The KInd Life Community Forum

I live in the Memphis, TN area and I'm wondering if there is ANYONE else out there near me that is a kind lifer? I have met few people in our area that are trying to live this kind of lifestyle, I would love to connect with you if you live in or near Memphis, TN. I think it's hard for those of us that grew up and live in the south, this kind of eating is so foreign to most people. Especially in Memphis...I mean it is the BBQ and rib capitol of the world, so most people here look at me like I'm crazy! So if you're out there, let me know! Let's eat together!! :)

That's awesome that there is SOMEONE else in Memphis that has read The Kind Life and is trying to live it out! I have been doing this since March so I have learned a lot. My first 4 months I was strictly vegan and it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Then we started traveling and I had to make some compromises and I remembered how much I loved CHEESE! In my opinion that's the only product that they haven't made a good substitute for yet. Products that are my substitute staples (I get all this at whole foods): Earth Balance "Butter", Veganiase (like mayo), Whole Soy yogurt, Tofutti "Sour Cream", Eden Soy Milk (or Tempt Hemp milk), So Delicious & Tempt soy ice cream, Ener-G Egg Replacer, Smart Ground Mexican Crumbles (like ground beef), Quorn Meatless & soy free tenders (in the freezer section, these are great in stir frys), Gardenburgers, & TOFU! What revolutionized cooking Tofu for me was the Tofu Xpress. You press all the water out of the tofu and it makes it so much firmer. I eat at Whole Foods ALL THE TIME, and I love their soy strip stir fry & mock chicken nuggets on the bar, cashew noodle salad in the deli, & they have THE BEST vegan chocolate chip cookies. Once I sub all those things in, everything else is pretty much the same. I try to make sure I take a B-12 supplement, that's the one thing you can't get from anything else and if you get low on it you'll get depressed and moody, I can really tell when I haven't had it. Cookbooks I live by are The Vegan Table, The Joy of Vegan Baking, Vegan on the Cheap, and there's a new one I'm going to get Appetite for Reduction. When I started I just picked a couple recipes out of these books every week and would get the stuff to cook it. I also just found this blog that is local to memphis and has a great Memphis Dining guide www.vegancrunk/blogspot.com. There's lots of places on there I need to try! Let me know if you want to meet up for lunch or dinner sometime!

Hello Olivia Jane! You must check out Vegan Crunk, a blogger in Memphis that's vegan has a FANTASTIC Vegan dining guide : http://vegancrunk.blogspot.com/p/memphis-vegan-dining-guide.html
She covers all of the best places to get Vegan/Vegetarian food (but check out the blog part too, she will post cool stuff happening in Memphis and new resaurants, etc.) I highly recommend every restaurant on her dining guide, but the BBQ tofu at RP tracks near University of Memphis is legendary, will change your world! Alot of the best restaurants are in what is called the Mid-Town area, it's the cool, young, hip part of town. The only place I do grocery shopping is Whole Foods on Poplar in East Memphis, a tad expensive but it's the only place I can find everything I need. And you'll find that Memphis is really a small big city and you can get to any part of town quickly, so don't let a restaurant in an area across town deter you. I've been eating vegan/vegetarian for over a year now in Memphis so you will be able to do it no problem. If you ever want to meet up for lunch or dinner this summer just let me know! I still need to get to some of those restaurants in Mid-town myself :)