1) they tend to be unnecessarily expensive.  they do realize we CAN find cheap and yummy vegan options at lots of regular restaurants, right?

2) i hate tofu.  i’m not crazy about fake/soy cheese either.  all the substitute stuff is nasty, and it’s in all their food.

3) i don’t go out to eat for salad.  and so much of their products are salads, salad-based, wraps, healthy stuff.  i eat healthy every day at home.  when i go out, that’s my time to splurge.  it’s great if it happens to be healthy, but the top priority is that it is awesomely delicious and satisfying.

ugh, i’m craving thai food now.  thai is the perfect vegan food.  the only problem is that the portions are massive and if left to our own devices we will eat it all.  brandon and i are both gluttonous foodies, so it takes an unusually painful amount of discipline to manage portion control (he used to be quite large as a teenager and worked very hard to become all trim and sexy; and if i had a less luscious metabolism, i would be prone to largeness as well).

but seriously.  vegan restaurants should be just a little less healthy and have a bit fewer meat substitutes.  some of us actually don’t miss meat at all…

over the past year, i’ve found some wonderful products that make vegan life a little easier so why not share them here, for any newbies who might run across my blog:

• 100% Pure - really awesome skincare products.  everything i use now comes from them (except my makeup, which still comes from bare minerals because they’re so wonderful i’m afraid to try anything else) - their lotions smell AMAZING and not like some of the weird naturalist stuff you might have encountered before.  i also love their coffee bean eye cream and i just started using the superfruit night balm.  i’m only 30 so i haven’t noticed a huge difference in appearance, but my skin feels good and healthy and moisturized.
  
  
• Alternative Outfitters - just discovered them today when i realized i really don’t have a pair of work-appropriate boots.  i got a sweet pair for only $30.  all their products are vegan.
  
  
• So Delicious - i hate soy stuff, as you may know, so beware because some of their products are soy, but most are coconut-based, and their coconut milk ice cream is to die for.  it doesn’t taste weird or fake at all.  it is legit and delicious.

of course, you can certainly find non-leather products at many mainstream stores, and there are less expensive skincare options at whole foods, if your priority is natural - and PETA of course has some great lists of vegan companies, as well as companies that do and do not test on animals.  beware of makeup, because most makeup companies DO test on animals.

hopefully you’re not one of those vegans who won’t eat something that “may contain traces of…” because these are amazing.

FYI, that label warning simply means they’re processed in a factory that also uses their equipment to make products with dairy, so they have to disclaim it for those with genuine allergies.  i am not of the belief that it is “un-vegan” to consume such products.  vegan outreach (<—one of the organizations i donate to regularly, because i think their outreach process does the most widespread good) writes some great stuff about what it really means to be vegan; i’d recommend checking them out if you find yourself overwhelmed with label-checking.  it can be a very frustrating and de-motivating process to go grocery shopping if you obsess over every trace ingredient.  their philosophy is “do the most good and the least harm,” within reasonable range of ability and sanity.