Finding a vegan restaurant in a non-vegan town is like finding a gay bar back in the day in a republican right wing neighborhood. That means back roads.. dark alleys.. and misinformed GPS tracking. I almost felt unsafe. First it took us 10 miles and 20 minutes of circling out of the Queens Center Mall and it’s surrounding triple lanes of no right turns and no left turns. Using the Happy Cow App, this restaurant popped up as the closest vegan spot and only 2.5 miles away. Finally.. finally.. finally- we made it.
It was a tiny Asian looking fast food spot- so we thought. I guess this was another lesson in “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. First off, they were delightful and welcoming to vegan conquest to find vegan food in Queens. The service was wonderful and the food was actually really delicious!
My non-vegan friend and I laughed because of the secret maze it took to get us there. Honestly, that just made it all the more worth the trip! Vegan food in Queens exists! Yay!I ordered the mango soy dish served in a mango shell and over brown rice. Yes.. this is a common Asian dish and done very well. My friend had vegan pad thai and we shared tofu roll appetizers.
Going vegan generally will bring up the topic of soy.. and too much soy. For the record, I try to avoid white starch items like rice and noodles and also most soy products. Soy is good for transitioning over to vegan. There is probably a soy equivalent to any meat you can come up with. It’s of course important to avoid GMO SOY which is basically almost impossible in these kind of restaurants. 93% of all soy and corn is GMO. I have spoken about it practically everyday but I guess since it’s my passion, I can get into it again. GMO stands for genetically modified organisms. What goes on there is that it is manipulated on the seed level. The seed DNA protein is altered to withstand pesticides. It’s pesticide resistant so that the insects and other animals will not eat it or they will die from it (along those lines). Humans can eat it though- says big biotech companies and therefore the FDA. One day, everyone will see that they probably shouldn’t be eating GMOs. Soy is processed too so that is another reason to limit it. Too much soy may affect the thyroid and other hormonal activity not to mention that it is high up on the allergy list. Fermented soy products like tempeh, natto, miso, shoyu and some tofu tend to be better choices. Nuts too provide great alternatives to many soy products. Disclaimer: The information given here is for educational purposes only. You should not use this to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.
[Sunday, September 23rd 2012 blog]
