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How veggie-friendly is your hometown?

6K views 42 replies 30 participants last post by  Lux_ 
#1 ·
How veggie/vegan-friendly is your hometown?

Maidstone is alright, with one excellent vegetarian restaurant and two health food shops, however I really hope that a wider range of vegan-friendly businesses will open up in the future.

I love visiting Brighton, there are so many vegan-friendly shops and restaurants there, it's amazing. I wish all towns had it as easy as they do! I've heard that Glasgow is the best in the UK, but I've never been so can't back that up with experience.

Would be interested to hear what your experiences are with other UK towns and cities. :)
 
#2 ·
I'm in a small town, less than 1000 people. Our local grocery is small, and the only veg*n product they have is soy- and almond-milk. Once a month, I travel 35-miles to a bigger city to stock up on my Vegan needs. I also order from online. People here aren't vegan unfriendly. I think they regard it as a curiosity.
 
#3 ·
I live in a small town in the mountains in Arizona.....it was slim pickings here until about a year ago. Since we are considered a tourist vacation spot, we recently got s Sprouts and a Trader Joe's....to keep up with them, our local grocery store now has a decent sized veg*n section. Restaurants here are not as vegan friendly. A few of them offer veggie burgers, but the burgers are not vegan. Usually its a salad or French fry kind of meal..
 
#4 ·
For a city of 750k people, Leeds is poor for veg*ns having only 3 veg*n restaurants + 1 small daytime veg*n bistro, despite having a very large student population. There are quite a lot of Indian/Pakistani/Thai restaurants though, where veg*n meals are available. Brighton, 220 miles away with only a third of the population, seems a lot more veg*n friendly, as confirmed by the OP.
 
#6 ·
I live in Worthing...There is a Holland and Barrett/ Sainsbury's/ Tesco/ Lidl so buying vegan food is easy...It is only 12 miles along the coast from Brighton so I go there to get vegan shoes/ coats/ belts :)
 
#7 ·
I live in a mid size city (about 80K) in the north. Up here local tradition is strong...hunting, fishing, dog sled races and local farming/grass fed meat/poultry is a big deal. But so is harvesting of wild rice, and apple festivals, and local organic produce and community gardens. And as many have been against the wolf hunt issue here as those for it.

There are a few restaurants up here that cater specifically to vegans...Pizza Luce, Duluth Grill, Burrito Union, Sara's Table are a few that have at least three or more vegan menu items (above and beyond garden salad or side dish of rice or vegetables lol). We have a Whole Foods Coop that has some vegan fare, including nutritional yeast, tempeh, vegan ice cream and so on. There is a small hole in the wall vitamin/supplement store called Betty's Health Foods up here that doesn't get much advertisement but has great vegan vitamins and supplements, including the elusive D2 ergocalciferol and all vegan calcium and DHA. The Whole Foods Coop up here does not even sell D2, but to their credit they finally started selling vegan D3 so no more having to order online. I happily added Betty Lous to the Happy Cow database online for my city. They also sell vegan protein powders and cosmetics/cleaning supplies/toiletries. A few grocery stores are starting to carry more vegan friendly toiletries and cleaning supplies as well as vegan specialty foods like soy/coconut/almond yogurts, more varieties of plant milks, Beyond Meat products, and organic produce without wax on it. There are also some community centers and of course the Whole Foods Coop that host plant based cooking classes and most run by long term vegans. There are no vegan or even vegetarian meet ups up here though. Once not too long ago there was a special exclusive vegan dinner night being offered at one of the more expensive restaurants here but the dinner was $60 per plate and beyond my price range. Someday when I get the motivation and means I would like to try starting a vegan meet up here. I tried years ago with no luck.

I live three hours from Minneapolis/St. Paul area which is HUGE for vegan meetups, animal rights groups and events (including Vegfest), and vegan restaurants and stores. I don't have a chance to get down there often, but when I do it is like heaven on earth shopping in some of their more progressive stores lol and getting to talk to passionate vegans :). There is nothing you can't find there. I never liked marshmallows much, but when I saw that they had vegan marshmallows there I bought some just because lol. And kelp noodles too...Usually I live much more simply though. It's almost a good thing my options are limited up here because it forces me to live more humbly and healthy.
 
#8 ·
Hometown - 0%. There is literally only a post office and a general store and the only food at the store are eggs, milk, hoop cheese, and some convenience meals that always have dead animals and their secretions. It was a 30-45 minute drive to the nearest grocery store, which would have more options (yay beans! yay fresh produce!) but not a ton of them.

Current town - Eh, 70%. There are two natural markets. One is so expensive that I couldn't begin to shop there (seriously, almost cheaper for me to carpool with friends to another town). The other one has extremely questionable ethics and many vegans have decided to not give them their money any more and opt to get what they can at the other grocers in town and for anything special they make monthly trips out of town (45+ minutes). A lot of grocers here are beginning to carry Gardein which is nice, and all have fresh produce/dried beans/tofu. Even the really crappy store near my house has tofu. Mind you, for $4 a block, when everything else they sell is dirt cheap. Not sure what that's about. But we are lucky to also have a couple of restaurants with vegan options (Forkful[local], Chipotle, and Noodles&Co).

The best town I lived in for being vegan, hands down, Asheville. Asheville was like my Mecca lol. Every restaurant has a vegan option OR would make you something without the blink of an eye. Some restaurants even had raw options. So nice.
 
#10 ·
I live in the middle of nowhere, super rural. I can still get meatless options at our two local restauraunts, and one grocery store.

The town kids doctor did some of her time as a doctor in india, and has good things to say about veggie diets for children and adults.

The lady that runs the CSA is veggie, and a few others too. When people hear I'm veggie, I mostly get gentle natured ribbing, or a positive response.

But I put out chill, non confrontational vibes, so that probably factors in.
 
#11 ·
Well I'm in Newcastle upon Tyne. Groceries is no problem. Dining out, most places will do lacto veggie stuff. As to dedicated veg*n places there's only a couple, the main one I can think of is Tea Sutra. Quilliam Brothers (another tea shop) do stock vegan cakes
 
#14 ·
For a small place we're not badly catered to. Health food stores in three locations within five miles. Largish supermarket with vegan/veggie subs and world food isle (beans, grains, spices, pickled veggies) same distance. Indian takeaway, though haven't used for so long not sure if vegetable dishes are vegan or vegetarian (may use ghee I suppose?).
 
#16 ·
Yes check with them whether they use ghee derived from animal or plant sources...I think it is mainly dairy derived tbh...
 
#18 ·
I'm still learning about vegan London but am getting the impression that it's very vegan friendly you just need to know where to go/look. So yeah even though still discovering I'll risk to say very vegan friendly and when it comes to vegetarian I cannot think of a place on earth that would be difficult...vegetarian is super easy anywhere, right?
 
#19 ·
'vegetarian is super easy anywhere, right?' if only! Though London is definitely REALLY easy, you'll have no problem there!

Cuba and France have been the hardest places for me to be vegetarian (daren't even attempt veganism in France tbh!) In France if you're just in the supermarket they have loads of types of cheese etc though checking for rennet is pretty tough, they don't tend to label that sort of thing I've found and in most restaurants you'll be lucky if you can get anything other than salad and chips. Although, I often find that if you just explain to people then it's ok (though I often get offered fish), I've had a few times there when I've explained to the waiter, and I've been the first vegetarian that the restaurant's had, they have nothing on the menu, so the chefs were really lovely and just came up with a vegetarian meal for me, one time I had the chef come out when I'd finished and ask how it was and said what a lovely challenge I had been for him!

In Cuba they had 1 vegetarian restaurant I believe in the island (not sure?) so I ate there and it was lovely, but in a lot of the other places I just had rice and beans or pasta and tomato sauce. I did feel a little ill by the end because of eating badly I think, but it was such a nice place to visit!

In general I get the impression that a lot of countries it is pretty hard, but possible, people may think you're a bit mad but if you're polite and ask they're often ok with it.

Though, I live vvv near brighton, about 15 minutes away which is brilliant as it is SO veg friendly! and such a cool place too!
 
#20 ·
I agree that France is not particularly veg*n friendly restaurant-wise...You do have to look around a bit to find a good menu!
 
#22 ·
There are options there, you just have to look a little harder than in UK that's all!...Does your daughter understand what she can and can't eat? If so she should be able to navigate through various menus I'm sure :)
 
#23 ·
She is determined not to eat flesh and will put her foot down, but I worry choices will be limited and she'll see it as negative experience and it will put her off vegetarianism as others in the group will have easier time.... Maybe I'm overreacting, France is a developed country and should have meat free selection in the restaurants
 
#24 ·
It sounds like she knows what she wants so she should be fine :)
 
#27 ·
Perhaps one of her teachers can help?
 
#29 ·
Hi

I'm from Newcastle too. Have you heard of the new vegan restaurant 'the painted elephant' in upper princes square? Also there is a veggie restaurant opening next door to that called 'Supernatural' and is opening some time this month. There is also talk of a vegan pub but that is not confirmed yet. Very exciting times for Newcastle :)
 
#30 ·
Kingston upon Thames - pretty veggie friendly. There's the Riverside Vegetaria and all restaurants have a vegetarian option. Though I am so very fussy we mostly eat at home or around friends. But it's incredibly low effort to be vegetarian here and pretty easy to find vegan options too.
I work in London within walking distance of two vegetarian restaurants, Wholefoods and two other supermarkets. The bakery opposite does a vegan option on sandwiches and really it's more down to my lack of inspiration than anything else when I can't find anything to eat. :)
 
#31 ·
My hometown in northern Ontario Canada is all about the meat. The only thing in the few restaurants here without meat are the salads, that's if you ask to omit the chicken lol. Thankfully there is a loblaws and Walmart so there are some vegan\vegetarian products. Thankfully soon I'll be in Michigan near a health food store with lots of great products :).
 
#32 ·
I'm from Birmingham Uk, and i'll be honest I found myself struggling at first, but now im swamped with options.

Don't get me wrong there are a decent amount of restaurants which do cater for vegans, and there is a great area in the centre of Birmingham called Digbeth which has a real earth-friendly positive and fair trade atmosphere around it. But unless you know where to go, because of the size of the city and diversity of residents you could be looking around blind.

In honesty, I found the most vegan friendly sources for groups and restaurants on social media. I just whacked "vegan" into facebook and all sorts of great groups pop up. Admittedly there are probably more Birmingham London and Manchester groups due to size of cities. But Its only by talking to people on these pages do you find the best options for local vegan sources.




The groups I joined regularly have meet ups in restaurants and cafe's where the owners know them, and thus cater for them on specific nights - these are the things you wouldn't know by simply going online and searching "vegan restaurants Birmingham"
 
#33 ·
I live in a small town (2000ish people) in rural Portugal. I haven't seen a vegetarian option on any restaurant menu here except a vegetarian pizza at the pizzeria. The closest restaurants I know that have a vegetarian option (just one vegetarian option!) are about an hour away and there is a university city also about an hour away that has a vegan restaurant. When I was vegetarian, most places would cook me an omelette if I asked, but now that I am vegan, my choices for eating out are pretty limited.

The supermarkets are OK for basics though - soy/almond milk, tofu, TVP in various shapes & sizes, loads of beans. Nothing is labelled specifically as vegetarian or vegan so you have to get to know your ingredients pretty quickly and there are no convenience foods/ready meals so everything has to be made from scratch.

And watch out for the chips in France - they can often be cooked in animal fat (duck for instance).
 
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