Living Vegan in a Meat and Potatoes Town
Images from Meredith Pangrace’s Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen: Recipes, Resources and Stories (Belt Publishing, 2021). Courtesy of the author.
Even in a city that has a deeply rooted meat-and-potatoes reputation, plant-based eating - long gaining traction around the world as people embrace the health, humane and environmental benefits - is becoming more popular here and in similar cities known for their stick-to-the-ribs food culture.
Greg Langel of Dormont has been a vegan since 1998 – a time when strict plant-based eating was much a more challenging lifestyle to live in the Pittsburgh area.
Today, both specialty grocers and mainstream supermarkets carry vegan staples like plant-based milks, cheeses, and meat substitutes. As for dining out, though Pittsburgh sadly has lost some vegan restaurants – including B52 Cafe in Lawrenceville – today’s restaurant scene includes many that offer animal-free foods.
“We have a respectable number of very high-quality vegan restaurants, and restaurants that are not entirely vegan or even vegetarian that have great offerings for vegans,” says Langel, 53. He and his wife, Jennifer, also a vegan, are devoted shoppers at the East End Food Co-op, which has a strong assortment of plant-based options.
“It’s definitely not something mocked or shunned anymore,” says Meredith Pangrace, a Cleveland-based writer, editor, and home cook. Vegetarian since her teens and fully vegan since 2020, Pangrace explores the region’s shifting foodways in her cookbook Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen: Recipes, Resources and Stories. In the book, Pangrace veganizes several regional favorites, including pierogis, a Pittsburgh icon which is also highly popular in her Ohio city.
Like Pittsburgh, Cleveland has several vegan-only restaurants, and most places offer something herbivores can eat. Our culinary roots and styles are similar, with a high amount of Eastern European immigrants and their descendants, Pangrace says. Our ancestors came here to work in the steel mills, and they relied on affordable, accessible ingredients like cabbage and potatoes and onions.
“Things are changing in both the cities, however, which is super exciting,” Pangrace says. “Once I started looking into it, I started finding all these people that were doing vegan popups and having vegan bakeries.”
In Pangrace’s book, readers see several favorites, like pumpkin muffins and chili and pierogies, that are veganized by swapping ingredients.
Often, non-vegans who eat vegan cuisine for the first time don’t notice that the food has no animal products. That is what Josh Ross - chef and partner of Con Alma, a restaurant and jazz bar with locations in Downtown and Shadyside – found when he switched the Latin American-influenced menu of the Shadyside location to all vegan earlier this year. Both Ross and beverage director and co-owner Aimee Marshall say the feedback has been positive. “It’s just really good food that happens to not have meat in it. That’s what is comes down to,” Ross says.
Ulric Joseph - owner of ShadoBeni, a vegan Trinidadian restaurant on the North Side – has attracted many diners who weren’t vegan but wanted to taste cuisine from Trinidad. Because his vegan cooking is delicious, they come back.
“I’m vegan, and I just wanted to have people taste Trinidadian food and have them taste good food,” Joseph says. “There’s a burgeoning vegan community here in Pittsburgh.”
ShadoBeni started as a mobile food vendor at farmer’s markets and opened a busy restaurant this April. About half of Trinidadian food – the part that comes from Indian influence – is already meat free, Joseph says. One of the restaurant’s greatest hits are the doubles, which are curried chickpeas with turmeric flatbread.
Besides ShadoBeni and Con Alma, vegans and flexible carnivores in the Pittsburgh area indulge at many plant-based - or even just vegan-friendly but not vegan - restaurants in the region.
Langel’s favorite restaurants include the classic Mediterranean Grill in Squirrel Hill, Onion Maiden in Allentown, Apteka in Bloomfield, Café Delhi in Carnegie, Spak Brothers in Garfield, and Fortuitea Café in Washington. Even mainstream, non-vegan restaurants like Mad Mex are now offering ingredients like vegan cheese and sour cream, Langel says.
Indeed, Pangrace says, vegan food isn’t just for vegans. Everyone can enjoy it, even as just an occasional meal or ingredient substitute.
“My book is not just for vegans, and I’m not saying, ‘Oh, you need to be a vegan,’” Pangrace says, referring to “Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen.” “This book is for everyone.”
PITTSBURGH VEGAN DINING OPTIONS
ShadoBeni, 1534 Brighton Road, North Side. ShadiBeni serves vegan Trinidadian food, and its doubles – curried chickpeas on turmeric flatbread – are bestsellers. https://shadobeni412.com
Con Alma, 5884 Ellsworth Avenue, Shadyside. Con Alma serves vegan food with soul that has Latin-American and Asian influences, and hosts entertainment at the jazz bar. www.conalmapgh.com
Onion Maiden, 639 E. Warrington Avenue, Allentown. This eatery, with a name inspired by Iron Maiden, served Asian and American vegan comfort food with daring and clever names like Crucifer Rising. www.onionmaiden.com
Spak Brothers, 5107 Penn Avenue, Garfield. This pizzeria serves vegan-friendly pizzas with BE-Hive brand Garlic Shredz cheese, as well as seitan wings. https://spakbrothers.com
Apteka, 4606 Penn Avenue, Bloomfield. The restaurant serves vegan Eastern European cuisine, and pierogies are a customer favorite. https://aptekapgh.com
The Zenith, 86 S. 26th Street, South Side. This is Pittsburgh’s oldest plant-based restaurant, and is known for its hip and quirky environment and serving favorites like peanut noodle salad (a.k.a. “vegan crack.”) https://zenithpgh.com
Fortuitea Café, 1445 Washington Road, Washington. This Washington County restaurant has soups, pizzas, and baked goods, and cashew-milk-based macaroni and cheese is a favorite. www.fortuiteacafe.com
Allegro Hearth Bakery, 2034 Murray Avenue, Squirrel Hill. This is a vegan bakery and sandwich shop with pies, cinnamon rolls, breads, sandwiches, and salads. www.allegropgh.com
Chutney’s – India’s Veg Kitchen, 120 Park Manor Boulevard, Suite B, Robinson. Guests rave about the dosas and chutneys at this vegetarian restaurant with cuisine from South India. www.chutneyspittsburgh.com
Udipi Café, 4141 Old William Penn Highway, Monroeville. This vegetarian Indian restaurant specializes in Tuluva-Mangalorean and Andhra cuisine of South India.www.udipicafemonroeville.com
STORY BY KELLIE B. GORMLY
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Writer Stephen Treffinger shares the story behind his book, James Huniford: At Home. Photo by Matthew Willams.