Portland, Oregon, is the best city for vegetarians and vegans in the U.S. UU. Veganism has exploded in the U.S. However, despite growing popularity, vegetarian diets aren't widely accepted in all of the U.S.
I've been a vegetarian for 15 years and it can take hours to find restaurants willing to adapt to my diet when I travel to certain parts of the country. To help determine where meatless diners can get a decent and consistent meal, WalletHub researchers have published a study that evaluates the 100 most populated cities in the country based on 16 criteria in three different categories. To ensure affordability, they studied the cost of food for vegetarians, the availability of affordable restaurants suitable for vegetarians with high grades, and the average cost of a meal in each city. They also wanted to understand the diversity, accessibility and quality of vegetarian and vegan food in each city, so they analyzed aspects such as the number of salad stores per capita, the proportion of restaurants that serve meat- and dairy-free options, the number of community gardens per capita and the availability of vegetarian cooking classes.
Finally, the researchers worked to understand the vegetarian lifestyle in each city by studying the consumption of fruits and vegetables among residents and data from Grubhub on the places where diners are most likely to order a vegetarian or vegan meal. WalletHub then used a 100-point system to rate each city's metrics based on how favorable it was for vegans and vegetarians. Once the scores were counted, WalletHub weighted the average of all the metrics to find an overall score and put the cities in ranking order. The results contain information on which cities are the best for vegetarians and vegans.
Portland, Oregon, ranked first, while San Bernardino, California, came in last place. Scottsdale, Arizona, was not in the top 20, but it did have the highest proportion of restaurants serving vegetarian options, at 27.76%, as well as the highest proportion of restaurants with vegan options, at 16.01%. New York City is the 20th best city for vegans and vegetarians in the U.S. Celebrate by taking a look at the 20 best cities for vegans and vegetarians in the U.S.
It's full of up-and-coming cities that offer thriving job opportunities, great social scenes and, arguably most importantly, fantastic food. When deciding to move to a new city or explore the one you're currently in, the variety of food and restaurants seems to be a determining factor in the decision-making process. As more people become aware of the cruel treatment that farm animals receive in the agricultural industry, as well as the devastating impact of big agriculture on the environment, more people are looking for vegan restaurants and lifestyles. With more than 9.7 million people in the United States turning to veganism, the race to make cities more vegan-friendly has begun.
These are the 10 most vegan-friendly cities in the U.S. That should be considered when choosing your next city to explore. New York and Los Angeles are two of the most vegan-friendly cities in the world; however, this blog post is about emerging cities that need some recognition. It's time for New York and Los Angeles to share the spotlight, but we can't help but give them at least one place on our list of the 10 best.
New York really brings all the glitz, glam, and vegan restaurants. The city has more than 140 vegan restaurants spread from Times Square to the suburbs; there are 75 vegan restaurants on the island of Manhattan alone. The huge city also has one of the largest fleets of vegan food trucks in the country, making vegan takeout more accessible than ever. However, the excessive price of living in New York placed the concrete jungle in 79th place in terms of affordability in WalletHub's ranking of the most vegan-friendly cities.
It's one of the best cities to find a lot of diverse vegan options. It is ranked 26th in Wallethub's overall ranking of the most vegan-friendly cities in the United States and tenth in diversity, accessibility and quality. It also hosts Animal Outlook's DC VegFest, the largest vegan gathering on the East Coast. DC VegFest attracts thousands of vegans, vegetarians and carnivores and features vegan vendors, celebrity speakers, cooking demonstrations and much more.
Portland is also home to Northwest Veg, one of the largest and most effective vegetarian advocacy groups in the country. Northwest Veg hosts successful VegFests across the country that attract thousands of visitors. The medium-sized city offers 49 different vegan restaurants that dominate a large part of the restaurant industry. How will most people who are difficult to penetrate with new knowledge or make the supply chain affordable for them will be addressed? Los Angeles is not rich.
Most of Los Angeles County lives in poverty and below. Many of Los Angeles County's vegans are from the younger generation, mostly college students or graduates. They also tend to vote for Democrats or Liberals. In addition, California is a blue state, which is the majority.
I think veganism is likely to expand in the coming years and be successful in more liberal cities, such as San Francisco or Los Angeles; possibly even in different parts of Northern California, such as Berkeley. Any content from Canada for us Slaughterhouse n Pib Barn Capital of Canada WPG has vegan meetup n 2 boonburger all vegan leftovers I've been vegetarian for years, I just haven't been able to fully dedicate myself to Vegan, YET. The fact that pregnant cows are milked until they are raw should give you some reason. And what do you think is happening to their babies? Isn't San Diego on this list? Visited there, they have great vegan food, not just the variety of Asian fusion or comfort food.
I love San Diego vegan restaurants like Donna Jean and her adjacent vegan fast food burger joint + I love Kindred It's very hopeful that more restaurants offer vegan foods. I think people need to see how animals are raised and killed. People have no idea how cruelty animals are treated, especially dairy products. It should be such a friendly description of “dairy” when in fact it's very cruel.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Animal Outlook is a national non-profit 501 (c) (animal advocacy) organization based in Washington, DC. Working to end animal abuse since 1995, Animal Outlook exposes cruelty to farm animals and promotes vegan nutrition. Our mission is to change the world for animals.
When I became vegan in 2003, I was living in Wisconsin, a state known for its meaty food that sticks to ribs, dipped in cheese and sauce. Until some hot spots started serving tofu to a mostly university clientele, finding even a mediocre veggie burger was a rare treat that I didn't take for granted. To satisfy my craving for plant-based food, I started touring the country, making vegan friends everywhere, and compiling a growing list of the best vegan food in the United States. Back then, word of mouth was everything.
Like the mountainous state region, the Southwest isn't particularly known for its vegan cuisine. Albuquerque is the exception, with a growing list of vegetarian-friendly and fully vegan establishments. The best thing about vegan food in this city is that not only can you find easy veganising options in Thai, Chinese and Indian restaurants (Annapurna has the most options), but the hot-air balloon travel capital is the perfect place to find fully vegan versions of traditional Southwestern cuisine. New Mexico is famous for its chili peppers, and you're likely to see dishes prepared “Christmas-style,” meaning you'll get red and green chili sauce.
Start your culinary adventure with chili at Vegos ABQ, where you can choose between the jackfruit and red chili burrito; the forest burrito stuffed with potatoes, pinto beans and green chili; or the generous plate of enchiladas, topped with the chili sauce of your choice. During your stay, visit the Instagram page of Vegan Vato, owned by veterans, to see where the food truck is expected to sell its tacos, toast, burritos and sammies (choose between seitan roast, jackfruit carnitas, barbecue tempeh and ground “impossible meat”). The Acre offers fun, homemade food, and La Finca Bowls is where you'll find rice bowls with fresh quinoa, lentils and vegan coconut poké. Can't you decide what you want? Head to Mata G, a totally vegetarian, who serves a different style of cuisine every day of the week, including the couscous with Moroccan saffron on Tuesdays and the Lebanese kibbe casserole on Fridays.
Vegan food in the country's capital is as diverse as its components. Think of vegan Taiwanese fried mozzarella at Pow Pow or vegan soul food at NuVegan Café (do yourself a favor and order two servings of macaroni and cheese and an extra lasagna to go). Stop by the Middle Eastern street food restaurant, Shouk, where your only challenge is to decide between mushroom shawarma, eggplant burger and award-winning Shouk burger. Save room for dessert at the old vegan bakery Sticky Fingers, and at the newcomer, Donut Run, a vegan donut shop that doesn't want anyone to know it's vegan.
It goes without saying that when you're in Boise you have to try the potatoes, so head to the Boise Fry Company, where your vegan burger is accompanied by golden, purple, sweet or reddish fries, and order their addicting and crunchy fried Brussels sprouts. My favorite place to eat here is Tarbush Kitchen, a Middle Eastern restaurant run by Iraqi refugees that has excellent baba ganouj and the best falafel I've ever tasted in the United States. The chefs are so talented that, before moving to Boise, the United States military recruited one of the owners to cook for the troops in Baghdad. For dessert, head to Guru Donuts, which has vegan options such as sea salt, chocolate, maple and “hipsterberry”.
It's no surprise that the country's unofficial cultural capital has incredible vegan food. It will also have a handful of vegan snobs who refuse to let go of the East Coast against. Snobs are definitely on both coasts. What makes plant-based food in New York City so amazing is that, unlike some cities, where vegan restaurants are mostly limited to what I call “easy vegan” (you know, veggie burgers, pasta, rice bowls), the Big Apple has a vegan population large enough for entire restaurants to be dedicated to veganism, in a wide range of cuisines.
You'll find Korean Kimchi Stew, Vietnamese Pho, Mexican Enchiladas, and Chana Masala from India. The best and most refined vegan food in town is a tie between everything in Avant Garden and Dirt Candy's vegan tasting menu. Red Bamboo, a long-time popular vegan restaurant in the West Village, is the ideal place to eat vegan soul and comfort food. During his stay in Chinatown, Buddha Bodai serves more than 50 vegan dim sum dishes in addition to another 200 vegan dishes on the menu.
And on the other side of town, Beyond Sushi, originally from New York, offers seaweed caviar, smoked mushrooms and pickled vegetables, all wrapped in black rice sushi rolls. Screamers, in Brooklyn, has the best pizza you'll find in the whole city (buffalo cauliflower is exaggerated), and the district has not one, but two Ethiopian vegan restaurants that you have to try Ras Plant Based and Buna Café (with an excellent weekend brunch). We know, we know, Wisconsin is the state of dairy products and Milwaukee is mostly known as Beer City, USA. Why would it be included in a list of the best vegan cities in the country? Because longtime vegan locals (like me) know that creative vegan chefs have been making delicious dishes for more than a decade.
The Palomino Bar and Restaurant, in the trendy Bay View neighborhood, was one of the first restaurants in the city to offer a full vegan menu (think buffalo tofu wings and fried pickles), while more recent additions, such as Beerline Café (ideal for breakfast) and On The Bus (acai bowls, hamburgers and sandwiches), complete it when you want a meal without frying. My favorite restaurant in the city is Alem Ethiopian, which isn't totally vegetarian, but it has one of the most generous and interesting vegan dishes I've ever tasted. When the pandemic eases a bit, I hope they will resume their delicious and incredibly cheap vegetarian buffet lunch. Los Angeles (and Los Angelinos) have a bit of a reputation.
You know what I'm talking about. Looking like tanned and fit celebrities, walking around drinking green juice and looking beautiful, dining at raw food restaurants, claiming to be full after eating what most of us would consider an appetizer. Well, I'm not going to say that that will never happen in Los Angeles, but I will say that's far from the full story. As for restaurant food, Asheville is one of those cities with many vegan-friendly restaurants, but few fully vegan establishments.
Fully vegan restaurants include Rosetta's Kitchen, which offers Southern comfort food, and Pulp %26 Sprout, which focuses primarily on raw foods. For creative seasonal coffee and vegan rolls, pies and doughnuts with cream cheese, visit whole-grain paradise, Gallivant Coffee. If you're looking for ready-to-go meals and vegan products that aren't even found in the big stores in this area, stop by the West Village Market. Although not entirely vegetarian, Handlebar is an unpretentious, no-frills bar that's popular with local vegetarians and vegans.
Avoid soy and seitan-based options (which are good, but easy to find elsewhere) and order fried okra with a corn crust and Nashville's hot “fried chicken”, made with plenty of forest hen mushrooms. In San Francisco proper, you'll want to go to Baia, which is celebrity chef Matthew Kenney's first restaurant in the Bay Area that specializes in top-notch Italian food. And if you don't mind reading some religious propaganda from the Vietnamese Supreme Master, head to Golden Era, a long-time vegan favorite, which has been serving Vietnamese, Chinese, and Pan-Asian synthetic meat noodle dishes long before Beyond Burger was conceived (I'm usually that freak that orders several soups for my meal). If you're looking for Japanese food, head to Shizen Vegan Sushi Bar and Izakaya, which take standard tofu and avocado rolls to the next level by topping them with tapioca-based imitation fish eggs.
For Mexican and Latin fusion, Om Sabor takes the cake (without eggs or dairy) with its mushroom ceviche toast with royal trumpet, hibiscus flour tacos and crab cakes with jackfruit. Do you want more Thrillist? Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat. Tampa is a bustling city with a wide variety of vegan food, from donuts topped with pretzels with peanut butter to fried chicken with a fire alarm, plus new places looking to open a store. I love San Diego vegan restaurants like Donna Jean and her adjacent vegan fast food burger joint + I love Kindred.
Oregon is generally a vegan-friendly state, but vegan visitors are sometimes surprised to find all the options available in the relatively small town of Eugene. Both Wayward Vegan Cafe and Plum Bistro have stood out for offering the best vegan food in Seattle, and they are restaurants you should try if you're passing through or looking for your next vegan meal. The city's vegans can even get away from it all and spend time at the Red Robin Song Guest House, located in an animal sanctuary a few hours north of Manhattan. In fact, not only does the city of Orlando have 14 fully vegan restaurants, but The Magic Kingdom also has vegan options that include vegan hot dogs on Main Street, vegan Sloppy Joes in Tomorrowland and vegan cheeseburgers from the Southwest in Frontierland.
Atlanta also stands out because the cost of living is lower than the national average and the cost of housing is six percent lower than the national average, which means that if you're looking for a city that offers vegan food without spending all your money, Atlanta may be your next stop. The Midwest doesn't get enough credit for the excellent vegan food it has served long before veganism caught on, and the Windy City has had some of the best options for a long time. There is also a strong vegan community, with festivals and vegan events that are held frequently in and around the area. .
