Vegan Freak in Denton, Texas. Photo by mollyjade

I was in Denton for a UNT graduation ceremony, so I grabbed the opportunity to head to Texas’s first all-vegan store, Vegan Freak. Yup, Denton. As you can see, the store is garishly bright, so I was surprised when I stepped inside. The place is nice. Like the inside of a high-end salon or a gift shop. I was expecting to step into Hot Topic crossed with Food Fight Grocery, but I was standing in the waiting room at Aveda.

Vegan Freak is big on personal care products, cleaning products, and healthy snacks. The owner was excited to show us some vegan icy-hot stuff that he’d recently gotten in stock. I guess there are lots of aging vegans and vegan athletes in need of some hot-cold healing. There were also some great-looking candies, flax crackers, and kale chips. Vegan Freaks carries both Texas-made vegan quesos: Nacho Mom’s and Food for Lovers. But the real magic (at least for a food lover like me) was in the refrigerator and freezer.

The cold cases are stocked with vegan cheeses like Teese (remember when everyone was really excited about Teese?) and Match mock meats. As far as I know, Match isn’t sold anywhere else in Texas. I haven’t tried anything Match yet, but the folks at Meet the Shannons put it in everything, and their food looks great.

And then the grand reveal.

Y’all, Dr. Cow aged nut cheeses are available in Texas! Well, at least in Denton. Sadly, I didn’t have a cooler with me and didn’t want to risk it in the Texas heat for hours. It’s supposed to be amazing, and the best thing ever for eating straight up with crackers. I’m looking forward to my next trip to Denton!