Is Canada vegan friendly?

[Pug Ugly]

Really depends on where you live.. I grew up in Victoria and it's very "vegan friendly". Right now I'm in Kamloops and it isn't even close. There isn't a single veggie restaurant here but we do have some good health food stores and I can find vegan products without much hassle.

[youngvegan]

Montreal is fantastic for vegans-lots of yummy health food stores and a bunch of vegan friendly restaurants (Aux Vivres and Commensal are both amazing!) I also found many vegan yummies in ottawa ( even a vegan bakery!) As for vegan slices etc, almost every grocery store here has a vegan/vegetarian section with quite a broad selection. My faves are faux feta tofu cheese (on salad, in filo or even on crackers), veggie salami(for sandwiches) and veggie ground round(for pasta and tacos) As for produce there is an interesting system here in Montreal - several organic farms are willing to deliver boxes of organic vegetables directly to your house (usually every two weeks )for a small monthly fee.

I hope this info is useful.

[ellaminnowpea]

Canada in general isn't too bad for vegan food as long as you stay in the main cities.... but its too damn cold up there!!

[Vegabond]

Well, we don't have the tofurky slices here, or the tofutti cheeses. And I have never seen something called "korn," and a variety of other faux products like that. I can't think of many of the specifics, but when I posted at VB they were always talking about this product and that product and we didn't have most of them.

I finally found seitan the other day, in a microwave dinner. Haven't tried it yet. :)

I know a lot of vegans don't go for faux products, but a lot of people would find it very difficult to convert without them! ;)
Hmmm, the Suprestores (RCSS) in Ottawa that I have shopped at have some of those products that you mentioned...

[songlife]

Montreal is AMAZING for vegan food! It's kinda like Vancouver in that sense... vegan and vegetarian restaurants everywhere, especially in the core. They do have some things we don't have and we have some things they don't have. I think Van is slightly more vegan but it really doesn't make that much difference.

Here in Montreal there are SEVERAL veggie restaurants (even a raw one) within a 2 block radius of my place, not to mention a wide variety of health food stores and a cheap organic locally grown student-run vegantastic produce co-op.

Plus in Montreal there are middle-eastern restaurants *everywhere*, with tons of vegan options including falafel wrap sandwiches for 2.50 to 4 dollars each. Life couldn't be sweeter.

Raw foods are easy to find here. Organic food is abundant even in our Pharmaprix's (Shoppers Drugmarts). It's vegan paradise, I still haven't tried even a tenth of the veggie places here, it's impossible.

To top it all off, we even have tons of vegan products unique to Quebec, locally made.

[Oveeja]

I live in Ottawa and I find it extremely easy. Many vegan products can be found in big store such as Metro and Loblaws.

When it comes to places to eat out, I would say there is a fair amount of restaurants/health food stores.
I personally frequent this amazing place called Market Organics that has at least 10 vegan options to choose from each day, they label everything as vegan or non vegan (with big black on yellow letters) and write down the ingredients, they even keep it interesting by adding new recipes each couple of days.
We have an all vegan bakery called Auntie Loo's Vegan Treats that distributes to many other shops and cafés around the city. It is amazing, and the owner is so cool, if you threw water at her it would turn to ice.
There are many street vendors that sell vegan hotdogs. I even got a pretty amazing vegan meal at a steakhouse called The Keg . All I had to do was ask what they could do that was vegan and I got this amazing spiced rice platter with almonds, spinach and fried asparagus (I was impressed that the waitress even knew what vegan meant).

My only complaint would be that vegetables and fruits are extremely expensive compared to where I used to live (Mexico) and during winter the prices go up and nothing fresh can be bough locally.

[BellaTanie]

I would think it would be. I have been to Toronto many times, it is one of my favorite places to be, and I have not had any problems finding good vegan food. Loblaws is a wonderful grocery store, just loved it!!!!! Everything is so green and clean there, I am always at peace when visiting Toronto.

[Andy_T]

Given that the original poster has not logged on to the forum in the last 8 years, she is probably already there...

Best regards,
Andy

[Robinwomb]

Given that the original poster has not logged on to the forum in the last 8 years, she is probably already there...

Best regards,
Andy

That's true, but maybe someone else looking at the forum might find this thread helpful?

[Andy_T]

I guess so ...

but ... wanting to understand the original poster's request, I followed a link in one of the first answers that was no longer working. When I looked closely, I saw that it was a news article from 2004 ;-)

Best regards,
Andy

[BellaTanie]

hahaha ur right Andy lol

[Robinwomb]

I guess so ...

but ... wanting to understand the original poster's request, I followed a link in one of the first answers that was no longer working. When I looked closely, I saw that it was a news article from 2004 ;-)

Best regards,
Andy

Understood. :)

[va]

I live in southern Ontario, in Hamilton. At first glance, you wound't think the 'steel-city' would be very vegan friendly, but once you dig around you will become pleasantly surprised with the amount of vegan options.

The city is very multi-cultural, so it's easy to find vegan alternatives at the many different cultural restaurants. There are also plenty of bakeries, and coffee shops with "vegan offerings," as I like to say.

McMaster University in Hamilton even has an award winning vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Bridges Cafe. The general public can go to the restaurant, and it's great for vegan students on the schools meal plan.

Hamilton also has a farmers market right downtown (Attached to Jackson Square Mall) with many different local vendors selling local produce and products. Also Ottawa St. North has a local market, I believe once a week, with strictly loca, seasonal produce from farms in the area.

It is VERY EASY to be vegan in Hamilton, Ontario.

[Beverly Gassner]

Overnight, in every store that I shop at, there are cheese alternatives, milk alternatives, meat alternatives, whole grains from A-Z, hemp and chia, heat-and-serve vegan Indian dishes, and if I'm unsure about a bakery good they slap an ingredients list on it for me like I just asked for the price of it. When I eat at restaurants, I email them or research them in advance and if they don't have what I need, I take it with me. Even those "no outside food or drink" places change their tune when you tell them that by excluding your dietary requirements that they are causing a possible medical issue that hopefully won't turn into a legal issue. In general, this is a great place to live and eat in. Even high-end fashion stores often have alternatives that they don't usually advertise. Some vinyl COACH bags are more expensive than the same style in leather, but they exist! My favourite footwear is Blowfish and you can find it anyplace. The absolute hardest thing I've had to deal with is people with good intentions who feel offended by my refusal of spontaneous coffees or chocolates, cakes, etc. I called a roller skating place to ask about their menu and said I don't eat animal products, so they suggested I let the snack bar know to set aside a cheese pizza for me *blank stare*. I went to the CNE for the first time in years and was overwhelmed by the selection of foods in the Food Building. There was a directory and it even lists vegan restaurant choices so I tried one and had the BEST salad I have ever had (and I eat a lot of salads). That's what I told them too on their Facebook page. Being vegan in the GTA in Canada is not difficult if you can manage to get to a regular grocery store, fashion mall or order online. One simple rule I learned early on is: If it's itchy, it's probably not vegan.

[katie.bb]

I guess it really depends on what type of city / town you are in. If you are in the Toronto Area or Ottawa, it is definitely veg friendly there. But for the most part all grocery stores here are vegan friendly and offer good produce. I'd recommend stopping at an Independent grocer as they always carry organic produce as well as your conventional produce, but they usually have a health isle, where they carry other products as well some of which are vegan. Metro also carries organic produce as well but can be a little more costly from time to time.

In the bigger cities such as Toronto or Ottawa, there are a lot more vegan friendly restaurants compared to where I live (Sudbury / Northern Ontario), but even here there is the odd one that can be altered to be vegan, or carries vegan food. You can also speak with your waitress if they can substitute their ingredients to make it vegan.

I've never had an issue traveling within Ontario in finding food. :)