On the way to our meditation retreat , Mr. Gnome and I stopped in Greensboro, NC. We broke up the 7 hour drive by chowing down at one of our favorite vegetarian restaurants, Boba House, on Tate Street.
I’ve been vegan now for about 4 months and have loved it. (No really! I see your skeptical eyebrow raised.) I flirted with vegetarianism in the past, even being vegetarian for about a year in high-school. I finally decided to go vegan after doing some summer reading with books like The China Study , Becoming Vegan , magazines like Veg News , blogs like Christine Kane , and websites like Go Veg .
What were my main reasons for going veg?
1. It’s the number 1 thing that I can do for the environment. (For instance, the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, planes, and ships combined.)
2. I can’t prevent all the atrocities in the world from happening. I can do my part to not participate in any animal or human suffering associated with the meat or dairy industry. It’s also a philosophy of yoga, ahimsa: non-harming.
3. It’s healthy. My body has felt so much healthier in the last few months. It’s not even weight-related. (I don’t own a scale, so I wouldn’t even know if I had lost weight. Although, I’ve noticed my clothes have slightly loosened.) The main thing I’ve noticed is a feeling of “lightness” and increased energy.
4. It tastes good. Nowadays, there is some great vegan food out there. It’s not just tofu and sprouts anymore. Some examples? Alternative Baking Company makes deliiicious chocolate chip cookies. Tofutti makes a cream cheese and sour cream alternative. We even have a pizza joint in town that offers their yummy wood-fired pizza with vegan cheese. Contrary to my doubts, I haven’t even craved anything that couldn’t be satisfied with a vegan alternative.
Anywhoozers…drool over these (completely) vegan dishes from Boba House. (And humor my experiments with the f-stop on my camera.)
Mixed greens with a ginger vinaigrette. (So light and fresh.)
Satay Skewers: Spicy coconut marinated ”chicken” (seitan), sprinkled with sesame seeds. (I don’t know what spices they use, but my mouth is watering just looking at this photo.)
Boba Pad Thai: Flat rice noodles stir-fried with mixed vegetablese and your choice of “chicken” (again, seitan) with a crispy spring roll. (This is quintessential comfort food. I could eat this Boba House version a couple of times a week.)
I snuck a picture of Mr. Gnome’s dish, Basil “Beef”: “Beef” (seitan, again) sauteed in a chili-garlic sauce with basil leaves, onion, and bell peppers. (I’m surprised I even got a picture in time; Mr. Gnome scarfed this down.)
I also left with a lychee-flavored Bubble Tea with tapioca pearls. (Kind of like a vegan tea milkshake. The pearls are chewy; lychee is a flavor unto itself. Ignore the discarded cigarette butts.)
Anyone else have any favorite vegan dishes/restaurant suggestions?
text/photos: Nancy Harder
I’m just a plain ol’ vegetarian (well pescatarian) and there’s a restaurant in Orange County called 118 degrees. It’s a raw food restaurant, and it’s awesome, the food is SO good!
I’ve seen your post about Montreal the other day; if ever you come again up here, you’ve got to go to Aux Vivres. I *love* that restaurant! Hey, let me know if you do, and I may even make the trip to Montreal to have a chance to meet up with you… and eat there!
It’s hard to pick just one vegan cuisine, but if I have to… I’m a big fan of middle eastern food. There’s a Lebanese restaurant close by that offers a vegetarian 15-mezze meal to die for (I skip the dairy dishes and still leave completely stuffed). Hummus, lebanese tabouli, shredded carrots in orange blossom water dressing, beet salad, eggplant caviar, falafels (of course!), stuffed vine leaves…
I’m glad I learned to cook and enjoy vegan food without fake meats, but every one in a while they can be delicious. I was in Vienna last weekend and gorged on soy schnitzel, wurst and sauerkraut, seitan goulash and massive sausages, oh my!
@aelle I second your affinity for middle eastern food! There’s a Moroccan place nearby here that has amazing vegan food. (Their falafels are breathtaking, haha). That’s so interesting that Vienna has all those vegan alternatives. Who knew? So far I haven’t ventured into cooking with meat alternatives, except tofu. Although, they are super yummy when I’ve gone out to eat!
@Josiane Thanks for stopping by!
And I’m thrilled with the Montreal suggestion. I love Montreal! I’ll let you know when we can have a vegan chow down! 
@Abbie. My husband is vegetarian (kinda pescatarian too)-way to go!
Thanks for the OC restaurant suggestion. I’ve always wanted to try a raw food restaurant!
Oh god, I admire your self-control and drive. I just can’t give up hot-dogs, seriously. I attempted vegetarianism when I was in high school, but found it difficult declining meats when I was invited to suppers with friends and family…I felt rude. On the other hand, did NOT know the fact you listed in #1. Damn.
@Candice. It took me a while to convert to veganism. It started as an experiment and took lots of research to realize I could still eat awesome food. And god-I love food. (Btw-the hubs and I go to a hot dog stand in town most Sundays cause they have soy dogs. I load it up with toppings and I seriously can’t taste the difference between a soy dog and a turkey dog.) I empathize, especially with being invited to suppers and such. I try to be as low maintenance as possible if I’m invited to people’s homes, bringing my own stuff or just eating salad. As far as #1, that was really what pushed me over the edge. I thought, damn…I can really make a difference here.
All of that looks delicious, but that pad thai is making me salivate! I have tried to go Veg before and couldn’t make it, so I really don’t know if I could go vegan — I respect anyone who can stick to it! I admit I thought vegan food was pretty boring, but after looking at your pics, it seems that you can eat more normally than I thought. Yum!
Realizing that vegan food could be insanely good was what finally convinced me to go vegan. As much as I believe in helping the world, I was still selfish and didn’t want to give up the pleasure of food. Nowadays though, there is some awesome veg food out there. There are some great cookbooks too now utilizing the highest of culinary skills to produce “foodie” veg food. That’s my next step: to learn how to really cook.
next time grab me some bubble tea
no doubt my lady
The Phillippe resteraunt in TaiChung, Taiwan serves a 14 course veg meal. It is truly a life changing experience.
Great blog and topic!
Luci and Mike
Awesome suggestion! Thanks. I’ll be keeping that in mind for when I finally get over to the Eastern hemisphere!
Thanks for stopping by too. I’m going to have to check out your blog!
I’m a vegan on an open ended round the world trip and so far I’ve found it possible to find amazing vegan food anywhere with a bit of effort.
Right now I’m in Mexico and can’t get enough guacamole and fruit salads. I swear I could almost live off those 2 things alone… or could have until I saw that photo of the Pad Thai. *wipes away drool*
@Catia-Thanks so much for stopping by! I always enjoy connecting with vegan travelers.
You’ve now made me hungry thinking about guacamole and fruit salads. Yummmmmm