The most vegan friendly towns in the world?

[Trinity]

I'd like to write a helpful article for vegans on vegan friendly towns/cities or places either in Britain or around the world. Does anyone here live in a vegan friendly town? Or have you visited one? I look fwd to hearing about it. Please do share...

Trinity
x

 

[Amy SF]

I live in the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area, specifically Santa Monica. The area is becoming more and more vegan-friendly, with lots of vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants and health food stores here, some that have been around for decades and newer ones opening all the time. There are vegan bakeries here, too. I should also mention that the showroom for the online retailer Alternative Outfitters, which sells vegan clothing, shoes and accessories, is located here, in Pasadena.

 

[Trinity]

Los Angeles, California metropolitan area, specifically Santa Monica

That sounds pretty awesome. My husband stayed in Santa Monica for a couple of days last year too and had no idea what he missed!
I travelled the west coast in 1997 (ages ago, I know) and I located quite a lot of vegan friendly places there, was quite surprised... I can only image how it has evolved in recent years.

 

[PTree15]

Here are several U.S. cities I have either lived in or visited that are vegan-friendly:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There is a high-end vegan place called Veg that is fabulous. The owner/chef also ran the now-closed Horizons, which also was a great vegan place. Blackbird Pizzeria is all-vegan and fantastic for vegan comfort foods. They just made PETA's top 10 places for vegan buffalo wings. There is also a Chinese restaurant with a vegan menu, but I can't remember the name. I know it's in Philly's Chinatown section, though, and I used to go there all the time.

Other cities where I had no problems finding vegan food: Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Portland, Maine; New Haven, Conn.: and of course, New York City.
Small town: Northampton, Mass. It's a college town. I find that, in general, towns with colleges have more diverse food options, to go with a diverse population.

 

[spottygiraffe]

I used to live in Brighton, UK and it is extremely vegan friendly (and gay friendly and everything else friendly!). There are quite a few vegetarian restaurants, clothing and shoe shops. I didn't appreciate it fully when I lived there.

This is a bit O/T but I went out for dinner on Saturday night over here in France and we chose a pizzeria because Italian is normally pretty good for veg options. They had 3 'Vegetarian' pizzas on the menu, one which had tuna on it. I asked for a veg one without cheese...and it came with cheese on it anyway. They put mayo on my salad and butter on the garlic mushrooms -I had asked what they were cooked in and they said olive oil, but I could taste butter. Then I asked for 2 scoops of sorbet for pudding, one blackcurrant and one strawberry but they brought the blackcurrant with a dollop of regular strawberry ice-cream on top of it. Not a language issue -I am fluent in French. They just don't get it! I'll be interested to see if you find any vegan friendly towns in France.

 

[Trinity]

I used to live in Brighton, UK and it is extremely vegan friendly (and gay friendly and everything else friendly!). There are quite a few vegetarian restaurants, clothing and shoe shops. I didn't appreciate it fully when I lived there.

Yey - I lived in Lewes, just up the road... and rather synchronistically I've JUST (literally a minute ago) a stall at the VegFest in Brighton for March.
Yes, Brighton is super vegan friendly indeed! It's top of my list - thanks for the confirmation.

 

[Amy SF]

I just (on Sunday) ate lunch at a restaurant in Culver City, California called Green Peas that is vegan-friendly. They use Daiya for vegan cheese and Gardein for the meat replacement. I had a lovely avocado kale salad with Gardein chicken. I saw their dinner menu posted and it included a grilled salmon entree, and underneath it said vegan version available. I asked how grilled salmon could be made vegan, and the girl said they use a soy meat replacement for the fish. That's a first for me and I'm thrilled that one restaurant will actually do that. This is not the only vegan/vegan-friendly restaurant in Culver City, either, so make a note of that.

 

[Trinity]

hat's a first for me and I'm thrilled that one restaurant will actually do that. This is not the only vegan/vegan-friendly restaurant in Culver City, either, so make a note of that.

It really warms my heart to know that these places are really making the effort!

 

[Second Summer]

I used to live in Brighton, UK and it is extremely vegan friendly (and gay friendly and everything else friendly!). There are quite a few vegetarian restaurants, clothing and shoe shops. I didn't appreciate it fully when I lived there.

This is a bit O/T but I went out for dinner on Saturday night over here in France and we chose a pizzeria because Italian is normally pretty good for veg options. They had 3 'Vegetarian' pizzas on the menu, one which had tuna on it. I asked for a veg one without cheese...and it came with cheese on it anyway. They put mayo on my salad and butter on the garlic mushrooms -I had asked what they were cooked in and they said olive oil, but I could taste butter. Then I asked for 2 scoops of sorbet for pudding, one blackcurrant and one strawberry but they brought the blackcurrant with a dollop of regular strawberry ice-cream on top of it. Not a language issue -I am fluent in French. They just don't get it! I'll be interested to see if you find any vegan friendly towns in France.

Well, Paris has a number of veg*n restaurants, and I was able to find food for myself in the canteen of a company I visited. Well, I *think* it was vegan.

A couple of times I've had decent food at non-veg restaurants in Grenoble, but only after my host had instructed them in very much detail, I suspect.

 

[spottygiraffe]

Well, Paris has a number of veg*n restaurants, and I was able to find food for myself in the canteen of a company I visited. Well, I *think* it was vegan.
A couple of times I've had decent food at non-veg restaurants in Grenoble, but only after my host had instructed them in very much detail, I suspect

I'm sure most of the big cities have something but I don't always trust their definition of veg*n. There's a restaurant that calls itself vegetarian at Montauban (near me) but it has fish on the menu, so I can imagine that they might not be that meticulous about ingredients even in the dishes that appear to be meat-free.

I lived in Lewes, just up the road

I lived in Ditchling for a while too. Good luck with your stall at the VegFest. What are you selling?

 

[Trinity]

I lived in Ditchling for a while too. Good luck with your stall at the VegFest. What are you selling?

Small world.
I published a recipe book called 'Trinity's Conscious Kitchen' so I'll be selling that. I am looking forward to creating a lovely display too. If you were still in Ditchling, you could have dropped by to say hello... I am really excited about doing festivals!

 

[thefadedone]

 

[Trinity]

Wow! What an awesome chart!

 

[Moll Flanders]

I should say London is very vegan friendly too. My favorite restaurants are probably Manna, Loving Hut, Tibits and Mildreds.

Vegan London : Vegan and Vegetarian Restaurants in London

Vegan London : Resources for Vegans in London: Vegan and Vegetarian restaurants

London Vegan Meetup (London, England) - Meetup

London Vegans

I used to live in Brighton, UK and it is extremely vegan friendly (and gay friendly and everything else friendly!). There are quite a few vegetarian restaurants, clothing and shoe shops. I didn't appreciate it fully when I lived there.

Yes, Brighton is lovely, when I have gone there for an overnight trip I have tried to eat at a few of the restaurants but I haven't tried them all yet.

 

[spottygiraffe]

Congratulations on having published a book -what an achievement. I followed a link to your site from your Happy Cow article and it looks fabulous.

 

[Trinity]

Just found this extensive list of the top veg-friendly cities in the world...
http://www.happycow.net/travel/top_five.html#most_vegan

Scroll down to see a list of tons of cities who have lots of vegan restaurants...

 

[Trinity]

Congratulations on having published a book -what an achievement.

Thank you for the kind words... yes, I have to pinch myself! I do vegan catering for retreats and everyone kept saying that I really should write a book - eventually it came to fruition. It's a real labour of love and absolute joy. When the first proof copy arrived at my door I swear, I have never in my life been soooo excited.

 

[ledboots]

Small world.
I published a recipe book called 'Trinity's Conscious Kitchen' so I'll be selling that. I am looking forward to creating a lovely display too. If you were still in Ditchling, you could have dropped by to say hello... I am really excited about doing festivals!

Please post a link to your book if you sell it online too.

 

[Trinity]

Please post a link to your book if you sell it online too.

Here it is directly from me: http://www.trinityskitchen.com/shop/
There's a download link on that page to get some free sample pages and have a sneak peek too
You can also get it in bookshops by ordering or online (although I won't be able to sign it then).

 

[spottygiraffe]

It looks great, Trinity. I will put it on my birthday wish list! I don't actually own a proper veg*n cook book, although I have Scott Jurek and Matt Fraziers' books on my Kindle.