The Vegetarian Resource Group maintains an online Guide to Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants in the USA and Canada. Below 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:

Broadfork Café

4757 12th Ave. NE

Seattle, WA 98105

and

111 Queen Anne Ave. N. #102

Seattle, WA 98109

The menus vary dependent upon which location you go to, but for the most part they are very similar. They have residence in Lower Queen Anne/Uptown and University District Menu. They offer a bunch of items that are tasty but healthy at the same. Some options include, cashew curry bowl, yam and kale bowl, ginger tempeh tacos, and macrobiotic bowl. The décor is filled with an abundance of plants, setting up a peaceful and earthy environment.

Celeste Café

1100 N. 115th St.

Seattle, WA 98133

Celeste Café serves gluten free, soy free dishes that are all-vegan! Try their tacos or cashew quiche, or ask about the daily special!

Green Love Kitchen

6989 Main St.

Lithonia, GA 30058

Green Love Kitchen is a farm-to-table restaurant experience with the popular café partnering with local farmers to bring in fresh fruits and vegetables. The idea for the restaurant was born out of a lack of access to fresh food and vegan options in Lithonia. Their menu is full of delicious wraps, sandwiches, salads, and juices. Their Thai Kale Wrap even won an award!

Mama Rosa’s Kitchen

69 Chenango St.

Buffalo, NY 14213

Mama Rosa’s Kitchen is an all-vegan bakery and caterer. Call ahead for special orders. They ship all across the US and Canada.

NoW Sushi

3852 Mission Blvd.

San Diego, CA 92109

It’s not just kappa maki and avocado rolls, though both are available. Beyond the basics, NoW also has a variety of specialty rolls with ingredients such as vegan cream cheese, sweet potato tempura, vegan tuna, vegan crab, and more!

Rawnaissance Desserts

1759 Bardstown Rd.

Louisville, KY 40205

Rawnaissance Desserts is raw dessert shop and cafe, where you can get an espresso or a fresh squeezed orange juice, along with any number of raw desserts, from cake by the slice, to truffles and pies.

RÜT

901 W. 14th Ave.

Spokane, WA 99204

RÜT is an all-vegan gastropub, featuring a full bar, and a variety of upscale comfort food and unique flavors, including a jalapeño mushroom Impossible burger, truffle mac, and white bean queso dip. Whether you’re looking for a small bite or a full meal they should satisfy. Gluten-free options are available too.

Three Girls Vegan Creamery

645 Boston Post Rd.

Guilford, CT 06437

Three Girls Vegan Creamery services vegan catering and wholesale products, including artisanal vegan cheeses, meat substitutes, and desserts. Their menu changes weekly; however, sample items include lasagna, mac n cheese, eggplant parmesan, scalloped potatoes au gratin, and calzones.

V-Trap Kitchen & Lounge

607 N. Lincoln St.

Wilmington, DE 19805

V-Trap Kitchen & Lounge takes a holistic approach to serving delicious and healthy vegan food by exploring multiple cultures and cuisines, including American, Mexican, and Indian. They also have many gluten-free options. Join them for a variety of special events including live music, poetry, cooking classes, and more!

Verdura

5555 N. 7th St. #108

Phoenix, AZ 85014

Verdura’s diverse menu features savory dishes such as the anarchy burger, avocado mofongo, and the carne asada nachos.

By Déborah Dauly

This article will describe my experience with creating a vegan club as an engineering student in France.

The idea of this club came because I wanted to participate in more actions to promote animal rights. At that time, I was vegan for seven years and veganism became my way of life, just that. I did not have the feeling of fighting for animals. This is when I thought I had to join an association! The problem was that my courses were quite difficult and I did not have lots of time to spare. I was so looking for an association near my school to not waste time in commuting. And then I heard about Sentience: a national association of activists for animal rights. Sentience is a national student association fighting for a better world for animals. If you are interested, you can find their website in English here: https://asso-sentience.net/?lang=en. The idea came here: Why wouldn’t I create Sentience in Toulouse, the city where I am studying?

I had two possibilities: Create an association (like Sentience ) or create a club. The difference is that the club belongs to an association: there is less freedom but it is easier to manage. As veganism still suffers from a bad image in France, we took the decision to create a club attached to the student association of our college. In France, to create a club, you should have at least two people: a president and a treasurer. I was lucky, as two of my friends were enthusiastic with this idea and so, after some papers signed, the club was created. With the agreement of Sentience organizers, we called our club Sen’tience and I became the president. The advantages of being a club is that it is easier to become known at the college (because we are attached to the student association of the school). Moreover, we can ask for school grants or financial support to organize events or activities

As the association Sentience says, “Animals are sentient beings: They feel emotions, are conscious of the world in which they live, and are capable of subjective and abstract thought processes.” The name itself delivers a message: animals do feel emotions. After choosing the name of Sen’tience, we had to create a logo which represents the club. The secretary drew it with our ideas combined: the logo represents three animals living in different environments. It characterizes one who lives in water, another on the ground, and the last one in the air. The idea is that whoever they are, wherever they live,  animals should be treated equally and have the same right. It is a message against speciesism. 

In France it is easier and easier to be vegan (vegan products and restaurants are much more present than before). Despite this, there is still a long way to go before everyone accepts veganism and I do not talk about changing their consumption. Some people have difficulty considering that a person could be vegan. That is why the main goal of the club is to show a positive image of veganism. Another objective of the club is to demonstrate that alternatives to animal exploitation exist!

• Sale of Vegan food (especially cakes)
  This activity permits people who do not have the chance to try vegan pastries to do it. In my college, food selling is something that needs an administration approval, but which is quite quick and easy to organize. We do it during class breaks and it always attract lots of people. It is a great activity to start with because it permits vegan food to become known and to demonstrate that vegan cakes can be as good as any cakes. Students and even teachers can take this moment to ask us about the ingredients. A question that often comes is: how do you replace eggs? This is why, every time we sell pastries, we come with a binder filled with several sheets: how you can replace egg, milk, meat… We have also lots of questions about the nutrition: where protein and iron can be found in a plant-based food diet. It is important that everyone who participates in the selling in the club has some knowledge about veganism and responses to questions that are often asked. All food selling is always prepared by members of the club. One time, we had the chance to sell unsold cakes from a vegan restaurant. Do not hesitate to contact vegan companies close to your university: they are often happy to see these kinds of initiatives and may help you!

• Quiz
  This is an efficient tool according to the students. The principle is simple. We asked students a few questions linked to veganism. Subjects can be animal’s condition, environmental issues, health, ethics in the world, etc. If they have a majority of good answers, they can have a free slice of cake. If they have too many wrong answers, they can take another quiz. We had really good feedback about this: student were highly surprised about some answers (mostly about animal’s terrible conditions). Some of them, after successfully respond to one quiz, asked to do another one just to learn more about the subject.
  
• Debate
  To encourage dialogue, we also organized debates. The past year, we had the chance to have a philosophy club and we organized a debate with them. The subject was the following: Do animals have a conscience? Is it ethical to consume products from animals? We were actually surprised about how open minded the students were! Some members of the philosophy club had more knowledge about animals than Sen’tience’s members. Most of them thought that consumption of animal-based products were needed for our health. It permits us to tell them that the only supplementation we need is B12 but that all other nutrients can be found in plant-based food! Finally, it was a great experience for both clubs. This debate lasted three hours. I personally experienced my first success with the club during this debate. After debating, a guy told me that before, he was totally against vegetarian and vegan people, but now, he listened to our point of view and understood better. He did not become vegetarian, but at least he now has a better vision of them and he said he would reduce his meat consumption.

When you talk with people, never forget that veganism has multiple advantages! Unfortunately, some people do not care about animals (sad but true), you have to talk about another subject to touch him or her: environment, health… Finally, never seem aggressive, stay smiling and patient, otherwise they will think that you are just an extremist (this advice is important in France) but anyway, I think that keeping a positive attitude is a good thing in every country. 

• Participation in organized events
  We have been invited to participate in some events. The first one which comes to my mind is the “village for environment” organized by another university in Toulouse. We had a stand there and we chose to propose a quiz with free cakes. We were invited to participate in the Vegan Place organized by the association L214. Unfortunately, we could not respond favorably to this invitation. As a club (and not an association) we depend on the association of our college. This one has strict rules and one of them is that clubs cannot have a link to any groups which can be politically engaged. That explained why we could not participate in this event. Nevertheless, we attended the event as visitors. Once a year, we participate in the Day Club, a day where all clubs have a stand on the campus. It was actually our first event. We simply did the same as we did for the “village for environment.” These kind of events are a great opportunity to recruit! For the first time at my college, a three-day festival for sustainable development is organized and we were invited by the student association.

• Lecture We had the chance to welcome two lecturers in our school (one per year). I have found the first lecturer by contacting a scientist who did a lecture in another city in France. So, in April 2018, Andre Menache came to give a talk called: How can we replace animals in laboratory? It was really interesting and a hundred people attended the conference. He is a scientist who works with the association Antidote Europe. After this, we proposed vegan food handmade by members of the club. At that time, the club had existed for four months only and we were eight members. The second lecture was organized in March 2019. I found Isabelle Richaud by contacting “l’association végétarienne de France” (the France vegetarian Association). “Modifying our plate to save the planet” was the title of her presentation. It was an alarming and interesting one which related the link between farms and environmental issues.

• Discovery of Toulouse vegan restaurant and shop
  We are lucky to have a good vegan diversity in Toulouse. In fact, there are several vegan restaurants in the center and there is also a vegan shop. Sometimes, we go out to restaurants. All vegan-friendly restaurants can be found thanks to the application Happy Cow. The one I prefer is Veggie Corner! When the weather allows us, we also organize some picnics on the campus. We visited the Toulouse vegan place where we could have talked to many associates; it was really instructive for every one of us.

To finish, I will say that if you want to take action on your campus, first check if a club like this already exists or not. If not, remember that you can create it! And then, trust your imagination. I have listed a few ideas but you can do so much more. Be confident and do what seem right to you! For other ideas about organizing groups, see https://www.vrg.org/teen/#activism

By Taylor Gale

Being vegan in college can be tricky, especially if your dining halls do not have vegan options readily available. If there are no veg-friendly options, make your own! That is exactly what I did during my sophomore year at Loyola University of Maryland. I went into college as a vegetarian, but wanted to become vegan. The only problem was that the dining halls offered almost nothing for students who were vegetarian and forget about it if you were vegan! So, I decided to get involved in Student Government Association with the goal in mind of transforming the dining halls. The following year I was elected as Director of Student Affairs, which yep you guessed it, made me in charge of Loyola’s dining halls. The following steps are ways of how to add more vegan foods to your college cafeteria.

Firstly, do your research and find out exactly what vegetarian and vegan dishes, if any, they serve. Typically, college cafeterias have their menus online. Check what days any veggie options are available and what the ingredients are in these dishes. If they serve a decent amount of vegetarian options, you can suggest to veganize the dishes, which can easily be done in most cases. If you cannot find out enough information online or in person, ask to set up a meeting with the dining hall staff. Most times, they are happy to hear students out to learn about their needs and what can be changed within the cafeteria to make the students’ experience better. When you have a meeting with the dining hall staff, go in fully prepared with recipe ideas. You may have a proposal of converting one of the food stations to offer fully vegetarian and vegan items. Lay out what veg options they offer currently to show how much expansion could occur. Be creative when you create recipe ideas!

I cannot stress enough—be empathetic to the food service employees. Oftentimes, graduate students are the ones in charge of managing college dining halls, which means they may not have the knowledge that you as a vegetarian/vegan have. It is very hard to make visible changes within the food sectors and certain decisions may be out of the hands of whom you are meeting with, so remember to be patient and compassionate, always! Treat the staff as you would like to be treated. You can start easy by giving suggestions of how to create a veg-friendly dining experience, such as having the option of Meatless Mondays. If your small suggestions are being received well, later on you can present the idea of converting a whole station, but this is a big request, so work towards it.

A great starting point is to ramp up the salad bar. Firstly, the types of greens offered is important. If they do not have a variety of greens, I suggest asking them to incorporate kale, spinach, arugula, and mixed greens. If your salad does not offer any types of beans, firstly that is just tragic. In a nice way request the dining staff to incorporate various beans! I typically suggest to carry black beans, garbanzo beans, and edamame consistently, as well as offering a bean salad. You can advocate to incorporate the following ingredients: corn, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, bell peppers (red and green), avocado, hummus, pasta salad that has a vinaigrette base, sautéed mushrooms, tofu or vegan chick’n, carrots, seaweed salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, red cabbage, quinoa, roasted squash and sweet potatoes, wild rice, dried fruit, and assortment of nuts—i.e., walnuts, silvered almonds and cashews, etc. For dressings, give them various options. You could propose getting a vegan sweet Thai chili vinaigrette, balsamic, zesty Italian, oil & vinegar, tahini, olive oil, lemon and lime juice, and spicy cashew dressing. Now some of these items will not be a viable option, depending on your dining hall’s space. These are just suggestions to make to the dining hall staff! With these options, having a salad everyday will not become so monotonous.

The sandwich bar line is another great place to start to incorporate more veg options. Similar to the salad suggestions you can recommend: carrots, assorted cooked vegetables, avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, alfalfa sprouts, hummus, pickles, onions, lettuce, sweet potatoes, olives, peppers, etc.

Loyola utilizes Parkhurst dining’s food services. Parkhurst partners with local farmer’s markets, and offers brands, such as Gardein and Just Mayo to bring tasty foods to campus. You need to find out what foods your school’s distributors carry. If they do not carry the foods that you like, see if they can incorporate other items. You can go directly to the company and see if they are willing to bring their food items into the dining halls, but this may get complicated due to partnership clauses, higher pricing, etc., so I highly recommend asking the dining staff what types of foods are available to you and if those items can expand to other choices, specifically veg-friendly brands of vegan meat. This way you can have vegan chick’n to add some protein and a punch of flavor into your sandwich or wrap. You might be able to get the best brand names, wohooo, fingers crossed!  Do not be surprised if you cannot get them all incorporated into the cafeteria. It never hurts to ask though! You can also suggest to get vegan mayo. Just Mayo and Fabanaise are vegan mayo options I like.

Remember complex carbs are your friends. Eating various grains and starches, such as sweet potatoes and brown rice are perfect for retaining a healthy vegan diet. It is so effortless to incorporate these types of foods as sides or entrées within the dining halls! Just make sure to explain to them that there cannot be any dairy, specifically milk or cheese, honey, eggs, or any other animal product within these dishes.

For protein options, you can suggest offering veggie burgers, which can be made in so many different and simple ways! Steamed veggies, quinoa, tofu, tempeh, seitan, and any beans, nuts, or seeds are great sources of protein for vegans. Let the dining staff know this so that they are able to provide a protein sufficient meal for every vegan and nonvegan on campus.

Nowadays, dining halls have become increasingly veg-friendly—e.g., offering dairy substitutes such as, soy or almond milk. If your school does not offer this, make sure to bring it to their attention, so that you can have cereals and non-dairy substitutes in your coffee.

If your dining hall does not have a fruit stand, stop whatever you are doing and ensure that they get one! The classics should always be available to students—i.e., apples, bananas, and oranges. I would recommend setting up partnerships with local vendors and farmer markets so that the dining halls can buy fruits and vegetables that are in season. This is a great way to support the local community as well as promote a more sustainable and environmentally friendly diet.

In Loyola University of Maryland’s dining halls, where I currently attend, there is a bagel and bread section with an assortment of spreads. This is a quick and easy option for students on the go. Ask them what vegan breads and bagels are currently available. If none, advocate for bringing some in. For spreads, you can ask to have peanut butter, vegan jams and jellies, and maybe even vegan butter and cream cheeses, but again this will depend on your school’s budgeting and ability to partner with name brands.

Oftentimes, people assume that vegans do not have sweets, which is so false. Nowadays, there are so many dessert options for vegans.An easy place to start would be at the ice cream station, assuming that there is one. Sorbet is typically vegan, but check and make sure what flavors are vegan before you recommend any. Store brand names, such as Ben & Jerry’s and Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss, offer nondairy ice cream. See if this is a viable option for your cafeteria.

Remember that changing the dining halls is a long process. Be patient and calm when conversing with the staff. It is also important to not be timid. Be concise with your words and go into those meetings with an outlined plan of what you would like to say and get accomplished. Be confident, professional, and kind. This is the key to getting what you want across to the staff.

Yes, the staff may turn down most or some of your veg ideas/options, but any step in the right direction makes a world of a difference in the long run. You are not only making the dining halls better for yourself, but you are helping out other vegan and vegetarian current and incoming students!

From my experience, the payoff is well worth conducting research and multiple meetings! I am now a senior at Loyola and was able to comfortably convert to being vegan once I became in charge of the dining halls during my sophomore year. I had countless meetings with the managers, students, faculty, and the rest of the dining staff to figure out what Loyola’s community wanted to eat on a daily basis. It took a lot of convincing to bring vegan meats and other vegan substitutes to campus. At first, the staff looked at me funny and laughed in my face, because they simply had no clue what veganism meant. It was such a foreign concept to most of the individuals I met with, but I remained persistent, calm, educated the staff on what a vegan diet entails, and backed up the need for veg options by showing them how many students did not eat meat on campus. Although Loyola is not vegan heaven, the staff have made many efforts to help accommodate veg and nonveg students.

For recipe ideas, check out our recipe guides at: https://www.vrg.org/links/Recipes.htm

and https://www.vrg.org/fsupdate/index.htm

To learn more about ideas for college food service, see https://www.vrg.org/teen/#college

By Taylor Gale

I had the pleasure of teaching my own vegan cooking class at Our Daily Bread in Baltimore City to a group of men residing and working through Christopher’s Place, which is sponsored by Catholic Charities. It is an intensive Employment Academy that provides residence and educational training, as well as emotional, spiritual, and addiction recovery support for formerly homeless men. To learn more you can check out: https://www.catholiccharities-md.org/services/christopher-place-employment-academy/, https://www.shelterlistings.org/details/30808/. Using food as a tool to bring the men together and teach the important life skills on how to be healthy while still being frugal was stellar.

To teach the class I used an Asian Vegetarian Resource Group recipe created by chef Nancy Berkoff, which can be found on our website at: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2005issue4/2005_issue4_chinese_cooking.php

Stir-Fried Noodles

(Serves 4)

• 2 quarts water
• 1 pound (approximately 2 cups) uncooked noodles, such as vermicelli or rice noodles
• Vegetable oil spray
• ½ cup finely shredded green cabbage
• ½ cup fresh bean spouts
• ½ cup minced celery
• ¼ cup minced onions
• ¼ cup canned bamboo shoots, drained and chopped
• ¼ cup thinly sliced fresh button mushrooms
• 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
• Vegetable broth, as needed (not more than ½ cup)

Total calories per serving: 430	Fat: 1 gram
Carbohydrates: 98 grams	Protein: 5 grams
Sodium: 488 milligrams	Fiber: 3 grams

To start, I made the noodles ahead of time, using vermicelli noodles since we only had a wok to cook on at Christopher’s Place. Rice vermicelli noodles are a thin form of rice noodles, which is popular within Asian dishes. The noodles are the easiest part of the recipe. To begin, put two quarts of water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Then add the noodles, which only takes about 3-4 minutes before they are soft and ready. Next, cut up the cabbage, celery, and onions into fine pieces. The bamboo shoots give an added crunch, so I like to cut them into smaller pieces but not as small as the other vegetables. For the mushrooms, cut them into thin slices.

This part took a good amount of time, so I began to ask the men questions on what vegan dishes they have had and which ones they really liked. This creates a platform for interaction between teacher and student as well as camaraderie between each student. I also explained that I like this dish because it fills me up while being a quick-and-easy meal. All of the men really seemed to enjoy discussing their likes and dislikes, which made the rest of the class livelier. I highly recommend creating questions for your students ahead of time. Whenever there are any silent moments, that’s your in.

Remember to tell your students, you can substitute any of these ingredients for another vegetable of their liking. If you do not like celery or bamboo shoots you can use carrots instead. As long as you have a crunchy vegetable to give it that nice texture you can substitute these vegetables with another veggie that you are fond of. It is really about getting a varied mix of vegetables in there.  For added protein, put in some extra-firm or already cubed tofu.

Before cooking any type of tofu, make sure to drain and press the water from it so that it holds its shape when used in recipes, otherwise the tofu may fall apart. Tofu is super cheap ranging from a dollar to five dollars, depending on where you buy it and what brand it is. You can buy already cubed and packaged tofu at your local grocery stores. Seitan and tempeh are another great source of protein, which would pair well with this type of dish. The noodles and bean sprouts have protein too!

Next, coat the wok with oil, I used sesame oil to give it an added Asian taste. You can get sesame oil in any Asian aisles in grocery stores! If you do not want sesame oil, you can always use olive oil or spray oil. It is important to remind your students where to buy these items from if the product is somewhat foreign to the students’ regular diet. Then, add in all of the vegetables, stirring incessantly over high heat for about the same time it took the noodles to cook—4 minutes. I asked one of the gentleman to be my sous-chef. His task was to stir all of the vegetables in the wok. This is another way to make the class interactive and more exciting.

Lastly, combine the noodles, soy sauce, and vegetable broth. I added about two tablespoons of soy sauce, but you can always do more or less. If you want less sodium, you can use coconut aminos, which can be found at Walmart, Target, Safeway, or other grocery stores, typically in the organic aisles. You could always just use low-sodium soy sauce or less soy sauce altogether. If the mixture is too dry you can add another tablespoon of vegetable broth or conversely, add corn starch to thicken the sauce. Personally, I like the noodles to be a bit creamier so I put in about ½ a cup of vegetable broth. Afterwards serve immediately! 

Tips for Teaching Your Own Cooking Class:

• Ask the students questions.
• Make sure to talk about substitutions for each ingredient.
• Leave room for the students to ask their own questions before, during, and after the class.
• If you are cooking something that takes a while to make, be sure to prep ahead of time.
• Explain to your students what you like about the recipe and why.
• Leftovers should be available to the students, so they can enjoy another free and healthy meal at a later time. This is just an option, not a necessity.
• Make sure you gage your audience. Try to relate what you are teaching to what their lifestyles may look like.
• I made way too many noodles. Make sure you measure all of your ingredients to match the amount of students you teach to.

Taylor Gale is an intern at The Vegetarian Resource Group. For more information about VRG internships, see https://www.vrg.org/student/index.php

To support VRG outreach, donate at www.vrg.org/donate

Recent discussion topics include:

-Ways to celebrate Easter with a vegan twist

-Where to purchase vegan chocolate/candy for Easter

-Podcast on vegan pregnancies with VRG’s Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

-Info on a vegan daycare program for kids in Maryland

Plus more!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/VRGparentsandkids/ is intended to be a group that offers support for families raising children on vegan diets and for vegan kids. We envision it as a place to get advice about a wide-variety of topics: pregnancy, birthday parties, school lunches, Halloween, non-leather apparel, cruelty-free products, summer camps, and more. Please use it as a place to share your wisdom, seek advice, or just find a sympathetic ear. The goal is to offer support.

Consequently, any profane, defamatory, offensive, or violent language will be removed. Feel free to disagree, but do so respectfully. Hateful or discriminatory comments regarding race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs will not be tolerated. We expect that posts should relate to vegan diets and lifestyles. The Vegetarian Resource Group reserves the right to monitor all content and ban any user who posts in violation of the above rules, any law or regulation, SPAM, or anything otherwise off topic.

Please share this information with any veggie families that you know! Thanks.

Land of Kush is a vegan soul food restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland; however, they are much more than just a place to eat. Land of Kush does vegan outreach year-round! They do cooking demonstrations at a wide variety of events in Maryland and also speak and promote the vegan lifestyle in various settings. They are heavily involved in organizing Vegan SoulFest and Vegan Restaurant Week in Baltimore.

The next time you’re in Baltimore, be sure to visit their restaurant and show support for all they do!

For more information on the restaurant see: https://landofkush.com/

VRG Co-Director Debra Wasserman gave a presentation at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Nutrition and Dietetic Educators and Preceptors Eastern Conference in Annapolis Maryland. This is attended by preceptors and teachers from Maine to Florida, who are teaching future dietitians.

VRG Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD created Resource for Teaching Students and Interns about Vegetarian and Vegan Diets: https://www.vrg.org/family/Resources-for-Teaching-Students-and-Interns-about-Vegetarian-and-Vegan-Diets.pdf

For other resources, see https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/

To support The Vegetarian Resource outreach, donate at www.vrg.org/donate

By Rissa Miller, Vegetarian Journal Senior Editor

I kind of thought… there’s no way. Not that I doubted Vegetarian Journal columnist Nancy Berkoff. She’s a chef and dietitian, a food expert. Every quarter she has great ideas on easy things to do with vegan eats. But watermelon curry? As I stared at her monthly column (page 32 coming up in Issue 3, 2019), I wondered if Nancy was mistaken.

Never one to back down from a vegan culinary adventure – or a challenge – I decided to check it out. As it happens, there are many, many variations of this traditional dish from Rajasthan, the largest state in India, which is in the northwest corner of the country. I rarely meet Indian food I don’t love, so I set about making my own version with easy-to-find spices and directions simple enough to prepare on any weeknight.

Watermelon curry is sweet and savory; it comes together in 20 minutes, about as long as it takes rice to get fluffy in my rice cooker. I used pre-cut and seeded watermelon from the grocery salad bar. If you’re ambitious enough to cut your own melon, make sure you remove the seeds.

Watermelon Curry

Serves 4

Sauce

3 cups cubed, seeded watermelon

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. turmeric powder

1 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. powdered mustard seed

1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

Pinch salt (optional to taste)

Pinch red pepper flakes (optional to taste)

Curry

1 Tbs. neutral oil, such as canola oil

1 small onion, cut into half moons

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped into rings

15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed

4 cups cubed, seeded watermelon

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (optional topping)

1 small jalapeño, seeded and minced (optional topping)

2 Tbs. chopped cashews (optional topping)

Lime juice (optional topping)

4 cups prepared rice

To prepare the sauce, purée watermelon cubes in a blender or food processor until liquid. Add puréed watermelon and all spices to a large pot. Cover and cook over low heat until infused, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

In a second pan over medium heat, sauté chopped onions, green pepper, and minced garlic in the oil until fragrant and lightly browned, about 4-6 minutes. Pour into large pot with the watermelon sauce, adding chickpeas and cubed watermelon. Stir gently to coat. Cook to warm through, about 5-7 minutes over medium heat.

Serve over one cup of warm cooked rice. Top as desired with chopped cilantro, cashews, jalapeño, and/or a splash of lime juice.

In honor of Earth Day, you can show your family and friends a simple way to save water by sharing The Vegetarian Resource Group’s Burrito on My Plate poster. This handout uses simple graphics to show how much water is needed to produce a vegan burrito without tofu, a vegan burrito with tofu, and a beef burrito.   

See: https://www.vrg.org/environment/BurritoOnMyPlate.pdf

With Target selling almond and soy milk, Chipotle carrying Sofritas as well as listing it as vegan bowl on their website, and Carl’s Junior offering the Beyond Burger, it seems there is an explosion of interest in vegan foods. However, The Vegetarian Resource Group wanted to know how many vegans there are.

In a national Harris survey, we asked the following question in 2016 and 2019… To see question and rest of article, go to https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/Polls/2019_adults_veg.htm 

For more polls, see https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll