It's a rare commodity for street vendors in Los Angeles, especially among the ubiquitous bacon dogs carts. In a city where vegetarian and vegan joints are beginning to become neighborhood staples, eating veggie on the streets is still no easy task. But thanks to one woman in Echo Park, it's getting a little easier. After listening to her customers ask for veggie dogs time after time, Maria, a North Hollywood resident, decided she should give......

Photo by phogel via Flickr After a one year hiatus, one of the best green festivals, Worldfest, is back. Two years ago, the solar-powered festival scheduled near Earth Day was a gem among the numerous green events around the city. Located at Woodley Park in Encino, steps away from the eponymous Metro Orange Line station, a slew of eco-friendly vendors showed off their wares, vegan chefs shared their creations and music and recognizable faces......

One of Los Angeles' best, and perhaps the most inventive, vegan restaurants is Pure Luck. Located in the unofficial Bicycle District, also casually known as Hel-Mel (for its Melrose and Heliotrope location), the restaurant, simply put, serves up pub food and micro beer. Above, LAist Featured Photos contributor sadjeans shares these jackfruit tacos, which LAist can confirm as delicious. Instead of tofu, jackfruit is a staple ingredient at Pure Luck and also makes an......

LAist reader Prabhat Gautam is an all around vegan and lives a no-car/all-transit lifestyle. He writes us a note after visiting Sante Cuisine, which was Sante La Brea before Chef Gordan Ramsay tooled around with it for an episode of Kitchen Nightmares which will air next Fall: I had heard about the Hell's Kitchen makeover of Santa La Brea to Santa Cuisine, so I wanted to find out what was different and if it had......

The block on Vineland between Otsego and Hesby is turning into a nice eclectic group of storefronts, even if there are only three. Starting to the north, there is a random Pirate store. Next to that, a fairly new hookah lounge. And then there is Lotus Vegan, which opened last week with a chef from Vegan Express who decided to go on her own. You'll recognize the menu as it is similar too all those......

Photo by ILoveButter via Flickr There are still many comments to be left today by readers, but torrmoz's comment on an earlier story about vegetarian eating highlights points from a New York Times Mark Bittman story (Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler) about meat production and the environment. These are well worth bringing to the forefront: If Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a......

With an American Institute for Cancer Research study in hand, ABC7's Lori Corbin, aka "The Food Coach," visited the Veggie Grill in El Segundo. "Several large studies confirm that consuming more than 18 ounces [of red and processed meat], a little more than one pound of red meat, bacon, and smoked meats per week, increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 30 percent," Corbin writes. "That's worrisome since many shy from this type of cancer......

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Soul Vegetarian opened up last summer in the nightclub space, but quickly closed a couple months ago. Not to fear, however, Jewel, who owns the building, continued the short lived soul food vegan restaurant near the corner of Pico and Crenshaw. "I've been a vegan for twenty-some years," she said, "and it was a dream of mine to open up a vegan restaurant." Soul Vegetarian (not to be confused with......

On a side street in Silver Lake, two sisters open up their apartment every weekend to strangers who want to learn how to cook healthy and delicious vegan meals. Spork Foods began in December and has become a hit so far, with their small intimate cooking classes selling out quickly. Upcoming class topics include brunch, pizza, Jewish, desserts and more. A few weeks ago, they held their South East Asian class; here's what happened:......

An ancient cuisine is hoping to attract new fans in downtown Los Angeles: Shojin, an organic Japanese restaurant whose menu is inspired by Buddhist vegetarian principles, has opened in Little Tokyo. Traditional "shojin" cuisine is a plant-based, essentially vegan diet, which Buddhists adhere to as a form of spiritual discipline. So, of course, what better theme for a trendy new Downtown restaurant? I kid, I kid: but the menu is bound to appeal to......

Photos by Zach Behrens/LAist It's a sad day week for those who frequent Fairfax Village, for those who need a late-night nosh alternative to Canter's Deli, or for those who love some vegan pizza -- Nova Express Cafe announced (letter below) that they are closing their doors this Wednesday at 2 a.m. (not be too confusing, that would officially be Thursday, 3 hours in). According to Cary Long, the owner of the Sci-Fi 15-year-old......

On the heels of the recent SoCal beef recall and a property being sold abut the Hollywood Sign, PETA announced an idea yesterday of buying or, at least, renting the next-door land to place 5-letters to the left of the Hollywood sign. If all becomes said and done (they wish), Hollywood's icon would read "Go Veg Hollywood." PETA does not have the $20 million needed to purchase the property, but they "did write to the......

Can we now add eating habits to the long list of modern relationship deal-breakers? The New York Times published a pre-Valentine's Day article this morning discussing the difficulties couples face when their diets are dramatically different: Ben Abdalla, 42, a real estate agent in Boca Raton, Fla., said he preferred to date fellow vegetarians because meat eaters smell bad and have low energy. Lisa Romano, 31, a vegan and school psychologist in Belleville, N.Y.,......

Vegan Waffles and 'Chicken' | All Photos by Zach Behrens/LAist All good things come from the Valley first. Lucky for those who stay "over the hill," Executive Chef David Anderson at LA's fanciest and tastiest vegan affair in the Tarzana Safari Walk (yes, that's an official Los Angeles Neighborhood, city blue sign and all), there is plans to open up a new vegan eatery with full bar on the Westside according to VegNews, who......

The Blueberry Bonanza (blueberries, banana, nut milk & dates) and Green Lean (kale, mango, orange juice, cinnamon & banana) Smoothies | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Is there not a fresher way to start your morning of then with raw food? Eating uncooked (nothing above 110 degrees F) and unprocessed organic vegan food might be just the wake-me-up energizer some need and with two locations in the Los Angeles area, Leaf Cuisine might fit that......

Photo by Wm Jas via Flickr After the Humane Soceity of the United States released a video (seen below) of abused cows at a Chino slaughterhouse, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began an investigation on Wednesday. With a quick response, The California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division urged all public schools to check where their cafeteria meat was coming from and two fast food chains cut their ties with the Chino based Westland/Hallmark......

A previous owner of Pane Dolce (Italian for "sweet bread") in Sherman Oaks, went up and down the immediate neighborhood on Ventura Blvd., taking notes on the neighboring restaurants' soup selections. What he found was little selection for vegetarian and dairy free soups. So he went to work on his cafe's soup menu, which is now the most popular item ordered. Made daily with fresh ingredients, the neighborhood cafe offers two or three soups......

Those of you living meat-free, rejoice! October is World Vegetarian Awareness Month. Some vegetarians are doing it for the health reasons, some to support animal rights and live cruelty-free, and others to protest the increasing McDonald-ization of the world's food supply. The World Vegetarian Day website is offering a free trip to Vegetarian Summerfest for one lucky winner who contributes a story about what they are doing to celebrate their lifestyle choices this month.......

Vegan and vegetarian restaurants are starting to become one of the regulars among sushi and Thai joints across Los Angeles neighborhoods. And on Thursday, Silver Lake got theirs with Flore Vegan Cuisine (additionally, Intelligentsia Coffee opened yesterday one block north). Veggies are rejoicing to once again eat owner and Chef Miranda's cuisine after selling Tierra Cafe last year in Downtown (which is still open under new management). She has now brought forth a vegan restaurant......

If you're not really the Guitar Hero type, here's another (drunker) option for your Saturday: the vegetarian-biking-cooking-podcasting team Hot Knivez will be leading their first biking tour of Los Angeles's best beer stores on August 11th, starting at around 10am: we plan on traversing L.A. side streets to collect a wide array of bombers and six packs with the express purpose of throwing a tasting/swigging/gulping/retching party at the finish line. We’ll be starting at......

Greek food. Its fresh, cool Mediterranean flavors are exactly the kind of thing I crave on a hot July day. But man is it hard to find some good, authentic Greek food in LA. Sure there’s Daphne’s right by my house, but that’s about as authentic to Greek food as Baja Fresh is to Mexican. So where can one go for a fun, flavorful midsummer night’s Greek meal? The answer is simple: Sofi. Sofi......

Go to Santa Fe Cafe (5679 Las Virgenes Rd.). It's so good; we need to start finding more reasons to go to Calabasas (oh wait, Malibu Canyon and that cute girl who just informed us she lives behind the restaurant). Even this vegetarian can attest that meat eaters find this place to have some of the best tacos in the Los Angeles area. Come on, the tortillas are laced in parmesan cheese, the chips......

Just in case we need to remind you, despite being the highest priced dog in the park, the Vegetarian Dodger Dog still exists and in the same place as it has been for the past few years (we tested this theory last night, it works). It is only sold in one spot in the whole park, so just repeat this mantra and you will be fine: Level 7, Section 3-5. Level 7, Section 3-5.......

In Pasadena, one block north of Orange Grove Blvd on Lake St., is fast-food heaven. Among the four corners sit five fast food joints: KFC, Carl's Jr., McDonald's, Roscoe's Chicken 'n Waffles, and Orean. What the hell is Orean?!!? Oh, it's a fast food vegetarian joint. From breakfast burritos to hot dogs and hamburgers, it's an all-American vegetarian fare. However, the food doesn't come too fast -- the service is at pace with a......

Bring together Positive Television and Animal Acres in Acton, CA, and you're going to get an event worthy of your Saturday afternoon, even if it is about an hour north of Los Angeles. Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m., Progressing Together will bring out speakers to talk about international charity work, 5 years after 9/11 in Afghanistan, and what children can do to make a difference. Sky Valencia of the Vegan Vixens will talk......

Tucked back in a corner at Whitsett and Moorpark is a small restaurant with a few tables and a diner bar with swivel seats. The fluorescent lights and cafeteria-style tables with attached benches say nothing about the food served here. For 21 years, Leonor's has stood here serving vegetarian and Mexican food. From faux chicken empanadas and Bolivian sandwiches to soy cheese pizzas and burgers. No complimentary chips and salsa are given, but there......

SFist was there for the 4.4 Earthquake in the Bay Area, which is a good reason to visit The L.A. Times' EQ coverage archive. LA City Beat combs through the West Valley and finds that it's not so bad. They even talk up Follow Your Heart, which we mentioned last week. That plus Figueroa Street, 818 movies and ‘What is your favorite, secret treasure of Los Angeles?’ LA Weekly reports on the convictions of......