean Chili, Jumpin’ Veggie Jambalaya, and Gooey, Chewy Peanut Butter Bars.

Grab and Go Fast Food recipes include Sweet Potato Burgers, Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce, and Fragrant and Fast Tofu Sandwich. Un-Hospital Food items include Orange and Wild Rice Salad, Sweet Potato Soup, New England Baked Beans, Eggplant Lasagna, and Cinnamony Baked Apples. And a section for senior citizens includes recipes for Chesapeake Corn Chowder, Southwest Tomato Rice, Pasta with Vegetable-Marinara Sauce, and Homestyle Molasses Cookies.

Vegan in Volume can be purchased from The Vegetarian Resource Group Book Catalog: http://www.vrg.org/catalog/

By Kavitha Shankar, VRG Volunteer

Tamarind is a tropical fruit that grows on a tree in bean like pods. In South India, we do not use pre-made tamarind sauce (more often referred to as Chutney). The common dips (sambhar) and soups (rasam) are those we make by simply soaking tamarind in plain tap water and then extracting the tamarind juice from it. There are recipes that use the same tamarind sauce base and add fish as an ingredient in lieu of vegetables (we call this kara meen kolambu). This one is a non-vegetarian dish and it will be evident that fish is added to it (Example cuisines that use a lot of fish is Chettinadu type cooking – down south in India). In north India, we use tamarind chutney as a sauce/condiment. This usually contains pulped tamarind, chili powder, dried dates (optional), and sugar. In other words, no authentic Indian restaurant adds fish sauce to tamarind chutney. If it is fusion such as Indian Chinese they may add fish sauce, but it is fairly uncommon. We add monosodium glutamate in such fusion recipes to get the Asian aroma. The tamarind chutney will not contain dairy – it does not sit well with tamarind in our recipes.

Here is a sample recipe for Sambhar – a South Indian recipe using a tamarind base: https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/andhra-sambar-recipe-how-to-make-south-indian-sambar/

North Indian Tamarind Chutney: https://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/tamarind-chutney/

Finally, be aware that that in Thailand, Vietnam, and China they may use fish sauce in their tamarind sauce.

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.

The Vegetarian Resource Group will have a table at the 4^th Annual Clarksville Vegan Fest being held on July 20^th near Roots Market in Clarksville, Maryland. Stop by and introduce yourself to VRG’s summer interns that will be staffing our table. For information on this event see: https://www.facebook.com/events/2379093562372734/

VRG will also be exhibiting at the Animal Rights 2019 National Conference being held this year July 25^th through July 28^th at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Virginia just outside Washington, DC. With 100 presenters from more than 60 organizations across the movement, the conference offers a variety of educational and networking opportunities including activist support workshops, group discussions, 100+ exhibits (free to visitors), film screenings, and so much more. If you are attending this conference, be sure to stop by the VRG booth. Information on the event can be found here: https://arconference.org/

Do you ride motorcycles and are you vegan? The list below offers online sources for vegan motorcycle gear.

Alien Moto vegan motorcycle boots are sold by a company from Sweden here: http://www.alienmoto.se/Alien-Moto-A51-RR-Motorcycle-Boots-Black.html They also sell vegan motorcycle gloves here: http://www.alienmoto.se/Alien-Moto-A51-RR%20Evolution-Protech-Motorcycle-Racing-Gloves-Spec.html

Corazzo offers vegan motorcycle jackets and gloves here: https://www.corazzo.net/product-tag/vegan/

Forma Boots USA offers Nero Touring Boots for men and women, which are vegan friendly: https://www.formabootsusa.com/products/nero

Motorport offers a non-leather racing glove. The entire glove is made from their Racing Grade Stretch Material Made with Dupont™ Kevlar® Fiber. (No Leather Used On the Entire Glove!) This is the only synthetic material approved for road racing suits. See: https://www.motoport.com/product/motoport-racing-glove/

Olympia Gloves offers several varieties of vegan motorcycle gloves here: https://shop.olympiagloves.com/collections/vegan-motorcycle-gloves

The Vegetarian Resource Group Book Catalog offers a wide range of vegan books. Your purchases support our outreach!

Grills Gone Vegan

Vegan for One

Simply Vegan

Gluten-Free Tips and Tricks for Vegans

The Kick Diabetes Cookbook

Vegans Know How to Party

Artisan Vegan Cheese

Plant-Powered Families

The Joy of Vegan Baking

The Indian Vegan Kitchen

The 4-Ingredient Vegan

The Almond Milk Cookbook

Vegan Microwave Cookbook

Vegan Soul Kitchen

Vegan Brunch

Vegan Meals for One or Two

The Lowfat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook

The Vegan Lunchbox (for kids and adults)

Teff Love

Vegan Seafood: Beyond the Fish Shtick for Vegetarians

More Fabulous Beans

Vegan in Volume

Soups On!

Nona’s Italian Kitchen

Food Allergy Survival Guide

The Natural Vegan Kitchen

Asian Fusion

And so many more….

FREE media mail shipping for orders over $30 in the United States only! Inquire about shipping costs outside the USA before placing your order by emailing [email protected].

Visit http://www.vrg.org/catalog/ to order books online and support VRG’s outreach at the same time!