It all started last weekend in Pittsburgh, on the way back from spring break in Asheville (where there were definitely some good eats). On Saturday night we decided to go out on the town in search of good eats, and when it came time to decide whether to eat at the Greek place or the Mexican place, I figured I’d go Mexican since I usually have pretty good luck finding vegan foods at Mexican places.

When ordering I found a vegetarian section, so I thought, “great, this shouldn’t be too bad.” Here’s how ordering went:

Me: Could I get the vegetarian burrito whatever (I forget exactly what) with no dairy?

Waitress: Sure, are you vegan?

Me: Yep.

Waitress: No problem.

Me: Thanks!

Sounds great so far, right? Well, when the brought out my non-dairy, vegan food I was pretty excited until I noticed it was covered in cheese…Instantly my spirits plummeted. What should I do? From an ethical standpoint, it wouldn’t make sense to send it back and just waste it all, but then again making a point of it might make life better for future vegans? Besides that, would I even be able to take the taste of cheese anymore? Long story short, I ended up thinking “screw it” and deciding to eat it, because I didn’t want to make a fuss. I got sick, had my night ruined, and felt bad in general.

But really, what could I have done? At least there’s no chance of me falling off the vegan wagon, though, ^_^.

Anyway, in Pittsburgh before the races, I realized there was no way I could eat on the road and stick to my no sugar rule. I’m not going to go wild and eat all the things I never could because of sugar, but I’ve allowed myself to eat bagels (and bagels only!). They are easy to get for breakfast, have lots of carbs, and are cheap. There’s really not other substitute, and as long as I’m doing all this I might as well do my best to eat proper and not bonk out in the races.

As far as I’m concerned I’m still a vegan athlete, just on the road I need to make an allowance for practicality. Hate me if you will, but being vegan has to work for life as much as you need to make your life work with veganism (at least sometimes), I feel.

When I heard we we going to a place called Tupelo Honey Cafe I didn’t know if I should’ve been apprehensive or not. Perhaps everything would have honey in it and I would be troublesome asking to not have any. Or perhaps it would be just another hippyish Asheville eating establishment.

Turns out it was another one of Asheville’s fine eating establishments. Since they had lots of breakfast food, their vegan items were a little less than you might’ve found if it was all lunch/dinner, but they still had some appetizing options. I ended up with a black bean burger, which I was told was vegan and made at the restaurant. With that I ordered some sweet potato fries as a side and settled down in my chair at one of the outdoor tables.

Shortly into the wait, another waitress came out to ask if I was the vegan, and if I was a strict vegan. When I answered yes she alerted me to the fact that the sweet potato fries were fried in the same out that might have animal fat with it. Since that’s a problem, she kindly allowed me to substitute the fries for a salad, which I don’t think was an option with my lunch.

I was extremely impressed and happy with the level of service, and especially with the food. The sandwich was rather large, filling, and delicious. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call it the best vegan burger I’ve ever had. The salad was also great, and well complemented by a bit of Vermont maple syrup.

All in all I give Tupelo’s (and Asheville) a huge thumbs up. I can’t wait to go back!

Firstly, I’ll say that even though I was very careful to remember my camera I was a little bit rushed and forgot such important things as my camera’s data cable, my cycling license, and my race numbers (these last two things being necessary for the race in Pittsburg on Saturday).

In any case, cycling has been going great and I’m lucky enough to have today off due to pouring rain and the fact that I was pretty much cracked yesterday and have nothing left in the tank. The good thing to note, however, is that the limiting factor has always been my legs and not my energy levels.

Anyway, to get to the point, two days ago we were taking a somewhat easy recovery day (30 miles), so another team member and I decided to hang around town a bit. The first stop was a little place called “The Noddle Shop,” which served delicious noodles and had tons of vegan options. I was blown away!

The menu, which has a special designation for vegan food, was perhaps 1/3rd vegan, and everything looked delicious. I ended up with grilled noodles, or fried noodles, or something like that that I can’t quite remember (I was, frankly, distracted by the waitress). For 7.50 I got a great meal that I really enjoyed and filled me up even after 20 miles of riding bikes. My companions were all similarly satisfied.

From there we went back to the Cupcake Corner, which happened to be next door, and I got myself another piece of chocolate orange cake. Even though I couldn’t finish it, it was just as heavenly as it was the day before.

So, for another place to check out in Asheville (and one that’s a bit cheaper than Salsas), check out the Noodle Shop.

Photo credit: Flickr 

As I recently posted, for this week and a bit I am down in North Carolina training with my cycling team. So far things have been pretty good, but I was a little nervous today before we all went out to dinner with not wanting to inconvenience people too much.

First we went out to a place called Salsas, which is the cactus you can see in the background of the picture. They described themselves as a Mexican/Caribbean restaurant and it was extremely easy to order vegan there. I got a Veggie Enchilada with no dairy and was amazed at the richness of the flavor and the fact that I couldn’t finish my meal, even after a hard day’s riding. The price came in at about 20 bucks when we all split it up, so a little expensive for a college student, but I imagine we won’t eat out much and it was totally worth it.

From there we went to the Sisters McMullen Cupcake Corner, which is an extremely small cupcake place just next door. I was wondering if they’d having anything I could munch on, but luckily I was presented with two clearly marked vegan options. The first was a spice cake, the second a chocolate orange cake. Let me tell you, it was heavenly. On top of that, the proprietor was extremely nice and the overall experience was great, I hope I can get back there soon.

So if you live in or are ever traveling through Asheville, give these two great places some business.

Okay, so I’m not in this picture, but I am going down for cycling spring break in just a few minutes! It will be interesting to be on the road and away from easy food choices while doing the vegan thing.

We leave today at 4 and plan to arrive in North Carolina after an breezy 18 hour drive, :). I’ve packed up will, with energy bars, gatorade, miso soup, and some Hunan Dumplings from Marco Vegetarian. It should be interesting!

I’ll update with what I’ve learned when we get there and get settled in! Has anyone else had an experience like this? I hope it’s not as bad as I’m guessing it’ll be.

I don’t know any, do you?

I haven’t been doing this blogging thing for too long (and have recently been sidelined by illness and finals), but I’d really like to know what other bloggers readers are following.

If you have your own blog or know some good ones, please share in the comments, :), thanks!

Now, I love this song, but I don’t recommend it for those faint of heart around explicit lyrics. That said, I think this is the only rap tune I’ve heard to date advocating a healthy life based around vegan eating. Also, this song (“Be Healthy” by Dead Prez) is the reason I went ahead and made this lentil soup, so it deserves a lot of credit for some of the best food I’ve had in a while.Anyway, on to the good stuff! I made a date with the girls in the apartment upstairs to cook this past Thursday, and for lack of time to think of anything special to make we pretty much patched a meal together. Lentil soup was suggested by one of the girls and while at the local co-op we decided to make some chocolate chip cookies and pick up some bread from a local bakery…little did we know it would come out so well!

Here’s the quick-and-dirty of what we ended up making (recipe from about with many adjustments):

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 carrot sliced
• 1 potato, diced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup dry lentils
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• dash salt
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 3 cloves garlic

Preparation:
Sautee the onions in the vegetable oil until they turn clear (just a few minutes), then add the vegetable broth, lentils, potato, carrot, pepper, thyme, bay leaves, curry powder, garlic and salt. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until lentils are soft, about 45 minutes. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Nutrition Facts (from about, so may be a bit different with my substitutions):
Calories: 230, Calories from Fat: 27
Total Fat: 3.0g, 5% Saturated Fat: 0.7g, 3%
Cholesterol: 0mg, 0%
Sodium: 852mg, 36%
Total Carbohydrates: 33.0g, 11%
Dietary Fiber: 15.6g, 62%
Sugars: 4.6g
Protein: 18.7g
Vitamin A 37%, Vitamin C 12%, Calcium 5%, Iron 28%, Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Gotta love the protein in lentils. We used green lentils because they are even more protein dense than the average lentil. You may think the garlic and curry powder a bit odd, but it happened on the fly and ended up giving the soup a very strong, interesting flavor. When served up with some fresh potato bread and topped off with some cookies, it made for a great meal and a calming study break.

Hope you all enjoy!

What am I eating right now? So Delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream with a Tropical Source chocolate chip garnishing.

Why the devil am I eating such unhealthy food? Well, that’s a fair question. See, the thing is, I’ve been up to 4am every night and my mind and body are starting to crumble under the stress, so I figured, why not enjoy some ice cream! I should be able to get some rest later on in the week, but for now I need to grit my teeth and bear it.

That said, I wanted to share with you all some of the snacks that I pick up when I just feel like letting go and replacing real food with junk. You may remember the chocolate chips from my favorite cookie recipe, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that ice cream before. So Delicious (and it’s fancier counterpart, Purely Decadent Soy Delicious) is made by Turtle Mountain to strict vegan standards and is also registered organic by the USDA.

I prefer the Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor for the ice cream with it’s the only thing I’m eating (yep, dinner tonight was ice cream), but if I’m bringing ice cream to a dinner or hosting a social event, I will usually get the richer chocolate version. This stuff is rather good, and I’ve had it (especially the fancier stuff in the pint tubs) with many non-vegan friends and they all enjoy it. There are tons of flavors to try, and if you’re getting Soy Delicious, I would recommend Peanut Butter Zig-Zag (have you noticed a pattern?).

Anywho, if you’ve never tried it, don’t be scared! Vegan ice cream can be great and So Delicious leaves nothing to be desired (though I have had vegan ice creams that are not quite up to par). So, go out to your grocery store and pick some up. If they don’t have it leave them a note to tell them to buy it and head to a Whole Foods, local co-op, or other more hippy-friendly store and get some!

Well, that’s my quick aside, it’s back to work for me! Perhaps tomorrow night I’ll pick up some bananas instead of ice cream to keep me company through the long night.

What do you eat when you’ve got to be up and can’t fight the hunger pangs?

We all know that one of the most difficult things for vegans into fitness or on the go is something quick, tasty, and energy packed that we can eat on the run.

In my case, I’m a runner and a cyclist. I’ve always lived by the theory of eating something small and quick after a good work out to help the body begin the recovery process early. However, it can be hard to find something pre-packaged that can do this for a vegan. Rather than have you make it for yourself (I know I don’t have the time), I’ll do a quick review of the available products on the market.

Clif Bars: I love Clif Bars, not only are they vegan, but they’re mainstream. This means they can be picked up almost anywhere and bought in bulk to save money. There’s a bit sugary, but most of the time I just don’t really mind. I recommend them to anyone who hasn’t had them to see if they fit your taste.

Luna: Those among you in the know will know that Luna bars are made by Clif, and specifically for women. I’m not a woman, but I still like to eat them. They’re a bit lighter and less sugary than their Clif counterparts, and serve as a tasty post-work out pick-me-up. I would recommend these to anyone, regardless of gender, *wink*.

LaraBar: To be honest, I don’t really like LaraBars. Don’t ask me why, because it’s hard to put my finger on, but it just always seemed like I was eating them because I felt like I had to be rather than because I wanted to. Nevertheless, I know many vegans and non-vegans who like them, so don’t discount just because of me.

Betty Lou’s Organic Vegan: Again, hate to be a downer, but I had one of these in the airport once before flying back from school and while it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t delicious either. Given no other options, I’d eat it, but that said, I’d pick a banana over one any day.

That pretty much sums up my experience. I’m sure there are more bars than this out there, but they’re not easily available enough for me to have tried or try in the near future.

If you’ve got anything to add, please leave a comment! Thanks!

My gosh, I sure hope so!

But seriously, in every vegan and vegetarian’s life, there usually comes the question of how our beliefs will affect our interpersonal relationships and love lives.

I’m still a youngin’ (19 as of writing this post), so I can’t offer the life’s wisdom that goes along with finding and settling down with that one special person, but I’ll take this time to look forward and see think about how my veganism will affect my future with the ladies.

So far I’ve had two “significant” relationships, both of them with omnivores at the onset. During the first was when I made the initial transition to vegetarianism, and to be honest, it was one of the things that drove a wedge between us. She didn’t understand and didn’t want to, and the change just seemed to be emblematic of a greater drift. In the end, after we broke up, she became a vegetarian (and might be a vegan these days), but at that point I definitely felt a bit antagonized.

My second serious girlfriend also started out as an omnivore, but in relatively short order she became a vegetarian and then a vegan. Thankfully, I no longer had to worry about kissing her after she ate something I found ethically reprehensible.

Hypercritical? Maybe. Truthful? Yes.

And I think that’s really the most important thing to keep in mind here: you’re going to feel a certain way about people with different eating habits than you. Eating is a big part of life, and if you try to put those feelings aside, it may come back to haunt you. Be honest and upfront, with yourself and your partner.

That said, I really don’t know where I’ll be going. I don’t feel like I mind too much, but cooking and vegany things are definitely on my top lists of fun things to do, so it’s not easy to discount the role veganism could play in a future relationship.

Time will tell, I suspect!

Has anyone else given this issue any thought?