Quick Bites In Athens

(Click on photos to see their captions.)

College towns are a vegetarian or vegan's best friend, and Athens is no exception. For whatever reasons, universities tend to have larger vegetarian and vegan populations. Perhaps they are just more socially conscious. Perhaps they pay more attention to healthy eating. Either way, local restaurants respond to the demand.

Today, I intend to look at local restaurants that offer quick vegetarian and vegan eating. (I'll save the sit-down joints for later). In other locales. this might be difficult, but the choices are many in this socially conscious town.

Yes, you can get a bean burrito at Taco Bell or even a Veggie Delight at Subway, but why?

BURRITO BUGGY
Before moving to Athens, I did some advance scouting. I couldn't believe when I read that VegOhio.com cited a little food truck as being among Athens' best. Now I know why. With everything made to order at the Burrito Buggy, vegetarians can leave off the meat, while vegans can subtract the sour cream and cheese. You can even add tofu if you would like. Fresh ingredients make for great flavor.
My favorite:The black bean, tofu and rice burrito. Yum.

O'BETTYS RED HOTS
When people hear that I love this place, they're surprised. How can a vegan eat hot dogs? However, O'Bettys answers with "shy" dogs, their brand of tofu dogs. Not rubbery or tasteless like some supermarket varieties, they provide this former hot dog lover with his fix. Add some french fries if you would like. The cream sodas and root beers are huge.
My favorite: The Salome "Shy." This is essentially a Chicago-style tofu hotdog with tomatoes, onions, pickle relish, sport peppers and celery salt.(I prefer to leave off the mustard.)

BAGEL STREET DELI
The atmosphere, good music and friendly staff are not the only great things about this place. Choose from a variety of bagels, add whatever vegetables or toppings you want, and you have a great meal. Check out the long list of vegetarian bagel combinations on BSD's chalkboards. Vegans can omit the cheese. Baked tofu adds more variety. If you like salads, BSD has adds freshly sliced tomatoes, onions and cucumbers. The dressings are amazing.
My favorite: The Kung Fu on a six grain bagel. It features baked tofu, sprouts, peppers and teriyaki. If that doesn't fill you up, add a side salad with sesame ginger vinegrette.

ALI BABA'S
Ali Baba's food truck has become a fixture next to the Burrito Buggy over the last year. Although it may feature gyros for carnivores, it has vegetarian options, too. Choices ranges from falafel, hummus or baba ganoush to couscous or taboulleh salads. Vegans beware: the pitas come with yogurt sauce, so remember to ask for one without.
My favorite: A falafel pita with fattoush. Don't ask me what's in fattoush (I don't remember, but it's vegan). Thow on some veggie and some hot sauce, and it's a winner.

PITA PIT
Pita Pit is just like a Subway, but with made-to-order pitas. For vegetarians/vegans, try a falafel, hummus or baba ganoush pita with all the vegetable fixins and your favorite sauce. If you can get there soon after it opens, get the falafel grilled; but any later and the grill has already been used for several rounds of meat. Most people scrape the grill well, but watch out for the long-haired skinny guy who does not understand why you don't want your falafel grilled next to the bacon!!
My favorite: A falafel bagel with hummus. It's twice as nice and more filling if you have just a bit more hunger. I add nearly every veggie and top it off with teriyaki sauce to bring it all together.

Why I Am A Vegan

When I first tell someone that I am vegan, they are are often confused by the term or make the assumption that I am a militant animal rights activitist. So to clear up any misunderstandings about my lifestyle choice, here is why I made the switch.


MY STORY
CHIP
ANIMAL PRODUCTS
TODAY
BEING VEGAN
THIS BLOG

MY STORY

Almost five years ago, my friend Brian, who was just 30 years old, suffered a heart attack. On my way to visit him in the hospital, I started to feel sympathy pains.

Although I had recognized that this was indeed what they were -- and that Brian's heart attack was mainly the result of his cigarette smoking -- I also realized that I probably needed to change my lifestyle so I didn't wind up in the same place.

CHIP

After Brian recovered, both of us enrolled in a program at a local hospital called CHIP, the Coronary Health Improvement Program, taught by California epidemiologist named Dr. Hans Diehl, who had worked with the famed Nathan Pritikin. Over the next month, we met four nights a week to learn about how our body works and the role nutrition plays.

Dr. Diehl didn't just tell us what to do; he showed us why. Through medical studies, we learned to avoid animal products and processed foods, and eat "foods as grown."

Eliminating animal products (meat, fish, eggs, dairy) would bring the most benefit, he told us. Not everyone in the program went that far, but I did.

At the start of the study, the medical staff drew blood samples and weighed us in. By the end of CHIP, I had lost over 20 pounds and improved my levels in all important areas.

Some people with medical conditions improved so much that they no longer needed the medication upon which they had once depended. I looked and felt great.

ANIMAL PRODUCTS

Because I stopped eating animal products for health reasons, I am not as militant as other vegans, who go so far as not not own any leather products and won't eat sugar unless they know that it is not ground with bone.

The fact that being vegan is more humane to animals is surely an added benefit, although that is not why I do it. When I switched, I had recently bought brand new leather couches, so I was not going to just throw them away.

TODAY

After about six months of being on a vegan diet, I had lost 75 pounds and was in my best shape since college. However, due to a medical condition that required me to take heavy medication for over six months, I fell back into some bad habits.

Because of the appetite suppressants in the medication that artificially kept my weight down, I started eating more processed food, salt and sugars, and -- once the medication ran out -- gained much of the weight back. However, I still feel good and the thought of eating animal products again turns my stomach.

BEING VEGAN

Being vegan is a choice that I made. My parents and one of my sisters also went vegetarian shortly after I made the switch, but they could not give up the dairy.

Although I love eating vegan, I have many carnivorous friends. I like talking about what I eat, but I don't push it on others -- and I hate when they try to tell me that eating whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes is wrong (Steve Siff!)

THIS BLOG

If you're a vegetarian or vegan, I hope this blog provides a useful forum for information. If you're not, perhaps this blog will give you a glimpse into another lifestyle that you never knew much about.

If you need more information, check out this video: