Vegan in New York City

I've been struggling to write about food recently. After volunteering at the refugee camp and writing about my experience there writing about doughnuts and cupcakes seemed tougher than usual. Almost as soon as I got back from France I spent a couple of days catching up with friends, headed to London to march to Parliament Square with Help Refugees, the charity I'd been volunteering with, and the very next morning I was on a plane to NYC. I was excited but feeling pretty guilty that that's just a thing I can do because I happen to have been born in the UK. I didn't get a lot of time to process my experience before flying over here but since I've been here I've been setting aside time for self care; reading books, reading blogs, walking in the park, watching movies, eating all of the foods, and just giving myself time to do these things has reminded me that writing this blog is activism, it's just a different kind of activism! I don't know why I forget this sometimes but I do.

Travelling the world as a vegan can be the best, I know that I've mentioned that the hunt for vegan eats often makes you veer off of well trodden tourist routes and into neighbourhoods that the average tourist probably doesn't visit and this is no different in Hanoi, Budapest, or NYC. I've found it to be true everywhere. Brooklyn Whiskers is one of these spots and you need to venture deep into Bushwick if what you want is a top notch vegan danish.

As you can tell by the name the people who set up this cafe are really into cats, even their biscuits are kitty shaped and you must check out the bathroom if you're a cat person!

Peaceful Provisions is probably my favourite discovery of the entire trip so far, I do a lot of research before I travel so it's not often that I stumble upon a company or restaurant that I've never heard of before or that I hadn't specifically planned to visit. Peaceful Provisions is a bakery run by two sisters who basically make the best doughnuts ever. I ate one of their doughnuts and a DunWell doughnut on the same day and they're not even orbiting the same planet - Peaceful Provisions is where it's at. Nick and I tried the apple cider doughnut which is stuffed full of the most amazing homemade apple butter and topped with cinnamon and sugar - it's basically an apple pie doughnut and I don't think that you can get better than that. The other treat that I just had to try was the rainbow cookie doughnut, a chocolate coated, triple layered, almond flavoured, jam filled, dream-dessert that exceeded all of my expectations. If I had to describe it in two words I'd go with freaking delightful.

Inside shot!

Peaceful Provisions don't have a brick and mortar store (yet!) but they pop up at events all over the city, from the Vegan Shop Up to the Renegade Craft Fair. If nothing's happening whilst you're in NYC it's well worth dropping them an e-mail to see if you can arrange a custom order.

One place that was very firmly on my must eat in NYC list was Cinnamon Snail and I fiiiinally got to eat there last week. I say fiiiinally because I have tried to eat at The Snail many, many times. Back in 2012 CS were still a food truck and on the day I tried to eat there they kept getting moved by the police. It was a ridiculous wild goose chase that Nick implored me to give up on after approximately three hours! When I was in the city in 2014 they were taking a break as they readied themselves to open their spot at The Pennsy so I missed out on the food people were raving about for a second time. Then, on the day we arrived this time around, we headed to The Pennsy only to be told that they had no idea which items did or did not contain the things I'm allergic to so they couldn't serve me. I was so freaking sad especially as I munched on a Clif bar whilst Nick tucked into a ridiculously epic looking burger. Buuuuut they totally redeemed themselves, I sent them a message to see what the deal was and they were super apologetic. Not just regular apologetic, they actually offered me a meal on the house to apologise. Yay for excellent customer service! I was beyond excited to try their thanksgiving sandoo and I chased it with an ridiculously excellent ganache filled s'more doughnut featuring Sweet & Sara mallows. So yummy.

For those of you who don't have ridiculous allergies to contend with the whole menu at CS looks like the kinda food I wanna get my teeth into. Nick loves the smoked sage seitan burger and if I could I'd be making him share! His epic PB twist doughnut thing was also a total delight and I'm heading back there today for more food so keep an eye on my Instagram for more food porn.

Last but by no means least Ess-a-Bagel is very much on the tourist map for vegans and non vegans alike and that's simply because they make the best bagels in the city. From vegan friends online to omnivores who I've bumped into in line waiting for iced tea in South Slope everyone agrees that Ess-a-Bagel is the place to go to get your bagel fix.

I've tried the plain, sesame, everything, and onion bagels and the plain, scallion, and sun-dried tomato tofu spreads. That's a lot of bagel eating and I can confirm that you basically cannot go wrong here. Located on 3rd Avenue and 51st Ess-a-Bagel is in the perfect spot for when you want to grab some breakfast before heading to Central Park to get your tourist on. 

That's it for now, I have tickets to the matinee of The Color Purple on Broadway and I need to pre game with some Cinnamon Snail. I'll be blogging about some more of my favourite places (Oh hey Modern Love! Hi Confectionary!) soon but until then have a rad day and keep on spreading the word that vegan travel doesn't have to be difficult!