Sunday, April 24, 2011

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!

8 comments:

April said...

I never eat meat, and when I cook I always use vegan products. At this point, I'll eat milk or eggs if they are already cooked in to something because I can't afford the costs of vegan snacks right now... but there is a restaurant about an hour away that has lots of vegan choices. They're black bean burger is AMAAAAZZZIINNGGG! I love it.
That religion thing would REALLY throw me off. Of course they are perfectly entitled to believe what they want, but it's annoying to have it on TV. They should realize how it makes customers feel. I don't even like that Forever 21 puts those little Bible quotes on the bottom of their bags (or whatever it is, I can't even remember anymore) because I think it's always disrespectful to customers. I'm personally agnostic, and when I own a business, I'm not going to put a huge poster in the lobby that says "I DON'T BELIEVE IN YOUR GOD, BUT I DON'T DENY IT EXISTS". It's disrespectful! Religion is very important to a lot of people, and to challenge it or push it on anyone in any way is very rude.
That's what I think, anyway.

Lesley said...

You're very brave!!! I completely applaud all my friends who are vegan. :-)

K & J said...

Glad you enjoyed it but I'm with your husband. I need my meat :)
Kara XOXO

HAPPY EASTER!

Sherin said...

I've never eaten at a Vegan restaurant either. I don't know if there are any near me. I quite like my meat, lol. But I also love trying new things and the food does look quite good. The sandwich looks pretty delicious.
Wow, never heard of a religion like that before. How weird!
And the cupcake looks amazing!!

Happy Easter.

Jaime @ laviejaime said...

i am not a vegan but do eat some meatless food sometimes- i buy morningstar frozen products. your meal looks good! anything with bbq sauce, i prob wouldn't know it wasn't meat lol ;)

Katie said...

yum! i love vegan restaurants. there is one near my university (syracuse) called strong hearts cafe that has the best milkshakes in the entire world (soy milkshakes of course!). their blt is also to die for. and i agree the fake "meat" is surprisingly tasty!
xx

Unknown said...

Vegan food, that's so cool! It's kinda hard to eat vegan outside here, but there is a lot of stuff sold in the supermarket to eat vegan at home. I'm not a veganist but I'm seriously cutting back on meat and try to eat organic and stuff! Happy Sunday! xoxo

Marie said...

The food looks good, thanks for sharing. I'm not vegan but I would like to try the dish you ate.:D

***** Marie *****
allthingsmarie.com

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