We recently drove out to Nova Scotia and back for the ALECC conference at Cape Breton University (more on that wonderful conference in another post). This was my first extended road trip since becoming a vegan so I was very curious as to how things would all work out on that front. My VegOut app for my iPhone was incredibly handy, and there were only a few days on the trip where my meals were an odd-looking mish-mash of whatever animal-free products I could get my hands on.

The absolute, hands-down winner of the “best vegan meal on this road trip” award was a place called Noosphère in Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Quebec. Some stellar googling on the part of my travelling companion turned up this gem of a place along the shores of the St. Lawrence, about an hour and a half north of Quebec City. Noosphère is both a motel (adorably old-school in the most charming sort of way) and a restaurant that specializes in a Commensal-style vegetarian buffet. Again, I’m not wild on the buffet as a concept, but these veggie places have found a way to take the gross and the gluttonous out of buffet-style dining. In fact, it is the opposite, since your bill is determined by the weight of your plate people tend to take exactly what they can eat and it seems there is very little waste as compared to the gigantic portions served at some other restaurants.

Noosphère is, in short, a delight for the vegan traveller. (I have been referring to it as “vegan heaven” for the past few days!) It is set in a most beautiful part of Canada, the motel is very reasonable (less than $70/night), the staff is incredibly friendly, and the food has a home-cooked delicious quality to it. I am already planning my next road trip back to Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies! The vegan chocolate cake alone is worth the drive!!

(for Melissa)

We’re on our way to Syndey, NS for the first-ever ALECC conference. We drove as far as Quebec City yesterday. We got in rather late in the evening, so didn’t have time for much exploring last night. Today, however, was all about getting out on foot and seeing this lovely city. This is my first time here, so I was super-duper excited to get out and explore. So much to see! So much history. I love it here!

This post, however, is meant to address my friend Melissa’s query about being vegan in Quebec City. The VegOut iPhone app pointed me to 3 restaurants that are described as either “vegetarian” or “vegetarian-friendly”:

1)Le Commensal
2)Cafe Babylone
3)Restaurant Zen

I know this app is linked to Happy Cow. I’m not sure how a restaurant ends up on this list. I do know that from walking around most restaurants and pubs have salads and things that could be easily veganized (i.e.: a roasted vegetable sandwich without the cheese).

I’ve been to Le Commensal in Montreal and Toronto before, so I knew that was the one I wanted to hit. I’m sorry to say I didn’t have time to try the other two on this quick whirlwind trip, but I’m sure they are very good.

Le Commensal did not disappoint — we had a delicious meal! For those of you who have not been to a Le Commensal before, the basic idea is that it is a buffet-style restaurant (I know! I know! I hate buffets too, but this one, for some reason, doesn’t gross me out!) with vegetarian and vegan dishes. Dishes are clearly labelled with ingredients and are classified as “vegan,” “vegetarian,” “contains milk,” “gluten-free,” etc… It is, in other words, a wonderful place for the label readers! It was hot out, so I didn’t try too many of the hot dishes, although I couldn’t resist the vegan spring rolls and the stew made with seitan, chick peas, mushrooms and other yummy vegetables. The assortment of cold salads hit the spot on a hot day, as did the vegan berry cheesecake I had for dessert.

Because we are in Quebec we were able to go to the nearby corner store, pick up some yummy Quebec-brewed beers and bring them back to Le Commensal to have with our meal. The beer ($2 per bottle) + lunch ($9 for a full plate of food) was certainly an affordable option in a city that has “touristy” prices. (we dropped $37 on a not-so-good vegetable sandwich and 2 pints last evening!)

On the same street as Le Commensal were two stores that carried a number of vegan-friendly products (delicious milk-free dark chocolate bars, soy milk, Yves veggie dogs, hummus, etc.):
1)La Carotte Joyeuse
2)Maison Jean-Alfred Moisan

The hotel we are staying at has small bar-sized fridges in the rooms, so I brought along some soy milk, chick pea sandwich spread, hummus and vegan muffins as a back-up in case we couldn’t easily find anything to eat. I’m happy to report that we’ve had pretty good luck finding vegan eats here.