Flickr user thegrocer

​Orange County, for all its Republican, meat-and-potatoes reputation, has a fantastic array of vegetarian restaurants; not just vegetarian, but vegan, and from a wide variety of ethnic traditions. We have little patience with hippy-dippy vegetarian places that skimp on flavor in order to emphasize the health benefits (seriously, whose idea was that?), but fortunately we can have great vegetarian and vegan food without the preachiness.

There are at least ten more entries that could be added to this list; we could have done two dozen without really breaking a sweat... so fear not, Buddhists, animal-rights activists, and people who have learned that not every meal needs to feature five hundred grams of dead animal, and let us know your favorites!

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PALMO website

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If Thursday is the new Friday, Wednesday is hump day, and Tuesdays are for tacos, what do we call Monday....sandwich night? We're thinking either meatless, or, as Raya Belna would like you to refer to it, PALMO. That's right. There's a new pop-up in town, and it's found in a different, non-car dealership sort of venue (but oh, so OC)....a golf course.

Perhaps you recognize her name. Raya was on the most current season of Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race, representing our fine county with the Seabirds luxe lonchera team. What began this week, and every Monday for the foreseeable future, is a meal meant to explore your lighter (read: herbivore) side.
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​As of 2010, the population of Long Beach was somewhere in the 500,000 range, yet the city was home to only one vegan restaurant (Zephyr). While this animal-free diet ain't exactly sweeping the nation--or the town--by storm, that number still seemed small.

Luckily, however, about two weeks ago, that number doubled overnight when Long Beach Vegan Eatery (LBVE) opened its doors. Owned and operated by Jeff Terranova and chef Beckey Salg, the LBVE was so popular that after its first seven days of business, the restaurant had to shut down to order more food.


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Look! These look tasty. They are not your enemies.

​ Apparently, the stars have aligned and it's Vegetarian Weekend here in the United States of Where's-The-Beef.

Today is Hug-A-Vegetarian Day, sponsored by those lovable but disturbed whackjobs over at PETA. Not content with trying to get fish renamed "sea kittens" and actually driving more business to a Santa Ana McDonald's by being completely indistinguishable from the usual sign-twirlers, they've designated an entire day dedicated to really uncomfortable greetings with total strangers.

("Hello! I noticed you ordered a Boca Burger, sir. May I give you a hug on this auspicious Hug-A-Vegetarian Day?")
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Look at the page above. A quick glance would lead readers to believe this is a dating website for vegetarians, and that's how Veggie Dates UK initially advertised itself as. But now notice the tagline: "If you are someone looking to meet single people who lead a healthy lifestyle why not join...."

That was a line forced on the website by the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority, which discovered after an investigation that most of the people who used Veggie Dates weren't vegetarians at all but rather meat eaters.
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Flickr user sliceofchic

Danger, Will Robinson!

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Most of the "food police" rules that we occasionally sneer about here at Stick A Fork In It aren't promulgated at the local, county or even state level: the federal Food and Drug Administration's rules reach nationwide, and when they say a food is potentially hazardous, everyone down the line had better hop to it and inspect it.
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Javier Cabral

It's Now or Never...

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Welcome to another edition of Intern Lunch!

During the past few months, I've had a blast writing about music, tagging along and eating tasty lunches with fellow intern Javier Cabral. During my last week here at the Weekly world headquarters, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and dabble in something I've never done before: write a food review. With the help of Javier, of course!
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​I have green-type friends and acquaintances who long ago abandoned soy milk and most soy-based products, calling it the "new" corn in that the product is now EVERYWHERE. They switched over to coconut milk, almond-based foods--anything but soy.

Those radicals, of course, are a mega-minority in the United States, but they are also usually ahead of the trend on food issues--and lo and behold, soy-based food products have declined in sales for the past five years.
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All Hail Kale! (It's the name of their dish, not our exhortation--although kale is good...)

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In yet another Earth Week celebration special, the gang over at Veggie Grill is holding a Virgin Night this evening from 4-10 p.m. at ALL locations.

Before we lose you to your imagination, take a pause to ponder what this means; then make the jump for the secret phrase.
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