Miami Vegan Blog
Monday, April 7, 2008
My Recent Experiences As A Vegan in S. Florida
Well, in the past few weeks I've been eating out and going to parties. Here is a brief recap of those experiences in my 'vegan shoes'.
Houston's Steakhouse = my parents like this place. Would never choose a steakhouse if my daughter was a vegan but whatever. Very cute bartender served me a Homemade bean veggie burger, made with black beans and oat recipe. It was good except all I could eat was the burger. I asked for a side of avocado to put on top. It had mayo, mustard and an egg bun. Yuck! The burger was good but it looked just like a rare beef burger, so I had to do some mental gymnastics to finish it. Then, I asked the bartender if the apple dessert had butter on it. He said 'No', so I tried it. 'Excuse me, why is the cinnamon floating. Tastes like butter.' He asked the chef and he said, 'Oh there's a little butter ... oops'. I'd already eaten a spoonful. Not cool!
Denny's = not a place I frequent but hey I wasn't driving. Ordered a boca burger. Asked for it plain. The waitress assumed that meant I wanted cheese. I had to scrape the cheese off, when what I wanted was a totally different patty. I wasn't in a bitchy mood and she looked sorry so I ate it. She looked at me like I was a weirdo. That's fine. That's normal. Added BBQ sauce to cover the taste of the cheese I missed. Ordered salad instead of fries. What did it have clumped up to one side -- cheese. I could only eat half the salad. Puh!
Chili's = Ate a black bean burger with vegetables. 'Do the vegetables have butter? Oh no ma'am not butter. It comes, not only is there butter on the veggies but also on the burger bun, which touches the bean burger. Once again, took the high road and ate the burger but not the veggies. You know how many times I eat just the patty but pay for the other stuff that just sits on the plate.
Japanese Buffet = these are all over town. Where I live there aren't many options if you want to eat healthy. They had veg sushi rolls, rice, steamed vegetables, miso soup w/ tofu and seaweed. That's it. Not bad but you have to go to sleep afterwards. Must have MSG.
Beehive = this place is near the Gables and South Miami. So nice to walk into a place and know that you can eat everything. It's a vegan counter/diner in the back of a health food store. I had "fake tuna" for the first time in my life. So good! I wanted to ask the chef, 'Are you sure this isn't tuna?" It tastes just like I remembered. Haven't had it in 5 years. Made in a wrap, with sprouts and lettuce and raddish. So delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)
Gables Diner = my friend thought I could eat grits because I love grits, with my Southern self. We get there and the waiter says, 'We only have cheese grits.' Can you make it without the cheese? Nope. Ok fine. I'll just sit here and watch everyone eat runny eggs, ham, sausage, belgian waffles and lots of whipped cream. No problem ...
Birthday Party = Last night I went to my friend's birthday party. He turned 30. Luckily there were a lot of vegetarians there that made some amazing dishes. Even raw vegan food. I actually ate a little too much. It was a BBQ even and they had 'veggie burgers'. People don't understand that even if it says veggie burger, it doesn't mean vegan.
An older man there, who made a vegan dish, gave me a long lecture about how veganism should not be a label that I use for myself. He said, "Make sure you don't let veganism define who you are." Are you kidding? That's exactly how I want to define myself. 'Make sure you work more on your emotional and spiritual self than what you eat.' That's exactly what I do by being vegan. Food has energy, animal products have traumatized energy. By not eating it I am not exposing myself to things that would contaminate my spiritual self. He goes, "I tried being vegetarian but I ..." Let me stop you right there. You couldn't hack it, so now you are going to try to condemn anyone that has stronger willpower than you. Meanwhile, he had a gut and moobs. I don't mean to be mean but don't tell me to not force my opinion on others and you are doing that exact thing to me. Luckily, one of the vegetarians that was nearby came to my defense. 'Leave her alone. Let her live her life the way she wants to.' Thanks, Flint.
So, when the birthday cake came, everyone ran over to it, eating with their bare hands, offering me some. Hell no! I would not eat that refined bleached sugar if you paid me. They even gave some to the dog. It was gone in minutes. Do I ever wish that I could eat like everyone else and have a smorgasbord everywhere I went. My answer is No because in order to do that, I would have to unlearn everything I know. Be ignorant again. No, I like being vegan, it is like sitting on the outside of a house that is falling apart and you can look through the window, but you are enjoying the cool breeze outside. It feels good out here .... God is out here.
xoxo
~inga~
Houston's Steakhouse = my parents like this place. Would never choose a steakhouse if my daughter was a vegan but whatever. Very cute bartender served me a Homemade bean veggie burger, made with black beans and oat recipe. It was good except all I could eat was the burger. I asked for a side of avocado to put on top. It had mayo, mustard and an egg bun. Yuck! The burger was good but it looked just like a rare beef burger, so I had to do some mental gymnastics to finish it. Then, I asked the bartender if the apple dessert had butter on it. He said 'No', so I tried it. 'Excuse me, why is the cinnamon floating. Tastes like butter.' He asked the chef and he said, 'Oh there's a little butter ... oops'. I'd already eaten a spoonful. Not cool!
Denny's = not a place I frequent but hey I wasn't driving. Ordered a boca burger. Asked for it plain. The waitress assumed that meant I wanted cheese. I had to scrape the cheese off, when what I wanted was a totally different patty. I wasn't in a bitchy mood and she looked sorry so I ate it. She looked at me like I was a weirdo. That's fine. That's normal. Added BBQ sauce to cover the taste of the cheese I missed. Ordered salad instead of fries. What did it have clumped up to one side -- cheese. I could only eat half the salad. Puh!
Chili's = Ate a black bean burger with vegetables. 'Do the vegetables have butter? Oh no ma'am not butter. It comes, not only is there butter on the veggies but also on the burger bun, which touches the bean burger. Once again, took the high road and ate the burger but not the veggies. You know how many times I eat just the patty but pay for the other stuff that just sits on the plate.
Japanese Buffet = these are all over town. Where I live there aren't many options if you want to eat healthy. They had veg sushi rolls, rice, steamed vegetables, miso soup w/ tofu and seaweed. That's it. Not bad but you have to go to sleep afterwards. Must have MSG.
Beehive = this place is near the Gables and South Miami. So nice to walk into a place and know that you can eat everything. It's a vegan counter/diner in the back of a health food store. I had "fake tuna" for the first time in my life. So good! I wanted to ask the chef, 'Are you sure this isn't tuna?" It tastes just like I remembered. Haven't had it in 5 years. Made in a wrap, with sprouts and lettuce and raddish. So delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)
Gables Diner = my friend thought I could eat grits because I love grits, with my Southern self. We get there and the waiter says, 'We only have cheese grits.' Can you make it without the cheese? Nope. Ok fine. I'll just sit here and watch everyone eat runny eggs, ham, sausage, belgian waffles and lots of whipped cream. No problem ...
Birthday Party = Last night I went to my friend's birthday party. He turned 30. Luckily there were a lot of vegetarians there that made some amazing dishes. Even raw vegan food. I actually ate a little too much. It was a BBQ even and they had 'veggie burgers'. People don't understand that even if it says veggie burger, it doesn't mean vegan.
An older man there, who made a vegan dish, gave me a long lecture about how veganism should not be a label that I use for myself. He said, "Make sure you don't let veganism define who you are." Are you kidding? That's exactly how I want to define myself. 'Make sure you work more on your emotional and spiritual self than what you eat.' That's exactly what I do by being vegan. Food has energy, animal products have traumatized energy. By not eating it I am not exposing myself to things that would contaminate my spiritual self. He goes, "I tried being vegetarian but I ..." Let me stop you right there. You couldn't hack it, so now you are going to try to condemn anyone that has stronger willpower than you. Meanwhile, he had a gut and moobs. I don't mean to be mean but don't tell me to not force my opinion on others and you are doing that exact thing to me. Luckily, one of the vegetarians that was nearby came to my defense. 'Leave her alone. Let her live her life the way she wants to.' Thanks, Flint.
So, when the birthday cake came, everyone ran over to it, eating with their bare hands, offering me some. Hell no! I would not eat that refined bleached sugar if you paid me. They even gave some to the dog. It was gone in minutes. Do I ever wish that I could eat like everyone else and have a smorgasbord everywhere I went. My answer is No because in order to do that, I would have to unlearn everything I know. Be ignorant again. No, I like being vegan, it is like sitting on the outside of a house that is falling apart and you can look through the window, but you are enjoying the cool breeze outside. It feels good out here .... God is out here.
xoxo
~inga~
Labels: anti-vegan, beehive, denny's, houston's, miami, south florida, steakhouse, vegan
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