My First Vegan Restaurant

Hello girls!  I realized I had forgot to tell you about an interesting experience I had the other day, actually it was on my birthday!  I heard about this entirely vegan restaurant about 45 minutes away from where I live, and not too far from where the mall is where I had planned on going shopping for my birthday anyway.  

I had no idea there was even a vegan restaurant that close by!  I found out about it on Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Life website in one of their forums.  It was highly recommended by people who live in that area, so I thought I should give it a try.  And what better time to convince my husband to actually go with me, then when it's my birthday lunch, and I have full dips on choosing where we eat?  I know otherwise, he would never go up there with me!  : P

 I didn't really know what to expect.  I had checked out The Loving Cafe website though, and nothing looked too scary, and somethings looked quite yummy!  Above is a picture of the menu board and below are a lot of organic teas and juices you can choose from.  

My husband wasn't exactly thrilled about it, he is a pretty big meat eater, but we made a deal, he would order something and at least try it and give it a fair try at that, and if he didn't really like it, he could get something more his style at the food court in the mall!  See, compromises work!

He ordered a soup and sandwich combo:

The soup was a mix of sweet potatoes, lentils, and other ingredients I can't remember, but sounded good.

The sandwich had vegan turkey, vegan cheese, vegan mayo, and vegan cole slaw!  We saw it included cole slaw, but we thought it was a side, not actually on the sandwich, so that was a little different.  But it looks good doesn't it?

I ordered their BBQ chickenless meal, that came mixed veggies, and with brown rice and a salad:

The BBQ fake "meat" was actually really good!!  I would eat that again, the flavoring was delicious!  

I also chose a drink not from their display but a wildberry tea, not sweetened with sugar but I think brown rice syrup.  It was yummy!

My husband didn't mind his soup, the sandwich however, although not completely horrible, was not something he particularly enjoyed! 

That's about all he could manage to eat, and you can sort of tell in the photo that his arms are crossed, and he's had enough!  lol But he was brave and sweet for trying!  

One thing I thought was a bit strange though, was the channel they had their tv on, and all these booklets they had lying around.  The people/maybe family that own this particular Loving Cafe (there is another one located in Ohio) are part of a weird religion.  I'm not trying to offend in any way, I'm religious, I believe in Jesus Christ, but for one I didn't expect to see religion incorporated into this restaurant, and two it was a very weird religion, from what I gathered.  Take a look at the tv:

The tv stays on the same channel: the Supreme Master TV channel

Which is a bit weird on it's own, but through the translation we learned that to be a part of this religion you have to actually be vegan!  I had never heard of being vegan as a requirement for any religion!  And then if that's not odd enough, they worship a woman, who is still alive.......that is their "god". 

It was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen/experienced!  This was how my husband felt about what the tv was saying:

His facial expression just cracks me up! You can tell he was ready to leave!! 

Other then the weird religion aspect, I enjoyed the food, and the restaurant had more customers in there then I thought they would while we were there for lunch.  It seems like The Loving Cafe is doing pretty well for itself. 

I also got a vegan cupcake to go.... It was my birthday you know, and although I've had vegan chocolate bars, I've never had vegan cupcakes.  I thought I would try a chocolate one.  It was delicious!

Now keep in mind, vegan means not only no meat, but also no products that come from animals, like milk, cheese, eggs, etc...  And in case, you were wondering, I am not vegan, but I do mix in vegan foods in my diet on a regular basis.  Vegan burgers are actually quite good!  So I don't eat meat all the time, a lot of times I do go meat free for meals, but am not ready at this time to go meat free forever. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my experience at my first Vegan restaurant!  Have you ever tried a really unusual type of restaurant?  What was your experience??  Would you ever try a vegan restaurant?

On another note, HAPPY EASTER!  What a wonderful day to celebrate!