social | Vegan Girl Swag

I know there are TONS of vegan restaurants all over the place. Unfortunately, I don’t have time or resources to eat at all of them. These are some of my favs.

1. Cafe Gratitude- (Los Angeles, San Rafael, Oakland, Berkeley, Healdsburg, San Francisco, Cupertino) Wide selection of raw vegan and cooked vegan foods. Served with love, you will leave feeling great. Cafe Gratitude is not just a restaurant, it is a mindset and a lifestyle. Embrace it. Try I am whole, I am cool, I am transformed, I am hearty. Also try I am awakening- the best key lime pie EVER!!!

2. Jyun Kang Restaurant- (City of 10000 Buddhas, Ukiah, CA) Get the vegetable squares. They are actually circles and they are sooooo flippin’ good. All of their house specialties are also off the hook. Vegan food made by monks?? How can you go wrong??

3. 33 degrees/The Fix for Foodies- (Nevada City, CA) Ok, so maybe this place is run by Masons (I asked them, they had a story, but basically the grandpa is a 33rd degree mason), but the food is amazing. It’s raw vegetarian, so if you are a vegan, make sure you specify when you order. The pizzas are bomb and the vanilla durian shake is sooooooo good.

4. Follow Your Heart- (Canoga Park, CA) This was my very first experience at a totally veggie restaurant when I was 16, and I have been hooked ever since. A little restaurant inside of a little natural foods market that has been in the same location for decades. The melted cheese sandwich is awesome (get it with onions and bacon bits) and the nachos are super yummy. Another vegetarian restaurant, so if you are vegan, just let them know! Almost everything is vegan optional.

5. Real Food Daily- (West Hollywood, Santa Monica) Not only is it awesome organic, vegan food but it’s a hip joint in the middle of LA, prime for celeb watching. I personally have seen the likes of Steve-O, Tobey Maguire, Amanda Peet, Mike White, Matisyahu and some others that I just can’t remember right now. They have the best waffles I have ever had on Sundays, and the Real Food Burger with the works is amazing. Get a mutt juice too and be sexy with all the celebs.

6. Wildflower Cafe- (Arcata, CA) A cute vegetarian restaurant with some awesome french toast in the mornings and delicious tempeh tacos in the evening. It’s vegetarian, but almost everything is vegan optional, so vegans speak up!!

7. Kind Kreme- (Echo Park, Studio City) I was so happy when I discovered this place. I think it was founded by the daughter of one of the owners of Cafe Gratitude, and you can tell. Both places share a happy loving vibe, but all Kind Kreme has to offer is ICE CREAM!!! Amazing delicious raw vegan soft serve ice cream!!!! And it is so good. Oh man. So good.

8. Sun Power Natural Cafe- (Studio City, CA) Delicious raw, vegan food, literally right around the corner from Kind Kreme. Make it a one stop deal, hit them both up. Pretty much everything here is amazing. Also get a box of their cookies to go. I like the fruit burst flavor.

9. M Cafe- (Hollywood, CA) This place is macrobiotic, so that means it is totally vegan and mostly gluten free EXCEPT they also serve fish. Other than that, everything is vegan. They have a great selection of foods from the cold case, like kale salad, soba noodles and veggie sushi, as well as great stuff off the regular menu, like the California club sandwich. They also have amazing French toast on weekends, and really yummy juices. For dessert, the crumb cake is amazing and the cupcakes make me want to punch someone they are so damn good.

10. Rahel Ethiopian Vegan Cuisine- (Little Ethiopia, CA) This place is so good, and the owner Rahel is amazing herself. I come here for the lunch buffet before 3:00 pm, or the millenium special. The bread, which is called injera, is really yummy but can be very filling, so I usually get my meals with rice instead of the injera. My favorite items are the red lentils, whole lentils, pumpkin, and cabbage. So amazing.

Ok I know I said 10, but there is one more place I almost forgot….
11. Inaka- (Los Angeles, CA) This place has the best japanese food I have ever had. It is another macrobiotic place, so they serve fish but everything else is vegan and gluten free. I like to get the Inaka plate, which has a little bit of everything. Also the veggie combination lets you pick your favorites like hijiki, daikon, kabocha, gobo and lotus (my picks ) They also have really cool literature here from the Happiness Science Temple, so pick up a free leaflet while you are there and read it. It’s just some cool uplifting stuff.

Change your diet, change your thoughts, change your life. Be happy, be grateful, be sexy. Life is love.

Just over the last week or so I have been asked twice about the cost of being vegan. Over the last few years, I have been asked innumerable times “Isn’t it expensive to be vegan?” Being the fucking smartass that my dad raised me to be, I usually answer back something like “Isn’t a triple bypass expensive?”

But what it really comes down to is, no. Being vegan is not expensive. There are things associated with being vegan that can be expensive, like eating out, buying prepacked vegan meals and buying organic produce at farmers markets. Yes, those things can be expensive. But you know what is not expensive? Rice. Beans. Most of the world subsists on these completely. What else is not expensive? Carrots. Lettuce. Tofu is significantly cheaper per pound than meat.

Learning how to cook is one of the best things you can do for yourself, for your wallet, for the earth. You can make a healthful meal at home to take with you to work or school that costs significantly less than it would cost to eat out. Not only that, but bringing meals from home in reusable tupperware rather than disposable to-go or delivery meals lowers your carbon footprint. It’s like giving mother earth a hug.

You do begin to see a rising cost when you start shopping for organic produce and vegan “meats,” but there are ways to shop smart and to stretch your budget (I will talk about this in a later blog). I think the real cost for many people is not the actually financial cost that comes with being vegan, but the social cost. Once able to enjoy the late night chili cheese nacho runs with your friends, now afraid to sit out, alone, with a stick of celery, assuring everyone you much rather prefer this over the pile of nachos. There is fear of being ostracized for being different, and feeling left out of certain events, places, whatever. That I understand, and to those people I say, confidence is everything, but if you are not ready to face the world armed with carrot sticks and hummus, then consider your other options, like being vegetarian. You can still enjoy pizza and nachos and In-N-Out grilled cheese with the rest of the gang, and make a positive impact in your world.

Another thing to consider is where you are spending your money, and put a real value on it. How much do you spend on your television bill every month? New clothes and shoes? Movies? Is it worth it? Can you put a value on your health and the health of the planet?

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