Being Vegan in Tofino

So as you know, I was in Tofino last week! I wanted to share with you how I found being a vegan in Tofino! First off, we stayed at a cabin which had a full kitchen so I brought up a few prepared meals! The night before we left, I made an AMAZING quinoa salad (by cooking 1 cup of quinoa, adding 1 tbsp. of olive oil, 1 tsp of lemon juice, a handful of dried cranberries, raw pumpkin seeds, walnuts, corn, sliced cucumber, grated carrots, grated zucchini and grated sweet potato), marinated tofu sesame snacks (to cook in Tofino), pre-made these amazing brown rice and veggie burger patties (separating the dry ingredients and the wet to prevent them from becoming soggy), and washed a bunch of berries, cherries, sliced cucumber to snack on throughout our journey!!! This was the first time I bought and prepared food before heading up and let me tell you this: at first it seemed like extra work but it was SO SO WORTH IT!!!! When we were in Tofino I didn't have to worry once about what we were going to eat. Everything was already prepared so making the meals was so fast and easy but we weren't compromising our health or taste-buds!!! The first night we arrived in Tofino I baked the tofu sesame snacks and steamed some green beans. We ate the tofu sesame snacks over the quinoa salad along with the green beans!


The second night I baked the vegan burger patties and yam fries!

The third night we went to Shelter Restaurant and it was AMAZING! I was able to get their warmed greens salad which usually has goat cheese vegan and the service was amazing! Our server was totally accommodating about me being a vegan and even added pear to my salad! I also had the sweet chili edamame beans which were DELICIOUS! Seriously, I have to say that the meal I had was the BEST dinner at a restaurant I have ever had!!! Yes, it's true!!! It was the kind of dinner where I felt that every bite I had was completely savored and I couldn't help but say "MMM" way too many times!!!! Ally ordered the same two dishes and we kept staring across the table at one another with this look which read "I KNOW!!! This is CRAZY GOOD"!!!
The delicious meals from Shelter in Tofino! Check it out!


Like I have mentioned before, I am a total beach girl! I love everything about the beach! I love surfing, I love the sand, the sun, playing or just chilling!!! Tofino has such a cool vibe and people seem to be pretty health conscious. They are definitely active that's for sure! Surfing, biking, running, skateboarding, walking, hiking...there is so much to do! That being said, I was pretty surprised by the LACK of vegan-friendly treats that I found! We all went to SOHO for lunch (okay we went THREE times during our vacation but seriously, it's THAT good), and although they didn't have any vegan-friendly options, they were very accommodating and made a miso soup with water and miso (instead of fish stalk), and they took mayo out of their tofu pockets.

Ally and I also ordered these pinto bean burritos and ate them without the cheese (which was DELICIOUS but sadly on the last day, we ordered our food to go and realized once on the road that they put cheese into our burritos :( SO SAD)...
Maybe it was the salty air or the vacation-mode but I was craving a serious vegan chocolate brownie or ANYTHING treaty that was vegan and I didn't find it in Tofino :( ...it clearly just wasn't meant to be but I think that their cool coffee shops could use a bakery/deli makeover vegan-style!!!! I am just so glad that I took the extra time to prepare myself and bring lots of food because we really ate it all and didn't waste anything!!!! Maggie came up with us too and it was wonderful how kind and animal-friendly people were!