In vegan food news…

It’s Vegan MoFo, the vegan month of food, so I’m going to gather some food news items that have come my way recently and add a note of my own.

First, two fast food chains are introducing vegan options. Chipotle is going to expand nationally its sofritas, which has been a hit on the West coast. (It’s not actually their first vegan menu item: their burritos with black beans and guacamole are also vegan.) TCBY will be (or already is – I haven’t yet been in to check) offering Silk Chocolate Almond flavor, made with Silk almond milk.

In other restaurant news, eight new vegan restaurants across the US. For those in the New York City area, Gothamist’s nine best vegan dishes in NYC.

Also, “Groundbreaking, Game Changing Vegan Cheese Is Here”! (I haven’t ordered the cook book yet, though I’m quite excited about it, because I think that for many of the cheeses I’ll need a better blender than I have. I can’t remotely afford a Vitamix, but perhaps a Ninja Pro…?)

Finally, ZUCCHINI. For the past few weeks I’ve been perfecting my zucchini risotto. Zucchini was never one of my favorites, but I had a delicious pasta mista (I have to admit, mixing pastas goes against my grain :)) with zucchini in Italy which changed my mind. Of course, I can’t recreate the al fresco dining by the Mediterranean, but I’m thrilled to have discovered another vegetable to love.