Vegan Food at Bonnaroo 2018

We just returned from our 9th annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Fest in Manchester, Tennessee (it was actually the 16th year for the festival, but we've been going since 2010).

This massive 4-day music/camping fest typically hosts about 50,000 to 80,000 guests, so as you might imagine, there are always plenty of vegan options!

Here's a rundown of the food I purchased inside Centeroo (the fest grounds). Plus, some highlight pics! Tomorrow, I'll post my campsite meals.

My very favorite meal of the weekend was this bowl of Vegan Cactus Hugger Tots from the Super Tot food truck! These were available with vegan cheese, plus salsa and guac. You can never, ever go wrong with tots. They had another vegan tot option (with nooch and vegan aioli) that I wanted to go back for but never made it over there again.

Paul and I don't usually venture into the general camping grounds since we stay in the guest camping area (for media and artists), but this year, we ran the Roo Run 5K, which took us on a tour of the massive general campgrounds. They have food vendors out there too, and I spotted this vegan food stand called The Beet Box.

Check out the menu!!

I went with the Philly Beet Steak, and it was SO FREAKING DELICIOUS. I'm definitely re-creating this at home very soon (and when I do, I'll share the recipe!). It had grilled beets, onion & mushrooms on a hoagie bun with beet ketchup, cashew cheese, & avocado.

We have a few Bonnaroo food traditions that we eat every year, and one of those is Yuca Fries. I've had plenty of yuca fries in my day, and let me tell ya — the yuca at Bonnaroo is the very best. This time, I had them sub out guac for the aioli that comes with them. They were a little stingy with the guac though!

Right next to the yuca fries booth, there's a noodle stand, and most years, either Paul or I order the Veggie Noodle Bowl. This year, Paul ordered it, but they've switched from a teriyaki sauce to a peanut sauce, and Paul didn't like them. So I finished off most of this bowl. Still good, but the teriyaki sauce was better. Sorry for the crappy pic, but it was late and dark!

Another tradition that I've maintained for the entire nine years of our Roo visits are late-night Samosas! Nothing beats a hot, fried potato-pea fritter with chutney when you get the beer munchies at midnight.

Bonnaroo is located in the very tiny town of Manchester, Tennessee, where outside-the-fest food choices are limited to chain restaurants, like Taco Bell and Waffle House. Some years, we venture outside the festival to sit in an air-conditioned restaurant. This time, our friends Shara and Mary arrived mid-way through the fest (they only wanted to hear bands that were playing on Saturday), and they were craving Waffle House. So we hit them up for breakfast on Sunday. Did you know Waffle House's hash browns are vegan? Yep, so long as you're okay with the shared griddle (I'm fine with that). They use a vegetable shortening to fry with. I got mine scattered, diced, and peppered. With black coffee of course!

That's all for the food I purchased. I tried to go easy on the spending this year since I just bought a new car. But I'll share my money-saving campsite meals tomorrow!

Until then, here are a few highlights from the fest! Paul snapped this great picture of Paramore on Saturday! We get media access since we freelance for The Memphis Flyer, so these pics were taken from the photo pit.

And I caught this image of Sheryl Crow. She was great! She played almost exclusively older songs that we knew all the words to.

The musical highlight for both us though was The Glitch Mob. They played a killer set!

On Friday morning, we got up early and went to yoga. There are free yoga classes every morning at Roo! Paul tried yoga for the first time!

And on Saturday morning, we ran the Roo Run 5K. This is the sixth year for the 5K, and I've wanted to sign up every year. But it often sells out, or I just forget until it's too late. This year we were on our game! This 3.1-mile route took us on a tour through the general campgrounds, and there was pretty much no shade in sight. And it was about 90 degrees! Good thing we're acclimated to hot outdoor runs in the South!

Other highlights included Eminem (but the crowd was insane, and we couldn't get close enough to see anything), The War & Treaty, Mavis Staples, a booth of cheap crystals ($5 for giant chunks of amethyst & rose quartz!). See y'all tomorrow!

My First CSA Subscription!

I signed up for my first CSA! I'm only doing one month — June — of the Bring It Food Hub CSA and kind of testing it out. I'd like to see if I can manage to cut my grocery budget this way by focusing all of my meals around fresh produce and only buying pantry items and perishables, like tofu and almond milk.

If my budget gets bigger with the CSA, I'll probably end it in July. But we'll see. Until then, here's a look at my first haul. Mostly greens — mixed baby lettuce, kale, chard, garlic, cauliflower, and garlic scapes.

I sort of forget that things like tomatoes and squash aren't in season here yet, so I wasn't expecting so many greens. But that's okay! I need to be eating more greens anyway. I've been eating plenty of salads using the mixed lettuce, plus other veggies that were already in my fridge, like carrots, radishes, and bell pepper and add-ons like tofu, raisins, almonds, and cashew ranch.

Last night, I had some bean and rice leftovers from Imagine Vegan Cafe with a saute of cauliflower and scapes (from the CSA bag), plus squash and broccoli. On the side, I sauteed the kale and topped with a little tahini. I wasn't crazy about this kale. I think it's Russian kale? Really bitter! 

I had the Swiss chard tonight as a side to yummy vegan eggplant lasagna dish from Memphis-based food prep company, Your Personal Chef. I sauteed the chard with the garlic and some scapes. No oil!

I got my second CSA bag today, but I'm leaving for Bonnaroo early Thursday morning. It has kale, lettuce (2 kinds — mixed baby greens and a head of red leaf lettuce), beets, collards, broccoli, and garlic. I'm making it my goal to take as much of the fresh produce with me as possible, so I can eat very healthily at the campsite. I'm turning the kale into kale chips for snacking on while I'm there, and I'm bringing the baby lettuce to make salads at the campsite! I gave the red leaf lettuce to a friend since I doubt it'll last, but I figure the other veggies are hearty enough to stay fresh in my fridge until I return.

Speaking of Bonnaroo, this will be my last post until I return early next week. But I'll report back with lots of delicious campsite meal pics and pictures of the vegan goodies I find at festival vendors. I've heard tale of vegan cheese tots this year, so I'll be on the hunt for those. 

More Stuff I Ate

More random meals! On Saturday morning, the Crosstown Memphis CDC held a neighborhood clean-up. We met at Crosstown Brewing, but I arrived early so I could grab Avocado Toast and a coffee from French Truck in Crosstown Concourse. Enjoyed on the dock with some fun reading — North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail by vegan ultrarunner Scott Jurek.

Random meal from Saturday night. I've been doing lots of bowls post-Engine 2. This Burger Bowl has sauteed kale, crumbled black bean burger, roasted cauliflower, roasted potatoes, kraut, nooch sauce, and ketchup. Tasted like a burger!

Another bowl! This Apple-Herb Seitan Broccoli Bowl has BE-Hive apple-herb seitan (from Nashville), steamed broccoli and summer squash, quinoa, and a noochy-tahini sauce.

I made a big batch of the You Can't Believe It's Cashew Ranch from the No Meat Athlete Cookbook recently. It's my fave cashew ranch recipe. Been eating lots of salads!

Met my brunch bitches at Imagine Vegan Cafe on Sunday. It's been so long!! I ordered one of my faves/the healthiest thing on the menu — the Southern Staple with black beans, brown rice, collards, garlic aioli, and cornbread.

Imagine's owner Kristie was off work Friday on National Doughnut Day, so she made up for a missed opportunity on Sunday with Vegan Doughnuts!! I ate the Vanilla Sprinkle one, and I shared the other two — Chocolate and Cookies & Cream — with a co-worker who came in on his day off Sunday to fill in for someone who was out sick.

I bought a new car on Saturday!!!!!!! Orange 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. My first-ever brand new car. I've always had used cars, which has been nice because they were paid for. But it's fun to have something that I don't have to worry about breaking down on the highway.

I wanted to show my parents, so I drove the hour to Jonesboro to show it off. They hopped in, and I drove them to dinner at Qdoba, where I got a Black Bean Burrito Bowl. We all shared the chips and salsa.

This morning, I went on a little 3-mile run (so good to be back!!!), and I followed that with a Dark Chocolate Strawberry Protein Smoothie with Manitoba Harvest HempPro chocolate protein, strawberries, banana, almond milk, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and medicinal mushroom powder. Enjoyed in my new Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me glass!

Lunch today was a BLTA with BE-Hive seitan bacon (the best!!! wish this was available in Memphis), tomato, lettuce, avocado, and chipotle Just Mayo. Plus, I had a salad with more cashew ranch on the side.

Stuff I Ate

Here's a fun round-up of some meals I've been eating since Engine 2 has been over. I'm really trying to continue eating very healthily at home, but I'm definitely allowing some treats — especially when they're free (more on that in a few) or when I'm eating out. It's all about balance!

Of course, holidays are all about indulgence though. And on Memorial Day, my friends Pam, Megan, and Susan came over for a girls' night grill-out/full moon session. We made the new Beyond Meat Sausages (OMG SO GOOD), Grilled Corn on the Cob, and Tater Tots (prepared in the air fryer!). Plus, we also had plenty of chips and dip and beer. This was my second day off Engine 2, so I went all out.

I've been doing a ton of breakfast bowls lately. My current fave is Savory Spinach Oats with Tofu Egg. I add baby spinach, other veggies (this one has summer squash) nooch, sriracha, and turmeric to oats while they cook, and I pan-fry (no oil) slabs of tofu rubbed with Vegg egg yolk. So good!

Here's another Tofu Egg Breakfast Bowl with tofu eggs (prepared the same way), brown rice, kale, and tahini sauce.

On Friday, I made Cherry Oats with chopped, fresh cherries and Wild Friends Sugar Cookie Peanut Butter. Mmmmmmm.

When I'm sad, I like to eat. Okay, okay, I like to eat all the time — no matter what emotions I'm feeling. But when I'm sad, I feel like food fixes things, at least temporarily. On Tuesday, when we said goodbye to Akasha, I stayed home from work and cried all day. And I ate whatever sounded the most comforting. Lunch was a Black Bean & Quinoa Burger (made by my friend Kelvin — he made a bunch and brought me some!) with Daiya, Kraut, & Dijon on Sprouted Grain, plus Air-Fried Potatoes with Korean BBQ Sauce.

Dinner that night was super comforting — Amy's No Chicken Noodle Soup (from a can) and a Vegan Grilled Cheese (with both mozzarella and cheddar Daiya). It doesn't get much better than that when you're sad.

Remember those free treats? Yea! We had our monthly staff meeting at work on Friday. We always use these meetings to celebrate birthdays and cover any new news. Plus, there is always free lunch! This time, we had Impossible Burgers (!!!!) from Farm Burger. I didn't get a good pic of mine because I only used one half of a bun, and it looked weird with the lettuce top bun. Ha! But I did get pics of the vegan desserts we had. They brought in Vegan Cupcakes from Muddy's Bake Shop. I had the Chocolate Prozac cake.

And Maria, who works in Crosstown Arts' soon-to-open plant-based cafe, also baked some Vegan Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. These were still warm out of the oven! SO GOOD! Here's a shot of what was left after we all decimated them. :-) Yay for free vegan dessert at work!

In Memory of Akasha: 2002-2018

On Tuesday, May 29, 2018, we said goodbye to Akasha — the greatest cat who ever catted.

Akasha came into my life as a tiny kitten with giant ears and giant eyes. Just look at this little baby! He never quite grew into those ears and eyes, but he turned out to be a very handsome little man.

My ex and I adopted Akasha from a friend who'd gotten a kitten for her kid (but she didn't anticipate how much work went into caring for a kitten). We already had an amazing puppy — Datsun — so we figured we could handle a cat too. We brought Akasha home in September 2002, the night before I was scheduled to walk in the Memphis Peace Walk with Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. I'll never forget waking up super early on a Saturday morning for the walk, which I was covering for The Memphis Flyer, and coming home afterward, all zenned out, to my brand-new kitten.

Akasha and Datsun, who was only a couple months old at the time, got along great! They play -fought ALL THE TIME.

And they drank after each other. Y'all, this is probably dairy milk cause I was just vegetarian back in 2002-2003, not vegan. Look at Datsun waiting patiently in line.

Eventually, we took in more cats. But Akasha was always number-one in my heart. Although I grew up with many, many cats over the years, he was the first cat that I was responsible for raising without the help of my parents (although they made great grandparents and helped greatly with cat-sitting over the years!). 

We were convinced Akasha had a sixth sense. His eyes were always HUGE and staring off into space. He'd stare at a wall for long periods of time, and were certain he was seeing ghosts.

He loved hugs and being carried around like a baby. Nothing made him happier than dry food and head skritches. When you stopped petting him, he'd head butt you until you started back. When he was freaked out, he'd burrow under bed covers. He'd get under layers and layers of blankets, and you'd wonder if he could even breathe under there.

At some point a few years ago, Akasha was diagnosed with mega-colon, a condition that made it hard for him to poop. He was prescribed two medicines twice a day, plus Miralax on his special food. Every six months or so, he had to make a special trip to the vet for enemas. But despite his condition, he survived with mega-colon for 5-6 years after diagnosis. Sadly, his condition meant he could no longer eat dry food (his fave). But that didn't stop him from trying to steal any leftover dry stuff from the other cats' bowls or the dogs' bowls. He could still have dry treats sometimes, and he would devour them like he'd been starving for days. He was also a tomato thief, and if you left one sitting on the counter after slicing, he would sneak off with it.

Anyway, he was the best. I had six cats, and I'm not gonna lie — Akasha was the favorite, hands down. His older brother Datsun passed away two years ago on June 2. Akasha left this world on May 29. It's crazy how close together their death dates are. 

I came home from work one day in March and noticed that Akasha wasn't running to his food bowl at dinner time like he usually did. I picked him up to take him to his bowl, since his special diet required him to eat in a separate room from the other cats. But he cried when I lifted him, and when I sat him down, he started limping and favoring his right hind leg. And then he refused to eat. I rushed him to the vet, and they did X-Rays. Turns out he'd lost all bone mass in his right leg, which the vet told me was most likely a rare bone cancer. We didn't do a biopsy because it would have required putting him under anesthesia, and he was 16. The vet prescribed some steroids, and after a few days, he perked back up!

But I knew the steroids were just a band-aid and that his days were numbered. After a couple months of doing well (and even walking on his back leg!), this past weekend, Akasha stopped eating again. His back leg got super swollen. He couldn't walk without a really bad limp, and he seemed to be in a lot of pain. On Tuesday, I called the vet, and he came over for a house call to take Akasha to the Rainbow Bridge. It was the saddest thing, but we got to spend most of the day together Tuesday, watching Netflix on the couch. Sadly, Paul was working in Nashville and couldn't make it home in time. He's known Akasha since he was two years old, and it was hard for him too. We cried a lot on the phone together that night.

Akasha, you've left a massive hole in our hearts that can never be filled. But I'm so grateful for the years you gave us. Thanks for all the head butts and cuddles. We'll miss you, buddy.