Meeting People

I felt like being social and having some kind of interesting snack, so I walked down the street to the one cafe in town that has a chance of serving something vegan. My clue was that they have vegetarian lasagna, and a kind of wholesome menu. I asked the woman there if she knew what vegan was, and she did, but she also knew that there wasn't anything there that had no butter, cheese or eggs.  "But we should!" she said.

She is semi-vegetarian and we chatted a bit about veganism. She recommended a health food store in town. I actually knew there was a health food store, but hadn't sought it out, because I wasn't interested in vitamin supplements. She assured me that it was an excellent store and had actual food. She also recommended a book called Thrive by vegan athlete Brendan Brazier, who has a line of vegan products called Vega. She called the store to see if they were open, but there was no answer.

It was on my way back to the hotel anyway, so I went by and it was open. There was a grocery section. The woman there apologized for a lack of selection in vegan food: there just isn't demand for it there.  I hadn't been expecting any, so I was happy. I bought some herbal tea and some organic spicy curry sauce, then got a ride up to the grocery store with another customer and bought some more vegetables.

Seeking organic food in a small northern town was a point of commonality, so I ended up with two different nice people's contact information.