as i mentioned in my re-cap post of expo west, one of the most exciting companies present at the convention was vbites. already huge in the uk, the company produces some of the best vegan meats and cheeses in the world, and makes everything ranging from deli slices and burgers to fish fingers and frozen dinners. there’s even an entire vbites restaurant in brighton, and it’s pretty much my definition of heaven on earth…so imagine how stoked i was when i heard these amazing products were finally coming to america!!

animal rights campaigner and owner of vbites, heather mills, was serving up pizzas and spreading excitement about her new products at the booth all weekend.

the new vbites food i tried at expo west was so fantastic, i decided it needed its very own post. just have a look at what the company has in store for the united states…

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whew! natural products west 2010 has finally come and gone, and boy was it awesome. the world’s largest natural and organic products tradeshow took place over the weekend in anaheim, and of course we were there checking out all the new animal-free products.

there was a lot of cool vegan shit there this year…so sit back, relax, and get ready for an epic photo-filled post of food porn. here we go! (i am posting stuff in the actual order we tried it, so be sure to scroll through the whole post—i don’t want you to miss anything!)

of course the first booth we had to check out was daiya. the revolutionary vegan cheese made a huge debut at 2009’s expo west, and i remember reading about it on jennshaggy’s blog and turning green with envy. now just one year later, it has completely changed the world of vegan food…

this time around, daiya’s big news at the expo was the introduction of their snazzy retail packaging which will be available in whole foods by the end of the month! did you hear that?! you are gonna be able to buy daiya everywhere…it’s official. no more paying by weight and weird deli containers full of vegan cheese…this is legit!

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do homemade vegan ice pops made out of natural produce sound good to you? …then you are gonna love the popshop.

the popshop specializes in delicious and guilt-free snacks that are available in select locations throughout los angeles. they recently sent me some of their goods to try, and i was straight up blown away by the intense and memorable flavors. the varieties i got to sample were chocolate peppermint, cranberry clove, avocado vanilla, and lime mint mojito. each pop was beyond tasty, but i must say my favorite was avocado vanilla. the creaminess of the two main ingredients mixed with the cold smooth ice was definitely a winning combo!

from the popshop’s website:

“Popshop pops are a 100% natural, guilt-free indulgence. They are handmade with organic sugar and seasonal farmers’ market produce. There are no preservatives or dyes, and absolutely no high-fructose corn syrup. All of our ice pops are vegan and non-dairy, and our wrappers are also compostable.”

look for these beauties at little barn, figueroa produce, locali, and the coop. give them a try, i promise you won’t be sorry!

oh, and don’t forget to follow the popshop on twitter!

have you ever tried teese, the vegan cheese substitute made by chicago soy dairy?! if not, now is your chance.

the company is having this crazy promotion, where all you need to do is enter your email address…and you get a coupon for free teese! they have mozzarella and cheddar flavors, plus a couple of cheese-style sauces. you’d be crazy not to take take them up on this offer.

so what am i gonna do with my free teese?! well, make another deep dish pizza of course:

get your coupon here!

i have been cursed with the unfortunate combo of a gigantic sweet tooth, and no baking skills whatsoever. luckily though, more and more companies are rolling out delicious and easy to make vegan products, so i can be just as lazy as the rest of america!

the latest super tasty no-brainer product i’ve tried is eat pastry ready-made cookie dough. this stuff popped up overnight and is now available in the refrigerated section at whole foods locations all over socal. it has an eye-catchingly cute design and super simple to follow instructions.

you basically just form the dough into little tablespoon sized balls, pat ’em down, and bake ’em at 340 for 12 minutes. soooooooo easy and sooooooo scrumptious. and because there are no nasty-ass eggs in this stuff that may poison you, feel free to eat it raw! i did, and it was awesome.

eat pastry uses only natural certified organic products, and i would say their cookies have a lighter and healthier taste than other vegan baked goods i’ve tried. they are still very flavorful, very tasty, and very convenient…so i know i will be back for more.

the only flavor i’ve eaten so far is chocoholic chunk (which is just as delicious as it sounds), but eat pastry also makes chocolate chunk, peanut butter, ginger, and oatmeal raisin. each container is 5 bucks, which is a pretty reasonable price considering you get about 2 dozen cookies out of it.

so go forth, be lazy vegans, and consume vast amounts of cooked or uncooked cookie dough! it’s like livin’ in the future.

eatpastry.com

PS: for another very enthusiastic review of eat pastry’s products, check out vegansaurus.

last week we brought you the news of frozen cookie dough by luscious organic desserts, and today we want to let know about another one of their brand new products: frozen brownie batter.

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i hate the holidays, but man i love holiday food. the best thing about this annoying time of year is that several different vegan companies all release their version of the stuffed roast. over the weekend, i had the chance to try a roast by a great company that’s relatively new on my radar, match meats.

their stuffed holiday roast consists of crispy faux chicken packed full of sauteed vegan sausage and vegetables. of all the different brands of roasts i’ve tried, this is definitely the one that tastes the most like real meat. get one of these and bring it to a holiday party full of omnivores, and it’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser. it doesn’t have lots of grains or vegetable flavors in it, but instead a really authentic chicken and sausage taste. as a vegan, i thought it was pretty great…it tasted like meat, but without all the gross textures.

the bad news is, match is based in st louis and right now these roasts are only widely available to our friends in that area. i was lucky enough to receive my roast directly from match to sample (yep, one of the perks of having a vegan blog!), and now i’m sad i can’t just pop to whole foods and buy another one. however, match has been kind enough to post the recipe for this roast online, so us here in LA can make it at home! it calls for basic ingredients, as well as some match vegan meats which you can buy online from cosmo’s or vegan essentials. the recipe looks super easy to, so i will probably end up giving it a try.

just check out this cooking demo by match’s very own chef freddie, where he shows us how to make the roast:

i have heard rumors that some restaurants in LA may start carrying match, which would be awesome. until then, you should bug your local whole foods about it. as we’ve seen, whole foods is pretty good about listening to its customers.

i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again…i think match is a company that makes vegan meat so realistic tasting, it may convince a few omnivores to switch to our side. i sure hope i’m right!

for more on match, check out their website…and follow them on twitter.

hey everyone, our friend erik marcus over at vegan.com has written a book about animal agriculture called “meat market: animals, ethics, and money” which is for sale on amazon.com.

i haven’t read the book yet, but it seems like it is something worth reading for omnivores and hardcore herbivores like ourselves.  a great review by ginny messina explains, “Written primarily for activists, this is well worth reading for anyone who cares about how farm animals are treated. It’s a super quick and easy read. That’s because Erik has a talent for distilling big chunks of information and compelling arguments into just a few pages that get the important ideas across.” sounds good to me!

due to some issues with his distribution agreement, unfortunately erik is being forced to take his book out of print in early january. to move the last copies off the shelves, he is offering some sweet ass deals if you buy 5 or more copies. “5 COPIES,” you say, “that sounds like an awful lot!” —-not really! it’s actually a great bargain, considering crimbo is right around the corner. these quickies would make perfect little stocking stuffers and gifts for all those poor unenlightened meat-eaters you still associate with. 5 copies may not be enough! check out his blog post about the situation and contact him if you wanna take him up on it.

let’s help a vegan homie out and learn some shit in the process, k?! win/win!

the roman bar was born in 1990 when roman starno had the idea to dip a fig newton into some chocolate and let it cool. today, almost 20 years later, a variation of that experiment is available at stores all over southern california and beyond. they come in several different flavors, and recently i had an opportunity to sample the raspberry variety. completely vegan, this treat tastes just like a fruity fig newton encased in thick chocolate. chewy and soft in the middle and perfectly sweet, the roman bar packs tons of delicious flavor. each bar is under 200 calories, so they make for a tasty and guilt-free snack any time of day.

you can find the roman bar at select whole foods locations in socal, as well as in the nature mart bulk bins, at the santa monica co-opportunity, and at follow your heart market. if you are in the mood for something fruity and chocolatey, give the roman bar a try, it won’t disappoint!

not long ago i wrote a very positive review of earth cafe’s raw vegan cheesecakes and pies, and in the comments section y’all agreed that they were great but bitched about the high price. well guess what, i was at whole foods today and saw that they had dropped the price by 60 cents per slice!!

Cherry Dream Cheesecake by Earth Cafe

now you can get a slice of one of the best desserts i’ve ever had for just $5.99 at whole foods. seriously, you can’t complain about that price when you take into consideration that this stuff is all raw, vegan, gluten-free and with no refined sugars or hydrogenated oils. this stuff is actually good for you…but it sure doesn’t taste like it.

well done, people. obviously The Man was listening to your complaints. maybe other stores will take whole foods’ lead and start dropping prices on vegan shiz as well!

actually, make that: i am thankful for whole foods, gardein and field roast. although i’ve got holiday/family celebrations going on throughout the weekend, my meal on the actual evening of thanksgiving came from the prepared foods section of whole foods west hollywood. and boy, what a feast.

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would you believe that some of the best dessert i’ve ever eaten is available at whole foods? i probably wouldn’t have believed it either, before i tried the amazing pies and cheese cakes made by earth cafe. the entirely vegan company specializes in raw living desserts that are so decadent, you just wouldn’t believe they are animal-free, gluten-free, raw, with no refined sugars or hydrogenated oils…and they are widely available throughout los angeles!

Strawberry Fields Forever Cheesecake by Earth Cafe

when earth cafe first offered to send me some samples of their pies and desserts, i was a tad bit skeptical because i usually associate the word “raw” with “healthy/boring tasting.” wow, i couldn’t have been more wrong. each different flavor was incredibly luscious and rich, the kind of thing i would share with my non-vegan friends in order to “convert” them.

the first flavor i tried was the “strawberry fields forever” cheesecake (pictured above). any product named after a beatles song is gonna get extra credit in my book—just check out my site banner—but this cheesecake was AMAZING. extra thick with a moist center and the most delectable nutty topping.

Who's Your Daddy Pie by Earth Cafe

next up was the “who’s your daddy” pie, a raw vegan carob mousse. this was hands down the best dessert i’ve had in a long time. it was fluffy, rich, and packed with amazing chocolate-y flavor. i could have eaten like ten pieces of this daddy.

i also tried the “rockin raspberry”…

Rockin' Raspberry Cheesecake by Earth Cafe

and the “cherry dream” cheesecake…

Cherry Dream Cheesecake by Earth Cafe

both of these were incredible, with juicy bits of fruit throughout the center and thick nutty crusts.

Peach Passion Peace Pie by Earth Cafe

earth cafe also makes a peach flavored cheeesecake, called “peach passion peace pie”, which is super sweet, smooth, and silky.

Pumpkin Spice Life Pie by Earth Cafe

and lastly i tried the “pumpkin spice life pie”, which completely blew me away. this is some of the best pumpkin pie i’ve ever eaten, and i would definitely recommend it for a vegan thanksgiving gathering.

i have no idea how earth cafe can make something so delicious that’s completely raw, vegan, and not full of crap. and i can’t believe this incredible food has been right under my nose for so long and i never even tried it. have you guys had this stuff? i mean, it’s pretty amazing right?

you can find earth cafe products at places all around los angeles including whole foods, erewhon, locali, and even some restaurants and ralphs locations. also, WHOLE CHEESECAKES AND PIES ARE AVAILABLE through earth cafe’s website! did you hear that?! whole vegan cheesecakes! and i don’t know who in their right mind could pass up getting one of these pumpkin pies for thanksgiving. i know that’s what i’ll be doing. oh, and they freeze well for months, so it’s time to stockpile.

try this stuff from earth cafe and let me know what you think. i’m predicting you will be just as impressed as i was.

super real-tasting vegan crab cakes: creepy or awesome?

after making these cakes using match meat, i am gonna have to go with AWESOME. the match meats crab is made from plant protein, but it has a taste and texture just like the real thing…which is at first a bit unsettling, but ultimately delicious.

i followed the recipe for crab cakes listed on match’s website (it’s super-easy to make, BTW), which involved mixing the faux meat with vegenaise, vegetables and herbs before cooking it. i tasted a bit of the mixture as i was going along….and DUDE, i have never had such an authentic fish taste without eating fish. it was so trippy, but kind of cool at the same time. it tasted a bit like tuna, the kind drenched in mayo on a sandwich that i used to eat when i was a kid.

i formed the miracle vegan fish mixture into little balls, breaded it with panko, sauteed it and baked it just like the recipe said…and wow, these things came out perfect. i drizzled them with some homemade tofu sauce and served them up with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts, delicious!

if you haven’t had match crab yet, i don’t know what you are waiting for. this is the kind of product that is really going to change the way people eat, and might actually get omnivores to consider a vegan diet.

and for those of you are creeped out by this product or all judgmental, like, “we shouldn’t eat vegan stuff that emulates animals…” you are missing the point! match meat is totally vegan, so embrace it! it’s like when some really sexy person in their 20s plays a high schooler in a movie and you feel all weird and pervy for thinking they are hot—don’t! they aren’t really in high school, and this isn’t really meat!

right now you can find match in stores on the east coast, or online from cosmo’s and vegan essentials…but i am really hoping it makes its way to los angeles whole foods markets at some point in the near future.

ahhhh…what better way to finish off a weekend than with some trusty vegan booze. today’s poison was vodka, mixed with a healthy amount of zico pure coconut water.

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vegan bacon cheeseburger. redwood foods rashers, vbites burger patties, and daiya cheese. no joke kids, this is seriously the best vegan burger i’ve EVER HAD. i cannot wait until all these products become available in the states. for now, you can get the daiya in LA….but you will have to go to the UK to get the burger patty and bacon. let’s hope this becomes available to the masses super soon.