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