Vegetarian and Vegan Options in Senior Independent Living, Assisted Living, Nursing Home, and Other Senior Facilities

From The Vegetarian Resource Group

By Sonja Helman, Reed Mangels, Charles Stahler, and Debra Wasserman

More and more readers have been asking about vegetarian and vegan options at senior facilities. We always half joked that when our staff entered assisted living that we'd be calling for takeout food. When Charles' vegetarian aunt was 101 in a nursing home, she mostly lived on vanilla cake, noodle pudding, and tea. This was probably her preference anyway, but it will be nice to have more in-house options in the future.

When many of us were in college, most schools did not have vegan dishes. Now it appears that almost every university has a nice variety of vegan choices, some even with their own vegan cafeteria line. We expect the same to happen with senior facilities. The following survey of vegetarian options in senior facilities indicates we are off to a good start. Please let us know if you have experience with any senior facilities that have good vegan meals. Be aware that choices can change when staff or ownership changes.

Alphabetic Facilities List

Facilities By State