Belmont Vegetarian: Holding Its Own In Worcester

Belmont Vegetarian (157 Belmont St. Worcester) is an American and Jamaican inspired vegan restaurant that served it up at both the 2010 & 2011 Worcester VegFest. Belmont Veg was recently featured in a Telegram & Gazette article, with a rad photo of owner, Steve holding a huge platter of vegan delicious-ness.

I love Steve's personality, his humble philosophy, and his amazing vegan food. At Belmont Veg you choose which plate size you want (small, medium, large) and then choose whichever yummy items off the menu you'd like to fill it with. The menu changes often, scrawled on a chalk-board next to the ordering window, but usually has some variation of a few of the same choices.

Today I got a huge container with Macaroni & Soy Cheese, Vegetable Stew, BBQ Steak, Chick Pea & Soy Chunks, and Rice. Other common menu items include vegan Pepper Steak, Vegetable Patties, Lasagna, curry chicken dishes, and vegan burgers.

Belmont Veg is street parking only, but is really easy to find. It is located right on Route 9 next to Umass Memorial Medical Center, and close to the 290 ramps.  The actual ambiance isn’t the best so it’s more of a take-out establishment or eat-in for a quick lunch with your buddies.

The plate I had was full of different spices and textures, and came off as comfort food with a twist. Though veggie dishes are available (and some fresh juices may be in Belmont Veg’s future…), I’m used to getting my salads in (salad is my go-to order at every non-veg eatery obviously), so I’ll take vegan mac & cheese or BBQ any day of the week! 

There is something special about this place… flavorful and hearty with a style that reminds me of home cookin’. I’ll be back for more since Belmont Veg is surely holding its own, unique amongst the growing veg-eats community in Worcester. 

VEGFEST 2011!

Worcester VegFest 2011 was last weekend, and it was just as we predicted- AWESOME. There was some great promotion this year and it definitely contributed to getting the word out. We started off the festivities with a pre-VegFest "get psyched" meeting the night before the event to start setting up. Coordinators and volunteers had a chance to go over details and chow down on  vegan pizza from Flats while unpacking all the books and merch.  Then it was time for the big day... VegFest! As a VegFest organizer and the exhibitor coordinator, I got to Worcester State University at 10am to start signing in and greeting vendors. The event was scheduled to begin at noon, but we had attendees lining the hallways by 11:30am. Huge crowds starting showing up around noontime. From 1pm~3pm, the exhibitor areas were so packed with humans, that it was actually getting a little tight in there. Among all the tons of free samples from exhibitors, VegWorcester's own free sample tables had Primal Strips, Odwalla bars, Chreese packets, Quick Gravy packets, 40 lbs of ecoVegan mock meat samples, coupons for Gardein, coupons for Follow Your Heart products and 15 cartons of vegan "milks" like  soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, etc. If you're curious where to get certain products found at the Worcester Vegfest, follow the exhibitor links below for online stores, or try your local Whole Foods Bellingham/Framingham locations are the closest locations to Worcester (about 20 miles), Living Earth on Park Ave, or Shaws Wild Harvest (several Worcester locations).

VEGFEST 2011 SCHEDULE:
12:15-1:00pm: BRUCE FRIEDRICH
1:15-2:00pm: TRACYE MCQUIRTER  

2:15-2:45pm VEGETABLE CIRCUS  

3:00-3:45pm: TERRY HOPE ROMERO 

4:00-4:45pm: WILL POTTER 

Since I was occupied with coordinating tasks, I wasn't able to watch the entire speaking sessions, but did try to catch a few minutes of each one. Bruce is the man. I'm familiar with his work and he always does an amazing job. Tracye... I respect that she is into the healthy aspects of going veg because it’s important to remember that many people enter the vegetarian world for health reasons. Tracye's samples were raw-vegan inspired and I love me some greens.

Terry Hope Romero arrived early and I got a chance to chat with her and help make some arrangements for transportation so she could go make her samples for the cooking demo. She is definitely a rad chick, and she even indulged my geek-ness by signing a copy of Viva Vegan and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar for me. Terry's seitan tacos were to die for!

Will Potter's presentation was certainly eye-opening for many. I was most curious to hear from him since this was the first time I had been exposed to his work. I'm really pumped to read Green Is The New Red. Unfortunately his books didn't arrive in time for VegFest, so hopefully I can score a copy soon.  The speaker room was packed during all the time slots, and we got heaps of positive and valuable feedback from all.

I was also impressed with Vegetable Circus. Tons of kiddos showed up to watch and participate in their show, and there were tons of smiles and happy dances going on. I would definitely recommend this group. They were professional, easy to work with, and so much fun. VegWorcester also had a kid's table with face painting and other children's activities.

There were so many important non-profit exhibitors as well as yummy food vendors. I spent a lot of time walking around to make sure they had all of their needs met and things were going well. Everyone seemed to have a lot of positive feedback. Like No Udder's ice cream truck was a huge hit and so was Coconut Bliss's free ice cream samples. There were huge lines all day for the vegan ice cream! Next time we'll need like 5 ice cream vendors maybe..? haha. I can't wait for another vegan soft serve! X's to O's Vegan Bakery had some tasty cupcakes and vegan twinkies- they seemed busy with customers all afternoon. I was also happy to try Wilderness Poet's nut butters for the first time. Mm. I noticed they sell Wilderness Poets at The Living Earth on Park Ave. Try the pistachio.

Here is a full list of all the exhibitors with links to their websites for reference. Definitely check them out, visit, buy stuff, donate, volunteer, and so on...

VEGFEST 2011 EXHIBITOR/SPONSOR LIST:
* Artichoke Food CoOp
* Autonomie Project (sponsor)
* Belmont Vegetarian
* Boston Vegan Association
* Cedar Foods - Hummus
* Chartwells
* Cloa's Ark Animal Sanctuary
* Coconut Bliss
* Compassion Over Killing
* Duck Yao
* ecoVegan (sponsor)
* Falafal Republic (sponsor)
* Galaxy Nutritional Foods (sponsor)
* Humane League of Boston
* Humane Society of US
* Humane USA - MA PAC
* Isador's Organics (sponsor)
* Keifers Kettle Korn
* Like No Udder Vegan Ice Cream Truck
* Loving Hut (sponsor)
* Maple Farm Sanctuary
* MA Animal Rights Coalition (MARC) (sponsor)
* New Paris Books & Zines
* Peace Abbey
* Peace O' Pie
* PETA
* Quan Yin/Supreme Master Ching Hi
* Queenie Foundation
* Revitalive Health &Wellness
* Spirit Of Change Magazine (sponsor)
* Sproutman
* Sterling Animal Shelter
* Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue
* The Universal Spirit
* United Poultry Concerns
* Vegan Metrowest Network
* VegNews Magazine
* Woo Daddy Waffles
* Wilderness Poets
* Worcester Earn-A-Bike
* Worcester Magazine (sponsor)
* Worcester Natural Foods
* VegFund
* VegWorcester
* X's to O's Vegan Bakery

All in all, VegFest 2011 was a huge success! I'd be willing to bet we had almost 3,000 people come through the doors. With the huge crowds, 40+ exhibitors, 4 national speakers, entertainment and tons of free samples, it was amazing to see it all finally come together last weekend. Although it was definitely a busy few months in the planning stage, it was a great experience to see this event go from just ideas on a piece of paper, to a full on Veg-Fest! Can't wait to see what we can do next year...

More Vegfest Photos @ VegWorcester's Facebook.

VegWorcester at Open Road Music & Arts Festival

When we heard Honor Roll Productions was putting together the Open Road Music & Arts Festival, VegWorcester was one of the first to jump in and take part in what is being described as "Worcester’s first sustainable and earth-friendly music and arts festival." Drew and I (Manda) were excited to partake in some vegan outreach and check out the first of what will become an annual event!

Worcester locals headed over to Institute Park this past Saturday, September 4th to enjoy a sunny afternoon of 10+ musical acts, visual arts, fun for the kids, vegetarian food and a vast array of eco-friendly vendors. Among the green-oriented goals of Open Road Festival was bio-diesel generated power for the sound system, recycle bins and organic/recycled promotional materials.

At the VegWorcester table we met many attendees and other vendors who were equally interested in environmental issues and the music as well as trying our free vegan food! At our table we gave out free samples of Thai Peanut and Teriyaki Primal Strips, a meatless vegan jerky voted best new vegetarian snack by VegNews magazine. We also handed out vegan dark chocolates by the company Endangered Species. Their chocolates are ethically-traded and 10% of net profits are donated to help support species, habitat and humanity. We even had some Oreo cookies to share with attendees, based on the thought that many people already eat them and are shocked to find out that they are veg-friendly!

Armed with brochures about reducing cruelty to animals and free vegetarian starter kits, we shared the message of living a veg lifestyle in Worcester and received great feedback and email list sign-ups. One couple said their son had become vegetarian in the past year and they were impressed by how naturally the transition had been. Other festival attendees said they enjoy veg food, but haven't made the jump to preparing and cooking the food themselves. I was excited to share my new Worcester-oriented vegan blog (http://vegpanda.blogspot.com,) hoping to inspire others to experiment with recipes or try some of Worcester's many vegan restaurant options.

Among the food vendors at Open Road were Loving Hut, a local vegan favorite, (located on Chandler St.) They served up a good mix of crispy appetizers to compliment the tasty rice & lo mein. (Be sure to come to one of the Loving Hut buffet VegWorcester fundraisers. They occur monthly and are only $10!) To add to our excitement about the veg food options on Saturday, there were delicious veggie dogs for sale at the cart parked just outside the gates! The avocado, tomato and onion toppings were a nice surprise and made for a unique vegan option that many seemed to enjoy.

Check out Worcester Mag's Open Road review online with a write-up towards the end about our table!

We are looking forward to the rest of the festival season in Worcester with Pet Rock Festival and stART On The Street later this month!