My first trip to a health food store!

[grain_girl]

I know I sound like such a dork, but I was so excited! I felt like a kid in a candy store! I bought some almond butter, a balance and luna bar, cranberry orange oatmeal, strawberry silk yogurt, almond milk, Amy's tofu scrambler, a dairy free chocolate bar, (mom ate it ;) ) and these cookies I wanted to tell you guys about, I know I'm probably late, and you've all heard of them, but they're by Sun Flour Baking Company. They were called 'Snickerdoodle' and they were soooo good! And fat free! AND no dairy or eggs!! I highly reccomend them! Definitely the kind of thing that could make me go vegan! :D

Oh, and the silk yogurt was great too!

Just wanted to share! :)

[zimngir]

I think I have them and they are called Alternative Baking Company who are also a vegan cookie company. I make the clones of them from Chef Deb's recipe.

I do love new grocery stores and I am looking forward to my fist trip to Whole Foods in Charlottsville. I am going there in July, which is peach picking season. I can't wait!

Shannon,
Foodie

[mushroom]

Well, I got very excited the first time that I went to a vegan restaurant..."I can have anything I want! Yippy!"

[Oatmeal]

Congratulations! My first time was not much different - all the excitement and discoveries!

I was glad to hear you bought some Oatmeal!

:D

[Oatmeal]

BTW, go vegan!! :)

[Loki]

lol mushroom. My first vegetarian restaurant was three months ago, and I thought "Woohoo - I don't hav to scrutinise the menu! Everything is okay!" and it was a bit hippy-ish, so I got some mixed fruit juice, (awesome) a bean burrito (good) and some carrot cake (great) and i ate it. Then there's the vegetarian fast food place I went to in manchester's trafford centre. They had falafel.

I'm usually a paranoid dude, so I take a minimalist approach to eating, where i only eat the basics, because all the frills may have some kind of meat in it, so I just took the tomatoes out of the pitta (I don't like tomatoes) and took a huge bite. I wouldn't usually do this. (I'm weird)

And my first trip to a HFS, I didn't know what was what. I felt awkward, since I'm a young bloke, and there was an old couple near me arguing about the sugar content in something. I didn't get much - Just some cashews and some vegan gummi bears. It felt weird. I was more secure going in the second time. (These places are odd.)

[Muzicfan]

My first trip to the co-op will be next week or so. I probably will be doing the same thing.

[skarrlett]

I'm so jealous. My HFS is crappy. They have one kind of vegan cheese.. but it was moldy. There's very little vegan stuff there. Loblaws actually has a much better selection that the HFS.

[epski]

Nothing dorky about feeling like there's a business out there that "gets" you. I've been wanting to open a "brick and mortar" vegan emporium for a while now, but the numbers don't add up, unfortunately, and I have no desire to run an internet-only business. There's nothing like walking into an actual store and knowing that everything you see is cruelty-free and hand-picked for quality.

[grain_girl]

I'll probably faint if I ever step food into a completely veg restaurant! How nice would that be? Not having to worry about hidden ingredients! *Sigh* Put me on with the list of people who will open a veg restaurant one day! :D

Hey Oatmeal - I really am considering it... but have a cocern that I'm fixing to address over on the Vegan/Vegetarian boards... ;)

[epski]

My first trip to an all-vegan restaurant, I was still paranoid. The server was very patient answering all my questions about whether or not something had dairy or egg in it. :)

Now I can order with abandon!

[piglet]

I went to an all-vegan place just recently, and I was so excited!:D I made a thread about it in the Veggie Patch.

[Muzicfan]

Originally posted by grain_girl
I'll probably faint if I ever step food into a completely veg restaurant! How nice would that be? Not having to worry about hidden ingredients! *Sigh* Put me on with the list of people who will open a veg restaurant one day! :D



There is a vegan little restaurant here and I do not worry about the quality of the food. When I go out there, it always makes me think of the hippy people, cause that is the vibe there.

[eggplant]

I'm moving to Tucson next month and I'm so excited. There are three Wild Oats markets there, and several veggie restaurants! Yay!

[DirtDiva]

Wild Oats stores are great.. unfortunately I don't have any near me in the Inland Empire area of CA. There's one in Long Beach that I've been to with my brother and sister in law who's vegan.. and I was just standing there with my eyes popping out of my head for a few minutes before I realized how much I was blocking the doorway. :eek:

I have a Clark's Nutritional store down the street from my condos but they are very expensive so I don't shop there much.

I wish someone would open a vegan restaurant here though.. nothing here like that either. :( You entrepeneurs out there.. let me know when you're going to start your restaurant here in Redlands and I'll scout locations for you! I have never even been to a vegan place to eat since there's none around me.

[epski]

Native Foods is opening a location in Costa Mesa, of all places. They need to open one up near Hollywood, then they have my blessing to open one up in Redlands!

[Walter]

I love this thread. It's really great seeing people getting excited about vegetarian foods and trying new things and going into the unique world of HFSs.

The first time I went to a HFS I bought a bag of peanuts, a pint of Rice Dream, and a dark chocolate candy bar. I had a great afternoon. :D

The first time I had ever had tempeh and a fruit spritzer was when Helen and Steve from the vegan outreach boards met me at a small vegetarian restaurant in Montpelier and bought my meal.

Coincidentally, they also bought me my first No Chicken Noodle Soup by Amy's which is in another thread in this forum. What great people!

I wish I knew where they went to.