i am so grateful i had places to go to in quebec city that had organic and/or vegan treats and eats! i was there for just under 3 weeks to learn french language and culture!
the grocery store, or l'epicerie, (
provigo) closest to the campus i was staying at actually had a number of organic things which was amazing (as organic doesn't seem to be all that in demand out there!) and i would buy the
president's choice brand of organic quinoa and brown rice pasta (and as mentioned before, their frozen fruit mix) and then was able to get the following produce organic: avocados, bananas, arugula, mixed greens, romaine, apples, carrots and mushrooms.
there was also the health food store
le crac/le carotte joyeuse... on rue st-jean (the home of the oldest north american grocery store and a chocolate museum and other fun shops) which i called "le carotte joyeuse" or "le gros carotte" as that's how my new friends referred to it! (gros = large in french)
each time i went to this store, i tried a new snack.
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le maison moisan (epicerie fine) - possibly the oldest grocery store in north america!
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| look at how big this fennel is! (at la carotte) |
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| just some of the non-dairy mylks at la carotte! wow, blurry photo. wish i had taken another! i didn't use any but i'm really curious about the quinoa mylk! i love quinoa everything! |
despite my chocolate sensitivity, i was keen on the
sweets from the earth peppermint nanaimo bars and
chocolate pecan caramel bars. hehe.
these chocolate treats really helped as i was mad craving
chocadel's salted raw chocolate but it's on sale back home so it was hard for me to justify buying out there. before i had discovered it at "le carotte", i emailed the company in my broken french to mention how much i loved their fleur de sel bar and to ask where their chocolate retailed in quebec city. my reply? "merci beaucoup". hehe.
and what was super fun was discovering some raw food treats made in quebec!
(i ended up leaving the
crubec cookies as i think some of them had cashews and, well, i'm on a budget!)
(these raw "chocolate chip cookies" from
rawsome, which is also a quebec company, were so good i ate the whole package in one night!)
(i'm not one for flavoured water but
this lemongrass mint vanilla from ayala's seemed pretty legit and organic and it was on sale and less than $1.50! it was super soft and refreshing water. i loved
crubec's sesame/maple/chia snacks and i definitely plan to try making my own!)
(i got more of
crubec's sesame snaps and tried
bio-sphere's spiru-lyn(?) crackers that were super green but crunchy and satisfying!)
(more of the
ayala's water and some
rawsome italien herb crackers! they were super tasty! a bit soft perhaps because they are thicker than i'm used to with
organic lives veg crackers but also perhaps because of the humidity in quebec!)
now in terms of eating out in quebec city, i made sure to go to the vegetarian buffet,
le commensal (a quebec chain/manufacturer with a toronto location), a couple times. it's on the same street (rue st-jean) as la carotte joyeuse! loved that street for all of its food glory!
le commensal is not the best buffet i've been to (
loving hut achasan, anyone?), but i loved that they label their dishes so it's easy to eat vegan and i was able to TRY to avoid gluten though i wasn't as picky as i'd be at home (and i brought a papaya digestive enzyme to help with eating gluten). i still have never tried
greens & gourmet (a veg buffet in vancouver) so i really should get there some time! it's hard, though, with all these new vegan and raw-friendly places opening up in vancouver! (like the new fine dining veg place,
the acorn!)
anyways, check out this veg bounty:
i went to a chain,
le cochon dingue, with my roommates one night. we had gone there as a whole group (of 50 or so?) at the end of one of our activities earlier that week and i was impressed with how accommodating and friendly the staff were and i was able to have a bean salad the first time there and i ordered pasta there this time! pasta that isn't quinoa or brown rice-based for me is a real odd thing but i guess since i'm not celiac, i can afford some discomfort sometimes to eat "regular-people" pasta. and i craved it several times in quebec! i think because i was doing hours of walking every day - up and down giant hills and walls?
dinner at a "sugar shack" or "
la cabane à sucre". i took a picture of the vegan pea soup i had to start but for some reason neglected to take a photo of the MASSIVE dish of roasted root vegetables on couscous they had prepared for me while the non-veg heads had meats and such. i must have been distracted by the pouring of maple syrup on everything!
after dinner, check out this delight! i went back for seconds and thirds... hehe. maple syrup on ice!
yum!
after a few late night ice cream stops at
glacier aberdeen (just off of cartier, the cutest street near the college) for carlos, i noticed on the price board "tofu aux fruits" and decided to be brave and order it. the young girls working there were super sweet (and let me practice my french) and blended up one of the packaged frozen tofus with some frozen fruit i chose. and bam! frozen non-dairy yogurt type thing!
i met up with my roommates at
DAVIDsTEA(a montreal company) one day as my friend is super keen on their tea. i love the label design and paul had texted me the day before to show me his most excellent iced soy matcha from one of the stores in toronto. anyways... before even having any tea, i fell in love with this tea carafe. i have smashed 2 glass ones within 5 months this year but i still prefer drinking out of glass! i love this one with the wood lid! i hope to get it someday! ^_^
anyways, this is my iced soy green tea latte. i'm not sure how the one paul got in toronto was $2 cheaper than mine (did i order wrong?) but it still was fabulous. look at that foam! on a cold drink!
*update: i now know that ordering the green tea with soy as a
latte is what cued the $2 extra charge for frothing*
speaking of green tea lattes and the like... i ended up having a cold green tea latte (with soy, minus ice cream! glad i checked on that one) at
le musée national des beaux-arts du québec. the funny thing was my friend patrick being offered the extra of my drink in the blender which was the same size as mine. so we basically got 2 for 1. always looking for deals, you know.
my last night in quebec city and at the end of our last day of classes, we went on a boat cruise of the st. lawrence river which was super nice. there was a buffet dinner, which i managed to find some things to eat from, but there was also a vegan hot dish prepared! how sweet!
and beautiful fruit for dessert...
and, thus concludes my mega post about food finds in quebec city! i was disappointed in the lack of organic foods but grateful and encouraged by the helpfulness and friendliness of all clerks and servers i met!
merci beaucoup, quebec!
on tuesday night, we made ani phyo's raw chili to top a collard green leaf and some beet greens with ground walnut taco "meat" and avocado on top of that. awesome! i love that my parents have been enjoying the food that i enjoy. i must be doing something right! it's also been super nice that my mom is paying close attention to what she buys as she has a gluten allergy and dairy sensitivity. so she looks out for a lot of the same things i look out for!
i made smoothies every morning this past week for me and my parents which was fun. my first one was a chocolate banana one for my dad (frozen banana, cacao powder, mesquite, maca, coconut milk and a bit of ginger). this one was frozen mango and banana, apricots, lemon juice, a bit of camu camu, mesquite, ginger and goji powder with water.
tonight we roasted marshmallows in the backyard with my friend since grade 2 (!!!) and her 4 (!!!) kids. it was so much fun! and it was awesome that it wasn't even noticeable that i had vegan/gluten-free graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows (though the dandies were noticeably smaller than the kids' marshmallows!
