You may have noticed I skipped right over Day 9. That’s because I’m writing this update three days after the fact, and can’t for the love of God, recall anything I ate on January 9th. Was I in a fog? Or perhaps I was abducted by aliens and the contents of my brain were sucked out? Or maybe I was just a taddd busy and tired? Let’s go with that last one.

On Day 10, I had to travel to Brattleboro, VT for work. If you don’t know a lot about Brattleboro, let me start off by saying that they had a food co-op before co-ops were even cool. It’s hippy, it’s artsy, and it’s a localvore’s food paradise. There were so many great vegetarian options for lunch!

I ended up at this place called Superfresh! Organic Cafe. It’s not only vegetarian, but vegan.  I was torn between several things on the menu, but ordered the Pesto Melt. One of the first signs I was in an organic cafe was when the server asked me if I wanted that on raw or cooked bread. Was this a trick question? 

The Pesto Melt came with tomato, onion, and daiya cheese, which is some plant based “cheese” I’d never heard of that contains no dairy at all. And it was great! The whole melt was tasty– a perfect amount of pesto to cheese and vegetables. My coworker got the Roasted Vegetable wrap that came with hunks of potatoes, beets, and peppers, and smelled delicious. Both of our meals were under $10 each.

Perhaps the real You’re Not In Kansas Anymore moment was the sign hanging in the bathroom that announced they had made the difficult decision to cut ties… with avocados. Their popularity is causing a drought and making unclean water for communities in Mexico. There is also a significant carbon footprint to trek these up from Mexico to places like Vermont. Although the sign initially made me chuckle, in the end it opened my eyes to a food I eat a whole lot of.

Eating at this great organic cafe also made me remember there is a vegan cafe about a mile away from my house! I’ve been only once. The food was excellent, so I really have no idea why I didn’t return. Maybe because I thought, “Well I’m not vegan, so why would I go there?” Time to change that.