Yes, but the NCVA needs your help to make it happen!

By Edelweiss

Being vegan at home is easy once you’ve have worked out how to make your favourite foods without animal products, know what brands of foods to get and have a routine for getting them.

Eating out, however, is a different story. How many times have you gone to lunch with coworkers and quietly asked the waitress what they have in the line of vegan options, and she pauses with furrowed brow, as though trying to figure out a complicated calculus question in her head, and then smiles, at which point you feel hopeful, and she says, brightly, “We have salad!” and your heart sinks.

I’ve suffered through salad meals, or those consisting of a stirfry with none of the good stuff (ginger, garlic, thai basil, and so on), or pale, boiled celery and carrots and unappetizing plain rice, or pita with hummus, and forked over good money for it.

The National Capital Vegetarian Association (NCVA) wants to let restaurant managers and cooks know that preparing vegan dishes can be easy, and that people will buy them if they put them on the menu. So, to get an idea of what you’d like, and what would sell well, how about throwing some ideas for awesome vegan restaurant food out there?

I am compiling recipes on behalf of the NCVA to share with local restaurants, as well as to eventually have an online resource for anyone looking for the best vegan recipes on offer. This initiative can only be as useful and dynamic as its contributions, so let your voice be heard!

I personally would like to see on a menu vegan fast food (pizza, burgers), ethnic dishes (stirfries without hidden fish sauce, curries), interesting wraps (loaded with sauteed eggplant, grilled red pepper and other tasty fillings), ice cream, breakfast food (pancakes, french toast, waffles) and even croissants! I lived in France for four months and loooooooved croissants, especially pain au chocolat. Here’s a link to a pain au chocolat recipe. I haven’t tried it but just knowing it exists makes me happy.

So, what would you love to eat when you eat out? And do you have any recipes online you’d like to recommend? Just put your thoughts and links to recipes, if you have some, into the comments below.  Be a part of getting this off the ground!