Dirty South Vegan (Atlanta, Day 1)

With time on my side, I set off on a culinary exploration of Atlanta, Georgia. After all,  spring break was here! I was excited to escape New York… and to add another state to my veganvictuals headboard of sensual vegan eats.

And Atlanta has so much to offer! I was pleasantly surprised how many options the area had. I didn’t need Asian mock meats, Indian buffets, or pizza with Daiya on it. I needed proper Southern cuisine done vegan. Let’s do this! Starting with my breakfast stop: Radial Cafe

I had their Vegan Hash with a side of their House Grits… with a big cup o’ fresh squeezed orange juice. The Hash had tasty, marinated tofu sauteed with yellow onions, red bell peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, fresh sage and roasted red skin potatoes. What I loved about finally tasting this after a long morning of flying and driving, was that it was so flavorful. The veggies were diced tiny and kept their crispiness. Ok, a bit healthy for Southern cooking, but let’s go to the grits.

I’ve never had grits before (!) but I knew these were the real deal. Stone ground corn and its characteristic black flecks, creaminess overload. I wanna dip–uh, nevermind.

Had to zoom in here.

I was happy that Revolution Doughnuts was so close to my breakfast spot. Word around the interwebs was that they had vegan doughnut options. But like any traveling vegan learns, a vegan option baked good could be hardly worth the trip. Luckily, Revolution Doughnuts was mostly vegan!

I chose a raspberry glazed and a vanilla bean glazed. I buckled under a self-created pressure to order swiftly. I was, after all, down south. I did not have to jump the gun with my Yankee-mindframe. Had I composed myself at the counter, I would have order a cake doughnut and not two yeast-risen doughnuts!

The doughnuts were divine. Check out those vanilla bean specks. It’s all about the specks today.

So many vegan options, marked with the Ⓥ.

Time for an early dinner. Soul Vegetarian Restaurant II. Real-deal Southern soul food, all-vegan of course.

This is one of those vegan gems–all vegan, scratch-made, hearty eats from a place of positivity and wholesomeness. I had the lunch special: Their Chicken-baked “Kalebone” Steak smothered onion gravy with a side of collards, a side of mac n’ cheese, a piece of subtly sweet cornbread and a cup of ginger beer. The waitress said that this was the most popular choice!

Their “kalebone” (what an awesome name) is really their housemade seitan. The chicken-baked version was breaded with special seasonings and baked. I ate every morsel on this plate…

…because I eat the seed and fruit of the Earth.

Though this shot is a little flashy, the cross-section of the seitan deserves to be shown off.