By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

I was recently asked about the form of vitamin B12 that vegans should be using. There are several different forms of vitamin B12 including cyanocobalamin, methylcobalamin, and adenosylcobalamin. Note that cobalamin means vitamin B12. The cobalamin molecule is bound to different side groups. For example, methylcobalamin has cobalamin attached to methyl (CH₃).

Cyanocobalamin, in which cobalamin is bound to a cyanide side group, is the most common form of vitamin B12 in supplements. It is also the most stable form. This means that it is less likely to deteriorate with time and that the amount of B12 that you’re getting from a cyanocobalamin supplement is likely to be similar to the amount said to be in the supplement. This stability is one reason why vegan nutrition experts recommend using the cyanocobalamin form (1-3). Yes, cyanocobalamin does contain cyanide, but the amount is very, very small and does not appear to pose a risk to most people (4).

The exception may be people with poor kidney function who apparently have a compromised ability to separate the cobalamin from the cyanide so that the cobalamin (vitamin B12) can be used. Those with poor kidney function may also not be as able to excrete the cyanide. For most people, though, cyanocobalamin is the form of vitamin B12 that is recommended.

Methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin are not as stable as cyanocobalamin so that higher doses of these forms may be needed.

References

1. Vitamin B12. VeganHealth.org. https://veganhealth.org/daily-needs/#Vitamin-B12
2. Messina, G. Vitamin B12: A Vegan Nutrition Primer. TheVeganRD.com https://www.theveganrd.com/vegan-nutrition-101/vegan-nutrition-primers/vitamin-b12-a-vegan-nutrition-primer/
3. Greger M. Vitamin B12 Recommendations. NutritionFacts.org https://nutritionfacts.org/optimum-nutrient-recommendations/
4. Vitamin B12 and Cyanide. VeganHealth.org https://veganhealth.org/vitamin-b12/elevated-vitamin-b12-levels-and-mortality/#Vitamin%20B12%20and%20Cyanide

To read more about vitamin B12 see:

Vitamin B12 in the Vegan Diet

Do Vegetarians Have To Take Vitamin B12 Supplements?

Vitamin B12 Myths

Kung Pao Tots and Tofu photo from Fat Choy

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:

Fabrik Austin, 1701 E. MLK Blvd., Ste. 102, Austin, TX 78702

Fabrik constantly changes its menu according to the season. Their summer menu has had the option of a 5-course meal or a 7-course meal. Menu items have included Salt-baked beet tarlette, House made sourdough focaccia, Marinated and Smoked tomato, and Cashew Cheesecake. If you want to try Fabrik, reservations are available on their website.

Fat Choy, 52 E. Palisade Ave., Englewood, NJ 007631

The name Fat Choy was inspired by the colloquial Cantonese greeting for New Year’s (gong hei fat choy), where fat choy means “wishing you great happiness and prosperity.” Fat Choy has a Chinese menu with dishes including hot and sour soup, cauliflower bao buns, Kung Pao tots and tofu, wide rice noodles, not quite beef and broccoli, bananas rangoon, and more. They also offer mocktails.

Francis, 2422 Central Ave. NE, Minneapolis MN, 55418

Francis specializes in making delicious plant-based burgers and has loads of creative burgers to try! Their couch potato burger is an Impossible patty topped with potato chips and their baconator burger is a burger topped with homemade veggie bacon. In addition to their burgers, they also have chicken sandwiches and melts.

Kensho, Westminster Shopping Center, 16511 Magnolia St., Westminster, CA 92683

The artful chefs at Kensho have proven that vegans do not have to be relegated to avocado and cucumber rolls to satisfy their sushi cravings. The bountiful menu of sushi options and the beautiful presentations will satisfy vegans and non-vegans alike. Popular items include the Crunchy Cali and the Jalapeno Popper. For a particularly hearty roll, try the DaKine Roll, made with crab, cream cheese, and jalapeno, and topped with seared Spam, avocado, and eel sauce. They offer non-sushi items as well, such as the Bulgolgi Fries—crispy fries topped with vegan short-rib by Next Meats, kimchi, garlic aioli, and spicy mayo—and desserts including Matcha Cheesecake and Mochi ice cream.

Soca Vegan Kitchen, 630 Crane Creek Dr., Ste. 103, Augusta, GA 30907

This vegan Trinidadian-style restaurant offers many options such as curry, fried plantains, mashed potatoes, dhal, and potato salad. Socas’ mission is “to provide a place that will satisfy every customer’s desire to relax and enjoy a delicious meal they won’t feel guilty about afterwards”!

The Cake Bar, 214 E. 13th Ave., Denver, CO 80203

Design your own cake cup. Eat your dream cake as you would ice cream in a cup. What a concept! Here’s how it works: Select 4oz, 8oz or 12oz size. Start with your Cake Flavor: Choices include: Chocolate, Strawberry, Lemon and more, including a couple of Gluten Free options. Next of course, is Frosting. There are several Buttercreams including Chocolate, Oreo Vanilla, Lemon and more. There are also Vanilla Expresso and Maple Vanilla frostings. Choose up to 3 Toppings which could be challenging since the list is wonderfully long: Chocolate Drizzle or Lemon Lavender Drizzles might rain down some deliciousness. If all the delightful possibilities drive you Nuts, there are those options too, as well as Marshmallows, Graham Crackers, Caramel, Berries, Strawberry Oreo Crumble and lots more. If you’re not feeling the cake, there are Cookies such as Red Velvet Cheesecake, Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cup, or Banana Cream Pie to name a few. Want more: how about a S’mores Brownie? You can also opt for Ice Cream Pints, variously flavored Pocket Waffles, or Macarons in varieties such as: Rose, Pistachio and Key Lime.  There are also sweet Pastries and savory ones too.

Twelvemonth, 330 Lorton Ave., Burlingame, CA 94010

Twelvemonth’s menu reflects a myriad of culinary influences including Middle Eastern, Asian, Spanish, Mediterranean, Mexican and more. Strongly eco-minded, even their building aspires toward sustainability with solar panels and more. They source food locally and aim to keep waste to a minimum while creating inventive dishes. You might Start Dinner with roasted bets accompanied by house cultured yogurt, zhoug, (a spiced cilantro pesto) and zaatar (a gluten-free spice blend which includes coriander and cumin), or Cucumbers & Melons with green tahini dressing, mint and lime tajin (a citrus, salted chili sauce). Two of several Main Course possibilities are: Radish Cake, a steamed and griddled rice cake with shiitake, carrots, turnips, seasonal greens, chili crisp and soy saba (a gf vegan “fish”) or Crispy Maitake Mushrooms with pickles, whipped ranch, and hot nash seasoning, which traditionally imbues a sweet, hot, smoky flavor. Of the many imaginative Bar Bites, here are a couple: Candied Peanuts with Meyer lemon zest and togarashi, which is known for its toasty taste of sesame, ginger-orange sweet spice and the umami of seaweed, or the Gyro–“Black Sheep” Merguez “lamb” sausage spiced with a fennel cumin blend, served on a pita with tzatziki (a Greek yogurt sauce), salad greens and sumac onions. A couple of Desserts choices are coconut rice pudding with roasted strawberries, pickled rhubarb, coconut crunch and mint oil, or Malasadas (Portuguese fried donut-like confections popular in Hawaii) with chocolate ganache and seasonal jam.

XO Bar, 906 N. Fremont St., Portland, OR 97227

A pink neon Open sign shines on the corner of Fremont and Mississippi, letting you know you have arrived at your destination. XO Bar teleports you to a tropical mini-vacation with its design, music, craft drinks, and Southeast Asian bar snacks. Cocktails are made with coconut oil-washed rum, flavored with tropical fruits and herbs. XO’s savory full vegan menu consists of small plates, like jalapeño-cream cheese wontons with citrus agave, and barbecue sambal vegan drumsticks. Larger items include sesame ginger soy curls with black rice, tempura-battered “chicken” sandwiches, and rice noodles with deep-fried miso zuke tofu and kombu-mushroom broth. For dessert, the chef prepares tempura-battered bananas with peanut sauce, toasted hazelnuts, pickled ginger, and vanilla ice cream. Outdoor seating is available.

Roasted Chickpeas Image by djanoff from Pixabay

Reed Mangels, PhD, RD provides a list of kid-friendly vegan snacks that are nut-free, peanut-free, vegan, and have five or less grams of added sugar per serving.

Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue3/2023_issue3_nutfree_snacks.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Each issue of Vegan Journal includes the column Scientific Update by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD. Scientific papers on vegan diets and the environment, as well as diet and depression are reviewed here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue3/2023_issue3_scientific_update.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

By Chris Dunmall, Volunteer

GraceFull Café is a community orientated café in Littleton, Colorado, a mature suburb of Denver. The local community is a microcosm of all the economic, social, and health issues confronting American cities. Now in its eighth year of operation, GraceFull proves that one business can fulfill its mission to provide a home where people of all walks of life can gather, eat well, and become inspired to give back to their community. What astounds most skeptics is that GraceFull is built upon a pay what you can concept.

After several years of volunteering in the kitchen at GraceFull I had the opportunity to sit down with Heather Greenwood, the founder and co-owner, and discuss how her vision and mission came to life.

HG It is a beautiful marriage of two entities; GraceFull Café and GraceFull Foundation both of which flow from my background. I grew up on a farm in Southern Nebraska and food was just part of the rhythm of our lives. There was always the aspect of bringing people together over food. We had a large garden where we grew most of our food and used it to prepare simple family meals and to share with our community. Our important conversations were centered around tables of nutritious food.

As a child I would play restaurant, but reality led me through college and into professional careers of public accounting and teaching high school. Even after years of working I still dreamed of opening a juice bar where people could meet and interact. I started to think about how I could invite people from all walks of life to come together over the table and get them involved with some of the issues we face.

CD How did the two organizations, GraceFull Café and GraceFull Foundation come together to form the pay what you can model?

HG That is a great question! One of my big beliefs is that everyone should have access to fresh, healthy, and delicious food. The pay what you can model was important but with my business background I wanted a sustainable business that would be in the community for a long time. Alongside the Café we created a 501(c)3, GraceFull Foundation, to invest back into the community. Our Grace in Action meals program gives everyone access to professional quality food. They run in parallel, and neither could exist without the other.

This is how it works. Every guest who walks in the door is invited into Grace in Action in diverse ways. So, if you are in a season of your life where you are struggling, with housing, with a mental problem, sometimes from substance abuse, and we see a lot of people with trauma in their lives. Whatever the reason, if you do not have access to high quality healthy food we will welcome you, share what we are about, and extend the offer that you can pay what you can even if it is zero. The Grace in Action meal is funded by the Foundation. At the same time some of our guests are in a bountiful season of their lives and we ask them to pay for their own meals and if they have a passion to support their community, we invite them to contribute to the Foundation. It is a beautiful increase in action on both sides, sometimes you can extend it, sometimes you need it.

CD Let us talk about the tasty and healthy meals that you serve. You are expanding your offerings beyond the healthy Standard American options and including Vegan and Vegetarian options.

HG Yes, it is remarkably interesting. As I said I am from a Nebraska farm and grew up with a strong meat and potato influence, but we also had a large produce garden and I got to experience a level of freshness in food that I came to expect. Now you can go to a store and get about anything that you want but that takes a lot of cash resources. For me it was an eye opener. If you are experiencing food insecurity you are most likely eating what we call ‘convenience store meals,’ mostly packaged food high in fat, salt, and sugar. At some point in my life, I realized that you are what you eat, and the low-quality food was really hurting people.

So how do you choose what to offer? We needed simple ingredients that were inexpensive, easy to source, would hold for a long time, and were popular with our guests. Your introduction of the vegan breakfast burrito was an instant success. Honestly, I thought it would not fly but I was wrong. From a cost perspective, from less waste, and the ability to store the ingredients it was perfect. We could have it available every day and at an affordable price point, so it became a standard item on our breakfast menu as a vegan burrito or a bowl.

As far as vegetarian meals we wanted to be very intentional about the specials that we offer every day. On Tuesdays we always have a vegetarian special. Every day you can always get a salad, but we wanted to offer our friends more options, especially in the summer. We partner with the botanical gardens and local gardeners to source local produce which we use when we are crafting our daily specials. You can get creative and play around with different things offering exposure to people who might not have ever stepped into the vegetarian universe.

It is about acceptance and trust. I think sharing a meal is very relational and it is exciting to see that when we build these relationships of trust, they get excited. Our guests trust us and step into new experiences that they were not willing to try at an exceptionally minimal risk. It is a beautiful opportunity to invite people into taking risks. If our guests are trying to survive on one meal a day, they cannot afford to take a risk because that meal must be very substantive. Having a vegan option available allows them to step into and experience something that is both sustaining and healthy for their bodies.

Our menu is exceedingly small by design and focused on specials so we can keep everything fresh, innovative, and exciting. We have a vegan breakfast option but now our next room for growth is offering daily vegan lunch options. Again, we are being very intentional and building trust.

People are not accustomed to eating bowls, right? They order sandwiches and hamburgers served on plates. One creative way that my chef, James, has been playing with is, not necessarily vegan, but introducing the concept of a bowl style meal. Then once you build trust you start changing out the components and taking them to the next level. We want to be intentional about using fresh ingredients and innovative presentations to nudge our guests towards healthy choices.

CD Do you carry these concepts into your community programs beyond the café?

HG Yes! For three years we did public schools family meal packages and incorporated items that were healthy. It was fun to build trust once again with our families. You do not want to start with something foreign to them because you know it is just going to get wasted. You are not going to have buy-in to the purpose of the program. It was fun to build the relationships, introduce seasonal produce and use it in kid-friendly ways and take them to the next level with family meals. It is food that kids would not necessarily go for but if you can build trust in kid approachable ways it is cool.

One of my favorite things is when a guest asks, “Did you make that? Can you share the recipe?” It is always our goal to share this food whether it is made in our kitchen or in theirs. There is a rhythm in preparing healthy food and sharing it around the family table. It is nourishing for the body and builds wholesome relationships.

I will never forget one guest. She was a senior citizen who lived alone and for her it was hard to cook for herself. One day she said to me, “Heather I just love trying the specials.” Whether they were vegetarian or just fresh wholesome meals she just loved to try new things. She continued, “Heather, I trust you folks. That is why I love to try new things here and I feel like since I have been eating here, I just feel better.”

At the end of the day that is our goal. We want to provide a place for our community to gather, share a healthy, fresh, and nutritious meal, and feel better.

For more information on GraceFull Café and to see how they plate their food and what is on the menu this week check out: Home – Gracefull Cafe

The latest issue of Vegan Journal includes a review of Jyoti Foods Ready-To-Eat Line of Beans and Grains including The Cowboy Rice, Quinoa and Lentils, Black Beans, Refried Beans, Quinoa & Brown Rice, and others.

Read the review here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue3/2023_issue3_veggie_bits.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Choline is a nutrient that is important for brain development early in life. In the United States, animal products including meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, and eggs are the main sources of choline. That’s not to say that these are the only foods that supply choline, it’s simply that these are foods that are most commonly eaten. Other foods that are rich in choline include cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli for example) and dried beans and lentils. Nuts, seeds, other vegetables, and whole grains are also good sources of choline.

The recommended amount of choline for toddlers age 1 to 3 years is 200 milligrams of choline per day.

To plan a menu for a vegan toddler that would meet recommendations for choline, I chose a variety of whole foods including some foods known to be higher in choline such as soymilk, quinoa, tofu, and lentils. These foods do not have to be included every day since there are other foods such as chickpeas and other dried beans, wheat germ, nuts and nut butters, choline-fortified pea protein based milk, and vegetables that could be used to meet choline needs. Some multivitamins include choline.

Here is a sample menu for a toddler indicating the amount of choline in each food.

Breakfast

Lunch

Snack

Dinner

Snack

 Total: 214 milligrams of choline

To read more about feeding vegan toddlers see:

Vegan Nutrition in Pregnancy and Childhood

Feeding Vegan Kids

Tips for Parents of Young Vegans

In the latest issue of Vegan Journal, Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, discusses the topic of Diet and Skin Health in her Nutrition Hotline column. She states, “Many factors, including genetics, smoking, sleep, exercise, overall health, and diet, can affect skin health.”

Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue3/2023_issue3_nutrition_hotline.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Kasheri with Brown Rice

In a previous VRG Journal article Chef Nancy Berkoff shared Egyptian recipes she gathered when visiting her former students living in Egypt. Enjoy Kasheri with Brown Rice, Brown Rice Mujaddara, Makloubeh (layered eggplant), Vegan Kofta, Orange and Olive Salad, Khoshaf (compote), and Egyptian Lemonade.

Find the complete article here: Vegan Recipes from Egypt

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

photo by Rissa Miller

Each issue of Vegan Journal contains a column called Vegan Cooking Tips written by Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD. In the recent edition she offers numerous egg replacer suggestions.

Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue3/2023_issue3_cooking_tips.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php