Every once in a while it is always important to treat yourself to a day where you do things to take your mind off the craziness of life. On a warm day in February, my roommate and I decided to take the train to Philadelphia. After beginning the process of making a lifestyle change and cutting out animal based products from my diet, we had to stop by at a great vegan place called HipCityVeg. With three different stores in Philly, HipCityVeg is just one of the many vegan eateries popping up around cities.
Veganism is abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet. A lot of people decide to make the dietary switch to veganism for many reasons but the three main reasons are personal health, caring for animals and the environment.
With several friends of mine who had decided to go vegan, they had each said it was a very positive change to their lives. The founder of HipCityVeg, Nicole Marquis convinced her father to try veganism and because of this he was able to lose weight, lower his high blood pressure and put his diabetes in remission and cut off four of his medications.
HipCityVeg is a small eatery with minimal seating that fits very well into the city lifestyle. With most people stopping in and taking their food to-go, HipCityVeg uses one hundred percent compostable packaging and even their napkins are compostable.
Most people would think that a vegan diet means your options are incredibly limited but they actually are not! HipCityVeg has a wide variety of tasty options to choose from. My favorite is the Ziggy Burger. The Ziggy Burger contains organic smoked tempeh, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and a delicious special sauce that fills the burger with so much flavor. This proves how we do not need to have animal based products in our foods to provide our taste buds with satisfying flavors. When I went, I also tried their Fresh Green Smoothie made of organic apples, leafy greens, bananas and seasonal fruit. The beverage was very refreshing and would be perfect on a hot summer day.
Creating new restaurants and eateries like HipCityVeg is a huge step for helping our world in a small way. By promoting healthy eating and taking steps to helping the environment, something as simple as using compostable packaging can be inspiring and, may interest others in helping themselves and the world.
