Its 2020 and whether you are a meat lover or a vegetable enthusiast, it is known that reducing your meat and dairy intake is one of the biggest things you can do to help mitigate climate change. Transitioning to a vegan diet would be the most planet friendly path, but if that sounds undesirable or unobtainable, I simply challenge you to eat less of them. In opposition to popular belief, eating less meat and dairy does NOT mean you have to give up on taste and flavor, and lucky for us, Jackson has delicious vegan dishes all over town.
Cultivate Cafe
Here you will enter the vegan mecca, where they offer vegan options for all of their breakfast and lunch dishes. With everything from healthy smoothie bowls to vegan fried jackfruit and waffles, Cultivate Cafe gives the ultimate vegan fix. For breakfast, I can’t go without ordering the Cowgirl Sandwich–served open-face and topped with chickpea scramble, spinach, sautéed onions and a fresh basil vegan aioli. For lunch, they offer a variety of bowls and sandwiches, and even a vegan shepherd’s pie. To be honest, I recommend going until you can eat through their entire menu and pick out your favorite dish. Just make sure to save room for dessert because Cultivate Cafe has a selection of housemade vegan cookies and sweets that are to die for. If there was ever a restaurant that demonstrated eating vegan doesn’t mean restriction or flavor sacrifice, this would be the place.
Healthy Being Juicery
Focused on plant-based foods, this cafe uses the freshest local ingredients in their vibrant and health-conscious food and juices. Their quality and taste is top notch and their cozy cabin location makes it the perfect place to come and nourish yourself. All of their juices, nut milks and sauces are made daily in-house, and their menu offers something for every taste bud at every time of day. The great big veggie sandwich makes the perfect power-packed lunch, filled with hummus, carrots, cabbage, quick pickled red onion, lemon avocado mash and homemade lemon-herb vinaigrette. For a healthy and delicious vegan pick-me-up, I recommend the Wildside Smoothie, made with housemade almond milk, almond butter, banana, raw cacao, doma cold brew coffee and dates. Don’t be afraid to pair it with one of their delicious, raw vegan desserts!
Gather
If dining with people searching for their meat fix, Gather makes the perfect middle ground. Although serving mostly meat and fish dishes, they always offer a delicious vegan option on their menu. This winter they are serving Vegan Mae Noodles: a delicious stir fry of glass bean noodles, sesame ginger, roasted mushrooms, sautéed carrots, peppers and sweet soy.
The Kitchen
Similarly to Gather, The Kitchen does a fantastic job of consistently offering delicious vegan options on their menu. Perfect for this cold winter season is their Vegan Soba, a comforting and delicious vegan dish. Made with red miso-sunflower broth, roasted pumpkin, black garlic, smoked seitan, cabbage, daikon, carrots and black sesame, it will make even your full carnivore friends jealous. And trust me–you won’t want to share.
The Phoenix and the Dragon
Our cute little pan-Asian artsy cafe has multiple vegan options to choose from for both lunch and dinner. Most of their dishes can be modified to be made vegan or are vegan without modification. All things dairy-free are labeled on the menu and everything is available for take out, making vegan living easy. The Malaysian yellow curry is filled with fresh veggies and makes for a filling and nurturing meal. In addition to their many vegan entrees, they have multiple vegan snacks and starters. In my opinion, no meal from The Phoenix and the Dragon would be complete without their Korean fried cauliflower wings. You’ll never need a chicken wing again after it.
The Phoenix and the Dragon Korean fried cauliflower
