Entries Tagged 'Reviews' ↓

After a very short stay (for me) in Philly, Amy and I took the bus to NYC to hang out for a few days, since I’d never been. Apparently, it’s a minor crime for SE Michiganders to have never been to New York. I’ve now officially been exonerated.

This photo makes the Statue of Liberty look much bigger than it really is. It was much smaller than I’d anticipated. Still, if there weren’t any skyscrapers yet and this is the first thing I saw on my way into the US, I’d be pretty excited. And it was big enough to get the job done in Ghost Busters 2.

We stayed in Manhattan in the East Village, by way of an excellent site called airbnb. Folks with an extra room are able to rent it out B&B style. We stayed for under $100/night in the East Village in a great apartment, with really cool people (and a very cute Pomeranian). By sheer dumb luck, the apartment was revealed by the prior guests to be a couple blocks from Lula’s! So, within an hour of our arrival, Amy and I found ourselves at an all vegan ice cream shop, with more options than we knew what to do with. Amy got a sundae with strawberry cheesecake ice cream and cake batter-flavored softserve, with fudge, coconut whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry.

I went a slightly more boring route and got a double scoop cone with toffee crunch and cookies and cream. It may seem like a waste, but their ice cream–made from cashews–was so awesome that I wanted to enjoy super old-school style. When’s the last time you had an ice cream cone while walking around the city?

After our…errr…lunch, we headed up to Central Park and then the Met (Metropolitan Museum), which was like a small city. Be prepared to spend some time there. We spent a lot of time in the Egyptian tomb (they rebuilt an entire tomb in the museum) and the period rooms (a very cool window into how folks lived in America from its inception through the early 20th century).

A few blocks from the Met is Candle Cafe, the more affordable (though still not cheap) younger sibling of the famous Candle 79. We got the taco salad and the sesame crusted tofu, both of which were phenomenally awesome.

We also got the world’s best vegan quesadilla, made with their own cashew cheese. It was mind-blowing.

The next day, we stopped in at Ost for some coffee and then hit up the Guggenheim, Neue, and Whitney museums.

We saw more great work than would be reasonable to describe here, but some of the highlights were the Charles Burchfield show and Biennial retrospective at the Whitney, and the Sarah Anne Johnson, Markus Hansen, Walead Beshty, Julie Mehretu, and Stan Douglas at the Guggenheim.

We found ourselves, once again, very close to Candle Cafe, and with so much on the menu we had yet to try, it seemed like a good idea. This time we had the lasagna and the Tuscan Seitan Parmesan Sandwhich, both of which were very good, but not quite up to par with our previous night’s meal. We were very hungry (and perhaps a sheet or two to the wind), so no photos on this one.

We got drenched by a crazy storm on the way home. We brought umbrellas, of course, but it was pouring so hard (and didn’t start until we were already walking back to the apartment) that we still got soaked. The next day my shoes were still wet. Luckily, we were only about a mile from MooShoes. My trusty walking shoes (a hand-me-down pair of Saucony’s I got from my friend Jason in 2003) had more or less bit the dust (I was in less comfy Macbeths on this trip), so I replaced them with a vegan pair. Goodbye soggy feets!

We were starved, so we asked the clerk where to eat, MooShoes being a vegan shoe store and all. It turned out we were around the corner from BabyCakes bakery! Not only is everything vegan, it’s also totally allergen-free, super all-inclusive. Obviously, we couldn’t resist doughnuts.

To keep things healthy, we had some savory biscuits too. The staff was ultra friendly and gave us lots of recommendations on where else to eat in the city.

We continued exploring at a slower pace than the previous days. We were hoping to hit up the V-Spot in Brooklyn for dinner, but they’re closed on Mondays. Instead, we treated ourselves to a fancy (read: really pricey) raw meal at Pure Food and Wine. For an appetizer, we tried the Dr. Cow cheese plate. These have been really hyped up and were good, but not great. The texture was perfect, in terms of replicating the type of cheese you’d have on crackers, but the flavor wasn’t anything unexpected; we’ve had more interesting nut spreads, honestly. For our entrees, we got the porcini ravioli and the spanikopita, both of which were outstanding. We had their cheesecake for dessert, which was also bad-assed. This place somehow seemed a little too fancy for photos. So alas, you’ll have to use your imagination or try it yourself.

We headed back to Philly the next day, luckily, since our checkbook probably couldn’t have handled any more Manhattan dinners. Huzzah!

As you probably know, Amy spent the last three weeks in Philly at an artist residency at the Philadelphia Art Hotel (PAH) (whose most excellent proprietors Krista and Zak are both veg, btw!). You’ve seen the awesome Swedish pancakes they made. We also spent a little time out and about exploring and, of course, eating. After three weeks, Amy had learned the lay of the land and took me on a little tour.

One of our first stops downtown was the Reading Terminal Market–a huge indoor market with assorted shops and restaurants. Being in Philly, our first stop was the pretzel stand (the Pennsylvania Dutch [a bit of a misnomer--they came here as Germans--Deutsch] are known for their pretzels–be sure to ask for these without butter). This gave us just enough fuel to finish wandering and check out the Liberty Bell, which–unbelievably–was free. It’s nice to know there are a few elements of our heritage that have yet to be fully commercialized.

For some reason, I was expecting it to be much bigger.

Before our friend Shelby gave us a tour of the Paula Wilson and Mel Chin (Fundred Dollar Bill) shows at the Fabric Workshop, we headed back to the Terminal Market for a slightly larger meal, this time consisting of a vegan meatball hoagie and Philly cheesesteak sammich from Basic 4 Vegetarian Snack Bar.

The meatball hoagie was pretty good. The cheesesteak sammich was about how it looked: greasy and gross, but tasty. I don’t think we’d normally eat this type of stuff, but since we were in Philly, it seemed like the thing to do. Philly’s not famous for its salads.

Later that night, however, Amy surprised me with the best tapas (and sangria) we’ve ever had at Amada.

While not exclusively veg, they had a really good selection of veg options and the staff was very knowledgeable about what was vegan and/or could be made vegan. We got Ensalada Verde (green chopped salad, with asaparagus, favas, and green beans), Habas a la Catalana (warm fava and lima bean salad), Escalavida (roasted peppers, onions, eggplant, and tomatoes), Garbanzos con Espinacas (a chick pea and spinach curry), and Setas (a variety of AMAZING wild mushrooms). Our meal and service were outstanding.

On our last night in Philly, Amy took me to a local favorite, the Memphis Taproom. They serve a great variety of both local and non-local brews (apparently Pennsylvania, like Michigan, is a big time micro-brewing state). They’re menu featured a bunch of very clearly labeled vegan burgers and sides, all of which looked quite good (word has it that one of the owners is vegan). We went with the Smoked Coconut Club (grilled tofu & coconut bacon [yes, coconut bacon! it was awesome!]) and the Hefeweisen Hummus (with deep fried chick peas). The Club was truly something else. Shaved, smoked coconut as the bacon. Whoever invented that deserves a medal. Awesome. (Amy had this on four separate occasions.) Aside from the great food and beer, the staff were really nice, and Jawbreaker was playing on the stereo when we left.

I didn’t have a chance to check it out, but Amy and crew hit up North Bowl one night. Not only can you drink and bowl, bowl and drink, but you can get vegan buffalo wings! And portobello fries! And tater tots! If you have the time, definitely worth hitting up.

Let freedom ring.

As Mark mentioned I am currently at a residency at the Philadelphia Art Hotel, run by two amazing people, artists Krista Peel and Zak Starer. I am all set up in a the top floor of a row-house in the East Kensington neighborhood in a studio room adjacent to a kitchenette where, thankfully, I can once again prepare all of my own food. My fellow resident, Danielle Rante, and I are becoming fast friends, along with our other roomie, her dog Kanga.

Lo and behold, Danielle is vegan and Zak and Krista are vegetarian, so it was easy for us all to agree on a local eatery the other evening–the Memphis Taproom–which is in our neighborhood. They serve local beers on tap and have a great selection of vegan food on the menu, as the lady half of their operation is vegan. Danielle and I each got the yummy Smoked (Tofu) Coconut Club with fries.

As great as that meal was, it’s not really representative of how I’m eating here. I love getting to see how other (foodie) vegans prepare food for themselves, and Danielle is teaching me a lot in the health realm. At our house, we tend to eat a lot of starches- regular noodles and breads and decent quantities of them. I think of starch as one of my small indulgences. However, since Danielle and I have prepared some simple meals together–of mostly fresh produce and whole wheat pasta, for example–I realized how great (and how much better for me) whole wheat pasta, or sprouted grain bread can be.  One of my favorite new snacks I’ve learned from her is simply lightly toasted sprouted grain bread with part of an avocado smooshed on top, drizzled with some honey (we’re honey eaters) with a sprinkle of salt.

The (Mostly) Raw Kale Salad above was my lunch today.  I learned from Danielle to rub the kale with a bit of olive oil and salt and let it sit to soften it a bit while preparing the other veggies. This makes it easier to eat. This salad also has an herbed salad mix stirred in with the kale, chickpeas (the not-raw part), diced green onions, blueberries, shredded purple cabbage, half an avocado- chopped, carrots and some hummus on the side. In addition to the oil and salt, it has a dash of balsamic vinegar and some cranks from a pepper mill. It was perfect!

Whenever I travel, I like to check out the local beers (and liquors)–whether it be a new country or just a new city. Additionally, I like to try imported beers from neighboring-ish countries, apparently. In my zeal to grab a variety of Icelandic beers (you can buy them individually, I don’t drink that much), I also grabbed a variety of Danish beers (thanks to Monica for catching that!).

Occasionally, there are regional favorites that make their way across the country or globe, and sometimes they’re exclusively local treasures (or stinkers, case depending). While I tend to prefer a darker, heavier beer, I’ve rarely met a beer I didn’t like just a little. In my travels so far, I’ve found that most traditional European beers tend to be pilsners or lighter ales. Only the Scotch and Irish seem to share my predilection for dark beer. Iceland (and Denmark) seems no exception.

What’s interesting–and extremely exasperating about Iceland–is that its beer (and all alcohol) is (a) very expensive, and (b) is only available from government-run alcohol stores–vínbúðir–typically between the hours of 10am and 6pm (though lower alcohol versions of some beers are available at grocery stores). The price can be chalked up to sin tax (common to Norway and Denmark as well). The government regulation is more of a mystery. It seems a bit totalitarian, though allegedly over 60% of Icelanders are in favor of it. Despite this, it seems that binge drinking is fairly common on the weekends; folks drink at home until midnight and then go out to bars (in the summer, there’s full sun for 20 hours a day and it never gets darker than dusk).

I won’t take being able to grab a beer around the corner for granted anytime soon.

In any case, here’s the rundown:

Icelandic Beers

Thule

This is on par with the better canned pilsners I’ve had. Similar to the others, but slightly cleaner and sharper, like the Faxe (Danish). It doesn’t have that slightly cloying sweetness that most other Icelandic beers have. Thule, any northern Scandinavian island (i.e. Iceland or Greenland), but also a place beyond the borders of the known world–I don’t know that this beer is pushing any new boundaries, but it does eclipse the other Icelandic beers I’ve tried. It’s hard to say if this beer could wield Mjolnir, but I would wield it to drink.


Gull

There are a lot of sea gulls in Iceland. This innocuous beer is like the seagull–ubiquitous, nonthreatening, and unworthy of lengthy comment. Pretty much par for the Icelandic pilsner course.

Viking

This is the Icelandic MGD. It looks the same. It tastes the same. Thankfully, it doesn’t give me the same heartburn. This is a tad stronger than the others at a whopping 5.6% alcohol (this is monitored closely in Iceland, and determines price…I’d hate to think what my beloved Dirty Bastard would cost, coming in at 9% alcohol). Like MGD, this beer somehow compelled me to buy a 6-pack of it…would that I bought a sixer of Thule instead.

Danish Beers

Slots Pilsner

This tasted like a maltier version of PBR. But there were no century-old awards decorating the can, letting me know that I must be an asshole for finding it merely passable. If I had to choose between Slots and a punch in the face, I’d go with Slots any day. Actually, given the choice between Slots and nothing, I’d also choose Slots. Did choose, in fact. Truly, not a bad beer by any stretch, but at roughly $2/can from the store, I wasn’t impressed.

Thor

So this one really tasted like PBR–which was kind of nice after the Slots. No maltiness, no aftertaste, just regular old canned pilsner adequacy. Though with a name like Thor, I did it love slightly more than a friend. If Pabst were called Thor, I would never drink another beer.

Faxe

This was a slightly more bitter version of the others. Perhaps they used one additional hop. I would go as far to say, it wasn’t worth importing. What was the fossil fuel cost of bringing this boring beer over the ocean? We could probably ask this of many imports, worldwide.

Tuborg

More of the same. Every beer here is PBR, but hidden in different cans. Perhaps it’s the can that lends canned beer that not-so-delicious in-the-can taste? Would all this beer taste different in bottles? I don’t even think you can get most of this beer in bottles. Given this beer’s almost identical taste and inferior name, I’d choose Thor any day. Could this beer wield the mighty Mjolnir?

The Consensus

It’s Thule by a mile. Almost everything else was identical. There are a few bottled beers (one from the Faroe Islands) that I probably won’t get to sample, but as far as the standard canned beers go, this my official list. If you’re here for just a day and only sample a single beer, I hope this can be of some use.

Okay, so this isn’t Iceland yet–we had a 9 hour layover in Boston (there’s pretty much only one airline that goes to Iceland, and it only leaves twice a day, and only from a few cities, and flying to Boston at night is $300/person more than flying there in the morning), so we decided to make the most of it and hang out in the city all day instead of staying cooped up in the airport.

Both the airport and the train system are really easy to navigate, so we actually ended up with lots of time to explore and even to fit a delicious meal in (which is good, since Iceland Air doesn’t provide a meal). Fortuitously, it was Memorial Day–and I can’t think of a cooler place to be (maybe Philly?). Boston was the basin in which the American Revolution was fomented, and the final resting place of such heroes as Paul Revere and Sam Adams.

Above: Brewer. Patriot. (left) A tribute to the fallen soldiers of Mass. (right)

On our way to the Commons, we stumbled upon the Granary Burying Ground. After checking out the Granary Burying Ground, we headed over to My Thai, an all vegan thai restaurant, for a late lunch. It was a little overwhelming having a menu with like 100 things we could choose from. I’ve actually come to appreciate the sort of clarity a paucity of choice can often provide. We tried to pick stuff that we can’t normally get at our local thai place–so we decided on wonton soup, thai basil salad, pad kee maow with assorted faux meats, and bubble tea.

Let me just ask first off: Why in tarnation did nobody tell me about bubble tea?! Amy got thai tea and I got mango. It was phenomenal. For those who haven’t been initiated, bubble tea (at least My Thai’s bubble tea) is coconut milk, balls of tapioca, and tea, fruit, or both. It’s thick and rich, and comes with a giant straw, through which you inhale marble-sized tapioca balls.

Now you know.

The next delight was the wonton soup–another heretofore untold treasure. This was also stellar. You pretty much have to find a specialized shop to get a vegan wonton, let alone a vegan wonton soup. This one had a clear broth that seemed almost preternaturally flavorful. You can’t see the flavor. Where does it come from?

The thai basil salad came out next, followed in quick succession by the pad kee maow.

While both were decent, neither blew me away. It was nice to get a kee mau that didn’t suffer from its lack of fish sauce, and the faux meats were tasty enough, but I think we’ve gotten to a point where ersatz meats aren’t really a big attraction any more–certainly not enough to carry a dish (a faux pas–ugh…was that pun avoidable?–committed by many vegan Asian restaurants). The salad was good, but was roughly half lemon grass–not nearly enough fresh greens.

We headed back to the Commons to check out the pond and relax a little bit (as seen above), then hit the streets of downtown to get a feel for the city a bit. We popped in and out of a few shops and then relaxed at Ciao Bella with a pitcher of sangria and some high-grade people watching.

It’s amazing what a little booze and a lot of people can teach you about a city in a short amount of time.

Post-sangria, it was time to head back to airport, then off to Iceland (where I am currently composing this post). More on our Icelandic adventures soon!

Speaking of vegan pizzas…we ate out with some friends the other night at the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe & Brewery. Word had it that a person could get a pizza with soy cheese. While the word was correct, the word failed to mention that this was the bogus variety of soy cheese that’s made with…well…cheese. Can someone tell me why this product even exists?

Conventional wisdom would suggest that non-vegan soy cheese must be for either (a) people who want a marginally healthier cheese, or (b) folks who are lactose intolerant (non-vegan soy cheese typically has casein and sometimes even rennet, but not lactose). Unconventional wisdom, however, would suggest that non-vegan soy cheese exists to trick vegans. How many fledgling vegans have picked this up thinking–as any rational person would–that soy cheese  = vegan cheese? Or more likely, how many kindly friends and family members have picked this up for their vegans (this, I would argue, is probably the lion’s share of the non-vegan soy cheese market)? How many of us have been enticed and/or fooled by pizza with this crap? Now compare those numbers to the number of people how knowingly bought it.

At the very least, it seems reasonable to ask these companies to rename their soy cheese to something like 2% cheese or mostly not cheese (but just a little) or The Ultimate ‘Fuck You’ to Vegans ™. Why not just make it vegan and greatly increase the number of people who can consume it? Vegan cheese keeps getting better–Daiya melts just as well as the non-vegan varieties of faux cheese, tastes just as good–if not better, certainly won’t aggravate anyone’s lactose intolerance, and is probably healthier (at minimum it contains less cholesterol). The answer is probably that it would be either (a) more difficult, (b) more work, or (c) both.

I suppose it’s unreasonable to expect a company that presumably is enjoying some small profit to quit what they’re doing. The cost of changing their recipe may not be commensurate with what they’d get back. But I’d at least like to entreat restaurants who use this stuff to switch to a vegan variety. The minimal addition in cost greatly increases the number of people who can eat it. Additionally, it’s more honest. If we hadn’t made a point of asking, I’m sure the Jolly Pumpkin would have served us their not-quite-vegan pizza. What really burns me is that they’re clearly thinking of folks’ dietary needs; they even have gluten free crust! Why leave out the vegans?

This is what I e-mailed them:

Hello! My wife and I stopped in to the Ann Arbor restaurant last week–first off, let me say that the beer was excellent. The restaurant looks great too. We did have two small concerns, however. You offer a pizza with soy cheese–but this cheese isn’t vegan. This (a) excludes us vegans (and there are quite a few of us around here) and (b) is potentially misleading. If we hadn’t asked specifically (and a major thanks goes to our server for knowing the answer to this question), we may have eaten the pizza, assuming it was vegan. The great thing about vegan cheese is that it caters to the lactose intolerant, health conscious, and vegan alike. The other (very small) issue was that the soy cheese wasn’t on the menu; we learned about it from friends. Why not highlight this? I’d imagine beer and vegan pizza would be very popular with local vegans.

Daiya (http://www.daiyafoods.com/) currently seems to be the most popular brand of faux cheese (it’s soy-free too). Folks would probably be relatively happy with Follow Your Heart (http://www.followyourheart.com/products.php?id=25) as well, which has the advantage of being available in smaller retail quantities.

Thanks so much for your attention to this issue! Keep up the fine beers!

Thus ends my rant.

I know what you’re thinking–”oh, another recipe for vegan pizza…” Incorrect! I’m talking about College Inn, a local family-owned pizzeria that serves vegan pizza–complete with vegan cheese and pepperoni. Score 1 for Ypsilanti, MI!

We don’t spend a lot of time celebrating restaurants here on IR, but I think it’s worth actually looking at this phenomenon for a moment. This is the kind of service and care you can generally only expect from a local business, not a chain. Think about it; why do all of our (and this will depend on where you live, I’m sure) local coffee shops offer soymilk but a corporate behemoth like McDonald’s ™ doesn’t? (I guess it could also be that most vegans wouldn’t touch McDo with a 10 foot pole.) With the exception of Starbucks ™, most coffee chains don’t offer soymilk. Similarly, you wouldn’t expect Pizza Hut ™ to offer vegan pizzas anytime soon. But what about someone like Papa John’s ™, who have actually expressed a modicum of concern for their potential vegan customers? Are they researching this? Probably not. How many of use would have to email them before they even looked into vegan cheese?

Conversely, how many people had to ask College Inn before they looked? One. One single person–our friend Matt. Matt works at a local screen printing  shop, VGKids, whose staff is probably at least 50% veg*n (score 2 Ypsilanti). So word could spread pretty quickly that a bonafied vegan pizza could be had. College Inn, because they genuinely–and personally–care about their customers, just scored the total devotion of an entire market. If you’re vegan in Ypsi, you wouldn’t think of getting pizza anywhere else. Take note business owners.

What’s really impressive, though, is that they haven’t rested on their laurels. They’re always looking for more vegan toppings, better vegan cheeses, and asking us for our feedback. They’ve switched cheeses a number of times–starting with Follow Your Heart ™, moving on to Teese ™, and currently using (we think) Daiya ™. If Daiya ™ is indeed what they’re currently using, then I recommend it whole-heartedly. Follow Your Heart ™ tastes great, but melts poorly. Teese ™ melted kinda weird and tasted terrible (sorry Chicago Soy Dairy!). When they made the switch to Teese ™ and we picked up our pizza, Annette (who is awesome) let us know they’d switched and asked us to call her after we’d eaten to give them feedback, which we did. For a while it seemed that the vegan community was mixed, slightly in favor of Teese ™. We weren’t having it, so the owner, Nick, actually brought out both cheeses and had us conduct a taste-test, concerned that we weren’t happy with his pizza. Just last night Annette asked us about other toppings, and I mentioned vegan sausage. She’s going to call me when it’s in. Who does this?!

A local family business that’s invested in its customers, that’s who. Praise of College Inn aside, I think there are some interesting lessons here:

• Because they’re small, local businesses can better respond to their customers and communities. It’s easy for College Inn to make a a menu or ingredient change, but hard for Pizza Hut.
• Also because they’re small, local businesses can build a personal relationship with their customers. It’s like Cheers; sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name (and they’re always glad you came).
• Sometimes, all you have to do is ask. It’s easy to lament your lack of vegan options, but sometimes just as easy to ask for them. Another of our favorite local establishments, Beezy’s, makes sure to have a vegan soup pretty much every day (and Bee even posts the soups to Facebook). Even if they can’t meet your needs right away, if enough folks ask, a business will realize (a) that it’s profitable to carry vegan stuff and (b) that we vegans can be very devoted if shown some love. If nothing else, it gets the word ‘vegan’ out there. Which is preferable, having to ask about dairy, stock, meat, fish oil, etc, or asking “Is it vegan?”

So buy local and speak up! Thanks College Inn! Thanks Beezy’s!

I’ve been a naughty vegan, and it’s time to mend my ways. Farewell Bogle!

So, this being the Vegan Month of Food and all, what better time than now to talk about drinking vegan? It kind of makes sense–I’m normally obsessed with food, so Vegan MoFo’s focus on food isn’t really a change of pace for me. What is a change of pace is getting in touch with this gigantic community. I feel like I’ve had my head in the sand for years.

And I’ve been resting on my laurels. My vegan sire (you know, that person or those people who helped you become vegan) was pretty hardcore, so I learned a pretty hardline brand of veganism–one that encompassed not just food, but drink. It turns out a few beers and most wines aren’t vegan. Who would’ve thunk it? When this was brought to my attention, I pretty much ditched wine en masse. Over the years, though, I’ve gotten soft like Rocky in Rocky III. And it took Vegan MoFo, like a gentle Mr. T as Clubber Lane, to help me snap out of it.

It worked for Amy and me how it works for a lot of folks, I’d imagine:

We used to bring our own wine to events that demanded–demanded I say!–wine. To folks who don’t understand your choices, this can often seem a bit snooty. So then we would just try to stick to beer. I think it was ultimately the art scene that undid us. Not every gallery is as cool as, say, Three Walls, and serves PBR from a garbage can filled with ice. Most serve wine. Now, the obvious answer here is to not drink. Well, the second most obvious answer, the first clearly being a flask filled with Wild Turkey. I can’t even remember the first time I just said “screw it” and drank wine that I wasn’t certain about. But that’s how it starts–”we don’t know that this wine isn’t vegan”. So much for ethics.

After a while, this becomes “we don’t care if this wine isn’t vegan”. And pretty soon, you find yourself buying wines that you’ve recently enjoyed, without even checking your list. Well, I checked the list a few nights ago for our current favorite, Bogle, which is decidedly NOT vegan. So this isn’t even freegan. Oh, the shame.

That being said, I certainly acknowledge that veganism has a few lines that are a little blurry–questions of second-hand leather, honey, good products from bad companies, etc. But wine often has egg whites, gelatin, or both. Not so blurry.

As part of surfing vegan blogs during the MoFo action, I stumbled upon Barnivore. And I felt shame, dear readers, true shame. In the words of Johnny Cash using the words of Sting, I hung my head, I hung my head.

But.

Now is the time to recommit to drinking vegan. Are you with me? Well…maybe you were already there.

Strangely, I’ve become increasingly committed over the last several years to buying local. So part of this new commitment involves contacting local wineries about their wines and using this info to help keep Barnivore up-to-date. I’ll be compiling a list of vegan Michigan wines (and encourage other folks to do the same for their areas). Additionally, I intend to keep a “wine diary” of sorts, with some thoughts on which vegan wines are good and which should be avoided.

Which is all an awful lot of work for someone who prefers whiskey. Consider this my Vegan MoFo confession. What’s yours?

P.S. Anyone have any recommendations? We’re especially keen on red zinfandel right now.

P.P.S.  I made a printable list of vegan wines from Barnivore–you can print it two-sided and fold it, to have with you at all wine-buying/drinking occasions.