Recent Vegan Additions to Restaurants' Menus

[Dream Sphere]

This is just a thread to compile new vegan additions to restaurants' menues so anyone here with access to such a restaurant can check it out. I think a similar thread may have been done before, but I guess right here, right now I'd like to mention additions which have happened in the last two years. Anyone can contribute to this if you know relevant additions to the list. This is for primarily non-vegan restaurants adding vegan meals to their menu, obviously vegan restaurants will be changing and adding things to their menus, but this thread is not for that.

If you want to discuss about why more and more restaurants may be offering more vegan (or easy to make vegan by holding one thing or another) options, that's cool too.


To start Boston Pizza (in Canada) Boston Market iirc (in USA) has been offering a "Mediteranian Hummus and Veggie Platter" for the past two years which is great with a mix of spicy harissa hummus, and regular hummus along with veggies for dipping and flatbread/pizza bread which is vegan as long as you ask for them to hold the butter and parmesan that they put on after they bake it.

Coras a Canadian breakfast/lunch restaurant notorious for having loads of eggs and dairy in their dishes now offers soy milk as a substitute for things like yogurt in a smoothie, english cream in oatmeal, etc. And they have a new menu item that by default is vegan called the "Lactose-free Smoothie Bowl" which I've had and it's surprisingly good. It has granola/cereal, kiwis, blueberry smoothie w/ soy milk, walnuts, and chia seeds, with shredded coconut on top, and it's actually really satisfying and seemingly pretty healthy, though it's still pretty sugary, lol.

At Pizza Pizza they now offer dairy-free vegan cheese as a substitute. Their crusts afaik by default are vegan, so just sub the cheese out for the dairy-free kind and ordering whatever vegan toppings you like. I'm personally a fan of 2x mushroom and red onion, or grilled zuchini, fresh tomato, and mushrooms.

I haven't checked to see if it's 100% vegan in terms of bun and other toppings, but A&W in Canada is now offering the Beyond Meat burger patty as an option.

So yeah, and the interesting thing is most of these places really didn't have much if any vegan options before, though some did have many lacto-ovo vegetarian options. Also, my Dad's been more serious about veganism lately, and he sent a letter to Coras upper management or something since he loves the restaurants, inquiring about vegan options, and they seemed to reply they have more coming if what they're doing now is received well.

[Lay Vegan]

That's great to hear! Fortunately, more restaurant chefs on the whole are adding vegan dishes to their menus. I think offering delicious plant-based foods is one of the best ways our community can reach a wider audience.

A Build-your-own pizza restaurant chain in my area has started serving Daiya cheese shreds. And the T.G.I. Friday's near me also now serves the Beyond Burger. Although it's possible that the bun isn't vegan, and they cook the burger on buttered pans (you can't win them all).

[carnap]

That's great to hear! Fortunately, more restaurant chefs on the whole are adding vegan dishes to their menus. I think offering delicious plant-based foods is one of the best ways our community can reach a wider audience.

At least generally speaking, restaurants aren't offering "delicious plant-based foods" but rather vegan options that are typically created by substituting mock vegan products for the regular ingredients. How many non-vegans think fake cheese, mock meat, etc taste better than the real thing?

With the current state of vegan food culture, you're not going to convince anybody to eat more plant-based foods based on taste.

[Jebus]

How many non-vegans think fake cheese, mock meat, etc taste better than the real thing?

Very few people will know the difference unless you tell them.

With the current state of vegan food culture, you're not going to convince anybody to eat more plant-based foods based on taste.

WTF does that even mean?

[carnap]

Very few people will know the difference unless you tell them.

Having tasted a variety of mock meats, cheese, etc I find this laughable. The difference is obvious, the only case where its not is when the product is so greasy and saucy you can hardly taste the meat (or gluten, soy protein isolate, etc) in the first place.

WTF does that even mean?

Not sure what you're not understanding. My point is that vegan food culture in the west is rather immature and there isn't a large body of tasty and nutritionally balanced dishes to pull from.

[Jebus]

Very few people will know the difference unless you tell them.

Having tasted a variety of mock meats, cheese, etc I find this laughable. The difference is obvious, the only case where its not is when the product is so greasy and saucy you can hardly taste the meat (or gluten, soy protein isolate, etc) in the first place.

I doubt you have ever done a blind test. Given your negativity towards anything that relates to veganism I'm not surprised that you would dislike the taste of processed vegan food. It would most likely be different if you ate a vegan food thinking it was a dead animal part.

My point is that vegan food culture in the west is rather immature and there isn't a large body of tasty and nutritionally balanced dishes to pull from.

This goes to show how little you know about vegan food culture.

[Lay Vegan]

At least generally speaking, restaurants aren't offering "delicious plant-based foods" but rather vegan options that are typically created by substituting mock vegan products for the regular ingredients. How many non-vegans think fake cheese, mock meat, etc taste better than the real thing?

Restaurants are indeed striving to serve mock vegan products that are palatable and as similar (in taste & texture) to their animal-derived counterparts as possible. My initial claim is correct: Opportunity to grow plant-based alternatives typically extends well beyond vegan consumers. For example, only 1 in 5 Canadians identify as vegetarian (and only 2% vegan), yet more than half (53%) of Canadians eat meat alternatives. And 18% of them eat meat alternatives several times a week.

In fact, meat substitutes globally have doubled between 2013 and 2017, and continues to grow, despite the relatively small population of vegans and vegetarians. http://www.mintel.com/press-centre/food ... ternatives While a relatively small portion of people believe plant-based alternatives taste as good as meat, it is clear that demand for these products is growing, and that the consumer-base is broadening.

To restate, restaurants offering delicious plant-based foods is one of the best ways our community can reach a wider audience.

[Lay Vegan]

My point is that vegan food culture in the west is rather immature and there isn't a large body of tasty and nutritionally balanced dishes to pull from.

This goes to show how little you know about vegan food culture.

Massive understatement.

Given the extensive back-catalog of Carnap’s interactions on this forum, they don't seem to understand much about philosophy, animal ethics, veganism, nutrition, or vegan food culture. They could probably learn a thing or two if they would put their ego aside and engage with our arguments honestly.

Until then, future debate with Carnap may be futile, given his flippant disregard of forum rules.

[carnap]

I doubt you have ever done a blind test. Given your negativity towards anything that relates to veganism I'm not surprised that you would dislike the taste of processed vegan food. It would most likely be different if you ate a vegan food thinking it was a dead animal part.

Funny that you try to paint me as biased when vegans have an obvious bias on this front. Not only that, for obvious reasons they cannot do taste comparisons. But I adhered to a vegan diet for a few years and my opinion of mock meats is the same today as it was then.

But you're right, I've never been part of a blind test on the products. But I can directly compare the taste of meat with mock meat. Though I wouldn't put much weight on my taste preferences anyways, I often ask non-vegans what they think of vegan products.

This goes to show how little you know about vegan food culture.

Because my view differs from yours?

[carnap]

. My initial claim is correct: Opportunity to grow plant-based alternatives typically extends well beyond vegan consumers. For example, only 1 in 5 Canadians identify as vegetarian (and only 2% vegan), yet more than half (53%) of Canadians eat meat alternatives. And 18% of them eat meat alternatives several times a week.

You're not responding to what I've actually discussed, my comments weren't about whether not mock meat sales have increased. Also the article you cited supports what I've claim, namely:

"Meat alternatives still have a ways to go as only 23% of Canadians overall agree that meat alternatives are a sufficient substitute for meat and 16% think that these products taste as good as meat."

So, as I implied in my comment, the vast majority of non-vegans do not think mock meats taste as good and they don't believe they are a "sufficient substitute" (this is another matter, not something I discussed).

I'm not sure what is happening with meat consumption in Canada, but 2018 is going to be a record year for (per person) meat consumption in the US and that is despite growth in mock meats. My guess is that much of what is driving mock meat sales is just vegetarians (and non-vegetarians) eating mock meats rather than more traditional substitutes for meat (e.g., tofu, beans, etc). But the vegan narrative doesn't appear to be correct, if people were eating more mock meats instead of meat you'd expect meat consumption to decline....not increase.

To restate, restaurants offering delicious plant-based foods is one of the best ways our community can reach a wider audience.

Actually, I would agree. What I disagree with is the idea that are, in general, actually doing this.