[Amanda Mae]

Hi everyone! I'm Amanda, and I've lived in West Des Moines all my life. I've only been vegetarian for six months, and vegan for 4 days now. So far I'm finding it really easy to be vegan here, but only because HyVee has an amazing selection of vegan and organic foods. Restaurants are a lot harder, especially now that I've gone from vegetarian to vegan. The only place I can really eat something seems to be Panera Bread, otherwise I'm usually stuck eating really plain salads. I'm still not complaining though. Actually, after a brief trip with my grandparents this summer to the deep south *shudders*, I feel lucky to be somewhere where at least the waitresses don't laugh at you when you say you're vegetarian. lol, yes, that actually happened.

Anyway, I'm here for at least 4 more months. I'm graduating high school in January a semester early, and then I plan on going to college somewhere (haven't decided yet, but it will be either in New York or Chicago). I just thought it would be interesting to some fellow Iowans.

Sooo.....are there any Iowans still posting around here? *calls out across cornfield and is met with silence* Where do you guys live, and have you ever visited the Des Moines area?

 

[DMZdogs]

Hey, I'm over here in Iowa City. You should drop by....very vegan friendly here. Totally vegan restaurant called the Red Avocado. The co-op has some fabulous vegan sandwiches. There is a vegan breakfast place with sweets and desserts that will blow your mind with a vegan sugar rush called Fairgrounds Coffeehouse that is run by a vegan. Oasis has middle eastern food....a section of their menu is devoted to vegan selections. David's Place has a vegan Ethiopian lunch buffet.

There's more, but those are the biggies. Oh, and EVERYONE knows what a vegan is and no one laughs or teases you.

Vegan paradise, I'm telling you!

And yeah, I know what you mean about the South. I'm from Oklahoma and when I wasn't met with hostility, it was with disbelieving laughter for the most part.

 

[bluegold]

and welcome Amanda

 

[Amanda Mae]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMZdogs

Hey, I'm over here in Iowa City. You should drop by....very vegan friendly here. Totally vegan restaurant called the Red Avocado. The co-op has some fabulous vegan sandwiches. There is a vegan breakfast place with sweets and desserts that will blow your mind with a vegan sugar rush called Fairgrounds Coffeehouse that is run by a vegan. Oasis has middle eastern food....a section of their menu is devoted to vegan selections. David's Place has a vegan Ethiopian lunch buffet.

There's more, but those are the biggies. Oh, and EVERYONE knows what a vegan is and no one laughs or teases you.

Vegan paradise, I'm telling you!

wow, that sounds amazing! I'd heard that Iowa City was more vegetarian friendly but I didn't have any idea they had vegan restaurants! it would be sooo nice just to go somewhere and find even one vegan item available, I can hardly even imagine a whole menu of them, lol. And vegan deserts?

I'm definitely going to try to convince my parents to take me up there sometime.

so, have you lived in Iowa City your whole life?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluesand

and welcome Amanda

hi to you too, and thanks for the welcome!

 

[DMZdogs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amanda Mae

so, have you lived in Iowa City your whole life?

Nope...I moved here during the last week of July this year. I lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma for ten months prior to that (talk about NOT vegan friendly) and South Korea for nearly 10 years prior to that. I'm a native Oklahoman though...and getting mighty nervous about the stories I keep hearing about winters here in Iowa.

We got a lot of ice and sometimes a lot of snow down in Oklahoma, but no matter how cold it got, especially with that practically non-stop wind we have, we generally still had eye-burning crystal blue skies with lots of sunshine, so at least winters weren't gloomy. I can't say I've heard the same about winters here. *NERVOUS*

 

[shineonyou]

I grew up in the Chicago area and ran off to Iowa City as soon as I graduated high school! I just moved to California, and while a majority of my friends are Iowa City natives, an ever decreasing number of them are still there. :/

I think about Masala (iowa city and world's best restaurant ever) all the time and make up for it by talking about it on veggieboards a lot.

As far as winters go, hopefully Iowa won't have any of those "don't go outside" advisories this year. I took off to Peru at the beginning of last February and don't regret it!

 

[DMZdogs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shineonyou

As far as winters go, hopefully Iowa won't have any of those "don't go outside" advisories this year.

There are "don't go outside" advisories?!?!?!?!

What happens then? Schools close? People actually don't go to work? What kind of a place is this?! I'm starting to think I should have researched the weather quite a bit more before moving here....

 

[shineonyou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMZdogs

There are "don't go outside" advisories?!?!?!?!

What happens then? Schools close? People actually don't go to work? What kind of a place is this?! I'm starting to think I should have researched the weather quite a bit more before moving here....

That's how I like to put it! Every few years there will be days when it will get so cold that the newspaper and TV news will explicitly say to not go outside if you don't have to. Schools rarely close because it's so cold out. Last year the University canceled classes a couple times, but they had never done that in the previous 4 years when I was actually a student. And I think it probably had something to do with the snow/ ice too, since it gets so dangerous to drive in sometimes.

Since last year was so bad, maybe this upcoming winter will be reasonable again? Although I'm not familiar with Oklahoma weather or how you would define reasonable! Everyone has different weather preferences.

 

[MrMeatMarket]

Hey, im new to the vegetarian life, or going to be new to it. I live in Waterloo, work at Hy-vee meat dept. So its going to be a bit hard for me to make a major transition to this life.

 

[mrsschu2u]

Another Iowan! I live in Norwalk.

 

[BradmanTV]

Hi, I love HyVee!! I just turned Vegan about a month ago and HyVee has been a godsend! We are lucky to have it in Iowa...

 

[Avid92]

I live in Huxley, IA, which is about 10 miles south of Ames, and I agree! Hyvee is a great store to go too, especially since they upgraded the one in Ames! A bunch of new stuff to try I also go to school in Sioux City, and the selection there isn't too bad, either.

 

[VeganIowan]

Hi all. I live in Bondurant. Glad to see other fellow Iowans on here.