10 Things I Miss

I’ve just moved out of one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the world — Los Angeles. I’m now halfway across the globe to a beautiful country where there are actually more sheep than people (guesses anyone?).

While my new city is quite green conscious, its eco-ness hasn’t yet extended into the vegan realm. This of course means rather than eating out at some of my fave vegan restaurants (as I did often in LA), I’ll be at home keeping my food dehydrator company.

To pay homage to the city that supported my vegan lifestyle so well over the past few years, I’ve compiled a top 10 list of things I miss about LA (mostly food, as you’ll see!) in no particular order:

Leaf Organics

From the can’t-get-enough live food wraps to the most incredible smoothies you’ll ever slurp, Leaf Organics is a raw food vegan’s heaven. Besides their cafe-style eateries in Sherman Oaks and Culver City, Leaf Oranics provides their scrumptious raw goodies (including burgers – see below) to many Wholefoods stores. Owner and vegan extraordinaire Rod Rotondi also recently joined forces with Agape’s Dr Michael Beckwith to produce a book: Raw Food for Real People, a guide I’ll be reviewing in the coming weeks.

Wholefoods

Wholefoods‘ aisles are peppered with vegan friendly edibles. From nature’s energy drink of choice — young coconuts — to specialised products such as sausages from the Field Roast Grain Meat Co (go for the smoked apple sage variety, the rest pale in comparison) this market is the place to shop if health is at the top of your agenda. Wholefoods, it’s time you swung open your doors down under.

Erewhon

You could sit for hours at the Eerewhon (pronounced air-ee-won) juice bar, sipping on liquid potions guaranteed to put an enzyme-infused spring in your step. This market is known by health gurus, such as David “Avocado” Wolfe, (who I heard speak there recently … if you ever get the chance to do the same, jump at it) to be at the forefront of real good real food. Really. Sure, it’s a tad pricey, but well worth spending a few extra bucks to get great vegan food and optimal health. Long live Erewhon!

Hugos

Oh Hugos, how I miss you so. Whether you’re in the Valley or on Santa Monica Boulevard, be sure to stop off at this ever-popular brunch, lunch and dinner hotspot. The new American veggie burger (made vegan) is out of this world. Be sure to order it in a spinach wrap with all the extras. If you don’t mind a bit of that evil soy every now and again, add the vege bacon to your order. Having just checked out the menu online, I also see they’ve added new vegan delights to their already jam-packed menu: vegan orange pancakes for brekky and the “best vegan New York style blueberry cheesecake”. Hugo’s how could you? Worth a trip back Stateside just to test these newbies out!

Bodhi Tree Book Store

A treasure trove of all things holistic and spiritual, Bodhi Tree Book Store on Melrose has a special section dedicated to vegans and vegetarians — including must-have cookbooks. Worth a wander, no matter your belief or diet. You might even spot a celeb or three in this local fave.

Vegan Plate

There’s a lot of soy on the menu at Vegan Plate, but there are also other options (including veges and wheat meat) at this Studio City restaurant, tucked away in a strip mall on Ventura Boulevard. It’s clean, the service is friendly and it’s frequented by vegan types and those who simply appreciate good Thai food.

Planet Raw

This Santa Monica restaurant is the playground of raw food god, Juliano. That is, this is his restaurant, where every raw vegan foodie dreams of visiting at least once. While prices are, well, pricey, the raw vegan food served up here is nothing short of sensational. You can also pick up kitchen goodies such as a Vitamix blender or Excalibur food dehydrator — must haves according to any good raw food vegan chef in the know.

Kombucha

Available at select cafes and eateries, I’d usually get my daily kombucha fix from Wholefoods. The multi-green variety from Synergy is my absolute fave, packed with live enzymes, probiotics and everything a body loves. Its founder Dave developed his brand of the cold tea after his mother was  diagnosed with breast cancer and found it hadn’t spread because of the kombucha tea she had been drinking.

Nutritional Yeast

This stuff is kind of addictive, simply because it tastes so good. Be warned, however, too much vitamin B can be bad, and cause you to break out in an unsightly red rash (speaking from experience). Nutritional yeast (and my fave from Kal’s) has various B vitamins including 1, 3, 6 and 12, which are much needed when you’re living vegan. It’s also packed with other nutrients including phosphorus, biotin, magnesium, zinc, copper and more. With Kal’s nowhere to be found at my local supermarket, I’m now sourcing a local equivalent.

Sunshine

LA is known for pretty well much constant sunshine — and after almost two weeks of rain now — I dearly miss it and have upped mushrooms in my diet, as they boast Vitamin D2. Besides being an instant mood-lifter, sunshine plays a huge role in our lives and isn’t the demon it’s made out to be (no, the sun doesn’t cause cancer, but sunblocks do!). Check out this great article from Health Ranger, Mike Adams.