Vancouver and Bowen Island trip October 2024 - lots of vegan food
This post will mostly be about the vegan food I ate on my last Vancouver trip. My main purpose of this trip was to visit older relatives but there was a secondary purpose of visiting my mom’s grave for the first time.
I left from Ottawa airport in the evening but I hadn’t eaten much that day. I usually don’t get food on planes but I was hungry and they had a vegan wrap. It was good. You can read about my flight experience here Is AirCanada bulkhead seat worth an $80
Flights from Ottawa usually arrive in Vancouver in the evening. Before exiting the gates there is a cafe that has to live for treats. Rebel cookies were on sale at the store. There is very little vegan food around my hotel so I stocked up for the week. After getting luggage there is a 7-11 in the airport to get some essentials for the trip. I always look to see if they have the vegan breakfast sandwich I had it one time but haven’t seen it again.
It has been two years since my mom passed away and I had never been to her grave. I wanted to go but my schedule is always packed when I visit Vancouver. I can never see all the people I want to see and I needed someone to take me. I wanted to go with someone from my community as they know where the section is. I remember this being a new graveyard after my dad passed and the office took us in a golf cart to see it. The graveyard is far from where everyone lives so people don’t go that often and it was difficult to arrange. Grateful to my mom’s brother for arranging the visit and his partner and my mom’s sister for coming along. It was definitely worth going gave me a little closure I didn’t expect to get. You can read about life around the time my mom died here Big Life Updates Part 3
After we visited the graveyard I wanted to go to the Greek in Yaletown but we got there and there was a sign on the door it was closed. We went to Earl’s which was next door. They had a new cold noodle bowl on the menu where the base was vegan and you could choose the protein to add. Tofu was an option they forgot it so it ended up being on the side.
I walked around downtown after. There is a new Brekka bakery it had a big line. I waited to ask if they had anything vegan. They had 3 items chia pudding, chocolate cake, and a vegetarian salad that had cheese on the side so it could be removed. I got the apple pie chia pudding. My dad who has passed away birthday was the next day and I got the cake to celebrate. It was an excellent cake very decadent it lasted me the rest of the week. The pudding was also really good.
On my way back to the hotel I stopped at TNT to browse. We have TNT in Ottawa but things aren’t as easy to get here as they are in Vancouver and I have never been there. In Vancouver I can easily use transit to go wherever I want. I found a couple of vegan items. I bought the soy pudding to eat for breakfast during the rest of the week.
I also stopped at Mink for a chocolate chai fog. They had some vegan hot chocolate powder and chocolates, I used to go to Mink all the time before they won the chocolate competition. A few things have changed now but it is still a nice place to go.
I decided to order food for dinner. I had plans to go to veganshoku with @bakingmomvancouver later in the week. Every time I go there I can’t decide what to get because there are so many options. This time I decided to be proactive and order a dinner box so I could eat other things when I went in person.
The next day I met my old boss and coworkers for coffee at Truetaste cafe. They have a few vegan options there. I had the orange loaf it was good but very heavy.
After doing a lot of walking in the area it was time for lunch. Brooklyn Pizza is the only place I know of that offers slices of vegan pizza. I had one of each of the vegan options with arugula on top. Pizza is great and I appreciate not having to buy a whole pizza to get a vegan option.
I went to Granville island after and did a lot more walking. I have looked at the vegan bread bowl pot pie so many times but have never got it. They are often sold out. I finally decided to get it and it was very good especially in the pouring rain.
Later on @bakingmomvancouvet picked me up and we went to Earnst Ice cream, a couple of stores, and veganshoku for dinner. Yes we had ice cream before dinner. The joy of being adults and it was my dad’s birthday so another excuse to eat dessert.
We went to veganshoku for dinner. I’m really glad I ordered earlier in the week but it was still really hard not to get everything. I think we did a lot better than we usually do in not ordering way too much food. We still ordered too much. I keep trying to get them to open a location in Ottawa but so far they aren’t interested so I have to enjoy while I’m in Vancouver. I can’t fit all the pictures here but you can see a reel of all the food here
The next day I went to my relatives house this was the day of the atmospheric river. Yes it always rains in Vancouver but I have never seen rain like that. It was the first time my socks got wet with my vessi’s on. It was worth it because my cousins made me some food. It is always nice to get homemade food and doesn’t the vegan cake my cousin made look like it came from a bakery.
I visited some other relatives then on the way back to the hotel I stopped at Trees. They used to have a vegan peanut butter cup they didn’t have it anymore. I got a power bar it turned out to be more like a cake stuffed with fruit and seeds. I don't usualy like power bars but this was good it lasted me a couple of days eating it for breakfast.
It was still pouring rain and I decided to order food for dinner. In my vegetarian days I used to love getting pasta from pizza places. I don’t find a lot of places that are reasonably priced that offer vegan options. Vegan Pizza house has a combo available lasagna, garlic bread, drink, and peanut butter cup for $12.49. I added chicken Caesar salad. The lasagna wasn’t as I remembered the non vegan versions but it was a good deal. I’m glad I ordered it.
The next day was still pouring rain snd usually I go visit my best friend at her house but it always rains to much there. She came to my hotel we had the buffet there was nothing worth taking a picture of. If you do go to the buffet at river rock there aren’t many vegan options on the brunch. My friend and I spent the day at the hotel it was nice not having to go anywhere. In the evening I ordered from Pizza Castle which is an all vegan pizza and Indian place. It has been a couple years since I have had it. We have really good vegan Indian food in Ottawa but no one makes butter tofu so I had that. It wasn’t like I remembered it really creamy and tomatoey this was spicy and soupy.
My last day in Vancouver the rain stopped and I went to Bowen Island with Foodie buddy. It was easy for us to take the bus to the ferry and get on the ferry. We went on a Monday where a lot of things were closed but for us this was a good thing. You can see the scenery videos on Instagram Instagram Reel Bowen Island and YouTube Short Bowen Island
It was a super easy commute way easier than my normal commute from work to home in Ottawa. The ferry has a cafeteria on it there wasn’t much vegan options but they did have oat milk.
have heard people say there is no vegan food on the island so I was pleasantly surprised to find vegan options at Snug Cove. It was a nice place to have a coffee and a sandwich and it is one of the only places open during the day on Mondays. I did get the last sandwich so maybe they sell out on busier days.
We walked around the central part of the island. There was a really nice memorial garden in the trails.
Bowen island is known to have excellent artisan chocolate. The actual chocolate store was closed but I found a vegan one at the gift store.
After some more walking around the island we made our way back to the ferry terminal. We missed the fairy so had more time to explore and discovered that there were places open near the ferry terminal.
I was able to get vegan Earnest ice cream. They also had vegan tacos available and a few other items. This might be the area to come to of you are looking for vegan food in the island. We got on the ferry and headed back to Vancouver. We had perfect timing to get the bus at the ferry terminal and went to downtown Vancouver.
I decided to get Chipotle for dinner this was my last night in Vancouver. At the time we had one Chipotle location in Ottawa and I find the Vancouver and Toronto locations are much better so I never get it here. A second location recently opened so one day I’ll try it and see if it’s as good. I got a sofritas bowl it got a bit messy before I got to the hotel but it was good.
I had an early morning flight on Air Canada signature class with the lie flat seats. You can read a post of my experience in this class here I got a great deal on Air Canada signature class
I only had a few minutes in the lounge this time just like last time grabbed a bagel. Air Canada doesn't have a vegan option on their pre meal order but they do have vegetarian non dairy. When they come around the flight attendants do confirm it’s vegan. Since I have flown this class before I knew to save room after the first course for the main course. I’m glad I did it was excellent it had tofu scramble, fritters, and potato wedges. I believe they are now using chefs and it is a great improvement since I wrote this post about the inedible food on Air Canada westjet-economy-vs-air-canada-business.html
The food is actually good now and amazing for an airline meal.
That was the end of the trip but if you want to see the food I are in Reel form you can see it here Vegan food Vancouver and Bowen Island
If you want to see a Reel of all the food I ate on the trip you can see it here Vegan food I ate on my last trip to Vancouver and Bowen Island
Thank you for reading. For more vegan food follow me on Instagram @LivingOttawaLocal and @VeganCanadianfinds
For scenery videos follow me on YouTube https://youtube.com/@LivingOttawaLocal
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