R. Ritchie

gathering for the Urban Food Crawl

Unless you live in some sort of vegan utopia where all your friends are herbivores (or Portland), it's almost a guarantee that dining out with meat-eating friends is going to be a disappointment for at least one of the parties involved. Either the vegan eats a bland salad at a steakhouse or the carnivore pretends to enjoy kale, seitan and carob. Whatever the case, someone ain't happy.

This conundrum is exactly why the weekly Urban Food Crawl tours are successful, fun and most certainly worthy of the $65 tab. Operated by Jen Bardekoff and Sheri Wheeler (with the help of two tour guides), the L.A.-based company began last August as a way to showcase restaurants with vegan options and spirited ambiance. As crazy as this sounds, these two attributes aren't always a given when dealing with veggie-friendly joints.

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A. Scattergood

cappuccino-vanilla shake at Orean

A missing comma and a forgotten "p" in the word "cappuccino" aren't the only omissions from the drive-thru menu at Orean the Health Express on Lake Avenue in Pasadena. While the menu itself says the vegetarian fast-food joint serves shake flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, chai, peanut butter, cappuccino and something called "strawbwerry," the most obvious error is not telling customers just how much better these soy-based vegan shakes taste when you add vanilla to every order.

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R. Ritchie

Miss B at Stuff I Eat

If vegan and animal rights activists really want to change the way the majority of people eat, they might want to forget those PETA protests where half-naked women dress like tigers and sit in cages all day or those really depressing Humane Society commercials where slow-motion footage of abused dogs slowly morphs into close-ups of pouty-faced kittens. Instead, they could go down to Inglewood's Stuff I Eat, open since July 2008, and make co-owner Miss B the face of their movement.

In fact, they might want to make Miss B the body of their movement as well. Because although Babette Davis says she'll turn 62 in December, she looks not a day over 40. Maybe Miss B, the name she prefers, enjoys the sort of God-given beauty the rest of us wish we had. Or, perhaps, the 61-year-old's youthful exuberance and good looks have something to do with the fact that she went vegetarian in 1990 -- at the age, she claims, of 40 -- and vegan two years after that. Whatever the case, it's working for her, and the constant flux of people coming through for lunch and dinner prove it's working for her restaurant as well.

The good news for the rest of us is that the moniker Stuff I Eat isn't just the name of Miss B's business -- it's the actual food she's been consuming since giving up meat two decades ago, meaning maybe we've got a shot after all to look as good as she does.

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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Earth Day is this Sunday, April 22, and regardless of where you stand on the dietary spectrum, consider curbing your carbon footprint with a meal free of animal byproducts. Nonprofit organization Environmental Working Group found that eating one less burger per week for a year equates to reducing 320 car miles driven. Even if you only swap out one meal in observation of Earth Day, that's six miles you just saved.

This meal need not stray too far from your preferences. Not when there are such wide-ranging options like vegan ice cream, pizza and com ga hai nam available. Turn the page for our 10 Best Vegan-Friendly Restaurants, keeping in mind that, ultimately, one person's pumpkin seed chorizo wrap is another's jackfruit taco.

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Patrick M. Gookin II

Pistachio pesto with brown rice from Spork Foods

For sisters Jenny Engel and Heather Goldberg of vegan cooking school Spork Foods, the path for many uninitiated in the possibilities of veganism is sometimes paved with pesto. Built on an unyielding umami-laden trifecta of pistachios, roasted garlic and light miso, the condiment is a veritable Odyssean stratagem. It's purposefully chosen -- served with brown rice and topped with cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives -- for those who haven't been exposed to what Goldberg described as "level two" ingredients like tempeh and seitan. And if you need any mechanical help in the process of making the recipe, check out our recent story: 8 Essential Vegan Kitchen Tools: Spork Foods on Good Knives and Baby Whisks.

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Jenny Engel and Heather Goldberg of Spork Foods.jpg

Jiro Schneider

Jenny Engel and Heather Goldberg of Spork Foods take cooking to a unique vegan-friendly apogee. As full-time sisters, instructors, consultants and now cookbook authors, their relationship to the lifestyle is dedicated. They drop tips on necessary tools -- in no particular rank, save for the chef's knife -- to jump-start vegan cooking in your kitchen. And check back later for their recipe for pistachio pesto.

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Amazon

Raw Star Recipes

In L.A., there's nothing like the Oscars' Spanx parade to inspire "healthy" raw doughnut diet considerations, if only for a trial breakfast or two. It so happens that Raw STAR Recipes: Organic Meals, Snacks and Desserts in 10 Minutes by local raw chef Bryan Au landed on our doorstep over the weekend. Go figure.

The book's theme is "You can be a Raw Star" ... get it? Raw, organic and eco-friendly, Au is a fan of them all. But is it the perfect post-Oscar party hangover call?

This is a self-published title, which we imagine is why the design and photo quality are not particularly glamorous, to put it politely (creative thinkers and professional photographs are expensive). The writing is a bit grammatically challenged and repetitive: Orange rind is referred to as skin, for instance; "fun" is the preferred recipe header description.

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Vegan Venn diagram

What do vegans eat? That was the intended topic of our next Venn food diagram (check them all out). Only thing is, it (happily) turns out, everyone seems to know what vegans eat. Or more to the point, what they don't eat. Congrats, L.A., you're a well-informed group.

To us, it doesn't exactly come as a big shock, since Angelenos are pretty enlightened and tend to know their diets. You name it, we know someone who has tried it/is on it/swears by it. Besides, veganism is easy to wrap your mind around compared to some things out there.

The ages of meat eaters unscientifically polled ranged from 12 to 70 and every last one knew without a moment's hesitation that vegans eat: fruits, vegetables, grains, pulses, legumes and tofu. Soy products, name-brand faux foodstuffs and particular dishes (falafels) and cuisines (Indian) also were heavily represented from both sides.

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jacromer

Former President Bill Clinton, one of our featured famous vegans, is making quite a name for himself in world of diet books. According to Time magazine, he's attached his name to three diet-related books since losing 24 pounds on a vegan plan he adopted before Chelsea Clinton's wedding in 2010. Though he's written his fair share of books (his latest, Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy, hit shelves on Nov. 8), Clinton has yet to delve into writing his own dietary literature. Instead, he's "blurbing" for books like Think and Grow Thin by Charles D'Angelo, a book offering an 88-day plan to "change your life."

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Krista Simmons

Last month we received the sad news that the Village Coffee Shop in Beachwood Canyon would be shutting it's doors. But lucky for locals, the former greasy spoon will be getting a bit of a healthy makeover courtesy of Patti Peck, former owner of the Edendale and Millie's Cafe. Peck currently operates her own catering company, and is looking forward to reopening the restaurant in March.

"The menu hasn't changed since 1972, so I think that people will be happy to have a few healthier choices. It'll reflect the updated, freshened way Californians eat," says Peck. The cafe's name will be changed to Beachwood Cafe, a name that she says locals have been calling the shop for years anyhow.

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