hi, i just moved from chicago to LA
i dont have a lot of friends :( haha lame

hi, i just moved from chicago to LA
i dont have a lot of friends :( haha lame

Can you come to the meetup on Saturday? You already know some of us, sorta. :D

Anyone know of a farmer's market in Orange County? I'm slightly new to the area. I usually get my shopping done in Tustin's Whole Foods Market or Ralphs. I've only lived in cities and the idea of a farmer's market is new to me. One of my friends is telling me to check them out if I can find any. I live in the city of Orange and I'd prefer not to have to drive too far, but even to just check one out I'll go out of my way if need be.

Zasko, you can check for market locations here:

http://www.cafarmersmarkets.com/search/

Farmers markets are GREAT! Happy shopping!

Thank you, Karen! This is exactly what I was looking for. Bookmarked! :D

hi, i just moved from chicago to LA
i dont have a lot of friends :( haha lame

i live in the valley. where in LA do you live? you can message me on AIM (MichaelWeber384) if you'd like.


i'm not in California, so I don't really belong in this thread (*ducks*), but had to pop in to say throw_aways and anyone else in the LA metro area, make the trek to Tarzana to check out Madeleine Bistro!!!! It's completely vegan and awesome.

http://www.madeleinebistro.com/

I was out there recently and had both brunch and dinner at Madeleine and they were AMAZING. Two of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten. This is my favorite veg restaurant I've ever been to (and I've been to many).

yeah, i should go there some time. its kind of pricey, so i've been waiting till i had a good reason to go (something to celebrate, a date, something).

thanks for the link though. i kinda forgot about that place

have you thought about there is a vegetarian fast food restaurant around our neighborhood?

Hi I'm from San Diego County

Hi I'm from San Diego County
Welcome, you should be able to find people nearby in this thread.:nana: :nana:

Hi I'm from San Diego County

Hi! I'm way north of you, in Santa Monica. :hi:

Attention sacramentans:
Whole Foods on Arden Way is having Vegan Day this Saturday - complete with free samples, free wine tasting, and free cooking classes!

Check it out: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/calendars/ARD.html
Scroll down a little. You need to sign up for the cooking in advance, which I just did. Hurry! =)

Hi im in Riverside! Anyone near??

I know that you posted a couple of months ago but I'm in Banning. I actually grew up in Riverside.

Hi I'm new (to this board and vegetarianism). I'm in San Diego.

Hi I'm new (to this board and vegetarianism). I'm in San Diego.

Another San Diegan! :hi: I REALLY think a road trip to SD is in order. ;)

Welcome, I'm in Santa Monica. :vebo: :nana:

Just joined and I'm located in LA. Highland Park, just north of downtown to be more specific. Hello.

-Kevin

Yay! another Angeleno! Welcome! :hi:

Hello from Hollywood.

Thanks for the greetings. As a warning for fellow So Cal-ers:

Thursday, June 15th two LivingVegan.org members decided to follow up on something a former employee of the "Vegan" chains of restaurants told them, that some of the menu items were not vegan.

The "Vegan" chains we refer to are any restaurant in LA that have the word vegan in their title (e.g. Truly Vegan, Vegan Express, California Vegan). They are all owned by one family and all have very similar, if not identical menus.

To the point: Vegan Express, California Vegan, and Hollywood Vegan are all serving food which is NOT VEGAN!

At each one of these restaurants the staff revealed ingredient lists which showed whey in several items, and California Vegan all but refused polite requests to prove what was in the food they were serving. At Hollywood Vegan (also called 'Green Leaves') their response to being shown that they serve items with whey in them was, "it doesn't matter, it's only a little bit."

On the bright side, Vegan Glory confirmed successfully that their menu is in fact Vegan. Truly Vegan did not have packaging and ingredient lists available today, but promised them for LivingVegan.org tomorrow. Stay Tuned.

More updates and links to accounts to follow at LivingVegan.org.

The staff of LivingVegan.org has considered having "LivingVegan.org Certified" restaurants, and vegan-friendly menus for restaurants that aren't solely vegan. We would need some people to help with this, and spend time inquiring at restaurants. For restaurants that aren't completely vegan, we have thought for some time that we could create menus and host them on our website, illustrating what is truly vegan. Please contact us if you are interested in helping, or have ideas that you think would be of use to others.

Signed,

The Staff of LivingVegan.org

Thanks for the greetings. As a warning for fellow So Cal-ers:

Thursday, June 15th two LivingVegan.org members decided to follow up on something a former employee of the "Vegan" chains of restaurants told them, that some of the menu items were not vegan.

The "Vegan" chains we refer to are any restaurant in LA that have the word vegan in their title (e.g. Truly Vegan, Vegan Express, California Vegan). They are all owned by one family and all have very similar, if not identical menus.

To the point: Vegan Express, California Vegan, and Hollywood Vegan are all serving food which is NOT VEGAN!

At each one of these restaurants the staff revealed ingredient lists which showed whey in several items, and California Vegan all but refused polite requests to prove what was in the food they were serving. At Hollywood Vegan (also called 'Green Leaves') their response to being shown that they serve items with whey in them was, "it doesn't matter, it's only a little bit."

On the bright side, Vegan Glory confirmed successfully that their menu is in fact Vegan. Truly Vegan did not have packaging and ingredient lists available today, but promised them for LivingVegan.org tomorrow. Stay Tuned.

More updates and links to accounts to follow at LivingVegan.org.

The staff of LivingVegan.org has considered having "LivingVegan.org Certified" restaurants, and vegan-friendly menus for restaurants that aren't solely vegan. We would need some people to help with this, and spend time inquiring at restaurants. For restaurants that aren't completely vegan, we have thought for some time that we could create menus and host them on our website, illustrating what is truly vegan. Please contact us if you are interested in helping, or have ideas that you think would be of use to others.

Signed,

The Staff of LivingVegan.org

oy vey. :stinkeye:

oy vey. :stinkeye:

I tried California Vegan once and thought it was bad, so I never bothered to go back, or try any of the "sister" restaurants. Sounds like that's a good thing.

-Kevin

<sigh> I have to say, I'm not all that surprised. Prepared foods from Asian countries/companies so often have dubious ingredient lists, and that's where most of those mock meats come from. I'm glad someone is checking into it, as that might send a message up the line that vegan consumers are serious about wanting totally animal-free products.

Thanks for the info, kevinLA.

Frak. I eat there a lot. I bet it's the soy analogs with the whey in them. Doubt it's in anything else. If you avoid those, I bet you'd be okay, but that really does suck. I know the owner. I will be sure to press him on this the next I see him.

One more argument for eating whole foods....

Bummer.

What I don't like is that if you look at the flyers at 'California Vegan' it says 'Organic" which things OBVIOUSLY aren't! Well, GT's Kombucha is, but nothing else is. I have been there when they are bringing the food in and it is certainly NOT 'organic' :mad:

i think its important to find out whether its totally vegan or not so that they are not false advertising, etc.

in the end though, since there's no such thing as a 100% vegan (car/bike tires glues in all sorts of things, the killing of bugs all the time, the occasional killing of animals even in organic vegetable farming, everything we do that hurts the environment, etc etc etc) i would never stop going to the restaurant cuz its not 100% vegan. its still a million times better than almost any other rstaurant and its worth supporting. i am a vegan, but i would rather support a great business that may not be 100% vegan than say, support the ****face juliano at Raw even if his restaurant is vegan

vegan express's cowboy burger is my favorite food in the whole world.

but i would rather support a great business that may not be 100% vegan than say

I'll agree with you there. But they should just call themselves "California/Hollywood Vegetarian" instead.

But when confronted, the "it doesn't matter, it's only a little bit of dairy" attitude sucks.

-Kevin