Oh (Vegan) (Ontario), Canada 🇨🇦

I spent some time in Ontario, Canada on my trip to Buffalo because… it’s whole new country… well, a whole new Province in a whole new country! And the current USD to CAD exchange rate is a nice perk. With my reporting on 49 of the 50 United States, I will be heading north more often as I report on delicious vegan options and beautiful nature–two things our neighbor to the North has a lot of.

And Ontario has got these small oceans about it… the Great Lakes. Here is the smallest lake, Lake Ontario, as I stood at its shore in St. Catharine, a great city outside of the Niagara hullabaloo.

No Great Lake shells. Though they exist, freshwater molluscs populations are much less plentiful than saltwater. I just made that up, though it is probably true.

The Port Dalhousie lighthouse, one of two facing Lake Ontario, both with this fantastic pop of teal.

What I love about Canada is there aren’t a million people mulling about.

Now let’s see some vegan food in the area. The Lemon Tree is an all-vegan Mediterranean bistro, as the sign reads. I ordered some food to eat in my motel bed, because I was totally beat.

Ye, everything is vegan, including all these desserts.

I ordered the “Calamari” which is described as “Breaded root vegetable battered, dusted then deep fried served with in-house tzatziki.” I’ll tell you that the root vegetable is hearts of palm… and the in-house tzatziki is spectacular.

And because I was in Canada, I got poutine. Salty goodness.

And baklava for a sweet bite. Unfortunately only the top layer had that characteristic flaky crunch. The rest of the layers were a bit rubbery. Granted my last vegan baklava is dreamy perfection at the Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival from The Baklava Lady.

A fantastic find a bit west in Vineland is a Scandinavian brunch spot, Rev-a-lee Brunch Café. The place was bright, friendly and with a unique menu with a clear vegan section.

My sandwich, The F.G.T.L.T. which is seared tempeh, arugula, fried green tomato, triple crunch mustard, horseradish cashew-cream, smoked tomato jam on tarragon focaccia. As I note all that for you I realize why it was so damn good: three different sauces! This sandwich is one of the best I’ve had in a long time. (Also, that apple and cucumber slaw was just what the doctor ordered.)

Besides the sauces, the focaccia was dreamy. See those herbs? More flavor!

That mustard sauce…

Crunchy fried green tomato. Can I have another one of these right now? But I hope to go back. Vineland had a whole bunch of orchards that I would have loved to stop at.

Back in St. Catharine, the all-vegan Beechwood Doughnuts. These were amazing, as the pictures will illustrate.

Decisions, decisions.

I chose the chocolate chip cookie dough, the salted caramel mocha, and the Crème Brûlée. I’m drooling again just typing it. These’ll make the road back to Brooklyn a bot easier.

But first, one for the Great Lakes.

Ok, wait! I haven’t left yet. I wanted to run an errand by stocking up on some bulk dry goods for my newly renovated pantry at Bulk Barn in St. Catharine. Again that exchange rate served me well and they also had a great coupon on their website.

I appreciate seeing the v-bomb. I actually saw advertisements for vegan foods all about.

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I got real dark cocoa powder, almond flour (thinking about another batch of rainbow cookies), whole wheat pastry flour, quinoa, and rolled oats. I hope that the border crossing agents don’t get suspicious.

I’m out, Canada. But here are some motel signs. I would call this road Americana in The States, so what is this? Canuckana?

(They got that there YouTube.)

(No pets in space, please.)

And here is how much Buffalo loves its football. You may not know, but that is the Buffalo Bills logo and this was a Sunday, when many Canadians make the crossing to see good ol’ American football. Go Bills!

And finally:

Since I am a road warrior gassing up in Canada costs a pretty penny… I think? It’s actually hard to compare without a bunch of mathematical estimates. First, prices are listed in cents… that’s why you’ll see something like “128.5” when you are used to seeing “2.39.” So move that decimal two places to the left and you have the price per liter. Then keep in mind that there are almost 4 liters in a gallon, the US customary unit. So after moving the decimal, multiply it by 3.75. Yadda yadda yadda, fill up in the United States whenever possible.