• vegan round up: natural products expo west 2011

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    March 12th, 2011quarrygirlnews, other, products, vegan bakers, vegan cheese, vegan events

    hey everyone! natural products expo west, the world’s largest natural products tradeshow, is going down this weekend in anaheim and we were there all day yesterday.

    we got a pretty good feel for the new vegan products that are about to hit the market, so sit back and enjoy this post full of our favorite finds. we’ll start off with stuff from brands that we already know and love—established quarrygirl favoriteses that should be familiar to you guys.

    first up: chicago soydairy!

    these folks didn’t have a booth at the expo in 2010…but daaaaaaaamn, they made up for it this year with all kinds of craziness! where do i start? their booth was like a vegan party. they had an endless supply of deep-fried vegan mozzarella sticks using teese (pictured above), which were INCREDIBLE.

    they’re also introducing a brand new vegan product this weekend called “tweets”, which are basically an animal-free version of peeps (FINALLY!) look for these soon at veganessentials.com.

    naturally, i gorged myself on dandies samples (the best vegan marshmallows ever)…

    plus there was a FREAKING NACHO PUMP full of spicy vegan teese…

    for making awesome vegan nachos:

    and chicago soydairy also showed off their brand new teese vegan cheese SHREDS! oh the excitement. look out for these soon in a store near you:

    i also got a taste for gardein’s newest product, the ultimate beefless burger.

    i’ve been a huge fan of gardein burgers in restaurants for ages, so i was super stoked to see that they now have a retail product.

    and i was even more excited when i saw that gardein was handing out HUGE HALF BURGERS instead of measly sample-sized bites. damn, they were delicious!

    and then there was daiya…

    i hit up daiya’s booth to find them serving huge amounts of delicious vegan grilled cheese sandwiches and pizzas with their already famous stretchy cheddar and italian blend…

    as well as rich and creamy amy’s macaroni (one of our favorites)…

    plus, they were showing off the bag for their brand new pepperjack shreds!

    they were even serving up the new pepperjack in sample quesadillas! i can vouch for it. good stuff:

    tofurky made a damn good showing this year with their huge case of products…

    plus, bottomless samples of homemade TLTs! *tempeh, lettuce, and tomato…

    next up in the products we all know and love category…follow your heart! their booth was epic:

    by far the best looking booth in the whole expo, the FYH set up was reminiscent of their restaurant. plus, they were sporting a clean new design for all of their products. i took my fair share of vegan salad dressings…

    different kinds of vegenaise (all awesome)…

    vegan cream cheese and sour cream…

    plus a huge sampling of juicy fake chicken…

    creamy vegan cheesecake…

    i even spotted bob, the follow your heart ceo, chatting it up with important vegans. so cool:

    lastly, follow your heart was serving an intense cheese bread that they couldn’t keep replenish quickly enough. it was made of fresh sourdough, 2 types of vegan gourmet cheese, and vegenaise. spectacular stuff.

    galaxy, an old familiar brand, was also at the expo with some new tricks up their sleeve!

    they had some new vegan cream cheese which was FANTASTIC—so creamy and flavorful! plus, some brownies made with the new cream cheese…

    next up, another old favorite: amy’s kitchen! the amy’s booth at natural products expo west is always a fucking madhouse. but i was lucky enough to try the new vegan gluten-free burritos…

    the picture kind of sucks, but these were actually REALLY GOOD. i wish i could have eaten more amy’s stuff. my only complaint with them is, they should specify “vegan” on their vegan products, rather than just “nondairy”. because some of the “nondairy” products are vegan, and others contain honey. mildly annoying. they also have a new vegan burger which they were advertising…but i didn’t get a chance to try it:

    continuing in the “well-knowns”, we have earth balance. they had some new products this year including a rich and tasty coconut spread…

    some vegan milks…

    and some new vegan mayonnaise! (i still prefer vegenaise myself…)

    meatless brand morningstar farms had a booth as well. most of their products for show were merely vegetarian, but they did have a great vegan chicken patty on hand. i ate about 5 of these:

    bragg’s was there too! and i even spotted mrs. bragg. check her out in the pink:

    i also tried some decent boca burger samples. they were no gardein (mind you), but the more vegan burgers in the world, the merrier. UPDATE: i found out from a commenter that boca was serving this on non-vegan buns that contain honey. >:( if you are at the expo, beware.

    now let’s move into the less ubiquitous brands. vegan-friendly products we love, that may not necessarily be household names…YET.

    first up, food for lovers—we LOVE these guys! we were so stoked to stop by their booth and fill up on queso…

    gah, best queso EVER. crystal (the genius queso creator) was on hand as well, and she let us take her picture!

    i also tried coconut bliss, which i’m convinced is the best vegan ice cream ever.

    i had the chocolate walnut brownie, and nearly died. AMAZING. the shitty picture does not do it justice:

    next up, eat pastry, the great vegan cookie dough that we’ve raved about before.

    they had loads of cooked and raw cookie dough samples to try, and i got my fill of chocolate and peanut butter. woo!

    eden organic was also there in a massive booth. they had grains, milks, rice, beans, etc. i sampled their spanish rice and beans, which was delish!

    justin’s was a favorite of ours from last year, plus they even received an award from vegnews for best in show, so of course we stopped by their booth…

    we sampled some of the crazy chocolate hazelnut butter that drove us wild in 2010…

    plus, we sampled their new vegan dark chocolate peanut butter cups!!!!!!

    these things are already available at whole foods, and they rule…so stock up.

    dr. mcdougall, our favorite oil-free soup guru, is coming out with some new products this year. i cannon wait. all of his stuff is tasty and so low-fat, perfect for a weekday lunch.

    also, mimiccreme has a new whipped topping which is so realistic, you gotta try it for yourself…

    next up, el burrito! they are a pretty well-known vegetarian brand due to their popular soyrizo, and we LOVED them last year at the expo. this year they were a bit cold though, check out how they greeted us at their booth:

    not only did they throw me some ‘tude, but they botched it with the vegan products. they had a huge display of vegan pepperoni…

    …being served on non-vegan bread! DON’T EAT THIS if you are a vegan at the expo this weekend! be warned!

    they told us this wasn't vegan, WTF

    thankfully, they had one compartment of vegan soyrizo they could serve us…

    …and a strange jelly thing. this was nothing compared to the vegan taco bar they had last year:

    next up, some rad vegan products from a healthy brand we already love: food for life. they had loads of stuff including waffles:

    and tons of new vegan fake meats:

    nasoya came on strong this year with a massive area and lots of samples…

    i tried some of their scramble (made on site by none other than spork foods!!!!)…

    served with a spork, of course!

    we also tried some of nasoya’s new “super hummus,” which totally lived up to it’s name. twice as tasty and with half the fat, what’s not to love?

    i also scoped out the xan confections booth. they didn’t have exclusively vegan chocolates, but they definitely provided me enough to gorge myself on:

    wayfare vegan cheese is another product i checked out for the first time, and i was pretty impressed. they had spreads, dips, NEW VEGAN CREAM CHEESE, and puddings…all of which were delicious.

    you can buy this stuff at whole foods all over LA. i am gonna go stock up!

    i went a little crazy at the vegetarian plus booth. i’m used to seeing this vegan product in the frozen meal section at whole foods, but here i had the freedom to pick and choose lots of different dishes. check out what i tried:

    vegan chicken alfredo (insanely creamy)…

    vegan chicken tikka (excellent)…

    vegan cherry mango chipotle chicken and vegan beef in adobo sauce…

    vegan kung pao chicken…

    and a vegan whole turkey…

    i can’t believe i’m saying this, but the vegetarian plus meats officially ROCKED MY WORLD.

    next up, kettle chips. remember those vegan doritos i told you about? the salsa picante tias? well they were at the expo:

    quorn was also at the expo! i first saw their booth and thought, “what a waste, all of their products contain egg.” but i decided to check them out anyways and found out they have a new vegan burger is in the works! they didn’t have anything for me to taste, so i sure hope it’s true. either way, the workers at the booth sure were enjoying the product:

    silk was awesome, of course. just kind of sad it shared a booth with a dairy milk brand. wtf:

    as much as i love silk, i prefer so delicious who actually debut a NEW VEGAN GREEK YOGURT at the expo!! i love everything about them from their milk,

    to their epic vegan ice cream bars…

    ciao bella also represented with a full on vegan-friendly ice cream bar…

    and i fell in love with their raspberry cabernet sorbet…

    nex, i tried some stonewall’s jerquee, which was incredible…

    several different meaty flavors, all of them delicious. i’m pissed that i didn’t know about this earlier.

    alexia makes frozen foods to die for. today i sampled the sweet potato puffs…

    as well as the sweet potato fries and harvest medley. all vegan, all scrump!

    i also tried a sample of angell’s candy offering which was quite tasty…

    as well as asherah’s gourmet vegan burgers in both original and chipotle…

    these burgers were excellent, and hope to be making their way out to the west coast very soon. the chipotle one was my favorite, extra spicy. it was also nice that the lady who came up with the recipes was actually there, cooking the burgers.

    we also checked out some of the vegan curry over at sukhi’s…

    and tried an incredible low-fat, barley based patty by a company called tian in both curry and original flavor. this stuff was awesome tasting AND healthy. i hope i can find it in whole foods soon…

    the standard spicy nothings curry sauce was vegan and very tasty…

    solterra revealed that they are coming out with a VEGAN and GLUTEN-FREE PIZZA using daiya as the cheese! check this out! they didn’t have any samples when we were there, but they showed us the packaging and let us know that it should be hitting whole foods stores very soon.

    american flatbread was also showing off a new vegan pizza, and their rep told me that this is already available in the frozen section at whole foods around los angeles.

    SoL cuisine had a whole line of vegan burgers and tofu products…

    snikkidy had a variety of baked french fries/potato chips, and 3 of their flavors were vegan…

    the folks who make pirate’s booty are also coming out with a new vegan product called chocolate booty. i loved it! it’s like old school pirate’s booty and coco puffs rolled into one.

    there was an amazing range of vegan-friendly peanut butters by a company called peanut butter & co, that are already available at whole foods. i highly recommend “the heat is on” for those of you who love spicy things…

    and also the white chocolate and dark chocolate varieties.

    panda licorice was there with new vegan candy-coated licorice…

    not to mention an awesome dude in a panda suit who was available to take pictures with! check out the giant panda posing with jessica:

    i tried some pretty amazing chocolate by nibmor. super flavorful and rich…

    there was a pretzel company there called kim and scott’s gourmet pretzels, and almost all of their stuff was non-vegan…

    EXCEPT for a bavarian pretzel, which blew my mind. i kept sneaking back to steal more samples of it.

    a company called indianlife had a selection of really great vegan naans. i can’t wait to stock up on this in whole foods, because eggless naan is hard to find.

    i tried some fantastic 5 spice tofu from a company called hodo soy…

    …and some new fake meats from a bay area company called ecovegan.

    i sampled some baked cookies from earth harvest, the makers of an organic vegan cookie dough. really tasty:

    and grabbed some mint and chip soy ice cream from double rainbow. (watch out, not all of their flavors are vegan…so be sure to get the soy!) man, this ice cream is SO GOOD.

    and they get bonus points for giving me such a massive sample. this was like a full serving of ice cream!

    i popped a few dessert samosas from a company called crave.

    these babies were so good, steaming hot and filled up with sweet potato and cinnamon. (they also had a vegan potato and pea flavor, which i didn’t try.)

    lastly i checked out the folks over at cool cups, a vegan jello company. they weren’t giving out samples, but i’ve eaten their product before under the trader joe’s label. hopefully this brand will start popping up in more stores.

    i was only on the expo floor for about 6 hours total, but i ate more food than i probably should in an entire weekend. almost everything i tried was excellent, and i’m so excited about all these new vegan products popping up.

    the highlight of the show for me would have to be the mozzarella sticks from chicago soydairy. i seriously hope somewhere in los angeles starts carrying them soon, even if it means i will probably get way fatter.

    hope you enjoyed the expo west re-cap! which products look most interesting to you?

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80 responses to “vegan round up: natural products expo west 2011” RSS icon

  • This is an amazing, epic post. Thanks so much for doing this as there are so many of us that can’t get to the expo.

    Vegan cheese sticks: how far we’ve come!

  • WOW thanks so much for posting this! How cool that they have something like this right in Anaheim. I’m definitely going to try to make it down there this weekend. I was excited at the first picture, of the vegan mozzarella sticks… Yum!!

  • it was amazing! just fyi, you have to register in advance to get in…

  • Hey there,
    We missed each other again! I tried many of the same products you highlighted!
    Very thorough review! You’re amazing!
    Can’t’ wait for you to try Mac-n-Mo’s Morsels!

  • OMG! Heading down there today and am going to use this post as my guide! Thank you soooo much, Quarrygirl!!! You made me so hungry and it’s only 7:40am! 😉

  • I’ve seen Stonewall’s Jerquee at the Co-Op in Santa Monica. Just FYI! 🙂

  • Thanks for the heads up! I checked the Website and it said it’s not open to the general public, dang. At least I got to see the pictures here. 🙂

  • Awesome post! It’s looking like I won’t be able to make it over there this weekend, so I loved getting to experience all those amazing foods vicariously. It all looks so, so amazing. I don’t even know where to begin…

  • Yowza–you ate all that is one day? impressive!

    How was EB’s coconut spread–I’ve heard about it and am very curious.

    Follow Your Heart has their oil-free dressings out already? I’ve been waiting for those!

  • So great! What section in whole foods would you find those vegan peanut butter cups?

  • I want to go!! I can’t find information about ticket prices at the website – do you happen to know how much they are? Also, this probably isn’t a place for toddlers, huh? Maybe I’ll make a solo trip! I’m salivating!

  • She read that it’s not open to the public. Oh, well. Thanks for the awesome post, QG!

  • Amazing post! So thorough and with such excellent photos! I would love to try Amy’s new gluten-free burrito, but the West Hollywood Whole Foods didn’t have it during the Holidays. Hope they’ll stock it by the time we go to shop for the 4th of July. That’s when I’ll get to have Amy’s scrumptious gluten-free mac & cheese again, too!

  • Da Data Monkey March 12th, 2011 at 08:44

    OMG. I’m drooling.

  • going today with jackie – can’t wait! awesome post. hard to believe you ate all that.

  • The picture of the Earth Balance mayonnaise samples with big spoon sitting in them makes my stomach turn. Yum, just help yourself to a big mouthful!

    PS – I actually think Primal Strips are way better than Stonewall’s. I don’t like the airy, too-chewy texture. It’s like I’m eating dog food (not that I would know!).

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा March 12th, 2011 at 09:16

    I pretty much want to try everything. Thanks for the detailed post and terrific photos QG!!! 😀

  • HOLY MOLY. This looks SO rad. What a truly excellent post. So many new and delicious things to look out for. I”m gonna have to find a way to go next time… it just looks so fun and exciting!

  • That looks like vegan Heaven! D; Can I live with you?

  • What an amazing post! I’m super jealous of all the new vegan food you got to try!!!

  • They’re with the candy bars.

  • I’ve got to find the spicy peanut butter for the kid! Thanks for all the info.

    Re: Amy’s & vegetarian v. vegan. I’ve always looked at the ingredients & if it’s vegan, it says so right at the beginning. Are there products that don’t state that? I wish they’d make everything vegan!

  • I sooooooo wish i was there – my hubby and i have been vegan for 5 yrs :))

  • Jealous!!!! We need this in SF!

  • This makes me SO hungry and jealous!

    BTW, the ice cream companies you posted don’t appear to be vegan. I looked up their products’ ingredients and they list milk/cream as their base.

  • WOW!!!
    Great post and thanks for taking all these photos!
    I bet it was quite overwhelming to be there!
    Damn, I wish I could have gone!
    So many amazing products are available, and people still say it’s hard to be vegan?!

  • It really sucks that you didn’t get to try the El Burrito pepperoni! It’s amazing stuff. It was one of the few things we bought while we were at Vegfest in Seattle 2 years ago. We’ve been looking for it in stores ever since! We have yet to find it in a store. It’s epic sadness.

  • I LOVE, love, love Harvest Vegan Pizza. I stock up when I get it a Whole Foods here in Boston. I’m also a HUGEEEEEE fan of Food For Lovers Vegan Queso… umm and pretty much everything else you’ve got listed there. <3

  • Awesome post, QG! I went yesterday and tried much of the same stuff, probably will go back tomorrow. BUT, I hope you did not eat the buns that the Boca burgers were on. They were on Orowheat Sliders and after I had them show me the bag, I confirmed there was honey in the ingredients:( Asked them to change the bread for the weekend at least, but they said they are not sure they will be able to. I had to burger though, it was good without the bun.

  • OH MY GOD! I need to get myself to one of these expo’s next year, it makes the UK veg fest’s look lame!

  • which ice cream did you find that wasn’t vegan? most of the companies i listed are all vegan. double rainbow isn’t, but they do have a vegan soy cream (which is the one in the post):
    http://www.doublerainbow.com/dr/products/ingredients/soy_creams/mint_chocolate_chip?category=soy_creams&product=mint_chocolate_chip

  • i DID eat that bun! WTF >:(

  • Oh, I totally enjoyed that! What fun!

    I am personally excited about more wheat free and sugar free options. That is for my health the being vegan is for the animals.

    You know I actually got an emotional reaction reading this. This is so positive and hopeful. I am so thankful there are so many companies out there making us delicious and healthy food. We are indeed lucky.

    Here’s to a more happy world for all.

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा March 12th, 2011 at 12:35

    Had to come back and look through all the photos one more time. This is so great!!!!!!!!

  • I looked up Ciao Bella and Double Rainbow. I didn’t see the vegan options on their sites.

  • The reason the Silk exhibit was shared with a milk brand is because Silk is owned by the major dairy farm company Dean Foods. Boca is owned by Kraft (owned by Phillip Morris).

    Many organic or vegetarian food companies are owned by destructive major food corporations. 😕

    http://awesome.good.is/features/009/009buyingorganic.html

  • Both of those companies serve dairy ice cream, but double rainbow also has some vegan soy flavors, and ciao bella has some sorbets.

  • You missed purely elizabeth who is there with all vegan healthy baking mixes! Nibmor also has a variety of vegan hot cocoa mixes, I have the 5 spice and make it with coconut milk, it is AMAZING.

  • I LOVE THAT THIS EXISTS.

  • Holy cow, what an amazing variety of vegan goodies, thanks so much for sharing!

  • Kristen (sugar-skull.com) March 12th, 2011 at 17:47

    Holy crap.

  • Where can I find those Mozzarella sticks? Please say they can be found at a national chain, they look so good.

  • Ciao Bella sorbets are freaking AMAZING!

  • Stonewalls Jerquee is THE SHIT! One of those things I always saw and was never compelled to try.. and then I did.. I immediately stocked up on like 50 little baggies. You know a whole bag of that stuff is only 160 calories?!?! WTF!

    But yeah.. awesome post. I think my head is going to explode from all this vegan awesomeness.

  • i actually made the mozzarella sticks for the first time tonight using this recipe, they were super easy! http://hellyeahitsvegan.com/?p=1946

  • This post has motivated me to look-up (and Register!) for the Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore in September!

    Thank you 🙂

  • Thanks much for doing all that! Yummm

  • That totally f***ing sux dude. Sorry about that. I was a bit irritated about that bun situation; I mean, use it for the non-vegan “All American Burger” and pick a different bun or sourdough bread or anything that doesn’t contain freaking honey/bee vomit for the remaining vegan items. Shit, there were more vegan than non-vegan burgers, so the bun thing was totally stupid.

  • They sell those asherah burgers out here on the east coast… but they’re like $8 a box!

    A word of warning: the bbq beef stonewall’s jerquee have honey in them – I ate them for years without catching it. The original mild is my favorite, though.

  • oh my gosh im so jealous i wish we had this much vegan variety in australia!!!!

  • OOH m gosh! I ate the pepperoni crumbles! Hahahah WTF!

  • I’ve had the Alexia sweet potato fries before, but I try to avoid buying their products overall. Something about their FAQ really pissed me off. It really rubs me the wrong way because it seems like they’re saying, “Man, we love eating some animals! These are vegetarian, but we didn’t plan them that way, suckers.”

    Asking if their products are vegan, their response:

    “Alexia All-Natural products, with the exception of those containing dairy ingredients and our Chicken Nuggets, do not contain any ingredients derived from animal sources. The dairy ingredients are the only animal-based ingredients used. Please bear in mind that we do not represent our product as vegan or vegetarian. The balance of the products is vegetarian by coincidence only but ALL NATURAL by intent.”

  • QG – Silk Soy Milk is part distributed by White Wave-Morningstar which is owned by Dean Foods, which is primarily a dairy company (that also owns Horizon Organic Milk). I know, it blows. Unfortunately, if any of our beloved vegan/earth friendly products become widely available, chances are that they are now or soon will be owned by some huge corporation that has no earth friendly intentions. Such a bummer. 🙁

  • Well then maybe the vegetarian food companies should stop selling out as soon as they get an offer from a megacorp. It’s not just the uber-conglomerates who are only interested in money.

  • Awesome post! So much yummy stuff!!!!
    The Amy’s Sonoma burger IS awesome.
    By far the best Gluten-free vegan burger ever, not an easy combination to find and usually they totally suck. I found them at the Whole Foods in Santa Cruz, and when I asked Venice and WestLA Whole Foods to please carry them they said they weren’t available through their distributor :/ ?! BUT I just found them recently at the Santa Monica co-op. Yay!
    The chocolate Pirate Booty is soooo yummy. We’ve been buying it from whole foods for a few months now. Hard not to eat a whole bag.
    SOOO excited about the new vegan cream cheeses!! I’ve never been a huge fan of the other ones I’ve tried.
    So many delicious products coming out, It’s a good time to be vegan!

  • figueroa produce sells those justin’s butters. the vegan ‘nutella’ kinda stuff. =)

  • Amazing post but now I’m craving everything! I have been vegan for 5 days (yay!) and randomly picked up a jar of Eat Pantry cookie dough today at Whole Foods in Venice. If anyone is wondering, the peanut butter chocolate chip is awesome.

  • I just discovered your site and adore it.

    Definitely linking back today, to tell everyone I know to come visit.

    Thank you so much for compiling such an all-encompassing post filled with vegan amazingness!

    Chocolate hugs!

  • I was there this weekend, and I must say, I’m really impressed that you tried everything and didn’t get sick! I’ll have to walk the floor with you next time, so you can teach me your tricks! Great post. LOVED the TLTs!!!

  • SPECTACULAR report.

    Thanks Quarrygirl !!!!

  • The Vegetarian Plus prepared food looks SO GOOD! Jealous! I am a huge fan of their “turkey”. Mozz sticks, nacho cheese pump, and cheese bread! OH MY YUM! Excited to try the FYH Ranch and Caesar dressings. Their creamy garlic dressing is great. Awesome post!

  • Thanks for doing all the leg work and the photo. I am on the East coast. So, this helps me plan my route when the expo comes East in the fall. Thank goodness it’s back here around the DC/ Baltimore area and not in Boston anymore.
    I hope we get all the yummy vegan items that you listed. Many times, these items on only on the West coast :(. I have stopped shopping @ Whole Foods due to their sell out to the GMO giants!
    Luckily we have plenty of local organic markets here.
    Can’t wait to do my own photos of the ExpoEast!

  • We still shop at Whole Foods, but now pretty much ONLY for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and 4th of July meals.

  • Yup, the Expo rocked. And how! I too was a big fan of the Food for Lovers Queso Dip. It was a tad hot for me, but I was assured that they are making a mild one very soon. Yippee! Good to finally be able to taste Teese, the new products from Wayfair (come on, Vegan, soy-free Butterscotch pudding!) and the vegan Morningstar Chicken Burger. I really like visiting with all of the raw food companies too, especially Living Intentions. Their nuts, crackers and salad boosters are beyond delicious — and so healthy! They are super sweet people too. Speaking of sweet people, I went to the Field Roast party on Friday night. It was the perfect ending to the day. What a stupendous company they have! You can see, feel and taste the love. Bravo to them for having integrity and not selling out.

  • I am so jealous of you!
    I would killl to go to that. Everything looks so good!!

  • Whole Foods DID NOT sell out to GMO.
    http://www.nongmoproject.org/2011/01/29/team-organic-will-never-surrender-to-monsanto-now-we-continue-the-fight-together/

    Please get your facts straight before disparaging the company. WFM is a strong supporter of organic, keeps pushing for mandatory GMO labeling, avoids GMO seeds in ALL the store line products – organic and conventional, is working on getting all the store brand stuff certified non-GMO with the Non-GMO Project, etc.

    Where are you shopping now? TJ’s?
    Take a gander at their head company (Aldi) and see if TJ’s or Aldi are doing half the things WFM is to preserve organic.

    Full disclosure, I’m a peon at WFM. I’m not a higher up, just a normal low end team member. I know what this company stands for and it pisses me right off to have people spout out untruths as if they were fact. I wouldn’t ever work for them if they were in bed with Monsanto. I despise Monsanto and P&G more than just about any companies out there…

  • Mebbe you should tell WF to stop union busting!

  • Grocery store drama? Do most vegans like this EVER rest?

  • OMG how amazing!I’m hungry now. That all looks so delicious. I feel like all the veg magazines should have hired you to report on the event. Best coverage I’ve seen!

  • I REALLY hope that we all of these yummie foods to Sweden soon!!! Jealous!!
    Greetings from Stockholm!

  • Nope. You should be used to seeing this by now 🙂 It’s not just a vegan thing, but a human thing. The only thing that makes vegans different from non-vegans is that… they’re vegan.

  • Hey, just so you know, if an Amy’s product is vegan, it’ll say so right at the start of the ingredients list. If not, it’s sure to have honey or dairy in it. It does suck that they don’t put VEGAN in large letters elsewhere on the packaging.

  • Loved this post, as always you are amazing.
    I have tried that Queso before and it is the best thing ever!

  • i got to go and be an official food taster with the director of my vegan camp to help decide what stuff he’s going to order for the summer and it was so kewl. i ate so much and got to go home with so much. this was my second year and i got to tell u that u must have missed chicago soy diary last year cause they were definitely there then too. it was like my mission to go and see them again this year and they were in like the same spot as last year. also the ezekiel guy was there last year with his moo free and cluck free burgers so they weren’t new this year. when i tried them last year they became my favorite then and still are. and cool cups were giving out loads of their vegan jello samples so i’m not sure why you say they weren’t giving out samples. the owner’s son whose about my age was there nonstop giving out samples. and you missed the big big find i’m so excited about the vegan poptarts by the vegan animal cracker and vegan cheese cracker guys. the heart of palm salad from edward and sons was so so good. and the chocolate covered pretzles by vegan chocolate decadence was another big big find. also there was the hail mary fudgey stuff that was amazing. and of course sharkies are always our groups big favorite. omg i loved going so much. you hit up alot of good stuff but you missed a few too and were wrong about a couple things like ezekiel not having their burgers last year and chicago soy diary not being there last year and cool cups not giving out samples. i’m just a kid and i make mistakes but aren’t journalists sposed to check their facts before they go to print? but still glad to read your article.

  • what up, jeremy! thanks for the comment. i’m not a journalist, just a blogger. this is a hobby. chicago soydairy told me they weren’t there last year.

  • nm quarrygirl. wuwu? thanks for the msg back. i’m not sure what the difference is between a blogger and a journalist. anyway chicago soy diary was def there last year and thats weird that they said they weren’t. they were in like the same spot. they didn’t have the mozzarel sticks but they had marshmallows, nachos, pizza, and grilled cheese. i ate their so much i’m sure of it. we then used their cheese for nachos at camp and their marshmallows for roasting at are campfires. it is so awesome going to a vegan camp! hey did you try the vegan poptarts, the vegan chocolate covered pretzels, the vegan fudge and the vegan heart of palm salad?

  • Trader Joe’s is far from a perfect grocery chain, but, while I will continue to shop probably 4-5 times a year at Whole Foods, I will most likely continue to shop VERY FREQUENTLY at TJ’s thanks mainly to its more reasonable prices. It certainly is no wonder that TJ’s is VERY popular! : )

  • Everything looks amazing, but . . . omg, how did you fit all of that in your belly without exploding?!

  • Hey buddy, good day. Incredible post. You have gained a new subscriber. Pleasee keep up the good work and I look forward to more of your superb posts.

  • How disappointing that some of the VEGAN burgers were served on NON-VEGAN buns/bread, including Gardein.

    Thanks for your photo essay! I was there only two days and missed so much. Maybe I spent too much time hanging out by the Whole Soy & Co, Coconut Bliss, Daiya, and Dandies (Chicago SoyDairy) booths!


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