Vegan Portland: A Look Back While I’m Stuck in the South

By Published On: 3 June 2014Last Updated: 17 January 2017

This year, family events took us to South Carolina for vacation. What else could we do but reminisce about prior vacations in vegan Portland?

vegan portland

What's in this post

vegan portland

Dear Portland,

We miss you madly!

With love,

Stuck in the South

For the last two summers, my husband, son and I vacationed in Portland, OR, the mountainous vegan paradise we had heard about and dreamed of!

This year, family events took us to South Carolina, where nobody wants to “keep it weird,” nobody puts a bird on anything (unless it was killed and is a piece of taxidermy), and people love the ocean so much that that they rip apart crabs and lobsters as a side dish to steak.

This decidedly not vegan vacation makes me nostalgic for vegan Portland, so if you’d like to hear about a place where you can sport a vegan tattoo on your shaved head (more on that later) and blend in perfectly, read on!

Find Vegan Food in Portland

Dessert first, because you can head off a sugar crash with the meals later, right?  Right!

Back to Eden Bakery

This spot on Alberta serves up waffle cones, ice cream sundaes, and other lunch items and pastries. We didn’t notice that they are 100% gluten-free, but they are. They also hold a tremendous commitment to sustainability and community outreach, but we were there (and back a few times) for the taste!

My son clutched the cone and wouldn’t let go and didn’t want to share with us–he knows a good thing when it’s in his grip.  I present adorable photo evidence:

Vegan Kids

Voodoo Doughnut

This uber-famous downtown doughnut shop is open 24/7 and has a line of at least 30 minutes most of that time. Take cash with you because they move people in and out too quickly for credit cards. You’ll have just enough time to see the clearly-labeled vegan section on a rotator, pick some doughnuts out and take them out in your pink box… because “the best things come in pink boxes”. Did I mention that they have sex and drug-themed doughnuts? We just got an apple fritter and a doughnut with Oreos crushed on top with peanut butter drizzle–they were better than drugs AND sex.

vegan donuts

Sweetpea Baking Company

Have you ever heard of the vegan mini-mall? Sweetpea is the corner store of the mini-mall in SW Portland that also includes Food Fight! Grocery store, Herbivore Clothing Company and Scapegoat Tattoo (this is where we saw the guy with a vegan head tattoo). The best item we had at Sweetpea was a chocolate chip cookie sandwich with vanilla icing in the middle, and it seems like it was as big as my face, or at least as big as my toddler’s.

I don’t want to stop here, but an adequate description about such a vegan mecca needs space. In upcoming posts, I plan to talk about Portland food trucks, restaurants, farmer’s markets and the random veg-friendly place we found while traveling to Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. Maybe I have some wisdom for your upcoming vacation. What do you want to know about vegan Portland?

2 Comments

  1. Amy Bradley June 9, 2014 at 10:31 am - Reply

    Lorrie, I love it and miss it! If I could just move my dear friends and our lives with us, we’d already be there, permanently :)

  2. LorriePaige June 5, 2014 at 2:37 pm - Reply

    I live in Portland–yes, it is an awesome place to live; I would not want to live anywhere else! =) Thanks for promoting vegan-PDX!

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HELLO! I'm KD Angle-Traegner.

Writer, activist, and founder of Four Urban Paws Sanctuary. I’m on a mission to help people live a vegan life. Read more about KD…

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