I am vegan.
I don’t do it out of contempt for you or your hamburger.
I do not desire to take your right to eat a hamburger away from you.
I do not threaten your livelihood.
I am doing this for the benefit of my health, any animal and the Earth.
If you feel you cannot be around me because of the fact I am vegan that is your issue, not mine.
Making jokes about tofu only makes you look idiotic.
No, I actually don’t have urges to eat meat occasionally.
Being vegan is not just about the food I eat.

Fresh Mexican-inspired food is always good.  It is even better when it is vegan.  I got the word yesterday that Taco Mamacita’s would be rolling out a new vegan menu this week and also a copy of the menu.  This happened around lunch time so where else should I head off to?

I was told the servers may not be aware of the new menu and to take it along.  After reading over the menu I was given I quickly realized that there were no vegan options and asked my server, Meredith,  if she knew of the vegan choices.  She told me she was also vegan and began showing me options on the menu by substituting and adding.  Then I asked if she knew of the new vegan menu to which I got a “No”, so I pulled out my Droid which I had the menu on and showed her.  Of course, being vegan also she was quite excited.

Vegan Tortilla Soup & Vegan Jerk Taco

Overall, it was a good lunch, fresh and healthy tasting. The only thing I would like to see improved from what I ordered would be some flavor added to the soup in the way of spice. I left still hungry though I was thoroughly impressed with the freshness of everything. My next visit I will try something else and see if leaving stuffed is possible.

Taco Mamacita's Vegan Menu (Click to view)

Taco Mamacita
1200 Villa Place
Nashville, TN
(615) 730-8552

We’re back from our latest excursion west.  It’s always good to get away.  It’s always better to get away to a place that has vegan offerings.  On this trip to Denver and Boulder we visited some places we’ve been to before and found some new ones.

Most of our days were spent walking the streets of Boulder.  A trip to the Boulder Farmers Market was made and I found what a Farmers Market should be.  I have been to markets in other cities but Boulder does it right.  All local, no vendors selling the same stuff that’s in the grocery store from a factory farm in another state.  I bought some beautiful purple peppers that will be used in quesadillias and multiple squashes that my wife plans to use somehow in something tasty.  There were many tables of apples so a big bag of these tiny Honeycrisp that tasted like candy had to be gotten.  One vendor had nothing but mushrooms, every fungus you could desire.  A bag of assorted fungus was procured.  There were vendors selling baked goods, soups, breads and most of them were vegan.  Asking if something was vegan was never met with a stupid look, only a smile and a yes.  I’m always on the lookout for coffee and I found a few local roasters selling their beans.  I picked up a pound of espresso roast from Silver Canyon Roasters and I write this with a cup in hand.

While in Boulder we found a little coffee shop on Pearl Street and decided to give it a try.  The Laughing Goat served a good cup of coffee and it wasn’t overpriced as most are.  I did notice they kept their beans in a freezer which I have always thought to be a no-no.  Maybe someone can tell me otherwise.  As I had already picked up the beans from the farmers market I didn’t try these but the cup of coffee I had was very good.  The girl working the register did give us a chuckle as someone came in and asked for a Venti. She pointed to their menu and said “These are the sizes we have.”  Silly Starbucks sheep.

Also in Boulder is Savory Spice Shop.  We visited on their grand opening last year and found many spices that are unavailable in stores in Nashville.  The owner was very nice and helpful and gave me some pointers for chili peppers. This time we got a few things needed for some dishes we’ve been wanting to cook.  I also got some bhot jolokia chilis. They hold the Guinness Record for the world’s hottest pepper. The Scoville ratings for these peppers are over 1,000,000 and by comparison Tabasco Sauce has a Scoville rating of 2,500. They should be a great addition to my chili!

We visited restaurants we’ve been to before and not all worked out as expected.  A visit to Watercourse Foods had been planned for weeks in advance and it was one of the first places we went for lunch.  I ordered the Buffalo Tofu sandwich with onion rings and sweet potatoes and wifey had the the Grinder with onion rings and broccoli.  The kid munched on their Banana Bread French Toast which she gets each time and doesn’t leave a bite to be shared.  Honestly, our going to Watercourse Foods had a lot to do with us wanting to just drink Oogave which they serve on tap, free refills.  Our previous trips to Watercourse have been great but after only eating half of our meals we felt like boxing the rest to go, something I never do.  About 15 minutes after we left both of us were doubled over in pain.  I won’t go into details but we had planned on multiple visits to Watercourse Foods on this trip and after this one we were afraid to return.  The kid felt fine and the only thing our meals shared in common were the onion rings so that’s where we placed the blame.  Next trip we’ll try again but I couldn’t risk getting sick a second time on this trip.

One night we were looking for a quick snack and after passing on all of the usual quick haunts we typically visit we reluctantly agreed on VG Burgers which, I felt, failed miserably on our last visit.  Since we only wanted a basket of chili-cheese fries we thought they could fit the bill.  We both shared a basket of chili-cheese fries and the kid had a basket of just fries.  The fries were tasty this time but it just seems their portions are small for the price.  It was pointed out to me by my wife that it is organic so what looked to be two potatoes worth of fries may well merit $2.99.  Leave it to her to play the devil’s advocate. VG Burgers previously had Oogave with free refills but the refills had been nixed so $1.79 for a small drink didn’t work out.  To their credit, they played Michael Franti the entire time we were there.  I’m not totally giving VG Burgers a thumbs down on this visit but I just think it’s a bit pricey for what they serve.

We located some new places and one of those was Sweet Action Ice Cream.  Although not completely vegan they do have offerings that the animal-free crowd would enjoy.  This is one of those ice cream places that makes it all on-site, my favorite kind.  The day we went the vegan flavors were pumpkin and coffee, which I could only guess were meant to be paired into a pumpkin latte cone or cup with a scoop of each.  The pumpkin tasted too much like frozen pumpkin puree so I passed.  Coffee ice cream was never my favorite but this one didn’t have a strong coffee flavor so I got a scoop along with a scoop of lemon raspberry sorbet.  It doesn’t sound good together but it worked out nicely.  They also serve vegan ice cream sandwiches.  Peanut butter cookie with vanilla ice cream and oatmeal raisin cookie with peach ice cream were the two choices they had.  My wife walked around and looked through a window at their prep area and discovered a list of their vegan flavors which they rotate out.  It looked like we picked the wrong day to have ice cream.  Vegan flavors like Five Spice, Mothership Wit, Coconut Lemongrass, Coffee Yeti Stout, Garam Masala and Apple Spice were listed along with about twenty others.  Unfortunately, a second visit to taste these creations didn’t fit in our schedule.

On our way out of town we met Stephen, the owner of Oogave at their office to pick up plenty to keep us fixed until we return.  A case of Estebans’ Cola, Esteban’s Root Beer and a case of random flavors was loaded into the car.  Oogave’s cola is the best cola, hands-down, that you will ever find.  Agave sweetened and all-natural, it doesn’t get much better!  Seriously, this is some good stuff!

We discovered many of new things on our trip but one thing we discovered was something we may have already knew.  We belong in Boulder.  There’s just too much for us and the feel of the town is a fit.

More pictures can be found on Flickr.

For the next 30 days I will be giving up a staple in my diet, soy.  As a vegan, soy is included in so many things I eat daily.  If you read labels you will notice soy is in just about everything.  While I realize that I may not be able to avoid every presence of soy I will try to do the best I can to take it out of my diet for the next 30 days.   It may sound simple but I’m aware this will be tougher than it seems.  To be a soy-free vegan may seem impossible but I am determined to get through it.

Our trip to the grocery store today will consist of me trying to find replacements for my usual foods.  I will hopefully find a veggie burger without soy so I can have my junk food nights.  I will replce the soy milk I typically use in coffee with almond and hazelnut milk.  We use Earth Balance to bake as well as on baked potatoes and wherever needed but luckily they make a variety of Earth Balance that is soy-free.  It is the ingredient list of many things where this will get difficult.  As an avid label reader, as most vegans are, this will hone my skills to a higher level.

So, why am I doing this?  There are so many “studies”, which I typically find useless, that point out the impact of soy on the endocrine system that I think I will lend an open-mind to and see if removing it from my daily eating would make any change for me.  I will be looking for apparent changes that are noticeable to myself as I won’t be visiting a doctor to get daily blood tests and such as more scientific plans would include.  I will be looking for increased/decreased energy levels, weight loss/gain and anything else I notice that could be related.  At the end of the month I hope to be able to form my own opinion on soy benefits and drawbacks.  Check back for daily posts as I will document here any changes I notice and just how difficult this may or may not be.

Being vegan is a little easier than I thought it would be when I started this almost two years ago. Being vegetarian for 5 years prior made it that much easier. Strict vegans, as you know, take it to the point of absolutely no animal product whatsoever in their daily lives. There are a couple things I ponder from time to time. If you are a vegan reading this, do you eat out? Do you eat anything prepared with sugar when you do, since that sugar will no doubt be refined sugar? How many of you would go to the point of not sitting in a leather seat when either in a restaurant or some other place? Since gasoline is a petroleum product partially created from the millions of years old carcasses of dinosaurs, do it detract from strict veganism if you drive a gas-powered vehicle?

Just things I ponder…