Saturday, November 2, 2013

More vegan adventures in Calgary

This week I tried out the new raw, vegan, gluten free Healthy Delights Living Foods, that just recently opened up at the Calgary Farmer's Market. I picked up the dehydrated 'cheezy' tomatoes, made with nutritional yeast and they were very savoury. I also picked up the lovely raw chocolate cheesecake picture below. It was nice to stumble upon the booth as I was at the market visiting a favourite vegetarian vendor, Hearts Choices. They have many vegan items and my favourite is the frozen lemon grass faux soy product. I use it to make Banh Mi Vietnamese subs. Yum!


Also opening this week is the new organic market, Mrs Greens. It is located in the far South, 130 ave SE off of deerfoot. I won't likely make the trek very often as I am very fond of my close by Community Natural Foods Market. However, it was a fun field trip. The store is bright, clean and the staff are friendly. The space is a bit sterile but that may change as they settle in. Some areas were not yet open, such as the salad bar. One staff stated that they would be clearly labelling vegan items with a special colour, which is a great idea. I did pick up some vegan snack foods that are not commonly found elsewhere (shown in the photo below). 

I tried the Daiya pizza for the first time and I was underwhelmed. It was ok but small with scant toppings. I prefer making my own or ordering from a few spots that have vegan pizza such as Famoso or the newly opened Gordo's Pizza. (Both of these pizza spots offer daiya cheese, and Gordo's also has a vegan gluten-free crust option.) My favourite at Gordo's is the veganized pizza bread sticks, called cross bones.




Back to Mrs Greens; I did take advantage of the opening special coupon for $15.00 off your purchase of $50.00 which was available in the in store flyer. Below you will see a few snaps of some other vegan offerings. Mrs Greens has the largest variety of Gardein vegan foods as well as several Sol Cuisine items I have not seen elsewhere. If you are in the far south Mrs Greens is a good bet for vegan staples and offers a full grocery.