On a cold winter Sunday, I ate at a little vegan place near me called Three Girls Vegan Creamery. Everything is homemade by three women who work during the week creating vegan versions of cheeses, meats, and pastries. They open Sundays for 5 hours, with occasional pop-ups. It’s heaven for a vegan to get lasagna made with almond ricotta, toasted sandwiches with melty cashew mozzarella, and chocolate donuts so rich even this chocolate lover can eat only one. Every week there’s an exciting menu.
I go there as often as I can, but there is a catch. This little dream is so popular, and because they are only open 5 hours a week, the line to get in always wraps around the building. If you arrive when they open, you’ll be lucky to be in the door a half hour later. Maybe. I’m not sure what happens if you get there later because I have never risked them running out of my favorite things before I can get inside.
Waiting this freezing cold day, I happened to notice the outerwear of those around me. It stuck me suddenly that many people in that long line, many holding the hands of children, were very obviously not vegan. They stood in the cold with their Ugg boots and fur trimmed parkas and leather purses to buy vegan artisan cheeses and meats, eggless and dairy less baked goods, and they were perfectly happy to do so. Why?
On the other hand, does it really matter why? The recognition that plant-based foods taste good is spreading. What a positive sign to see the acceptance and participation in plant-based eating! How thrilling seeing non-vegans eating here because they can get their animal-based meals anywhere, any time. Instead they are choosing a long line in the cold for vegan food. Wow!
Kids today see plant-based foods being a tasty alternative, in all-vegan establishments like this one, in grocery stores, and in traditional restaurants as well. It’s a great first step.
Combine this good feeling about vegan food with media coverage of what factory farming really does to animals, the environment, and human health…
And it is a hopeful future as today’s youth grow up understanding a vegan lifestyle is not extreme, but rather a perfectly normal, preferable way to live.
Editor’s note: The award winning Three Girls Vegan Creamery is in Guilford, CT. Visit them here on Facebook.