food Archives - A Vegan Obsession

Healthy Vegan Fast Food In San Francisco

August 26, 2015 by India Leigh

Healthy Vegan Fast Food In San Francisco.

Where to Eat Now

I was on a road trip recently with my new husband. Yes, for those of you that follow my blog.I got married in July to a wonderful American man!! We had a blissful wedding day in Ojai, California. Magical!

We were road tripping up to Oregon to my first nerve wracking meeting with some of his siblings and their children, and for my husband to enter a 13 mile uphill race. (Swoon). We stopped off in my much loved city, San Francisco in order to track down some healthy vegan fast food in San Francisco. Time pushed and road weary (7 hours driving…just to here) I was pulling him around the Mission excitedly showing him cafes where I had spent many hours writing..dragging him up Bernal Heights for a night view of the city and picking up morsels of vegan food along the way.

Project Juice has been raved about by me in the past. Situated midway up Valencia Street it is a filling and stop for healthy fast food and the antithesis of our unregulated in car crunchy snacking! We ordered the Macro Bowl, with ginger, sesame kale and roasted butternut squash, and the Spiced Lentil Wrap with a cashew-turmeric aioli which honestly was so incredible I could have eaten a bowl of the stuff with a spoon! Our food was incredible. Happy making. I like it when my intense love of food is shared! We washed it all down (so incredibly full now) with an Espresso smoothie, with super foods and fresh young coconut. It was good. Husband enjoyed it. But not being a coffee girl I must say my heart is still true to the Chocoholic smoothie! Project juice are in several Northern and SoCal locations. Recommended.

790 Valencia Street

San Francisco, CA 94110

Though I’ve spent many months of my life in San Francisco in recent years..I felt like a tourist with my husband by my side! We had to take photo’s with murals..it just wouldn’t be right not to!

It was not easy to pick only two vegan restaurants to feast in San Francisco. We only had a few hours and I had to narrow it down. My second pick was Seed & Salt. A personal favourite. I had attended their opening in winter 2014. Their menu is original, organic, vegan and totally gluten free and even processed sugar free. A dream!

We deliberated a while then settled for the chopped cobb salad with chickpea frittata and the beet burger. ONE of the wonderful benefits to having a husband is that you do not have to decide on one item from the menu. You can order two and SHARE. I know. Such a bonus. So we also plumped for the beet burger, made with beets, walnuts and mushrooms. Both came with a cashew ranch dressing. Both were good and filling.

2240 Chestnut Street

San Francisco, 94123

Despite our stomachs feeling fit to burst after our eating spree, and to sort of balance out all the healthy (though very delicious) food. We also devoured a bag of Wholesome Bakery spiced oat, cream filled whoopee pies. They are soft, chewy, cinnamony, creamy and jump and and down good. I once walked past their little catering kitchen in the Mission and stood at the closed door just inhaling. Yes, I did that.

Sorry. No pics!

I am hoping another trip up to San Francisco will not be too far away. I have many, many more restaurants for my new (and oh so lovely) husband to try with me.

Which is your favourite vegan place to eat in San Francisco?

A Trip To The Coast Unearths An All Vegan Food Store

August 28, 2014 by India Leigh

A Trip To The Coast Unearths An All Vegan Food Store

I was house sitting a couple of months ago when Britain was awash with a welcome hot sun. I traveled to a little English village beside the ‘Butlins infamous’ town of Bognor Regis. A seaside town with pebble beach on the south coast of England. I was a bit concerned beforehand that it would be a jolly vista of lobster pink bodies, garish teeth chipping candy, and awash with bawdy ‘hens’ on a night out. Not so. Just 1/4 mile from Bognor promenade and you arrive in a calm and peaceful oasis where time has stood still. It’s all precision clipped lawns and friendly doffed caps. The most rowdy you’ll experience in this village of thatched cottages and dogs you can tuck under your armpit, is a swooping opportunist seagull nicking your cucumber sandwiches!

As usual when I am travelling around much research is carried out and the internet chugs out helpful lists of places of interest, and of course Happy Cow lets me know what is in my area in terms of vegan eats. The vegan eats drew a blank, the closest being Daisy Moo in Worthing. What I did find was Vegetaria. An all vegan food store (curiously combined with an estate agency - the veggie passionate owners wanted to make eating meat free easier for shoppers). It is small shop floor but well stocked with ready meals, gluten free products, veggie ‘meats’, vegan cheese, desserts, frozen good, condiments, snacks, drinks, household products and pet food! And, it is a not just a high street store. Vegetaria have an online store too! I’m so happy to see more and more vegan stores sprouting up in Europe.

Two of the three pugs that I had the pleasure to look after. Pugs are hilarious as I had the joy to discover!

Holding A Candle To Vegan Dining In New York

January 7, 2014 by India Leigh

I am in Austin, Texas, right now, attempting to catch up on posts that have been stacking up as I flit from country to country, State to State. Right now, I am happily ticking off another New York dining experience I wanted to share with you. I’d heard a lot about Candle Cafe, from friends and fellow bloggers, so I was eager to give it a try. I went with a friend to celebrate his birthday. He is an NYC native so he had visited many times. This was great as we managed to get a table without pre-booking, and also he had overtime eaten his way around the menu so was a competent advisor.

The menu is entirely vegan, mostly local, seasonal, organic and the cafe is proudly environmentally aware. All elements usually precursors to a splendid dining experience. I was well catered for as the menu had a good selection of gluten free dishes to choose from.

The restaurant is kind of upscale but not grand. The lighting and seating make for a relaxing, intimate atmosphere. The staff were super attentive. The Candle story began in the summer of 1984, when Bart Potenza purchased Sunny’s, a landmark health food store and juice bar located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. In honour of the previous owners’ nightly ritual of lighting candles to bless their establishment, Bart renamed it the Healthy Candle and made it his own. Candle Cafe’s story is an interesting one. You can read more here.

This is what we ate.

AVOCADO-QUINOA SALAD
Black beans, jicama, cucumber, radish, pumpkin seeds, field greens, chipotle dressing

LIVE LASAGNA
Tomatoes, zucchini, wild mushrooms, cashew cheese, pumpkin seed pesto, balsamic-black pepper reduction

INDIAN CURRY VEGETABLE CAKE
Sautéed greens, caramelized onions, red pepper-coconut curry sauce, lemon-date chutney, almonds.

MEXICAN CHOCOLATE CAKE
Chocolate sauce, chipotle candied walnuts, vanilla coconut ice cream (sadly..this was my friend’s dessert and I couldn’t even reach over with my fork to sample as it was not gluten free). I could tell by the look on his face just how good it was! I nearly choked on my saliva!

All I tasted was very good and lovingly plated. The Indian dish and the artichoke appetiser were my personal favourites. My friend spent much time raving about the raw lasagne.

Candle Cafe West is one of three Candle eateries in NYC. Candle 79 is located on 79th Street in between Lexington & 3rd. I had visited Candle 79 the week before and I think, to be honest, my expectations were a little high. The little place had a really nice welcoming atmosphere and was packed with diners at lunch time when I visited. I arrived after my first walk through Central Park. I had to pinch myself that I was there..in New York (at last!) visiting the most famous and visited urban park in the USA. I headed to the park for a bit of a respite from the craziness of the city. I had to laugh at the irony. The sky had a helicopter zig zagging across the park and about 2 million people and 34,000 runners where in and around the park for the New York Marathon (failed to research that little fact of the day!) It was good fun though, so I couldn’t mind!

With such a wonderful variety of dishes on offer, I went with the proffered tempeh entree as suggested by my waitress. It was nice but not outstanding. The menu listed their ‘famous’ split pea soup. I sampled it and honestly, I was not wowed. It was because of this experience that I was so pleased to eat at Candle again and come away with fonder memories. Of course, unless your debut dining experience at a restaurant is majorly whacked it is always good to go back another time and try something different from the menu. Sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised.

such fun!

a finisher strolling back through the park.

Exciting GIVEAWAY - a whole BOX of deliciously good Nakd. bars!

September 26, 2012 by India Leigh

I know it’s getting colder here in the Northern Hemisphere but it is time for a Nakd. Giveaway. No, you don’t have to get undressed for it! Just submit your entry in the box below.
Get this…Here is a GIVEAWAY equation. Action = better odds So take a minute and do it all!

I was invited to the launch of Nakd. new delicious flavours.
Rhubarb and Custard..so British a combo, and reminds me of those dual coloured penny chews I scoffed as a child (they made your jaw ache as you ate them), AND my mother’s rhubarb crumble, swimming in thick, yellow custard.
2nd up was Caffe MOCHA flavour. It has the real deep, bitter notes of dark coffee, and a bar of good high% chocolate.

Nakd were so fun. They even got us playing with date pastes, nuts, sparkles and flavourings to make our own versions. Some clever clogs came up with Strawberry Nutcase . I’d market that one if I where them!

I put together a little montage to practise my editing skills. Please have a peek. It features a word from Jamie, the MD of Nakd. What a nice guy!
I love the way businesses are changing now, to become more fun, inclusive, interactive and hailing from a place of good intentions. It’s a fascinating time to be alive. Why not enter to win a box of Nakd bars so you can spread the lurve with friends?!

Good luck.

Be well,

India Leigh xxx

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Getting steamy in the kitchen….Tamales you HAVE to try!

December 25, 2010 by India Leigh

Even though the food in San Francisco had been keeping my mind pretty much occupied I still hankered after sampling the organic, vegan tamales I’d picked up a flyer for in Silverlake, LA. If fact, I carried it around in my bag and would re-read it over and over imagining the flavours! Sad but true.

The first morning of my return to Silverlake I fished out the flyer and rang La Guera Tamalera.

Deborah, the ‘White girl tamale maker’ as her business name translates, remembered me instantly, which of course made me feel fab. I begged her yet again to teach me how to make tamales but she said she had no time right now, but in 2011, ‘exciting new plans’ were being cooked up. I thought well, hey, let’s not jump the gun anyway, her tamales might not be anything to write home about. I ordered the vegan choices; sasquash, sesame kale and spinach shitake. They arrived in a huge foil tray, still piping hot from the kitchen, the lovely Deborah greeted me like an old friend (notice I mentioned the food first! naughty me….but the way I see it, you can get to know people through their food..see I’m not just all about the tucker you know!)

It was 10am, breakfast not yet digested, but I’d waited for five weeks to taste these babies so I figured it was ok to try one whilst it was still hot. I grabbed my camera and carefully unwrapped the husk. Inside was a smooth tube of masa, the colour of caramel, the rising steam scented with corn and cinnamon. I took a few hasty mug shots, for which it posed quite happily as you can see, and sat down to try my first ‘white girl tamale maker’ tamale. It was light, spongy, soothingly sweet, the flour and the baked yam and butternut squash spiced just right.

The red bean filling was subtly sweet, salty and delivered a teeny tiny chilli kick. I kept lifting it to my nose to breathe in the steam. Dense enough to be filling, light enough to be savoured and so bloody perfect that it rendered me a very happy (and full) turtle!

That day I ate three. For research purposes and not because I was being a pink porky. The spinach and kale was my favourite savoury, it has seasoned well and married SUBLIMELY with a bowl of hot black bean soup.

Deborah is a GENIUS tamale maker. Her tamales ignite a burning flame of happiness. If everyone in the world ate one of her tamales everyday there would be world peace. Amen.

Where to Eat Now

A Trip To The Coast Unearths An All Vegan Food Store

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