Top: Texas VegFest shirt, sign outside Green Vegetaran, Jalisco Taco from Vegan Nom; middle: Loving Hut in Arlington, Sunny Day Farms, Texas State Veggie Fair; bottom: Lone Star Vegetarian Chili Cook-Off, vegan pigs in blankets, Green Seed Vegan

Part of the reason why I started blogging here at Lone Star Plate is to combat the jokes about vegans in Texas. There’s the idea that meat is entrenched in Texas cuisine and that you can’t be vegan in Texas. The truth is, meat is entrenched in most of the world. And being different anywhere isn’t easy. But, there’s a thriving vegan community in Texas, and I’m here to document it. As of today Texas is home to

• at least 65 Texas vegan blogs
• 35 vegan restaurants (and many more vegetarian ones) statewide
• more than 20 vegan groups
• 3 farm animal sanctuaries and many more that deal with specific species like Primarily Primates
• vegan authors James McWilliams, Christy Morgan, Joanna Vaught, Carol J. Adams, and Rip Esselstyn
• 4 large vegan festivals: Lone Star Vegetarian Chili Cook-Off, Texas State Veggie Fair, Texas VegFest, and VegFest Houston
• Vegan health events like New Year New You Health Fest and Engine 2 Immersions
• vegan grocery store Rabbit Food Grocery (pop-up and online only at this time)
• about six bake sales a year as part of World-Wide Vegan Bake Sale
• vegan products like Food for Lovers Vegan Queso, Hearty Vegan Tempeh, Good Seed burgers, Nacho Mom’s Vegan Queso, Banyan Farms Tofu and Soy Products, Hail Merry raw foods, Engine 2 Diet crackers and cereals, NadaMoo ice cream, Baby Zach’s BBQ Hummus, Celeste’s Best cookie dough, Dr. Kracker, and White Mountain Foods seitan